View source for VHS

{{short description|Consumer-level analog videotape recording and cassette form standard}}
{{about|the video format}}
<!--There is a reliable source for the name "Video Home System". Please do not change the name without at least providing an equally reliable source.-->
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox storage medium
| title = Video Home System
| name = Video Home System
| logo = [[File:VHS logo.svg|class=skin-invert|180px|alt=VHS logo]]
| image = VHS-Video-Tape-Top-Flat (cropped).jpg
| caption = Top view of a VHS videocassette
| type = [[Magnetic cassette tape]], ½-inch (12.7mm)
| encoding = [[Frequency modulation|FM]] on [[magnetic tape]]; [[NTSC]], [[PAL]], [[SECAM]], [[SECAM#MESECAM (home recording)|MESECAM]]; [[525 lines]]; [[625 lines]]
| capacity = In minutes. Common for [[PAL]]: 120, 180, 240. Common for [[NTSC]]: 120, 160.
| read = [[Helical scan]]
| write = Helical scan
| standard = 
| dimensions = 18.7 × 10.2 × 2.5 cm<br/>(7{{fraction|9}} × 4 × 1 inch)
| owner = [[JVC]]
| use = [[Home video]] and [[home movies]] (replaced by [[DVD-Video|DVD]] and [[Blu-ray]]), TV recordings (replaced by [[Digital video recorder|DVR]])<br>(successor to [[Compact Cassette|cassette tape]])
| extended from = [[Compact Cassette]]
| released = {{Start date and age|1976|9|9}} (Japan)<br>{{Start date and age|1977|8|23}} (United States)
| discontinued = 2016 (officially, some VHS still occasionally made)
}}

[[File:VHS recorder, camera and cassette b.jpg|thumb|right|S VHS Recorder, Camcorder & Cassette]]

'''VHS''' ('''Video Home System''')<ref>ETHW (2006). IEEE History Center: Development of VHS. Page cites the original name as "Video Home System", from the original source, an article by Yuma Shiraishi, one of its inventors. [[Kimiko Glenn]] Retrieved on January 3, 2023 from https://web.archive.org/web/20230819212517/https://ethw.org/Milestones:Development_of_VHS,_a_World_Standard_for_Home_Video_Recording,_1976.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last= Free|first= John|date= November 1977|title= How good are they? New long-play video-cassette recorders|url=  https://books.google.com/books?id=bwEAAAAAMBAJ|magazine= Popular Science|publisher= Times Mirror Magazine inc.|page= 81}} [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_bwEAAAAAMBAJ/page/n74 Alt URL]</ref><ref name="latimes1">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-dec-22-et-vhs-tapes22-story.html |title=VHS era is winding down |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=December 22, 2008 |access-date=July 11, 2011 |first=Geoff |last=Boucher|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202185658/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-dec-22-et-vhs-tapes22-story.html |archive-date=December 2, 2023 }}</ref> is<!--Do NOT change to "was". This violates [[MOS:TENSE]], which specifies that all articles on formats are written in present tense, even if discontinued.--> a discontinued [[technical standard|standard]] for consumer-level [[analog recording|analog]] [[video recording]] on tape [[Videocassette|cassettes]], introduced in 1976 by [[JVC]]. It was the dominant [[home video]] format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s.<ref name="jchyung">{{cite web |title=Lessons Learned from the VHS – Betamax War |url=http://besser.tsoa.nyu.edu/impact/f96/Projects/jchyung/ |access-date=January 3, 2011 |publisher=Besser.tsoa.nyu.edu|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404142318/http://besser.tsoa.nyu.edu/impact/f96/Projects/jchyung/ |archive-date=April 4, 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Parris |first1=Daniel |title=The Rise, Fall, and (Slight) Rise of DVDs. A Statistical Analysis |url=https://www.statsignificant.com/p/the-rise-fall-and-slight-rise-of |publisher=Stat Significant |access-date=July 4, 2024 |date=December 20, 2023}}</ref>

[[Magnetic tape]] video recording was adopted by the television industry in the 1950s in the form of the first commercialized [[video tape recorder]]s (VTRs), but the devices were expensive and used only in professional environments. In the 1970s, videotape technology became affordable for home use, and widespread adoption of [[videocassette recorder]]s (VCRs) began;<ref name="Glinis2015">{{cite thesis |type=M.A. |last=Glinis |first=Shawn Michael |date=May 2015 |title=VCRs: The End of TV as Ephemera |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee |url=http://dc.uwm.edu/etd/806/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722231010/http://dc.uwm.edu/etd/806 |archive-date=July 22, 2016 |access-date=November 11, 2016}}</ref> the VHS became the most popular media format for VCRs as it would win the [[videotape format war|"format war"]] against [[Betamax]] (backed by [[Sony]])<ref name="beta_end">{{cite web |date=November 10, 2015 |title=Sony finally decides it's time to kill Betamax |url=https://www.techspot.com/news/62733-sony-finally-decides-time-kill-betamax.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230801132255/https://www.techspot.com/news/62733-sony-finally-decides-time-kill-betamax.html |access-date=January 3, 2023 |archive-date=August 1, 2023 |language=en-us}}</ref> and a number of other competing tape standards.

The cassettes themselves use a 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) magnetic tape between two spools<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine |last=Ganapati |first=Priya |title=June 4, 1977: VHS Comes to America |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2010/06/0604vhs-ces/ |access-date=December 13, 2023 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref> and typically offer a capacity of at least two hours. The popularity of VHS was intertwined with the rise of the [[Video rental shop|video rental]] market,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Clark |first=Steve |date=November 26, 2014 |title=When VHS ruled the home video market |url=https://www.thespoilist.com/when-vhs-ruled-the-home-video-market/ |access-date=January 3, 2024 |website=The Spoilist |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205142749/https://www.thespoilist.com/when-vhs-ruled-the-home-video-market/ |archive-date=December 5, 2022 |language=en-GB}}</ref> when films were released on pre-recorded videotapes for home viewing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ENTERTAINMENT IN VIDEO TECHNOLOGY |url=https://websites.umich.edu/~evideo/video_store.html |access-date=December 13, 2023 |website=websites.umich.edu}}</ref> Newer improved tape formats such as [[S-VHS]] were later developed, as well as the earliest [[optical disc]] format, [[LaserDisc]]; the lack of global adoption of these formats increased VHS's lifetime, which eventually peaked and started to decline in the late 1990s after the introduction of [[DVD]], a [[Digital media|digital]] optical disc format.<ref name="wp-gonewiththerewind">{{cite news |date=August 28, 2005 |title=Parting Words For VHS Tapes, Soon to Be Gone With the Rewind |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/26/AR2005082600332.html |access-date=November 18, 2018}}</ref> VHS rentals were surpassed by DVD in the United States in 2003,<ref>{{cite news |date=June 20, 2003 |title=It's unreel: DVD rentals overtake videocassettes |newspaper=The Washington Times |location=Washington, D.C. |url=http://washingtontimes.com/news/2003/jun/20/20030620-113258-1104r/ |access-date=June 2, 2010}}</ref> which eventually became the preferred low-end method of movie distribution.<ref name="VHS era is winding down">{{cite news |title=VHS era is winding down |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-vhs-tapes22-2008dec22,0,5852342.story}}</ref> For [[home recording]] purposes, VHS and VCRs were surpassed by (typically [[Hard disk drive|hard disk]]–based) [[Digital video recorder|digital video recorders]] (DVR) in the 2000s.<ref name=":0" /> Production of all VHS equipment ceased by 2016,<ref name="lastVHS" /> although the format has since gained some popularity amongst collectors.

== History ==
<!-- Please do not insert claims that the original name was "Vertical Helical Scan" or that that is an authoritative alternate name. See [[talk:VHS/FAQ]] ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:VHS/FAQ ). Thanks. -->

=== Before VHS ===
{{further|Video tape recorder}}

In 1956, after several attempts by other companies, the first commercially successful VTR, the [[Quadruplex videotape|Ampex VRX-1000]], was introduced by [[Ampex|Ampex Corporation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cedmagic.com/history/ampex-commercial-vtr-1956.html |title=AMPEX VRX-1000 – The First Commercial Videotape Recorder in 1956 | publisher=CED Magic |access-date=March 24, 2013}}</ref> At a price of US$50,000 in 1956 ({{Inflation|US|50000|1956|fmt=eq}}) and US$300 ({{Inflation|US|300|1956|fmt=eq}}) for a 90-minute reel of tape, it was intended only for the professional market.<ref>{{Cite web |title=vhsc |url=https://throughopenlens.com/tag/vhsc/ |access-date=September 28, 2022 |website=Through Open Lens |language=en}}</ref>

[[Kenjiro Takayanagi]], a television broadcasting pioneer then working for [[JVC]] as its vice president, saw the need for his company to produce VTRs for the Japanese market at a more affordable price. In 1959, JVC developed a two-head video tape recorder and, by 1960, a color version for professional broadcasting.<ref name="takayanagi">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TOMOmmrvwCcC|title=The History of Television 1942-2000, pg 169 |publisher=Albert Abramson |year=2003 |access-date=March 24, 2013|isbn=9780786432431}}</ref> In 1964, JVC released the DV220, which would be the company's standard VTR until the mid-1970s.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

In 1969, JVC collaborated with [[Sony Corporation]] and [[Matsushita Electric]] (Matsushita was the majority stockholder of JVC until 2011) to build a video recording standard for the Japanese consumer.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ce.org/Press/CEA_Pubs/941.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060813163356/http://www.ce.org/Press/CEA_Pubs/941.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 13, 2006 |title=VCR |publisher=Ce.org |access-date=July 11, 2011 }}</ref> The effort produced the [[U-matic]] format in 1971, which was the first cassette format to become a unified standard for different companies.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} It was preceded by the reel-to-reel {{frac|1|2}}" EIAJ format.

The U-matic format was successful in businesses and some broadcast television applications, such as electronic news-gathering, and was produced by all three companies until the late 1980s, but because of cost and limited recording time, very few of the machines were sold for home use.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} Therefore, soon after the U-Matic release, all three companies started working on new consumer-grade video recording formats of their own. Sony started working on [[Betamax]], Matsushita started working on [[VX (videocassette format)|VX]], and JVC released the CR-6060 in 1975, based on the U-matic format.

=== VHS development ===
In 1971, JVC engineers Yuma Shiraishi and Shizuo Takano put together a team to develop a VTR for consumers.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/20/world/shizuo-takano-68-an-engineer-who-developed-vhs-recorders.html |title=Shizuo Takano, 68, an Engineer Who Developed VHS Recorders |work=The New York Times |date=January 20, 1992 |access-date=July 11, 2011 |first=Andrew |last=Pollack}}</ref>

By the end of 1971, they created an internal diagram, "VHS Development Matrix", which established twelve objectives for JVC's new VTR:<ref name="rickmaybury">{{cite web |url=http://www.rickmaybury.com/Altarcs/homent/he97/vhstoryhtm.htm |title=VHS STORY – Home Taping Comes of Age |publisher=Rickmaybury.com |date=September 7, 1976 |access-date=July 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719095527/http://www.rickmaybury.com/Altarcs/homent/he97/vhstoryhtm.htm |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

* The system must be compatible with any ordinary television set.
* Picture quality must be similar to a normal air broadcast.
* The tape must have at least a two-hour recording capacity.
* Tapes must be interchangeable between machines.
* The overall system should be versatile, meaning it can be scaled and expanded, such as connecting a video camera, or dubbing between two recorders.
* Recorders should be affordable, easy to operate, and have low maintenance costs.
* Recorders must be capable of being produced in high volume, their parts must be interchangeable, and they must be easy to service.

In early 1972, the commercial video recording industry in Japan took a financial hit. JVC cut its budgets and restructured its video division, shelving the VHS project. However, despite the lack of funding, Takano and Shiraishi continued to work on the project in secret. By 1973, the two engineers had produced a functional prototype.<ref name="rickmaybury" />

=== Competition with Betamax ===
In 1974, the Japanese [[Ministry of International Trade and Industry]] (MITI), desiring to avoid [[consumer confusion]], attempted to force the Japanese video industry to standardize on just one home video recording format.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bylund |first=Anders |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/guides/2010/01/is-the-end-of-the-format-wars-upon-us.ars |title=The format wars: of lasers and (creative) destruction |publisher=Arstechnica.com |date=January 4, 2010 |access-date=July 11, 2011}}</ref> Later, Sony had a functional prototype of the [[Betamax]] format, and was very close to releasing a finished product. With this prototype, Sony persuaded the MITI to adopt Betamax as the standard, and allow it to license the technology to other companies.<ref name="rickmaybury" />

JVC believed that an [[open standard]], with the format shared among competitors without licensing the technology, was better for the consumer. To prevent the MITI from adopting Betamax, JVC worked to convince other companies, in particular [[Panasonic|Matsushita]] (Japan's largest electronics manufacturer at the time, marketing its products under the National brand in most territories and the Panasonic brand in North America, and JVC's majority stockholder), to accept VHS, and thereby work against [[Sony]] and the MITI.<ref name="howells">John Howells. "The Management of Innovation and Technology: The Shaping of Technology and Institutions of the Market Economy" [hardcopy], pp. 76–81.</ref> Matsushita agreed, primarily out of concern that Sony might become the leader in the field if its proprietary Betamax format was the only one allowed to be manufactured. Matsushita also regarded Betamax's one-hour recording time limit as a disadvantage.<ref name="howells" />

Matsushita's backing of JVC persuaded [[Hitachi]], [[Mitsubishi]], and [[Sharp Corporation|Sharp]]<ref>[http://www.mediacollege.com/video/format/compare/betamax-vhs.html Media College] "The Betamax vs VHS Format War", by Dave Owen, published: May 1, 2005</ref> to back the VHS standard as well.<ref name="rickmaybury" /> Sony's release of its Betamax unit to the Japanese market in 1975 placed further pressure on the MITI to side with the company. However, the collaboration of JVC and its partners was much stronger, which eventually led the MITI to drop its push for an industry standard. JVC released the first VHS machines in Japan in late 1976, and in the United States in mid-1977.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Cashmore|first1=Ellis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MxfDwAAQBAJ&q=JVC+released+the+first+VHS+machines&pg=PR10|title=Screen Society|last2=Cleland|first2=Jamie|last3=Dixon|first3=Kevin|date=June 12, 2018|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-319-68164-1|language=en}}</ref>

Sony's Betamax competed with VHS throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s (see [[Videotape format war]]). Betamax's major advantages were its smaller cassette size, theoretical higher video quality, and earlier availability, but its shorter recording time proved to be a major shortcoming.<ref name="beta_end" />

Originally, Beta I machines using the [[NTSC]] television standard were able to record one hour of programming at their standard tape speed of 1.5&nbsp;[[inches per second]]&nbsp;(ips).<ref name="100greatinventions" /> The first VHS machines could record for two hours, due to both a slightly slower tape speed (1.31&nbsp;ips)<ref name="100greatinventions">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPFiZ31mTnUC|title=100 Greatest Inventions|pages= 288–289 |publisher=Citadel Press Books |year=2003 |access-date=October 6, 2012|isbn=9780806524047}}</ref> and significantly longer tape. Betamax's smaller cassette limited the size of the reel of tape, and could not compete with VHS's two-hour capability by extending the tape length.<ref name="100greatinventions" /> Instead, Sony had to slow the tape down to 0.787&nbsp;ips (Beta II) in order to achieve two hours of recording in the same cassette size.<ref name="100greatinventions" /> Sony eventually created a Beta III speed of 0.524 ips, which allowed NTSC Betamax to break the two-hour limit, but by then VHS had already won the format battle.<ref name="100greatinventions" />

Additionally, VHS had a "far less complex tape transport mechanism" than Betamax, and VHS machines were faster at rewinding and fast-forwarding than their Sony counterparts.<ref name="Parekh">{{Cite book|title = Principles of Multimedia|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TaNmc2IdNVwC|publisher = Tata McGraw-Hill Education|date = January 1, 2006|isbn = 9780070588332|first = Ranjan|last = Parekh}}</ref>

VHS eventually won the war, gaining 60% of the [[North America]]n market by 1980.<ref>{{cite web |date=August 21, 2014 |title=The Rapid Evolution of the Consumer Camcorder |url=https://www.videomaker.com/article/f22/17178-the-rapid-evolution-of-the-consumer-camcorder |access-date=August 6, 2016}}</ref><ref name="beta_end" />

== Initial releases of VHS-based devices ==
[[File:JVC-HR-3300U.jpg|thumb|JVC HR-3300U VIDSTAR – the US version of the JVC HR-3300. It is virtually identical to the Japanese version, which showed the "Victor" name, and did not use the "VIDSTAR" name.]]
The first [[videocassette recorder|VCR]] to use VHS was the [[JVC HR-3300|Victor HR-3300]], and was introduced by the president of JVC in Japan on September 9, 1976.<ref name="nipponsei">{{cite web |url=http://www.nipponsei.jp/n-hajimete/n-hajimete009.html |title=Always Helpful! Full of Information on Recording Media "Made in Japan After All" |publisher=Nipponsei.jp |access-date=July 11, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110111005825/http://www.nipponsei.jp/n-hajimete/n-hajimete009.html |archive-date=January 11, 2011  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.totalrewind.org/vhs/H_3300.htm |title=JVC HR-3300 |publisher=Totalrewind.org |access-date=July 11, 2011}}</ref> JVC started selling the HR-3300 in [[Akihabara]], Tokyo, Japan, on October 31, 1976.<ref name="nipponsei" /> Region-specific versions of the JVC HR-3300 were also distributed later on, such as the HR-3300U in the United States, and the HR-3300EK in the United Kingdom. The United States received its first VHS-based VCR, the RCA VBT200, on August 23, 1977.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cedmagic.com/history/vbt200.html |title=CED in the History of Media Technology |publisher=Cedmagic.com |date=August 23, 1977 |access-date=July 11, 2011}}</ref> The RCA unit was designed by Matsushita and was the first VHS-based VCR manufactured by a company other than JVC. It was also capable of recording four hours in LP (long play) mode. The UK received its first VHS-based VCR, the Victor HR-3300EK, in 1978.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article785934.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070225011304/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article785934.ece |title=Fast-forward to oblivion as VCRs take only 5% of market|archive-date=February 25, 2007|work=[[The Times]]}}</ref>

[[Quasar (brand)|Quasar]] and [[General Electric]] followed-up with VHS-based VCRs – all designed by Matsushita.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vintageelectronics.betamaxcollectors.com/panasonicvhsgallery.html |title=Panasonic VHS VCR Gallery |publisher=Vintageelectronics.betamaxcollectors.com |access-date=July 11, 2011}}</ref> By 1999, Matsushita alone produced just over half of all Japanese VCRs.<ref name="Cusumano">Cusumano, MA, Mylonadis, Y. and Rosenbloom, RS (1992) "Strategic Manoeuvring and Mass Market Dynamics: VHS over Beta", Business History Review, pg 88</ref> [[Combo television unit|TV/VCR combos]], combining a TV set with a VHS mechanism, were also once available for purchase.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/21/18660239/vhs-tapes-digital-copies-how-to-make|title=How to make digital copies of your VHS tapes|first=Cameron|last=Faulkner|date=July 21, 2019|website=The Verge}}</ref> [[VCR/DVD combo|Combo units]] containing both a VHS mechanism and a DVD player were introduced in the late 1990s, and at least one combo unit, the Panasonic DMP-BD70V, included a Blu-ray player.

== Technical details ==
VHS has been standardized in [[International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]] 60774–1.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Helical-scan video tape cassette system using 12,65 mm (0,5 in) magnetic tape on type VHS – Part 1: VHS and compact VHS video cassette system |url=https://webstore.iec.ch/preview/info_iec60774-1%7Bed1.0%7Db.img.pdf |website=webstore.ice.ch}}</ref>

=== Cassette and tape design ===

[[File:VHS cassette tape 12.JPG|thumb|Top view of VHS with front casing removed]]
[[File:2023 Kaseta VHS, magnetofonowa i minikaseta.jpg|thumb|From left to right: Phillips Mini Cassette, Compact Cassette]]
The VHS [[Videocassette|cassette]] is a 187&nbsp;[[Millimetre|mm]] wide, 103&nbsp;mm deep, and 25&nbsp;mm thick (7{{frac|3|8}} × 4{{frac|1|16}}× 1 inch) plastic shell held together with five [[Screw|Phillips-head screws]]. The flip-up cover, which allows players and recorders to access the tape, has a latch on the right side, with a push-in toggle to release it (bottom view image). The cassette has an anti-despooling mechanism, consisting of several plastic parts between the spools, near the front of the cassette (white and black in the top view). The spool latches are released by a push-in lever within a 6.35&nbsp;mm ({{frac|1|4}} inch) hole at the bottom of the cassette, 19&nbsp;mm ({{frac|3|4}} inch) in from the edge label.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} The tapes are made, pre-recorded, and inserted into the cassettes in [[cleanroom]]s, to ensure quality and to keep [[dust]] from getting embedded in the tape and interfering with recording (both of which could cause signal dropouts)

There is a clear tape leader at both ends of the tape to provide an optical auto-stop for the VCR transport mechanism. In the VCR, a light source is inserted into the cassette through the circular hole in the center of the underside, and two [[photodiode]]s are on the left and right sides of where the tape exits the cassette. When the clear tape reaches one of these, enough light will pass through the tape to the photodiode to trigger the stop function; some VCRs automatically rewind the tape when the trailing end is detected. Early VCRs used an [[incandescent bulb]] as the light source: when the bulb failed, the VCR would act as if a tape were present when the machine was empty, or would detect the blown bulb and completely stop functioning. Later designs use an infrared [[Light-emitting diode|LED]], which has a much longer life.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

The recording medium is a Mylar<ref>Noble, Jem. "VHS: A Posthumanist Aesthetics of Recording and Distribution." OxfordHandbooks. Oxford Handbooks, Dec. 2013. Web. September 30, 2015.</ref> [[magnetic tape]], 12.7&nbsp;mm ({{frac|1|2}} inch) wide, coated with metal [[oxide]], and wound on two [[Bobbin|spool]]s. VHS tapes stored next to magnetic materials can become damaged or distorted due to the disruption of the oxide particles. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Video Tape Decay {{!}} How to Preserve VHS Tapes {{!}} ScanCafe |url=https://www.scancafe.com/image-preservation/videotape-decay |access-date=2025-10-07 |website=www.scancafe.com}}</ref>

The tape speed for "Standard Play" mode (see below) is 3.335&nbsp;[[Centimetre|cm]]/[[Second|s]] (1.313 ips) for [[NTSC]], 2.339&nbsp;cm/s (0.921 ips) for [[PAL]]—or just over 2.0 and 1.4 [[metre]]s (6&nbsp;ft 6.7 in and 4&nbsp;ft 7.2 in) per minute respectively. The tape length for a T-120 VHS cassette is 247.5 metres (812&nbsp;ft).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wallace |first1=Dillon |title=How long is my tape? What is the format? |url=https://southtree.com/blogs/artifact/how-long-is-my-tape-what-is-the-format |website=Southtree |access-date=March 2, 2020}}</ref>

=== Tape loading technique ===
[[File:VHS diagram.svg|thumb|200px|VHS M-loading system]]
As with almost all cassette-based videotape systems, VHS machines pull the tape out of the cassette shell and wrap it around the inclined head drum, which rotates at 1,800 rpm in NTSC machines<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/vcr2.htm
|title=How VCRs Work
|date=February 10, 2011
|access-date=February 10, 2011
|first=Marshall
|last=Brain
|publisher=HowStuffWorks
|page=7
}}</ref> and at 1,500&nbsp;[[Revolutions per minute|rpm]] for [[PAL]], one complete rotation of the head corresponding to one video frame. VHS uses an "M-loading" system, also known as M-lacing, where the tape is drawn out by two threading posts and wrapped around more than 180 degrees of the head drum (and also other [[tape transport]] components) in a shape roughly approximating the letter [[M]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12316724-000-technology-vhs-video-that-begins-at-the-beginning/|title=Technology: VHS video that begins at the beginning|website=New Scientist|language=en-US|access-date=January 22, 2020}}</ref> The heads in the rotating drum get their signal wirelessly using a [[rotary transformer]].

=== Recording capacity===
[[File:Funai VHS Video recorder 2000s 1.jpg|thumb|A late 2000s VHS VCR by Funai]]
[[File:VCR load.jpg|thumb|The interior of a late-generation VHS [[Videocassette recorder|VCR]] showing the drum and tape]]
A VHS cassette holds a maximum of about 430&nbsp;m (1,410&nbsp;ft) of tape at the lowest acceptable tape thickness, giving a maximum playing time of about four hours in a T-240/DF480 for [[NTSC]] and five hours in an E-300 for [[PAL]] at "standard play" (SP) quality. More frequently, however, VHS tapes are thicker than the required minimum to avoid complications such as jams or tears in the tape.<ref name="Parekh" /> Other speeds include "long play" (LP), "extended play" (EP) or "super long play" (SLP) (standard on NTSC; rarely found on PAL machines<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.crumblenet.co.uk/palep.html|title=List of PAL VHS Video Recorders with SLP/EP}}</ref>). LP and EP/SLP double and triple the recording time respectively, but these speed reductions cause a reduction in horizontal resolution – from the normal equivalent of 250 vertical lines in SP, to the equivalent of 230 in LP and even less in EP/SLP.

Due to the nature of recording diagonally from a spinning drum, the actual write speed of the video heads does not get slower when the tape speed is reduced. Instead, the video tracks become narrower and are packed closer together. This results in noisier playback that can be more difficult to track correctly: The effect of subtle misalignment is magnified by the narrower tracks. The heads for linear audio are not on the spinning drum, so for them, the tape speed from one reel to the other is the same as the speed of the heads across the tape. This speed is quite slow: for SP it is about 2/3s that of an audio cassette, and for EP it is slower than the slowest microcassette speed. This is widely considered inadequate for anything but basic voice playback, and was a major liability for VHS-C camcorders that encouraged the use of the EP speed. Color depth deteriorates significantly at lower speeds in PAL: often, a color image on a PAL tape recorded at low speed is displayed only in monochrome, or with intermittent color, when playback is paused.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

=== Tape lengths ===
[[File:VHS tape with time scale.jpg|thumb|VHS cassette with time scale for SP and LP]]
[[File:Quantegy-VHS-cassettes.jpg|550px|thumb|VHS cassettes of different play time labelled both for NTSC and PAL]]
VHS cassettes for [[Multi-standard television|NTSC and PAL/SECAM]] systems are physically identical, although the signals recorded on the tape are incompatible. The tape speeds are different too, so the playing time for any given cassette will vary between the systems. To avoid confusion, manufacturers indicate the playing time in minutes that can be expected for the market the tape is sold in: E-XXX indicates playing time in minutes for PAL or SECAM. T-XXX indicates playing time in minutes for NTSC or PAL-M.

To calculate the playing time for a T-XXX tape in a PAL machine, this formula is used:

: PAL/SECAM recording time = T-XXX in minutes × 1.426

To calculate the playing time for an E-XXX tape in an NTSC machine, this formula is used:

: NTSC recording time = E-XXX in minutes × 0.701

Since the recording/playback time for PAL/SECAM is roughly 1/3 longer than the recording/playback time for NTSC, some tape manufacturers label their cassettes with both T-XXX and E-XXX marks, like T60/E90, T90/E120 and T120/E180.

SP is standard play, LP is long play ({{frac|1|2}} speed, equal to recording time in DVHS "HS" mode), EP/SLP is extended/super long play ({{frac|1|3}} speed)<ref name="poptronics" /> which was primarily released into the NTSC market. Some later Panasonic DVD combo models such as the SA-HT820V supported VP (very long play) recording, equal to {{Fraction|1|5|}} speed of SP.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/manuallib-id-2656033 |title=Panasonic SC-HT820V Manual}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Common tape types, approximate
|-
! rowspan="2" | Label; nominal length <br/>(minutes)
! colspan="2" | Length
! colspan="4" | Recording time, NTSC
! colspan="3" | Recording time, PAL
|-
! (m) !! (ft)
! {{abbr|SP|Standard play}} !! {{abbr|LP|Long play}} !! {{abbr|EP|Extended play}}/{{abbr|SLP|Super long play}}
!{{Abbr|VP|Very long play}}
! {{abbr|SP|Standard play}} !! {{abbr|LP|Long play}} !! {{abbr|EP|Extended play}}/{{abbr|SLP|super long play}}
|-
! colspan="11" | ''NTSC market''
|- style="background:#ffe8f0;"
! T-20
| 44 || 145 || 20 min || 40 min || 60 min (1h) 
|100 min (1h 40)|| 28.52 min || 57.04 min || 85.56 min (1h 25.56)
|-
! T-30 (typical VHS-C)
| 63 || 207 || 30 min || 60 min (1h) || 90 min (1h 30) 
|150 min (2h 30)|| 42.78 min || 85.56 min (1h 25.56) || 128.34 min (2h 8.34)
|- style="background:#ffe8f0;"
! T-45
| 94 || 310 || 45 min || 90 min (1h 30) || 135 min (2h 15) 
|225 min (3h 45)|| 64.17 min (1h 04.17) || 128.34 min (2h 8.34) || 192.51 min (3h 12.51)
|-
! T-60
| 126 || 412 || 60 min (1h) || 120 min (2h)||  180 min (3h) 
|300 min (5h)|| 85.56 min (1h 25.56) || 171.12 min (2h 51.12) || 256.68 min (4h 16.68)
|- style="background:#ffe8f0;"
! T-90
| 186 || 610 || 90 min (1h 30) || 180 min (3h)||  270 min (4h 30) 
|450 min (7h 30)|| 128.34 min (2h 8.34) || 256.68 min (4h 16.68) || 385.02 min (6h 25.02)
|-
! T-120 / DF-240
| 247 || 811 || 120 min (2h) || 240 min (4h) || 360 min (6h) 
|600 min (10h)|| 176 min (2h 56) || 342.24 min (5h 42.24) || 513.36 min (8h 33.36)
|- style="background:#ffe8f0;"
!T-130
|277 || 910 || 130 min (2h 10) || 260 min(4h 20) || 390 min (6h 30) 
|650 min (10h 50)|| 185.38 min (3h 5.38) || 370.76 min (6h 10.76) || 556.14 min (9h 16.14)
|-
! T-140
| 287.5 || 943 || 140 min (2h 20) || 280 min (4h 40) || 420 min (7h) 
|700 min (11h 40)|| 199.64 min (3h 19.64) || 399.28 min (6h 39.28) || 598.92 min (9h 58.92)
|- style="background:#ffe8f0;"
! T-150 / DF-300
| 316.5 || 1,040 || 150 min (2h 30) || 300 min (5h) || 450 min (7h 30) 
|750 min (12h 30)|| 213.9 min (3h 33.9) || 427.8 min (7h 7.8) || 641.7 min (10h 41.7)
|-
! T-160
| 328 || 1,075 || 160 min (2h 40) || 320 min (5h 20) || 480 min (8h) 
|800 min (13h 20)|| 228.16 min (3h 48.16) ||  456.32 min (7h 36.32) || 684.48 min (11h 24.48)
|- style="background:#ffe8f0;"
! T-180 / DF-360
| 369 || 1,210 || 180 min (3h) || 360 min (6h)||  540 min (9h) 
|900 min (15h)|| 256.68 min (4h 16.68) ||  513.36 min (8h 33.36) || 770.04 min (12h 50.04)
|-
! T-200
| 410 || 1,345 || 200 min (3h 20) || 400 min (6h 40)||  600 min (10h) 
|1000 min (16h 40)|| 285.2 min (4h 45.2) || 570.4 min (9h 30.4) || 855.6 min (14h 15.6)
|- style="background:#ffe8f0;"
! T-210 / DF-420
| 433 || 1,420 || 210 min (3h 30) || 420 min (7h) || 630 min (10h 30) 
|1050 min (17h 30)|| 299.46 min (4h 59.46) || 598.92 min (9h 58.92) || 898.38 min (14h 58.38)
|-
! T-240 / DF-480
| 500 || 1,640 || 240 min (4h) || 480 min (8h) || 720 min (12h) 
|1200 min (20h)|| 342.24 min (5h 42.24) || 684.48 min (11h 24) || 1026.72 min (17h 6.72)
|-
! colspan="10" | ''PAL market''
|- style="background:#e8f0ff;"
! E-30 (typical VHS-C)
| 45 || 148 || 22.5 min || 45 min || 68 min (1h 08) 
|113 min (1h 53)|| 32 min || 64 min (1h 04) || 96 min (1h 36)
|-
! E-60
| 88 || 290 || 44 min || 88 min (1h 28) || 133 min (2h 13) 
|220 min (3h 40)|| 63 min (1h 03) || 126 min (2h 06) || 189 min (3h 09)
|- style="background:#e8f0ff;"
! E-90
| 131 || 429 || 65 min (1h 05) || 131 min (2h 11) || 196 min (3h 16) 
|325 min (5h 25)|| 93 min (1h 33) || 186 min (3h 06) || 279 min (4h 39)
|-
! E-120
| 174 || 570 || 87 min (1h 27) || 174 min (2h 54) || 260 min (4h 20) 
|435 min (7h 15)|| 124 min (2h 04) || 248 min (4h 08) || 372 min (6h 12)
|- style="background:#e8f0ff;"
! E-150 
| 216 || 609 || 108 min (1h 49) || 227 min (3h 37) || 324 min (5h 24) 
|540 min (9h)|| 154 min (2h 34) || 308 min (5h 08) || 462 min (7h 42)
|-
! E-180
| 259 || 849 || 129 min (2h 09) || 259 min (4h 18) || 388 min (6h 28) 
|645 min (10h 45)|| 184 min (3h 04) || 369 min (6h 09) || 552 min (9h 12)
|- style="background:#e8f0ff;"
! E-195
| 279 || 915 || 139 min (2h 19) || 279 min (4h 39) || 418 min (6h 58) 
|695 min (11h 35)|| 199 min (3h 19) || 397 min (6h 37) || 597 min (9h 57)
|-
! E-200 
| 289 || 935 || 144 min (2h 24) || 284 min (4h 44) || 428 min (7h 08) 
|720 min (12h)|| 204 min (3h 24) || 405 min (6h 45) || 612 min (10h 21)
|- style="background:#e8f0ff;"
! E-210
| 304 || 998 || 152 min (2h 32) || 304 min (5h 04) || 456 min (7h 36) 
|760 min (12h 40)|| 217 min (3h 37) || 433 min (7h 13) || 651 min (10h 51)
|-
! E-240
| 348 || 1,142 || 174 min (2h 54) || 348 min (5h 48) || 522 min (8h 42) 
|870 min (14h 30)|| 248 min (4h 08) || 496 min (8h 16) || 744 min (12h 24)
|- style="background:#e8f0ff;"
! E-270 
| 392 || 1,295 || 196 min (3h 16) || 392 min (6h 32) || 589 min (9h 49) 
|980 min (16h 20)|| 279 min (4h 39) || 559 min (9h 19) || 837 min (13h 57)
|- 
! E-300
| 435 || 1,427 || 217 min (3h 37) || 435 min (7h 15) || 652 min (10h 52) 
|1085 min (18h 5)|| 310 min (5h 10) || 620 min (10h 20) || 930 min (15h 30)
|}

=== Copy protection ===

As VHS was designed to facilitate recording from various sources, including television broadcasts or other VCR units, content producers quickly found that home users were able to use the devices to copy videos from one tape to another. Despite [[generation loss]] in quality when a tape was copied,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dqP8FCEiMGgC&pg=PA267|title=Bioimaging: Current Concepts in Light and Electron Microscopy|last1=Chandler|first1=Douglas E.|last2=Roberson|first2=Robert W.|publisher=[[Jones and Bartlett Publishers]]|date=2009|access-date=April 9, 2022|pages=267–268|isbn=978-0-7637-3874-7}}</ref> this practice was regarded as a widespread problem, which members of the [[Motion Picture Association of America]] (MPAA) claimed caused them great financial losses.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dTHxh9SAF-AC&pg=PA314|title=Time Strategies, Innovation and Environmental Policy|series=Advances in Ecological Economics|last1=Sartorius|first1=Christian|last2=Zundel|first2=Stefan|publisher=[[Edward Elgar Publishing]]|date=2005|access-date=April 9, 2022|pages=314–318|isbn=1-84542-090-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RQHFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA209|title=Copyrighting Culture: The Political Economy of Intellectual Property|series=Critical Studies in Communication and in the Cultural Industries|last=Bettig|first=Ronald V.|publisher=[[Routledge]]|date=2018|access-date=April 9, 2022|pages=209–210|isbn=978-0-8133-3304-5}}</ref> In response, several companies developed technologies to protect copyrighted VHS tapes from casual duplication by home users. The most popular method was [[Analog Protection System]], better known simply as [[Macrovision]], produced by a company of the same name.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hackaday.com/2018/05/27/rolling-old-school-with-copy-protection-from-the-1980s/|title=Rolling Old School With Copy Protection From The 1980s|date=May 28, 2018}}</ref> According to Macrovision: <blockquote>The technology is applied to over 550 million videocassettes annually and is used by every MPAA movie studio on some or all of their videocassette releases. Over 220 commercial duplication facilities around the world are equipped to supply Macrovision videocassette copy protection to rights owners...The study found that over 30% of VCR households admit to having unauthorized copies, and that the total annual revenue loss due to copying is estimated at $370,000,000 annually.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question313.htm|title=How does copy protection on a video tape work?|date=April 1, 2000|website=HowStuffWorks}}</ref></blockquote>

The system was first used in copyrighted movies beginning with the 1984 film ''[[The Cotton Club (film)|The Cotton Club]]''.<ref name="deatley19850907">{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lc8vAAAAIBAJ&pg=5630%2C870934 | title=VCRs put entertainment industry into fast-forward frenzy | work=The Free Lance-Star | date=September 7, 1985 | agency=Associated Press | access-date=January 25, 2015 | author=De Atley, Richard | pages=12–TV}}</ref>

Macrovision copy protection saw refinement throughout its years, but has always worked by essentially introducing deliberate errors into a protected VHS tape's output video stream. These errors in the output video stream are ignored by most televisions, but will interfere with re-recording of programming by a second VCR. The first version of Macrovision introduces high signal levels during the [[vertical blanking interval]], which occurs between the video fields. These high levels confuse the [[automatic gain control]] circuit in most VHS VCRs, leading to varying brightness levels in an output video, but are ignored by the TV as they are out of the frame-display period. "Level II" Macrovision uses a process called "colorstriping", which inverts the analog signal's colorburst period and causes off-color bands to appear in the picture. Level III protection added additional colorstriping techniques to further degrade the image.<ref name="anarchivism-rip-vhs">{{cite web |url=http://anarchivism.org/w/How_to_Rip_VHS |title=How to Rip VHS |work=Anarchivism |date=December 14, 2012 }}</ref>

These protection methods worked well to defeat analog-to-analog copying by VCRs of the time. Consumer products capable of digital video recording are mandated by law to include features which detect Macrovision encoding of input analog streams, and disrupt copying of the video.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} Both intentional and false-positive detection of Macrovision protection has [[Criticism of copyright|frustrated archivists]] who wish to copy now-fragile VHS tapes to a digital format for preservation. As of the 2020s, modern software decoding<ref>{{Citation |last=oyvindln |title=oyvindln/vhs-decode |date=January 8, 2024 |url=https://github.com/oyvindln/vhs-decode |access-date=January 8, 2024}}</ref> ignores Macrovision as software is not limited to the fixed standards that Macrovision was intended to disrupt in hardware based systems.

== Recording process ==
[[File:Medion MD8910 - Inject and eject of a VHS cassette.webm|thumb|left|A close-up process of how the magnetic tape in a VHS cassette is being pulled from the cassette shell to the head drum of the VCR]]
[[File:VHS-diagonal-helical-recording.jpg|right|thumb|300px|This illustration demonstrates the helical wrap of the tape around the head drum, and shows the points where the video, audio and control tracks are recorded]]
The recording process in VHS consists of the following steps, in this order:
* The tape is pulled from the supply reel by a capstan and pinch roller, similar to those used in audio tape recorders. 
* The tape passes across the erase head, which wipes any existing recording from the tape.
* The tape is wrapped around the head drum, using a little more than 180 degrees of the drum.
* One of the heads on the spinning drum records one field of video onto the tape, in one diagonally oriented track. 
* The tape passes across the audio and control head, which records the control track and the linear audio tracks.
* The tape is wound onto the take-up reel due to torque applied to the reel by the machine.

=== Erase head ===
[[File:3-equals-1-waveform-cutting-vhs-decode-2024.png|alt=Adobe Audition spectrograph (Left) ld-analyse with TBC file set loaded (Right) - Munday Demo Tape Public Archive.|thumb|Highlighted selection of a 40msps RAW FM signal captured from a test point on a consumer VCR during playback (left) and its resulting decoded signal image frame or two interlaced fields (right) produced by [https://github.com/oyvindln/vhs-decode/wiki vhs-decode]]]
The erase head is fed by a high-level, high-frequency AC signal that overwrites any previous recording on the tape.<ref>[http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/audio/tape.html Tape Recording], Georgia State University</ref> Without this step, the new recording cannot be guaranteed to completely replace any old recording that might have been on the tape.

=== Video recording ===
{{For|the process used to commercially make VHS tapes|Print-through#Video recording}}
[[File:Kopftrommel 2.jpg|thumb|300px|Panasonic Hi-Fi six-head drum VEH0548 installed on G mechanism as an example, demonstrated a typical VHS head drum containing two tape heads. (1) is the upper head, (2) is the tape heads, and (3) is the head amplifier.]]
[[File:Medion MD8910 - VHS Helical scan tape head-8601.jpg|thumb|The upper- and underside of a typical four-head VHS head assembly showing the head chips and rotary transformer]]
[[File:Medion MD8910 - VHS Helical scan tape head-8610.jpg|thumb|Close-up of a head chip]]
[[File:RCA AutoShot VHS Camcorder.jpg|290px|thumb|right|A typical RCA (Model CC-4371) full-size VHS camcorder with a built-in three-inch color LCD screen.]]

The tape path then carries the tape around the spinning video-head drum, wrapping it around a little more than 180 degrees (called the ''omega'' transport system) in a [[helix|helical]] fashion, assisted by the slanted tape guides.<ref name="poptronics">{{Cite magazine |last=Goldwasser |first=Sam |date=January 2000 |title=VCRs |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=2782584&site=eds-live&scope=site |magazine=[[Poptronics]] |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=77–79 |issn=1526-3681}}</ref> The head rotates constantly at{{efn|The 1800 rpm tape head speed, and corresponding field period time, etc., quoted in this article for NTSC machines are based on the old black and white RS-170 standard. When this was adapted for color under the NTSC standard the actual field time was altered to {{Frac|60000|1001}} of a second, so the actual VHS head rotation speed is accordingly 1798.2 rpm. The pre-color timings are quoted here for simplicity. The corresponding numbers here for PAL are, on the other hand, exact, as PAL's field rate is exactly {{Frac|1|50}} of a second.}} 1798.2 rpm in NTSC machines, exactly 1500 in PAL, each complete rotation corresponding to one frame of video.

Two [[tape head]]s are mounted on the cylindrical surface of the drum, 180 degrees apart from each other, so that the two heads "take turns" in recording. The rotation of the inclined head drum, combined with the relatively slow movement of the tape, results in each head recording a track oriented at a diagonal with respect to the length of the tape, with the heads moving across the tape at speeds higher than what would otherwise be possible. This is referred to as [[helical scan]] recording.  A tape speed of {{fraction|1|5|16}} inches per second corresponds to the heads on the drum moving across the tape at (a writing speed of) 4.86<ref>{{Cite web |title=Betamax PALsite: The Betamax Format |url=https://www.palsite.com/format.html}}</ref><ref name="poptronics" /> or 6.096 meters per second.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHfNCgAAQBAJ&q=vhs+head+speed+240+inches+per+second&pg=PA127 |title = VCR Troubleshooting and Repair |isbn = 9780080520476|last1 = Brenner|first1 = Robert|last2 = Capelo|first2 = Gregory|date = August 26, 1998|publisher = Elsevier }}</ref>

To maximize the use of the tape, the video tracks are recorded very close together. To reduce [[crosstalk]] between adjacent tracks on playback, an [[azimuth recording]] method is used: The gaps of the two heads are not aligned exactly with the track path. Instead, one head is angled at plus six degrees from the track, and the other at minus six degrees.<ref name="poptronics" /> This results, during playback, in destructive interference of the signal from the tracks on either side of the one being played.

Each of the diagonal-angled tracks is a complete TV picture [[interlaced video|field]], lasting {{Frac|1|60}} of a second ({{Frac|1|50}} on PAL) on the display. One [[tape head]] records an entire picture field. The adjacent track, recorded by the second tape head, is another {{Frac|1|60}} or {{Frac|1|50}} of a second TV picture field, and so on. Thus one complete head rotation records an entire NTSC or PAL frame of two fields.

The original VHS specification had only two video heads. When the EP recording speed was introduced, the thickness of these heads was reduced to accommodate the narrower tracks. However, this subtly reduced the quality of the SP speed, and dramatically lowered the quality of freeze frame and high speed search. Later models implemented both wide and narrow heads, and could use all four during pause and shuttle modes to further improve quality<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BH8GEAAAQBAJ&dq=vhs+lp+head&pg=PA410 | isbn=978-81-87522-05-8 | title=Audio Video Systems | publisher=Khanna Publishing House }}</ref> although machines later combined both pairs into one.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QmaQTIdoWmYC&dq=vhs+lp+head&pg=PA384 | isbn=978-0-7506-4810-3 | title=Newnes Guide to Television and Video Technology | date=2001 | publisher=Newnes }}</ref> In machines supporting VHS HiFi (described later), yet another pair of heads was added to handle the VHS HiFi signal.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHfNCgAAQBAJ&dq=vhs+hi-fi+pair+of+heads&pg=PA294 | isbn=978-0-08-052047-6 | title=VCR Troubleshooting and Repair | date=August 26, 1998 | publisher=Elsevier }}</ref> Camcorders using the miniaturized drum required twice<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0xXCNpEhFEMC&dq=vhs-c+4+head+drum&pg=PA179 | isbn=978-0-08-052051-3 | title=Video and Camcorder Servicing and Technology | date=April 11, 2001 | publisher=Elsevier }}</ref> as many heads to complete any given task. This almost always meant four heads on the miniaturized drum with performance similar to a two head VCR with a full sized drum. No attempt was made to record Hi-Fi audio with such devices, as this would require an additional four heads to work. W-VHS decks could have up to 12 heads in the head drum, of which 11 were active including a flying erase head for erasing individual video fields, and one was a dummy used for balancing the head drum.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/manual_SRW320U_JVC/page/44/mode/2up?q=head | title=Manual: SRW320U JVC }}</ref>

The high tape-to-head speed created by the rotating head results in a far higher bandwidth than could be practically achieved with a stationary head.

VHS machines record up to 3&nbsp;[[Megahertz|MHz]] of baseband video [[Bandwidth (signal processing)|bandwidth]] and 300&nbsp;kHz of baseband chroma bandwidth.<ref>{{cite book |last=Poynton|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Poynton|title=Digital Video and HDTV Algorithms and Interfaces|edition=1st|publisher=Elsevier Science|year=2003|isbn=1-55860-792-7|pages=350–351, 419}}</ref> The [[Luma (video)|luminance]] (black and white) portion of the video is [[frequency modulation|frequency modulated]] and combined with a down-converted "[[Heterodyne#Analog videotape recording|color under]]" [[Chrominance|chroma]] (color) signal that is encoded using [[quadrature amplitude modulation]].<ref name="poptronics" />  Including [[Sideband|side bands]], the signal on a VHS tape can use up to 10&nbsp;MHz of RF bandwidth.<ref>{{Cite web |title=RF Capture Guide |url=https://github.com/oyvindln/vhs-decode/wiki/RF-Capture-Guide |access-date=January 8, 2024 |website=GitHub |language=en}}</ref>

VHS horizontal resolution is 240 [[television lines|Television Lines or TVL]], about 320 lines across a scan line. The vertical resolution (number of scan lines) is the same as the respective analog TV standard ([[625 lines|625]] or [[525 lines]]; somewhat fewer scan lines are actually visible due to [[overscan]] and the [[vertical blanking interval|VBI]]). In modern-day digital terminology, [[NTSC]] VHS resolution is roughly equivalent to ~333×480 (~159,840 pixels or ~0.16 MP) for luma and ~40×480 pixels for chroma.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Taylor|first1=Jim|last2=Johnson|first2=Mark|last3=Crawford|first3=Charles|title=DVD Demystified|publisher=McGraw-Hill Professional|year=2006|edition=3rd|isbn=0-07-142396-6|page=9{{hyphen}}36|url=https://archive.org/details/dvddemystified0000tayl_a1x8|access-date=March 4, 2024}}</ref> [[PAL]] VHS resolution is roughly ~333×576 pixels for luma and ~40×576 pixels for chroma (although when decoded PAL and [[SECAM]] half the vertical color resolution).

JVC countered 1985's SuperBeta with VHS HQ, or High Quality. The frequency modulation of the VHS luminance signal is limited to 3 megahertz, which makes higher resolutions technically impossible even with the highest-quality recording heads and tape materials, but an HQ branded deck includes luminance noise reduction, chroma noise reduction, white clip extension, and improved sharpness circuitry. The effect was to increase the apparent horizontal resolution of a VHS recording from 240 to 250 TVL (equivalent to 333 pixels from left-to-right, in digital terminology). The major VHS [[Original equipment manufacturer|OEM]]s resisted HQ due to cost concerns, eventually resulting in JVC reducing the requirements for the HQ brand to white clip extension plus one other improvement.

In 1987, JVC introduced a new format called [[S-VHS|Super VHS]] (often known as S-VHS) which extended the bandwidth to over 5 megahertz, yielding 420 TVL (equivalent to 560 pixels left-to-right, in digital terminology). Most Super VHS recorders can play back standard VHS tapes, but not vice versa. S-VHS was designed for higher resolution, but failed to gain popularity outside Japan because of the high costs of the machines and tapes.<ref name="Parekh" /> Because of the limited user base, Super VHS was never picked up to any significant degree by manufacturers of pre-recorded tapes, although it was used extensively in the low-end professional market for filming and editing.

=== Audio recording ===

After leaving the head drum, the tape passes over the stationary audio and control head. This records a control track at the bottom edge of the tape, and one or two linear audio tracks along the top edge.<ref name="poptronics" />

==== Original linear audio system ====
In the original VHS specification, audio was recorded as [[baseband]] in a single linear track, at the upper edge of the tape, similar to how an audio [[compact cassette]] operates. The recorded frequency range was dependent on the linear tape speed. For the VHS SP mode, which already uses a lower tape speed than the compact cassette, this resulted in a mediocre frequency response<ref name="poptronics" /> of roughly 100&nbsp;Hz to 10&nbsp;kHz for NTSC,{{citation needed|date=March 2014}} frequency response for PAL VHS with its lower standard tape speed was somewhat worse of about 80&nbsp;Hz to 8&nbsp;kHz. The [[signal-to-noise ratio]] (SNR) was an acceptable 42&nbsp;dB for NTSC and 41&nbsp;dB for PAL. Both parameters degraded significantly with VHS's longer play modes, with EP/NTSC frequency response peaking at 4&nbsp;kHz. S-VHS tapes can give better audio (and video) quality, because the tapes are designed to have almost twice the bandwidth of VHS at the same speed.

Sound cannot be recorded on a VHS tape without recording a video signal because the video signal is used to generate the control track pulses which effectively regulate the tape speed on playback. Even in the audio dubbing mode, a valid video recording (control track signal) must be present on the tape for audio to be correctly recorded. If there is no video signal to the VCR input during recording, most later VCRs will record black video and generate a control track while the sound is being recorded. Some early VCRs record audio without a control track signal; this is of little use, because the absence of a signal from the control track means that the linear tape speed is irregular during playback.<ref name="poptronics" />

More sophisticated VCRs offer stereo audio recording and playback. Linear stereo fits two independent channels in the same space as the original mono audiotrack. While this approach preserves acceptable backward compatibility with monoaural audio heads, the splitting of the audio track degrades the audio's signal-to-noise ratio, causing objectionable tape hiss at normal listening volume. To counteract the hiss, linear stereo VHS VCRs use [[Dolby noise-reduction system|Dolby B noise reduction]] for recording and playback. This dynamically boosts the high frequencies of the audio program on the recorded medium, improving its signal strength relative to the tape's background noise floor, then attenuates the high frequencies during playback. Dolby-encoded program material exhibits a high-frequency emphasis when played on non-Hi-Fi VCRs that are not equipped with the matching Dolby Noise Reduction decoder, although this may actually improve the sound quality of non-Hi-Fi VCRs, especially at the slower recording speeds.

High-end consumer recorders take advantage of the linear nature of the audio track, as the audio track could be erased and recorded without disturbing the video portion of the recorded signal. Hence, "audio dubbing" and "video dubbing", where either the audio or video is re-recorded on tape (without disturbing the other), were supported features on [[wikt:prosumer#Etymology 2|prosumer]] [[linear video editing]]-decks. Without dubbing capability, an audio or video edit could not be done in-place on master cassette, and requires the editing output be captured to another tape, incurring generational loss.

Studio film releases began to emerge with linear stereo audiotracks in 1982. From that point, nearly every home video release by Hollywood featured a Dolby-encoded linear stereo audiotrack. However, linear stereo was never popular with equipment makers or consumers.

==== Tracking adjustment and index marking ====
Another linear [[control track|''control'' track]] at the tape's lower edge holds pulses that mark the beginning of every frame of video; these are used to fine-tune the tape speed during playback, so that the high speed rotating heads remained exactly on their helical tracks rather than somewhere between two adjacent tracks (known as "[[video tape tracking|tracking]]"). Since good tracking depends on precise distances between the rotating drum and the fixed control/audio head reading the linear tracks, which usually varies by a couple of micrometers between machines due to manufacturing tolerances, most VCRs offer tracking adjustment, either manual or automatic, to correct such mismatches.

The control track is also used to hold ''index marks'', which were normally written at the beginning of each recording session, and can be found using the VCR's ''index search'' function: this will fast-wind forward or backward to the ''n''th specified index mark, and resume playback from there. At times, higher-end VCRs provided functions for the user to manually add and remove these marks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crutchfield.com/S-PFiOFC1Dt8s/learn/learningcenter/home/vcr_glossary.html|title=VCRs Glossary|author=Loren Barstow|work=Crutchfield|access-date=July 30, 2014|archive-date=August 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812193000/http://www.crutchfield.com/S-PFiOFC1Dt8s/learn/learningcenter/home/vcr_glossary.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[http://www.retrevo.com/support/JVC-HR-S7300U-VCRs-manual/id/318ag718/t/2/ JVC HR-S7300 manual] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810142541/http://www.retrevo.com/support/JVC-HR-S7300U-VCRs-manual/id/318ag718/t/2/ |date=August 10, 2014 }}: features list: ''"..., Index Search, Manual Index Mark/Erase ..."''</ref>

By the late 1990s, some high-end VCRs offered more sophisticated indexing. For example, Panasonic's Tape Library system assigned an ID number to each cassette, and logged recording information (channel, date, time and optional program title entered by the user) both on the cassette and in the VCR's memory for up to 900 recordings (600 with titles).<ref>[https://archive.today/20120729233622/http://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/instrukcjeobslugi?id=2176 Panasonic Video Cassette Recorder NV-HS960 Series Operating Instructions], VQT8880, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.</ref>

==== Hi-Fi audio system ====
Around 1984, JVC added ''Hi-Fi'' audio to VHS (model HR-D725U, in response to Betamax's introduction of Beta Hi-Fi.) Both VHS Hi-Fi and Betamax Hi-Fi delivered flat full-range frequency response (20&nbsp;Hz to 20&nbsp;kHz), excellent 70&nbsp;dB [[signal-to-noise ratio]] (in consumer space, second only to the [[compact disc]]), [[dynamic range]] of 90&nbsp;dB, and [[professional audio]]-grade channel separation (more than 70&nbsp;dB). VHS Hi-Fi audio is achieved by using audio frequency modulation (AFM), modulating the two stereo channels (L, R) on two different frequency-modulated carriers and embedding the combined modulated audio signal pair into the video signal. To avoid crosstalk and interference from the primary video carrier, VHS's implementation of AFM relied on a form of magnetic recording called ''depth [[multiplexing]]''. The modulated [[Sound recording and reproduction|audio]] carrier pair was placed in the hitherto-unused frequency range between the luminance and the color carrier (below 1.6&nbsp;MHz), and recorded first. Subsequently, the video head erases and re-records the video signal (combined luminance and color signal) over the same tape surface, but the video signal's higher center frequency results in a shallower magnetization of the tape, allowing both the video and residual AFM audio signal to coexist on tape. (PAL versions of Beta Hi-Fi use this same technique). During playback, VHS Hi-Fi recovers the depth-recorded AFM signal by subtracting the audio head's signal (which contains the AFM signal contaminated by a weak image of the video signal) from the video head's signal (which contains only the video signal), then demodulates the left and right audio channels from their respective frequency carriers. The result of the complex process was audio of high fidelity, which was uniformly solid across all tape-speeds (EP, LP or SP.) Since JVC had gone through the complexity of ensuring Hi-Fi's backward compatibility with non-Hi-Fi VCRs, virtually all studio home video releases produced after this time contained Hi-Fi audio tracks, in addition to the linear audio track. Under normal circumstances, all Hi-Fi VHS VCRs will record Hi-Fi and linear audio simultaneously to ensure compatibility with VCRs without Hi-Fi playback, though only early high-end Hi-Fi machines provided linear stereo compatibility.

The sound quality of Hi-Fi VHS stereo is comparable to some extent to the quality of [[Compact disc|CD]] audio, particularly when recordings were made on high-end or professional VHS machines that have a manual audio recording level control. This high quality compared to other consumer audio recording formats such as [[compact cassette]] attracted the attention of amateur and hobbyist recording artists. [[Home recording]] enthusiasts occasionally recorded high quality stereo [[Audio mixing (recorded music)|mixdown]]s and [[master recordings]] from [[multitrack recording|multitrack]] audio tape onto consumer-level Hi-Fi VCRs. However, because the VHS Hi-Fi recording process is intertwined with the VCR's video-recording function, advanced editing functions such as audio-only or video-only dubbing are impossible. A short-lived alternative to the HiFi feature for recording mixdowns of hobbyist audio-only projects was a [[PCM adaptor]] so that high-bandwidth digital video could use a grid of black-and-white dots on an analog video carrier to give pro-grade digital sounds though [[Digital Audio Tape|DAT]] tapes made this obsolete.

Some VHS decks also had a "simulcast" switch, allowing users to record an external audio input along with off-air pictures. Some televised concerts offered a stereo simulcast soundtrack on FM radio and as such, events like ''[[Live Aid]]'' were recorded by thousands of people with a full stereo soundtrack despite the fact that stereo TV broadcasts were some years off (especially in regions that adopted [[NICAM]]). Other examples of this included network television shows such as ''[[Friday Night Videos]]'' and [[MTV]] for its first few years in existence. Likewise, some countries, most notably [[South Africa]], provided alternate language audio tracks for TV programming through an FM radio simulcast.

The considerable complexity and additional hardware limited VHS Hi-Fi to high-end decks for many years. While linear stereo all but disappeared from home VHS decks, it was not until the 1990s that Hi-Fi became a more common feature on VHS decks. Even then, most customers were unaware of its significance and merely enjoyed the better audio performance of the newer decks. VHS Hi-Fi audio has been standardized in IEC 60774-2.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Helical-scan video tape cassette system using 12,65 mm (0,5 in) magnetic tape on type VHS – Part 2: FM audio recording |url=https://webstore.iec.ch/preview/info_iec60774-2%7Bed1.0%7Db.pdf |website=webstore.iec.ch}}</ref>

=== Issues with Hi-Fi audio ===
Due to the path followed by the video and Hi-Fi audio heads being striped and discontinuous—unlike that of the linear audio track—head-switching is required to provide a continuous audio signal. While the video signal can easily hide the head-switching point in the invisible vertical retrace section of the signal, so that the exact switching point is not very important, the same is obviously not possible with a continuous audio signal that has no inaudible sections. Hi-Fi audio is thus dependent on a much more exact alignment of the head switching point than is required for non-HiFi VHS machines. Misalignments may lead to imperfect joining of the signal, resulting in low-pitched buzzing.<ref name="stason">{{cite web|url=http://stason.org/TULARC/entertainment/audio/general/14-18-Is-VHS-Hi-Fi-sound-perfect-Is-Beta-Hi-Fi-sound-perfec.html14.18|title=14.18 Is VHS Hi-Fi sound perfect? Is Beta Hi-Fi sound perfect?|work=stason.org | access-date=August 6, 2019}}</ref> The problem is known as "head chatter", and tends to increase as the audio heads wear down.

Another issue that made VHS Hi-Fi imperfect for music is the inaccurate reproduction of levels (softer and louder) which are not re-created as the original source.<ref name="stason"/>

== Variations ==
[[File:JVC-VHS Cassette001.JPG|thumb|[[JVC|Victor]] S-VHS (left) and S-VHS-C (right)]]

=== Super-VHS / ADAT / SVHS-ET ===
{{main|S-VHS}}
Several improved versions of VHS exist, most notably [[S-VHS|Super-VHS (S-VHS)]], an analog video standard with improved video bandwidth. S-VHS improved the horizontal luminance resolution to 400 lines (versus 250 for VHS/Beta and 500 for DVD). The audio system (both linear and AFM) is the same. S-VHS made little impact on the home market, but gained dominance in the camcorder market due to its superior picture quality.

The [[ADAT]] format provides the ability to record multitrack digital audio using S-VHS media. JVC also developed SVHS-ET technology for its Super-VHS camcorders and VCRs, which simply allows them to record Super VHS signals onto lower-priced VHS tapes, albeit with a slight blurring of the image. Nearly all later JVC Super-VHS camcorders and VCRs have SVHS-ET ability.

=== VHS-C / Super VHS-C ===
{{main|VHS-C}}
Another variant is [[VHS-C|VHS-Compact (VHS-C)]], originally developed for portable VCRs in 1982, but ultimately finding success in palm-sized [[camcorder]]s. The longest tape available for NTSC holds 60 minutes in SP mode and 180 minutes in EP mode. Since VHS-C tapes are based on the same magnetic tape as full-size tapes, they can be played back in standard VHS players using a mechanical adapter, without the need of any kind of signal conversion. The magnetic tape on VHS-C cassettes is wound on one main spool and uses a gear wheel to advance the tape.<ref name="Parekh" />

The adapter is mechanical, although early examples were motorized, with a battery. It has an internal hub to engage with the VCR mechanism in the location of a normal full-size tape hub, driving the gearing on the VHS-C cassette. Also, when a VHS-C cassette is inserted into the adapter, a small swing-arm pulls the tape out of the miniature cassette to span the standard tape path distance between the guide rollers of a full-size tape. This allows the tape from the miniature cassette to use the same loading mechanism as that from the standard cassette.

Super VHS-C or [[S-VHS]] Compact was developed by [[JVC]] in 1987. S-VHS provided an improved luminance and chrominance quality, yet S-VHS recorders were compatible with VHS tapes.<ref>{{cite book | last = Damjanovski | first = Vlado
  | title = CCTV
  | publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann
  | year = 2005 | isbn = 0-7506-7800-3 | page= 238
  | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MQZQIFaOhgoC
  | access-date= January 22, 2017}}</ref>

Sony was unable to shrink its Betamax form any further, so instead developed Video8/Hi8 which was in direct competition with the VHS-C/S-VHS-C format throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Ultimately neither format "won" and both have been superseded by digital high definition equipment.

=== W-VHS / Digital-VHS (high-definition) ===

{{main|W-VHS|D-VHS}}
[[W-VHS|Wide-VHS (W-VHS)]] allowed recording of [[Multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding|MUSE]] Hi-Vision ''analog'' high definition television, which was broadcast in Japan from 1989 until 2007. The other improved standard, called [[D-VHS|Digital-VHS (D-VHS)]], records digital high definition video onto a VHS form factor tape. D-VHS can record up to 4 hours of ATSC digital television in 720p or 1080i formats using the fastest record mode (equivalent to VHS-SP), and up to 49 hours of lower-definition video at slower speeds.<ref>{{cite book
|title=Newnes Guide to Television and Video Technology
|author=Eugene Trundle
|page=377}}</ref>

=== D9 ===
{{main|Digital-S}}
There is also a JVC-designed component digital professional production format known as [[Digital-S]], or officially under the name D9, that uses a VHS form factor tape and essentially the same mechanical tape handling techniques as an S-VHS recorder. This format is the least expensive format to support a [[Sel-Sync]] pre-read for [[video editing]]. This format competed with Sony's [[Digital Betacam]] in the professional and broadcast market, although in that area Sony's Betacam family ruled supreme, in contrast to the outcome of the VHS/Betamax domestic format war. It has now been superseded by high definition formats.

=== V-Lite ===
In the late 1990s, there was a disposable promotional variation of the VHS format called V-Lite. It was a cassette constructed largely with polystyrene, with only the rotating components like the tape reels being of hard plastic with glued casings without standard features like a protective cover for the exposed tape. Its purpose was to be as lightweight as possible for minimized mass delivery costs for the purpose of a media company's promotional campaign and intended for only a few viewings with a runtime of typically 2 to 3 minutes. One such production so promoted was the [[A&E Network]]'s 2000 adaptation of ''[[The Great Gatsby (2000 film)|The Great Gatsby]]''. The format arose concurrently and then rendered obsolete, with the rise of the [[DVD]] video format which eventually supplanted VHS, being lighter and less expensive still to mass-distribute, while [[video streaming]] would later supplant the use of physical media for video promotion altogether.<ref>{{cite web |title=V-Lite: Disposable Lightweight VHS tape |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHnYVeaTLsY |website=Techmoan | date=February 18, 2023 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=February 18, 2023}}</ref>

== Accessories ==
[[File:VHS tape rewinder.jpg|thumb|A tape rewinder]]
Shortly after the introduction of the VHS format, [[VHS tape rewinder]]s were developed. These devices served the sole purpose of rewinding VHS tapes. Proponents of the rewinders argued that the use of the rewind function on the standard VHS player would lead to wear and tear of the transport mechanism. The rewinder would rewind the tapes smoothly and also normally do so at a faster rate than the standard rewind function on VHS players. However, some rewinder brands did have some frequent abrupt stops, which occasionally led to tape damage.

Some devices were marketed which allowed a [[personal computer]] to use a VHS recorder as a [[data backup]] device. The most notable of these was [[ArVid]], widely used in Russia and [[Commonwealth of Independent States|CIS]] states. Similar systems were manufactured in the United States by [[Corvus (company)|Corvus]] and [[Alpha Microsystems]],<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=RS8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA56 Videotrax: New System To Back Up Hard Disks].'' InfoWorld, May 26, 1986.</ref> and in the UK by ''Backer'' from Danmere Ltd. The ''Backer'' system could store up to 4 GB of data with a transfer rate of 9 MB per minute.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grossman |first=David |date=August 14, 2017 |title=In the 90s Your Spare VHS Could Be a Backup Hard Drive |url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a27752/vhs-backup-hard-drive-90s/ |access-date= |website=[[Popular Mechanics]] |language=en-us}}</ref>

== Signal standards ==
VHS can record and play back all varieties of [[Broadcast television systems|analog television signals]] in existence at the time VHS was devised. However, a machine must be designed to record a given standard. Typically, a VHS machine can only handle signals using the same standard as the country it was sold in. This is because some parameters of analog broadcast TV are not applicable to VHS recordings, the number of VHS tape recording format variations is smaller than the number of broadcast TV signal variations—for example, analog TVs and VHS ''machines'' (except multistandard devices) are not interchangeable between the UK and Germany, but VHS ''tapes'' are. The following tape recording formats exist in conventional VHS (listed in the form of standard/lines/frames):

* [[SECAM]]/[[625 lines|625]]/25 (SECAM, French variety)
* [[SECAM#MESECAM (home recording)|MESECAM]]/625/25 (most other SECAM countries, notably the former Soviet Union and Middle East)
* [[NTSC]]/[[525 lines|525]]/30 (Most parts of Americas, Japan, South Korea)
* [[PAL]]/525/30 (i.e., [[PAL-M]], Brazil)
* [[PAL]]/625/25 (most of Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, many parts of Asia such as China and India, some parts of South America such as Argentina, Uruguay and the Falklands, and Africa)

PAL/625/25 VCRs allow playback of SECAM (and MESECAM) tapes with a [[monochrome]] picture, and vice versa, as the line standard is the same.
Since the 1990s, dual and multi-standard VHS machines, able to handle a variety of VHS-supported video standards, became more common. For example, VHS machines sold in Australia and Europe could typically handle PAL, MESECAM for record and playback, and NTSC for playback only on suitable TVs. Dedicated multi-standard machines can usually handle all standards listed, and some high-end models could convert the content of a tape from one standard to another [[on the fly]] during playback by using a built-in standards converter.

S-VHS is only implemented as such in PAL/625/25 and NTSC/525/30; S-VHS machines sold in SECAM markets record internally in PAL, and convert between PAL and SECAM during recording and playback. S-VHS machines for the Brazilian market record in NTSC and convert between it and PAL-M.

A small number of VHS decks are able to decode [[closed captioning|closed captions]] on video cassettes before sending the full signal to the set with the captions. A smaller number still are able, additionally, to record [[subtitles]] transmitted with world standard [[teletext]] signals (on pre-digital services), simultaneously with the associated program. S-VHS has a sufficient resolution to record teletext signals with relatively few errors,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.transdiffusion.org/2016/01/07/teletext-time-travel |title=Teletext time travel |publisher=transdiffusion.org |date=January 7, 2016 |access-date=January 19, 2016}}</ref> although for some years now it has been possible to recover teletext pages and even complete "page carousels" from regular VHS recordings using non-real-time computer processing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://teletextarchaeologist.org/faq/|title=FAQ – the Teletext Archaeologist|access-date=July 27, 2021|archive-date=July 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727022421/https://teletextarchaeologist.org/faq/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Uses in marketing ==
VHS was popular for long-form content, such as feature films or documentaries, as well as short-play content, such as music videos, in-store videos, teaching videos, distribution of lectures and talks, and demonstrations. VHS instruction tapes were sometimes included with various products and services, including exercise equipment, kitchen appliances, and computer software. The aforementioned V-Lite format was designed specifically for this purpose for minimizing distribution costs.

== Comparison to Betamax ==
{{Main|Videotape format war}}
[[File:VHS vs Betamax size.jpg|thumb|Size comparison between Betamax (top) and VHS (bottom) videocassettes]]
VHS was the winner of a protracted and somewhat bitter format war during the late 1970s and early 1980s against Sony's Betamax format as well as other formats of the time.<ref name="jchyung" />

Betamax was widely perceived at the time as the better format, as the cassette was smaller in size, and Betamax offered slightly better video quality than VHS – it had lower video noise, less luma-chroma [[crosstalk]], and was marketed as providing pictures superior to those of VHS. However, the sticking point for both consumers and potential licensing partners of Betamax was the total recording time.<ref name="howells" /> To overcome the recording limitation, Beta II speed (two-hour mode, NTSC regions only) was released in order to compete with VHS's two-hour SP mode, thereby reducing Betamax's horizontal resolution to 240 lines (vs 250 lines).<ref>{{cite web |author=Video Interchange |title=Video History |url=http://www.videointerchange.com/video-history.htm#BetaMax |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101110201808/http://www.videointerchange.com/video-history.htm#BetaMax |archive-date=November 10, 2010 |access-date=August 20, 2007}}</ref> In turn, the extension of VHS to VHS HQ produced 250 lines (vs 240 lines), so that overall a typical Betamax/VHS user could expect virtually identical resolution. (Very high-end Betamax machines still supported recording in the Beta I mode and some in an even higher resolution Beta Is (Beta I Super HiBand) mode, but at a maximum single-cassette run time of 1:40 [with an L-830 cassette].)

Because Betamax was released more than a year before VHS, it held an early lead in the format war. However, by 1981, United States' Betamax sales had dipped to only 25-percent of all sales.<ref>{{cite web |first=Helge |last=Moulding |title=The Decline and Fall of Betamax |url=http://tafkac.org/products/beta_vs_vhs.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020702093944/http://www.tafkac.org/products/beta_vs_vhs.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 2, 2002 |access-date=August 20, 2007  }}</ref> There was debate between experts over the cause of Betamax's loss. Some, including Sony's founder Akio Morita, say that it was due to Sony's licensing strategy with other manufacturers, which consistently kept the overall cost for a unit higher than a VHS unit, and that JVC allowed other manufacturers to produce VHS units license-free, thereby keeping costs lower.<ref name="mediacollege">{{cite web|url=http://www.mediacollege.com/video/format/compare/betamax-vhs.html |title=The Betamax vs VHS Format War |publisher=Mediacollege.com |date=January 8, 2008 |access-date=July 11, 2011}}</ref> Others say that VHS had better marketing, since the much larger electronics companies at the time (Matsushita, for example) supported VHS.<ref name="howells" /> Sony would make its first VHS players/recorders in 1988, although it continued to produce Betamax machines concurrently until 2002.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Murphy |first1=Mike |title=Sony is finally putting Betamax out of its misery |url=https://qz.com/545914/betamax-still-exists-but-its-finally-being-put-out-of-its-misery/ |website=Quartz |access-date=April 10, 2020 |date=November 10, 2015}}</ref>

== Decline ==
[[File:Used VHSs at Rasputin Music (Fresno, CA).jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Rasputin Music]] retailer (Fresno, California) selling used VHS cassettes from 50¢ to $1.98 each (2019)]]
[[File:VHSs in Fig Garden Regional Library.jpg|thumb|upright|Fig Garden Regional Library, a branch of [[Fresno County Public Library]], is giving away their weeded VHS collections for free (2019).]]
VHS was widely used in [[television]]-equipped [[America]]n and [[European Union|European]] [[living room]]s for more than twenty years from its introduction in the late 1970s. The home television recording market, also known as the VHS market, as well as the camcorder market, has since transitioned to [[digital recording]] on solid-state [[memory cards]]. The introduction of the DVD format to American consumers in March 1997 triggered the market share decline of VHS.<ref name="wp-gonewiththerewind"/>

[[DVD]] rentals surpassed those on the VHS format in the United States for the first time in June 2003.<ref>{{cite news |title=It's unreel: DVD rentals overtake videocassettes |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2003/jun/20/20030620-113258-1104r/ |work=Washington Times |date=June 20, 2003}}</ref> ''[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]'' said that [[David Cronenberg]]'s movie ''[[A History of Violence]]'', sold on VHS in 2006, was "widely believed to be the last instance of a major motion picture to be released in that format".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/wire/3508514-what-was-the-last-movie-released-on-vhs/|title=What was the last movie released on VHS?|first=Nexstar Media Wire|last=Michael Bartiromo|newspaper=The Hill |date=June 4, 2022}}</ref><ref name="latimes"/> By December 2008, the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' reported on "the final truckload of VHS tapes" being shipped from a warehouse in [[Palm Harbor, Florida]], citing Ryan J. Kugler's Distribution Video Audio Inc. as "the last major supplier".<ref name="latimes">{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-dec-22-et-vhs-tapes22-story.html|title=VHS era is winding down|date=December 22, 2008|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

Though 94.5 million Americans still owned VHS format [[VCR]]s in 2005,<ref name="wp-gonewiththerewind" /> market share continued to drop. In the mid-2000s, several retail chains in the United States and Europe announced they would stop selling VHS equipment.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4031223.stm|title=Death of video recorder in sight |work=BBC News | date=November 22, 2004 | access-date=January 6, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/14/AR2005061401794.html|title=As DVD Sales Fast-Forward, Retailers Reduce VHS Stock | newspaper=The Washington Post | first=Mark | last=Chediak | date=June 15, 2005 | access-date=May 27, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://money.cnn.com/2005/06/13/news/fortune500/walmart_vhs/index.htm?cnn=yes |title=Wal-Mart said to stop selling VHS |publisher=CNN | date=June 13, 2005 | access-date=May 27, 2010}}</ref> In the U.S., no major brick-and-mortar retailers stock VHS home-video releases, focusing only on DVD and [[Blu-ray]] media. [[Sony Pictures Home Entertainment]] along with other companies ceased production of VHS in late 2010 in [[South Korea]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 18, 2023 |title=What happened to all those videotapes? |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2024/08/398_345526.html |access-date=August 27, 2024 |website=koreatimes |language=en}}</ref>

The last known company in the world to manufacture VHS equipment was [[Funai]] of Japan, who produced [[video cassette recorder]]s under the [[Sanyo]] brand in North America. Funai ceased production of VHS equipment ([[VCR/DVD combo]]s) in July 2016, citing falling sales and a [[shortage]] of components.<ref name="lastVHS">{{cite news |last1=Walton |first1=Mark |date=July 21, 2016 |title=Last known VCR maker stops production, 40 years after VHS format launch |language=en-us |work=Ars Technica |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/07/vcr-vhs-production-ends/ |url-status=live |access-date=May 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170522105641/https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/07/vcr-vhs-production-ends/ |archive-date=May 22, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=July 14, 2016 |title=VHSビデオ機の生産に幕 |url=https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLZO04817850T10C16A7TI1000/ |website=日本経済新聞 電子版}}</ref>

==Modern use==
[[File:Molded VHS tape.jpg|thumb|A badly molded VHS tape. Mold can prevent modern use. See [[Media preservation]].]]
Despite the decline in both VHS players and programming on VHS machines, they are still owned in some households worldwide. Those who still use or hold on to VHS do so for a number of reasons, including [[Nostalgia|nostalgic]] value, ease of use in recording, keeping personal videos or [[home movies]], watching content currently exclusive to VHS, and collecting. Some expatriate communities in the United States also obtain video content from their native countries in VHS format.<ref>{{cite news |last=Semple |first=Kirk |date=May 28, 2012 |title=For Movies, Some Immigrants Still Choose to Hit Rewind |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/nyregion/for-some-new-york-immigrants-vhs-is-king-for-movie-rentals.html?_r=1 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

Although VHS has been discontinued in the United States, VHS recorders and blank tapes were still sold at stores in other developed countries prior to [[digital television transition]]s.<ref>{{cite news |date=September 15, 2007 |title=Statue to mark digital switchover |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cumbria/6996402.stm |access-date=April 8, 2016 |work=BBC}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Using Video Recorders after the Digital TV Switchover |url=http://www.switchhelp.co.uk/faq_video.html |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315110848/http://www.switchhelp.co.uk/faq_video.html |archive-date=March 15, 2016 |access-date=April 5, 2016 |website=switchhelp.co.uk}}</ref> As an acknowledgement of the continued use of VHS, Panasonic announced the world's first dual deck VHS-Blu-ray player in 2009.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Panasonic expanded 2009 Blu-ray lineup with the world's first VHS-Blu-ray player |url=http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=322744&modelNo=Content01072009023243932&surfModel=Content01072009023243932 |access-date=March 28, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090317043445/http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=322744&modelNo=Content01072009023243932&surfModel=Content01072009023243932 |archive-date=March 17, 2009 |website=Panasonic}}</ref> The last standalone JVC VHS-only unit was produced October 28, 2008.<ref>{{cite web |last=Elliott |first=Amy-Mae |date=October 28, 2008 |title=JVC last to stop production of standalone VHS players |url=http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/18759/jvc-stops-production-vhs-players |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919152330/http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/18759/jvc-stops-production-vhs-players |archive-date=September 19, 2010 |access-date=October 31, 2008 |website=Pocket-Lint}}</ref> JVC, and other manufacturers, continued to make combination DVD+VHS units even after the decline of VHS. Countries like [[South Korea]] released films on VHS until December 2010, with ''[[Inception]]'' being the last Hollywood film to be released on VHS in the country.

A market for pre-recorded VHS tapes has continued, and some online retailers such as [[Amazon.com|Amazon]] still sell new and used pre-recorded VHS cassettes of movies and television programs. None of the major Hollywood studios generally issues releases on VHS. The last major studio film to be released in the format in the United States and Canada, other than as part of special marketing promotions, was ''[[A History of Violence]]'' in 2006. In October 2008, Distribution Video Audio Inc., the last major American supplier of pre-recorded VHS tapes, shipped its final truckload of tapes to stores in America.<ref name="VHS era is winding down"/>

However, there have been a few exceptions. For example, ''[[The House of the Devil]]'' was released on VHS in 2010 as an Amazon-exclusive deal, in keeping with the film's intent to mimic 1980s horror films.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sciretta |first=Peter |date=January 29, 2010 |title=Cool Stuff: The House of the Devil VHS Tape / DVD Combo Pack - /Film |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/cool-stuff-the-house-of-the-devil-vhsdvd-combo-pack/ |access-date=December 30, 2016 |website=Slash Film}}</ref> The first ''[[Paranormal Activity]]'' film, produced in 2007, had a VHS release in the Netherlands in 2010. The horror film ''[[V/H/S/2]]'' was released as a combo in North America that included a VHS tape in addition to a Blu-ray and a DVD copy on September 24, 2013.<ref>{{cite news |last=James |first=Jonathan |date=August 21, 2013 |title=*Updated* V/H/S/2 Coming to Blu-ray, DVD, and VHS |url=https://dailydead.com/vhs2-coming-to-blu-ray-dvd-and-vhs/ |website=Daily Dead}}</ref> In 2019, [[Paramount Pictures]] produced limited quantities of the 2018 film ''[[Bumblebee (film)|Bumblebee]]'' to give away as promotional contest prizes.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bacala |first=Tony |date=April 1, 2019 |title=Transformers: Bumblebee Movie Out Now on VHS (Real VHS Promo Copy with Pics!) |url=https://news.tfw2005.com/2019/04/01/transformers-bumblebee-movie-out-now-on-vhs-real-vhs-promo-copy-with-pics-386407 |website=Transformer World 2005}}</ref> In 2021, [[professional wrestling]] promotion [[Impact Wrestling]] released a limited run of VHS tapes containing that year's [[Slammiversary (2021)|Slammiversary]], which quickly sold out. The company later announced future VHS runs of pay-per-view events.<ref>{{cite tweet |number=1465713290504327176 |user=IMPACTWRESTLING |title=Experience Slammiversary 2021 on this extremely limited, collectors edition, double cassette VHS available now from @shopimpactdeals! |date=November 30, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite tweet |number=1466402764955791369 |user=IMPACTWRESTLING |title=The Slammiversary 2021 double cassette VHS is officially sold out! Thank you to everyone who ordered and stay tuned for more limited edition VHS releases in the future! |date=December 2, 2021}}</ref>

The VHS medium has a cult following. For instance, in February 2021, it was reported that VHS was once again doing well as an underground market.<ref>{{cite news |last=Selinger |first=Hannah |date=February 21, 2021 |title=Who Is Still Buying VHS Tapes? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/style/vhs-tapes.html |accessdate=March 13, 2023 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> In January 2023, it was reported that VHS tapes were once again becoming valuable collector's items.<ref name="collecting">{{cite news |last=Drapkin-Grossi |first=Dara |date=January 25, 2023 |title=VHS Resurrection: Why Some Tapes Are Selling for Thousands |url=https://movieweb.com/vhs-tapes-comeback-sell-high-price/ |accessdate=March 13, 2023 |publisher=Movie Web}}</ref> VHS collecting would make a comeback in the 2020s.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sanders |first=Forrest |date=January 12, 2022 |title='I love VHS!' Tapes experience a comeback in unusual ways |url=https://www.newschannel5.com/news/i-love-vhs-tapes-experience-a-comeback-in-unusual-ways |accessdate=March 13, 2023 |publisher=WTVF}}</ref><ref name="collecting" /> The 2024 horror film, ''[[Alien: Romulus]]'', had a limited release on VHS, marking the first major Hollywood film to receive an official VHS release since 2007.<ref>{{cite web |last=Squire |first=John |date=October 20, 2024 |title='Alien: Romulus' Getting an Official VHS Release from 20th Century Studios! |url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/home-video/3836321/alien-romulus-getting-an-official-vhs-release/ |website=Bloody Disgusting}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Spry |first=Jeff |date=December 5, 2024 |title=The 'Alien: Romulus' VHS release is the perfect bit of '80s nostalgia |url=https://www.space.com/entertainment/alien-romulus-scores-a-super-sweet-vhs-tape-release-this-week |access-date=June 12, 2025 |website=Space |language=en}}</ref>

== Successors ==

=== VCD ===
{{main|Video CD}}
The [[Video CD]] (VCD) was created in 1993, becoming an alternative medium for video, in a CD-sized disc. Though occasionally showing [[compression artifact]]s and [[color banding]] that are common discrepancies in digital media, the durability and longevity of a VCD depends on the production quality of the disc, and its handling. The data stored digitally on a VCD theoretically does not degrade (in the analog sense like tape). In the disc player, there is no physical contact made with either the data or label sides. When handled properly, a VCD will last a long time.

Since a VCD can hold only 74 minutes of video, a movie exceeding that mark has to be divided into two or more discs.

=== DVD ===
{{main|DVD-Video}}{{see also|Super Video CD}}
The [[DVD-Video]] format was introduced first on November 1, 1996, in Japan; to the United States on March 26, 1997 (''test marketed''); and mid-to-late 1998 in Europe and Australia.

While the DVD was highly successful in the pre-recorded retail market, it failed to displace VHS for in home recording of video content (e.g. broadcast or cable television). A number of factors hindered the commercial success of the DVD in this regard, including:
*A reputation for being temperamental and unreliable, as well as the risk of scratches and hairline cracks.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://desktopvideo.about.com/od/creatingdvds/f/dvdnoburn.htm |title=Why Won't My DVDs Burn |publisher=Desktopvideo.about.com |date=March 21, 2011 |access-date=July 11, 2011 |archive-date=August 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814133332/http://desktopvideo.about.com/od/creatingdvds/f/dvdnoburn.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* Incompatibilities in playing discs recorded on a different manufacturer's machines to that of the original recording machine.<ref>{{cite web |first=Jim |last=Taylor |url=http://dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.41 |title=Why doesn't disc X work in player Y? |publisher=Dvddemystified.com |access-date=July 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709185732/http://dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.41 |archive-date=July 9, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* Compression artifacts. [[MPEG-2]] video compression can result in visible artifacts such as [[macroblocking]], [[mosquito noise]] and [[ringing artifacts|ringing]] which become accentuated in extended recording modes (more than three hours on a [[DVD-5]] disc). Standard VHS will not suffer from any of these problems, all of which are characteristic of certain digital video compression systems, but VHS will result in reduced luminance and chroma resolution, which makes the picture look horizontally blurred (resolution decreases further with LP and EP recording modes).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dilife.wikispaces.com/The+Slow+Decline+of+the+VHS+Tapes|title=DILIFE - The Slow Decline of the VHS Tapes|work=wikispaces.com|access-date=October 17, 2012|archive-date=November 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141116111901/http://dilife.wikispaces.com/The+Slow+Decline+of+the+VHS+Tapes|url-status=dead}}</ref> VHS also adds considerable noise to both the luminance and chroma channels.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

=== High-capacity digital recording technologies ===
{{see also|Digital video recorder}}
High-capacity digital recording systems are also gaining in popularity with home users. These types of systems come in several form factors:

* [[Hard disk]]–based [[set-top box]]es
* Hard disk/[[optical disc]] combination set-top boxes
* [[Personal computer]]–based [[Home theater PC|media center]]
* [[Portable media player]]s with TV-out capability

Hard disk-based systems include [[TiVo]] as well as other [[Digital video recorder|digital video recorder (DVR)]] offerings. These types of systems provide users with a no-maintenance solution for capturing video content. Customers of subscriber-based TV generally receive electronic program guides, enabling one-touch setup of a recording schedule. Hard disk–based systems allow for many hours of recording without user-maintenance. For example, a 120 [[gigabyte|GB]] system recording at an extended recording rate (XP) of 10 [[megabit per second|Mbit/s]] [[MPEG-2]] can record over 25 hours of video content.

== Legacy ==
Often considered an important medium of film history, the influence of VHS on art and cinema was highlighted in a retrospective staged at the Museum of Arts and Design in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|title=VHS|url=http://www.madmuseum.org/series/vhs|website=Museum of Arts and Design|access-date=August 5, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Piepenburg|first1=Erik|title=An Armchair Revolution, and Barbie, Too VHS Film Retrospective at Museum of Arts and Design|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/movies/vhs-film-retrospective-at-museum-of-arts-and-design.html?_r=0|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 28, 2012 |access-date=August 5, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Lokke|first1=Maria|title=Going Back to VHS|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/going-back-to-vhs|magazine=The New Yorker|publisher=Condé Nast|access-date=January 22, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Bianconi|first1=Giampaolo|title=VHS @ MAD|url=http://rhizome.org/editorial/2012/jul/5/vhs/|website=Rhizome|date=July 5, 2012 |access-date=August 5, 2015}}</ref> In 2015, the Yale University Library collected nearly 3,000 horror and exploitation movies on VHS tapes, distributed from 1978 to 1985, calling them "the cultural id of an era."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kitroeff|first1=Natalie|title=Yale Is Building an Incredible Collection of VHS Tapes|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-03-05/yale-is-building-an-incredible-collection-of-vhs-tapes|newspaper=Bloomberg.com|date=March 5, 2015|publisher=Bloomberg|access-date=August 5, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Rogers|first1=Stephanie|title=Library acquires 2,700 VHS tapes|url=http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/03/03/library-acquires-2700-vhs-tapes/|website=Yale Daily News|date=March 3, 2015|access-date=August 5, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Rife|first1=Katie|title=Even Yale University is getting into VHS collecting|url=https://www.avclub.com/article/even-yale-university-getting-vhs-collecting-216176|website=A.V. Club|date=March 6, 2015 |publisher=Onion Inc|access-date=August 5, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/latest-links/yale-acquires-2700-vhs-tapes/|title=Yale Acquires 2700 VHS tapes|website=American Libraries Magazine|publisher=American Library Association|access-date=August 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120235340/http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/latest-links/yale-acquires-2700-vhs-tapes/|archive-date=November 20, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The documentary film ''[[Rewind This!]]'' (2013), directed by Josh Johnson, tracks the impact of VHS on film industry through various filmmakers and collectors.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Sorrento|first=Matthew|date=June 27, 2013|title=Rewinding the Story of Home Video: Interview with Filmmaker Josh Johnson on Rewind This!|work=Film International|url=http://filmint.nu/rewinding-the-story-of-home-video-interview-with-filmmaker-josh-johnson-on-rewind-this/|access-date=March 8, 2021}}</ref>

The [[Blockbuster (Bend, Oregon)|last Blockbuster franchise]] is still renting out VHS tapes, and is based in Bend, Oregon, a town home to under 100,000 people as of 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 18, 2019 |title=9 Things You Didn't Know About the VHS {{!}} Video 2 DVD Transfers |url=https://www.video2dvdtransfers.co.uk/blog/2019/09/18/things-you-didnt-know-about-vhs/ |access-date=September 17, 2022 |website=Video 2 DVD Transfers News {{!}} Transfer your previous VHS Tapes to DV format at competitive prices}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://bendblockbuster.com/about/ |access-date=September 17, 2022 |website=Blockbuster |language=en-US}}</ref>

The VHS aesthetic is also a central component of the [[analog horror]] genre, which is largely known for imitating recordings of late 20th century TV broadcasts.

==See also==
* [[Analog video]]
* [[ArVid]]
* [[Tape head cleaner]]
* Analog video on discs:
** [[Capacitance Electronic Disc]] (CED)
** [[Video High Density]] (VHD)
** [[LaserDisc]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|VHS}}
* [[HowStuffWorks]]: [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/vcr.htm How VCRs Work]
* [http://www.totalrewind.org/ The 'Total Rewind' VCR museum] – A covering the history of VHS and other vintage formats.
* [http://www.VHSCollector.com/ VHSCollector.com: Analog Video Cassette Archive] – A growing archive of commercially released [[video cassette]]s from [[#Initial releases of VHS-based devices|their dawn]] to the [[present]], and a guide to [[collecting]].

{{Homevid}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:VHS| ]]
[[Category:Audiovisual introductions in 1976]]
[[Category:Products introduced in 1976]]
[[Category:Japanese inventions]]
[[Category:Composite video formats]]
[[Category:Panasonic]]
[[Category:Videotape]]
[[Category:Digital media]]
[[Category:Home video]]
[[Category:Videocassette formats]]