VHS

The Video Home System (VHS), is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette tape format, developed by the Victor Company of Japan (JVC).1 After the introduction and development of videocassette recording equipment throughout the 70ties, the VHS format managed to become the global standard and remained so until the arrival of the Digital Video Disk (DVD) which replaced the VHS as a dominant method of film and video distribution after 2000.2

Content
1. Technology of the VHS 2. Home entertainment and home viewing 3. Introduction of the video tape recorder (VCR) 4. Standardizing the format: Betamax vs VHS 5. Changing the film and television industries 6. Ending of an era 7. References

Greenberg, Joshua. From Betamax to blockbuster: video stores and the invention of movies on video. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2008. 2 The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.) "It's unreel: DVD rentals overtake videocassettes". 2003-06-20. Access through: www.washingtontimes.com/news/2003/jun/20/20030620-113258-1104r/?page=2

Technology of the VHS

A VHS cassette allows to record and play, by the use of a videotape recorder (VCR) in combination with a television set, filmic and audio material on a -inch-wide magnetic tape enclosed in a plastic cartridge.

figure 1: VHS cassette, flip-up cover (left) and inside tape reels (right)

The VHS tapes prime characteristic was its long recording time of over 2 or even 4 hours. Eventually after numerous innovations, the VHSs recording time could even go up to longer than six hours.3 Because of the VCRs erase head it was also possible to record on the same piece of tape multiple times, recycling or reusing it by erasing previous recordings. For both playing and recording, the VHS tape needed to be inserted into a VCR, this could be through a front or a top loader, and connected to a television screen in order to view an hear the material enclosed on the tape.4

figure 2: VCR, top loader (left) and front loader (right)

3 4

Ronan, David T. Practical VCR repair. Albany, New York: Delmar Publishers Inc, 1995. Ronan, David.

After inserting the tape the VCR would, as is almost always the case with cassette-based tape systems, pull the tape from the cassette shell, which in the case of the VHS occurred by lifting a flip-up cover at the top of the cassette in order to expose the tape. Next it would wrap the exposed tape around an inclined head drum which would rotate in order to read and decode the information from the strip which would then be electronically transmitted to the television screen.5 The VHS tape uses M-lacing which means that the tape in the VCR is pulled out by two threading posts and wrapped around the head drum in an angle which is more than a 180 degrees, in combination with the way it is wrapped around other tape transport components in the device, it roughly imitates the shape of the letter M.6

figure 3: VHS & VCR, M-lacing (left) and Rotating Video Head Drum (right)

Home entertainment and home viewing

After the introduction of the radio in the 1920ties and the television set during the 50ties and 60ties7, home entertainment, and as John Hartley states the ideal of domesticity 8, had become a growing cultural development. Families would no longer (need to) go out but rather stay at home, in a safe and providing environment. This led to certain changes within the film production industry, since they too wanted to benefit from the new way in which television distributed to the masses, reaching the audiences in their homes. However the American government in 1948 obstructed Hollywood film studios from purchasing stations or founding one of their own, therefore leading major film studios only able to act as program suppliers.9 By the mid-1950s television studios were often shooting their own
5 6

Marschall. How VCRs Work 10-02-2011 on HowStuffWorks.com Marschall. 7 Wasser, Frederick. Veni, Vidi, video: the Hollywood empire and the VCR. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001 8 Hartley, John, "Housing television: a film, a fridge and social democracy", in: Uses of television (Londen 1999) 9 Wasser, Frederick.

shows and even though from the beginning of television, several films were broadcasted, it wasnt until 1961 that theatrical films appeared on regular network programmin g.10 This mainly due to the fact that leasing Hollywood movies for tv was expensive, but also because television networks were anxious to establish that they were different from the cinema, depending heavily on their feature of live-ness.11 Television, together with the growth of wealth and suburban (outdoor) life after the second world war, eventually lead Hollywood film studios to suffer a 32 percent decline in audiences, resulting in major loses and cutbacks for the studios.12

figure 4: Domestic Ideal, family watching tv in 50ties

Finally in the 60ties advertisers saw potential in broadcasting movies, which were now quite cheap (due to the decline of the film studios prosperities) and attracted many viewers, especially since movies were particularly suitable for creating corporate awareness for their products. 13 This seems to signify a general change of thought about the importance of the live-ness of television and its entertainment value, since television studios next to us ing
10 11

Wasser, Frederick. Wasser, Frederick. 12 Wasser, Frederick. 13 Wasser, Frederick.

already recorded movies, also sought new ways to record shows in order to archive and easily repeat them (trying to optimize audience reach and thus extracting more profit). The VCR, which initially was a television invention, actually also became a very important invention for its applicability to the film industry, changing both the television and the cinematic viewing culture drastically.

Introduction of the video tape recorder (VCR)

The recording technology of magnetic video recording was developed in the United States, but throughout the 1960s and 1970s both European as Japanese companies competed and collaborated to adapt the technology for mass market usage.14 The first video recorder was, inspired by audio tape recorders used by radio station, invented for official broadcasting applications, in 1956 by a small company named the Ampex Corporation.15

figure 5: The Ampex machine

The Ampex machine allowed the television broadcast industry to step back from their reliance on live performances or on a clumsy system of film recording. The machine made its network debut in 1959 when it recorded a debate in Moscow between Nixon and Khrushev for later broadcasting in the united states.16 However the machines were very big and needed large reels of tape because of its extreme high recording and playing speed. Inspired by this new machine many electronic companies, mainly those who already were in the business of producing audio tape recorders, to invest in research and development of this new video recording technique. Sony eventually succeeded in creating a cassette model with
14

Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom Strategic Maneuvering and MassMarket Dynamics: The Triumph of VHS over Beta in The Buisness History Review, vol. 66, No.1, HighTechnology Industries (Spring 1992), pp. 51-94 15 Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom 16 Greenberg, Joshua.

a smaller inch-wide tape, which could playback (not yet record) up to one hour of video accompanied by corresponding stereo audio, called the U-matic in 1971.17 Though the Umatic was still far too large for home use it found a market among schools, business companies and other institutions therefore eventually becoming the basis for both the Betamax as the VHS tape formats.18

figure 6: Sony advertisement for the U-Matic 3-4 in. video deck, Life Magazine ca. 1974

Philips was actually one of the first companies to create a VCR that was compatible for home usage and which contained all the main features for which the VCR would eventually become known for. This machine was the Philips n1500 VCR released in 1972, being the first device to contain the three prime necessities for a home video recorder, which are a tuner (to receive tv siginals), a modulator (so it could play on a normal tv set) and a timer (to time recordings automatically).19 However the machine was fragile, expensive, the tapes could record no longer than 45 minutes and the machine only guaranteed a 50 hours use. Thus although the machine was very innovative it was not yet the popular commercial product it would became later on.

17 18

Greenberg, Joshua. Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom 19 http://www.totalrewind.org/revolution/R_evrsel.htm

figure 7: Manual for the Philips VCR N1500

Michael Cusumano, Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard Rosenbloom mention, in their analysis of the history of the VHS, the complex structure of the introduction of a new medium like the VCR.20 The inventors of a new medium, they state, have both large advantages as well as great disadvantages. The pioneering companies have the benefit of being able to become an expert on the development of the technology, they can exploit the financial profits of being exclusive and theyre able to set the standard for others.21 However the main profits are usually for those companies that succeed in adapting a new medium or technology for the masses. This resulting in perhaps important advantages for those companies who enter the market second or third, copying the best features established by the pioneers while adding new superior features at the same time.22 These so-called bandwagon companies (joining at a later stage) can also benefit from the mistakes from the original creators, aiming to create a better product or being cheaper in production.23 The standardization of VSH over other recording tape formats, especially Betamax, therefore provides a very interesting case study of the commercial influence of new media introductions.

Standardizing the format: Betamax vs VHS

After the introduction of the U-matic three companies signed a cross-licensing agreement for video recording patents in the 1970s; these were Sony, Matshushita and the Victor Company of Japan (JVC), Phillips however decided to pursue its own distinctive VCR design.24 Even though it would have been much more convenient for both consumers as producers to have one single home video format, this seemed impossible to achieve since every company competed and strived for acceptance of its own format. However since only Sony and JVC
20 21

Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom 22 Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom 23 Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom 24 Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom

developed a format resembling the effective U-matic design none of the other companies like RCA, Matshushita, Toshiba, Sanyo, Philips and including Ampex, who had also been working on developing and introducing alternative home VCR formats, were compatible with Sonys Betamax (released in 1975) or JVCs VHS (released in 1976).25 Betamax commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruJW56rP0vE Jvc commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjXh-tNLqHQ Both Betamax and JVC were based on the U-matic and both succeeded in usable format of inch-wide tape cassettes, therefore becoming the top leaders in turning the VCR into a commercially attractive and popular home product. However they were still completely different and incompatible. Whereas the Betamax was simply a smaller but more advanced version of the U-matic the VHS which was also very similar provided a longer recording time. This preventing either companies to obtain a dominant market position. Since every television owner had become a possible new customer for the home VCR system, the production of home video opened up a whole new mass market. Within a few years, by the early 1980ties the VCR had surpassed the color television in being the top consumer electronics product in production value.26 However the VCR similar like other modern day technologies, for example the computer, is often a conjunction of complementary products. In the case of the VCR the complementary product is the videotape cassette. Michael Cusumano, Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard Rosenbloom mention three possible influences when it comes to establishing interface standards for new media: 1) Government regulation 2) Formal agreement among a large number of production companies 3) Implicit acceptance by producers reflecting the market power of a sponsor
Example: Federal Communications Commission for Television Example: CD players Example: IBM for PCs

Since none of these influences were at play in the case of the VHS competing with Betamax, and both products were just about equal in costs and quality, consumers we likely to go with the format that is most popular with other users. While Beta was the first to reach the market in 1975 it eventually fell behind VHS in 1978. After that VHS sales kept increasing while the Beta-format in 1984began a rapid decline toward extinction.27

25 26

Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom 27 Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom

figure 8: VHS tape (left) and Betamax tape (right)

The rise of the VHS formats popularity was mainly due to the fact that JVC had made some very important strategic decisions. JVC started effectively forming alliances with both important production as well as distribution players. Most vital was JVC alliance with Matsushita and other Japanese producers, which allowed the VHS to gain market power while simultaneously eliminating competitive rivalry.28 Later on JVC also formed important alliances with important electronic films in Europe. Also the fact that VHS provided a longer recording time became an important plus for the popularity of the format, even though it might not have matched the Betas slightly better quality standard it was still favored. 29 The fact that Sony was very reluctance to be an OEM supplier30, meaning that other companies could purchase their products but retailing them under their own brand, which was something JVC didnt mind with the VHS. All these strategic changes eventually lead VHS to triumph over Betamax by becoming the global standard for home video.
History channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYQt0xi9PRM

The VCR as a medium

When looking at history and the invention of new technologies it is sometimes difficult to establish whether or not the technology is also recognized and used as a medium or simply regarded as a technological invention. The television for example was immediately
28 29

Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom Ronan, David 30 Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom

recognized and utilized as a medium according to Thompson, even more precisely it was even recognized as a mass medium.31 The VCR however, states Greenberg, was initially just regarded as a time-shifting device, a storage technology. In the late 1980 it eventually became recognized and reconstructed as a medium in its own right, since it became a film distribution device, emphasizing that film can be mediated since home viewing is not the same as cinematic viewing.

figure 9: Greenbergs analysis of the reconstruction of the VCR as a medium

Changing the film and television industries

It is very hard to precisely analyze the reception of the VCR technology since it has three distinct usages which also often overlap. Greenberg defines these three lives of VCR and the VHS as being32: 1) A time-shifting (capturing) device 2) A personal (family) archival device 3) A device to distribute movies and other prerecorded material
- being able to control the time of viewing (again) - in combination with the use of home video cameras - bringing entertainment and information right the homes of audiences

31

J. Thompson, "The rise of mediated interaction", The media and modernity. A social theory of the media (Londen 2001) 81-119. 32 Greenberg, Joshua.

figure 10: The three lives of VCR and VHS

The shifting of time, or redefining the concept of time is a typical trait of modernity, as is argued by several theorist among others; Mary Ann Doane33, Ben Singer34, Martia Sturken.35 In the age of modernity new technologies are invented and introduced at a very high rate and often directly influence the way a culture deals with time, capturing it (photo, film) and shortening or saving it (train travel, washing machine). Therefore the first application of the VHS, as a time-shifting device , is a very characteristic one when we look at the introduction of a new medium. First used by official broadcasters, trying to optimize their audiences and also taking into account the different time zones, the VCR quickly found its way into the homes of normal citizens. After the introduction of the tv remote, being able to quickly change channels and control what they wanted to see, audiences could now with the introduction of the VCR also control when they wanted to see it. This new level of interactivity was incredibly life changing, since never before had audience been able to control visual material (not in the cinema, not with live television). People also started to create their own video and film archives, by recording and collecting broadcasted shows and movies.36 This leading into the next usage which is the archival use of the VCR. Families could now capture, store and re-watch their own moments in time. No longer needing complex projection structures to rewatch home videos, they could simply and easily present them on their own television sets. Last but not least the VCR became a very important distribution tool for the movie industry, marketing tv audiences which no longer wanted to go out and visit the movie theater but who still enjoyed watching films in the privacy of their own homes.37 The first attempt to create prerecorded tapes was made in 1972, three years
33

Mary Ann Doane, "Dead time, or the concept of the event", in: The emergence of cinematic time. Modernity, contingency, the archive (Cambridge 2002) Chaper 5 - 140-172 34 Ben Singer, "Modernity, hyperstimulus, the rise of popular sensationalism", in: Vanessa Schwartz en Leo Charney, Cinema and the invention of modern life, 46-72 35 Marita Sturken, 'Mobilities of time and space. Technologies of the Modern and the Postmodern", in: Technological Visions. The hopes and fears that shape new technologies (Philadelpia 2004), 71-91 36 Greenberg, Joshua. 37 Greenberg, Joshua.

before the invention of the Betamax, by Cartridge Television Inc. However their product was flawed, broke down easily, had no rewind function and the company eventually went bankrupt.38 However it wasnt until 1977 when an outside manufacturer named Andre Bay got Twentieth Centuray Fox to agree on releasing some film on video.39 Distributing instead of blank tapes, prerecorded tapes with various contents40.

figure 11: Adult filmcorner in Video Rental Store (left) and prerecorded VHS tapes (right)

The porn industry suddenly flourished based on the VHSs and the VCRs advantages of home privacy over the public cinemas. Thousands of video rental stores started popping up. Next to blockbuster movies and porn, B-film also got a change of a second life as a rental video and a large market was created for h ome exercise and home education videos. Later on recordings of live events or live theater pieces would also become popular content for videos, now being documented and available for ever and for everyone. Distributed videos also started providing added new material, bloopers and trailers for upcoming films, heightening the audiences interactivity, who were now able not only to rewatch, pause and fast-forward scenes, but could optionally choose to watch added material. The VCR and the arrival of video stores hinted at the new era of modernity in which choice seems infinite and unlimited availability is key.41

38 39

Greenberg, Joshua. Wasser, Frederick. The long tail of the video store in Media Fields Journal no.1 (2010) 40 Pickett, Joe and Nick Prueher. VHS: absurd, odd and ridicules relics from the videotape era . Philadelphia: Running Press, 2011. 41 Wasser, Frederick.

figure 12: Television image of a VHS tape being rewined

Instead of being the end of television or cinema, as was feared by some, the VHS became an important aspects in the film industry, especially after their losses by the arrival of television, and television broadcasting became even more important because it became one of the main sources of entertainment (now being able to be watched and rewatched at anytime).

Ending of an era
After the invention of the digital video disk (DVD) format in 1995, and its US market release in 1997 the VHS has slowly died out and has definitely become a death medium by now.42

figure 13: DVD replacing VHS

Being replaced as a dominant method of film and video distribution after 200043, by the much smaller, cheaper and higher storage quality of the DVD the VHS has perhaps some

42

Death of the video recorder in sight Monday, 22 November, 2004 accessed through: www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4031223.stm

archival value left but is no longer being actively used by the masses. As quoted in the Washington Times Americans have accepted DVDs faster than they did black-and-white TV, color TV, VCRs and CD players, said Mr. Bersell. About 50 million Americans have bought DVD players since they were introduced in 1997. It took the VCR 10 years to reach the same threshold. Nowadays (in 2013) even the DVD is competing with again even newer formats like the BluRay disc and new ways to distribute films, like the internet, video on demand and interactive television.

References
Ben Singer, "Modernity, hyperstimulus, the rise of popular sensationalism", in: Vanessa Schwartz en Leo Charney, Cinema and the invention of modern life, 46-72 Cusumano, Micheal A., Yiorgos Mylonadis and Richard S. Rosenboom Strategic Maneuvering and Mass-Market Dynamics: The Triumph of VHS over Beta in The Buisness History Review, vol. 66, No.1, High-Technology Industries (Spring 1992), pp. 51-94 Death of the video recorder in sight Monday, 22 November, 2004 accessed through: www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4031223.stm Greenberg, Joshua. From Betamax to blockbuster: video stores and the invention of movies on video. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2008. Hartley, John, "Housing television: a film, a fridge and social democracy", in: Uses of television (Londen 1999) J. Thompson, "The rise of mediated interaction", The media and modernity. A social theory of the

media (Londen 2001) 81-119.

Marita Sturken, 'Mobilities of time and space. Technologies of the Modern and the Postmodern", in: Technological Visions. The hopes and fears that shape new technologies(Philadelpia 2004), 71-91
43

The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.) "It's unreel: DVD rentals overtake videocassettes". 2003-06-20. Access through: www.washingtontimes.com/news/2003/jun/20/20030620-113258-1104r/?page=2

Marschall. How VCRs Work 10-02-2011 on HowStuffWorks.com Mary Ann Doane, "Dead time, or the concept of the event", in: The emergence of cinematic time.

Modernity, contingency, the archive (Cambridge 2002) Chaper 5 - 140-172

Pickett, Joe and Nick Prueher. VHS: absurd, odd and ridicules relics from the videotape era. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2011. Ronan, David T. Practical VCR repair. Albany, New York: Delmar Publishers Inc, 1995. The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.) "It's unreel: DVD rentals overtake videocassettes". 200306-20. Access through: www.washingtontimes.com/news/2003/jun/20/20030620-1132581104r/?page=2 Wasser, Frederick. The long tail of the video store in Media Fields Journal no.1 (2010) Wasser, Frederick. Veni, Vidi, video: the Hollywood empire and the VCR. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001 http://www.totalrewind.org/revolution/R_evrsel.htm