The Video Home System (better known by its abbreviation VHS) is a consumer-level video standard developed by Japanese company, JVC, and launched in 1976. It was first marketed to the public on October 1, 1977. During the late part of the 1970s and the early 1980s, the home video industry was involved in the VHS vs. Betamax war, which VHS would eventually win. Advantages of VHS include longer playing time, faster rewinding and fast-forwarding, and a less complex tape transport mechanism. The open standard used for VHS technology allowed mass production without licensing costs. VHS would eventually succeed as the dominant home video format, surpassing others by the mid-1980s and into the 90s.
In later years, optical disc formats began to offer better quality than video tape. The earliest of these formats, Laserdisc, was not widely adopted, but the later DVD (Digital Video Disc), format eventually did achieve mass acceptance and took over in film studios, then retailers, and finally video rental stores. By 2006, the United States had stopped releasing new movie titles in VHS format, opting for others such as DVD and Blu-ray Disc. On December 31, 2008, the last major United States supplier of pre-recorded VHS tapes, Distribution Video Audio Inc. of Palm Harbor, Florida, shipped its final truckload. Currently, most of the VHS tapes being produced are blank.
Do you have old VHS video tapes stored in a closet? If you do, now is the time to transfer your video tapes to DVD or transfer the video tapes to a Mac or PC formatted hard drive.
How old are your videotapes? A typical Videotape will last only around 8- 10 years before the oxide covered plastic tape they are recorded on begins to degrade, tear or stretch. The colors fade and sometimes the picture is too snowy to watch. Before that happens to your video tapes, transfer them to DVD. We can transfer all consumer formats including VHS videotape, VHS-C videotape, 8MM videotape, Hi8 videotape, Digital 8 videotape, MiniDV videotape, and yes, even the old Betamax videotape. We can also convert foreign PAL and SECAM to the US standard NTSC and from NTSC to PAL and SECAM.
NOTE: For more information about how video tapes and movies degrade over time and how to store your movies check our our "How to Store and Care for Video Tapes" by clicking here.
Many of our clients want to know if they can edit their own home movie once they are transferred to DVD. The answer is two fold! Like a rented movie you can not edit a DVD once it is created. However, for many of our clients we digitize their old video tapes to a "movie format" on a computer hard drive. With this process our clients can add titles, delete bad footage and add movie-like transitions to their home movies. Once completed these movies can be easily converted to the "DVD format" to be enjoyed on a TV or PC.
