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Product Life Cycle of the VHS and VCR
The Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Decline of the VHS and VCR -
Helical Scan
Toshiba announces a new method of recording known as helical scan, first implemented in reel-to-reel videotape recorders (VTRs), and later used with cassette tapes. -
The Telcan
The Telcan, produced by the UK Nottingham Electronic Valve Company in 1963, was the first home video recorder. It could be bought as a unit or in kit form for $85.00. However, there were several drawbacks: it was expensive, not easy to assemble, and could only record 20 minutes at a time. It recorded in black-and-white, the only format available in the UK at the time. -
Sony, Ampex and RCA's First VTR
The half-inch tape Sony model CV-2000, first marketed in 1965, was their first VTR intended for home use. Ampex and RCA followed in 1965 with their own reel-to-reel monochrome VTRs priced under $1,000 for the home consumer market. -
Sony's VCR Prototype
Sony demonstrates a videocassette prototype -
The VCR Gains Mass Market Traction
VCR started gaining mass market traction in 1975. Six major firms were involved in the development of the VCR: RCA, JVC, AMPEX, Matsushita, Sony, and Toshiba. Of these, the big winners in the growth of this industry were Japanese companies Matsushita, JVC, and Sony, which developed more technically advanced machines with more accurate electronic timers and greater tape duration. -
Sony's Betamax Hits the Market
Betamax was first to market in November 1975, and was argued by many to be technically more sophisticated in recording quality,although many users did not perceive a visual difference. The first machines required an external timer, and could only record one hour, or two hours at lower quality (LP). The timer was later incorporated within the machine as a standard feature. -
RCA Introduces Rival VHS Format
The rival VHS format, introduced in the United States in July 1977 by RCA, had a longer two-hour recording time with a T-120 tape, or four hours in lower-quality "long play" mode -
U.S. Consumers Are Choosing to Rent Their VCR's.
In 1978 the majority of consumers in the U.S. chose to rent rather than purchase this new expensive home entertainment technology. JVC introduces the HR3300 model -
Phillips Introduces a Third Format
A third format, Video 2000, or V2000, was developed and introduced by Philips in 1978, sold only in Europe. Grundig developed and marketed their own models based on the V2000 format. -
The Format War
The two major standards were Sony's Betamax (also known as Betacord or just Beta), and JVC's VHS [Video Home System], which competed for sales in what became known as the format war. -
The Rental Market
The rental market was a contributing factor for acceptance of the VHS, for a variety of reasons. In those pre-digital days TV broadcasters could not offer the wide choice of a rental store, and tapes could be played as often as desired. Material was available on tape with violent or sexual scenes not available on broadcasts. Home video cameras allowed tapes to be recorded and played back. -
The VCR in the UK Starts to Take Off
By 1982, 10% of households in the United Kingdom owned a VCR. -
Legal Challenges
In the early 1980s US film companies fought to suppress the VCR in the consumer market, citing concerns about copyright violations. In Congressional hearings Motion Picture Association of America head Jack Valenti decried the "savagery and the ravages of this machine" and likened its effect on the film industry and the American public to the Boston strangler: -
VCR Sales in the UK Skyrocket
The figure reached 30% in 1985 and by the end of the decade well over half of British homes owned a VCR. -
Decline
The videocassette recorder remained in home use throughout the 1980s and 1990s, despite the advent of competing technologies such as Laserdisc (LD) and Video CD (VCD). While Laserdisc offered higher quality video and audio, the discs are heavy (weighing about one pound each), cumbersome, much more prone to damage if mishandled, and furthermore only home LD players, not recorders, were available. -
The DVD Takes Over
From about 2000 DVD became the first universally successful optical medium for playback of pre-recorded video, as it gradually overtook VHS to become the most popular consumer format. DVD recorders and other digital video recorders dropped in price, making the VCR obsolescent. -
DVD exceeds VHS Rentals
DVD rentals in the United States first exceeded those of VHS in June 2003 -
The VHS and VCR Production Ends
The declining market combined with a US Federal Communications Commission mandate effective March 1, 2007, that all new TV tuners in the US be ATSC tuners encouraged major electronics makers, including Funai, JVC, and Panasonic, to end production of VHS and VCR units.
