VHS

VHS means “Video Home System”. VHS is an analogue recording standard for consumer-level videotape cassettes, and was developed by JVC (Victor Company of Japan) in the 1970s.

The advent of VHS began in the 1950s when magnetic tape video recording became a mainstream part of the television industry. The first video tape recorders (VTRs) were only used professionally because of the high cost of the equipment. However, in the 1970s, videotape entered home use when mass production of recording equipment drastically reduced the cost.

VHS reached its peak in the 1980s and 1990s, but the arrival of optical disc recording made VHS obsolete. The introduction of the DVD format in the US in 1997 started a rapid decline in videotape usage. By 2008, DVD had achieved market dominance and replaced VHS as the preferred method of distribution.

A VHS cassette includes a flip-up cover that protects the ½-inch tape, and an anti-despooling mechanism. Clear tape at both ends of the tape provide an optical auto-stop for the VCR transport mechanism. VHS machines pull the tape from the cassette shell and wrap it around the inclined head drum, using M-lacing, where the tape is drawn out by two threading posts and wrapped around more than 180 degrees of the head drum in a shape roughly approximating the letter M. The cassette can hold a maximum of around 430 m of tape, giving up to five hours playing time at standard play (SP) quality.