There are many nostalgic people who long for the VHS format, a video format that had its origin in the 1970s. Now it is a practically obsolete format, but it had such an impact that there are many followers who long for it. In this article you will discover how its origin was and what was the reason for its disappearance.
Origin of the VHS video format
VHS is the acronym in English for Video Home System, which in Spanish would be “Domestic Video System”. And as its name says, it was a analog audio and video recording system on magnetic tape.
It was developed during the 70s and launched on the market in 1976 by JVC and Matsushita (Panasonic), its parent company. Until the arrival of the DVD at the beginning of the 21st century, it was the most popular home format for 20 years.
When it hit the market it came into direct competition with Sony’s Betamax, the format that until then was the most common in homes. That was why, for a period of time, there was great competition between video tape formats, giving rise to a kind of “format war.” Mainly between Sony’s Betamax, JVC’s VHS and Philips’ Video 2000, although the latter to a lesser extent.
The golden age of VHS
In this battle, the VHS turned out to be the winning formatall thanks to the benefits it offered and which maintained its success during the following decades.
The VHS format was a revolution in many ways for several reasons. First, because although Betamax offered a much higher quality than the VHS format, the Sony’s Betamax production was much more expensivewhich meant higher costs for the client.
Furthermore, Betamax offered about three hours of recording, compared to six VHS, which logically made the JVC format also gain in popularity. Another point is that apart from playing video, it was also capable of making home recordings of television broadcasts. The domestic way of watching certain broadcasts again without waiting for them to be played again.
On the other hand, the Sony company itself was much more secretive when it came to marketing the product. In this sense, JVC led the way allowing other brands to manufacture both the devices and the tapes.
A point that also helped the extension of the format was the film industry. In the 1980s, major industry giants like Disney released their films exclusively on VHS, which was a great boost for the brand.
On the other hand, although as we see, they were not the only causes, pornographic films were important in the proliferation, since when they were released only in this format, many video stores wanted to offer them on VHS due to public demand.
The disappearance of VHS
The point of greatest splendor of the format was when Sony had to accept its defeat, realizing that its Betamax had become very outdated. In 1988, Sony itself began producing a line of VHS recorders.
However, the high point ended with the arrival of the new format, DVD in the early 2000s. Six years later, in 2006, the last film would be released on VHS: A History of Violence.
Nowadays many collectors and nostalgic people fondly keep these tapes. And, in fact, there is a market for these types of films all over the world, in which many people They pay real fortunes for some specific films in product buying and selling apps.
