VHS tapes were a staple of the 80s and 90s. Back in the age of photographic film, projectors in school, even rewinding our audio cassettes with a pencil, I don’t think many of us could imagine anything better for bringing movies into our home than what those bulky plastic rectangles offered. VHS tapes didn’t just capture theatrical movies, they broadened the movie industry and allowed users the freedom to record off television.
Videotape technology stemmed back to the 1950s when magnetic tape recording became something television production studios found more suited to their need than high-grade film used in movies. In the 50s, videotape technology was extremely expensive. As decades progressed, magnetic tape became more efficient. In Japan, companies pushed to make videotapes viable for a consumer market and by the early 70s, two major companies emerged: JVC, with the invention of Video Home System, and Sony, with the Betamax.
For many years in the late 80s and 90s, I’d hear talk of the video recording “format war.” To sum up the rivalry, Sony pushed Betamax as the ideal standard. Due to some development factors, JVC’s VHS (Video Home System) was almost left behind. But JVC offered free use of their design to other companies. VHS had a huge advantage over Betamax too. The first VHS tapes could record up to two hours. Early Betamax tapes could only hold one hour. Some people argued Betamax had better audio-visual quality, but the winner came down to logic. Most movies run-time was more than an hour, and the price to purchase two Betamax tapes, not to mention having to switch midway into a movie, it just wasn’t as viable. Both systems had the ability to record TV programs and play them back any time, but again, VHS held double the time with the VCR (Video Cassette Recorder).
Since JVC had shared their technology to produce VHS tapes and VCRs, prices on both gradually dropped. Even a single blank VHS tape cost around $20 at first, (not adjusted for inflation). An actual movie recorded onto tape usually sold for $100+. Considering the average price for a theatrical ticket in 1980 was $2.69, it might seem a wonder this product ever caught on. Most early VHS movies were only available through rental. Long before Blockbuster came onto the scene, VHS tapes were rented from supermarkets or corner stores. I have clear memories of getting movies from our local supermarket where a specialty clerk was called over, and plenty of paperwork and a hefty deposit later we got a weekend rental. Eventually, even small towns got rental shops and supermarket kiosks transitioned away.
Prices continued to drop on VCRs as years passed. Cheaper VCRs reached down to around $200 midway through the 80s. The VCR had appeal to people from young to old. Of course, no recollection of the VCR would be complete without mentioning how many people often got two just for the sake of transferring rental movies onto blank tapes. FBI warning be damned, I rarely went anywhere someone hadn’t at least a few, maybe a few hundred, movies copied thus.
Prices of tapes eventually matched the appeal for home ownership. When most tapes still cost over a hundred dollars each, Top Gun released on VHS in 1986 for $27. This event was a pivotal turn for VHS tapes, for it proved consumer tape sales could generate revenue that matched, or outdid, sales to rental shops. Soon following, E.T. released for $25, though a coupon program that dropped the price to $20. From the late 80s on, the price of mainstream movies often released at twenty-dollars or less.
Another niche thing that happened thanks to VHS was that a whole market emerged for movies that though they might not have theatrical appeal, they could have direct-to-video appeal. Sure B-movies existed prior, but with the option to generate rental money, and with the demand for movies to watch, whole studios emerged around making independent straight-to-VHS movies.
VCRs were deep in the mainstream through the 90s. Tape prices stayed steady, and oftendropped below the standard $20. VHS tapes helped with distribution of niche genres. Kung Fu, anime, exercise, foreign, and horror movies were all widely spread with the help of VHS tapes. As newer options than VHS began to emerge, like Laserdisc, prices on them meant they never posed a real challenge. Even as DVDs first emerged, I thought they were more a curiosity, something to play on a computer, but not to supplant VHS’s dominance. Yet, the overall superior quality of DVD eventually made VHS tapes look outdated.
It often is all the shortcomings I seem to see when people bring up VHS tapes today. Yes, they were bulky. The plastic on the tape case could break. The magnetic film inside sometimes showed wear and tear. A VCR could “eat” a tape if the film got caught during play. They had to be rewound too, which meant potential fines from a rental shop if forgotten. Still, there was something nostalgically fun about them too.
For one, I personally loved the clinking sound a tape made, were it gears or the tape door rattling. The smell of one tape was hardly noticeable, but a cabinet full, or a rental shop, they had a distinct smell of magnetic metal seeped in with the plastic. Hell, even hear the click when we done rewinding a tape, it was satisfying too.
Many early tape releases had commercials attached, not just previews. This was to help offset sale prices initially. Though these commercials were major annoyances on repeated viewings, many captured a nostalgic aspect of the bygone time and those commercials that related to the movie could be pretty entertaining. Finally, to come back to that R in the VCR, many of us kids got savvy enough to program our VCRs so we wouldn’t miss our favorite shows. Collecting a series or getting a rare movie on tape could feel like a huge accomplishment.
VHS was a temporary era in the medium of delivering movies. In time, magnetic film inside old cases has often begun to degrade. Tapes were never meant to last forever. Still today, VHS has become something people like to collect. Although most people have moved on from the old technology, the impact of VHS tapes and VCRs can’t be denied. They helped broaden the movie industry. They had a huge impact on entertainment and culture, and their legacy lives on with the pioneering of technology in home movie history.
