Being born in 1970, I got to experience a number of interesting inventions as a teen that changed the way we lived and consumed various things.
One such technological invention that really opened our eyes as to what was possible was the Video Cassette Recorder or VCR. With widespread adoption beginning globally in 1975, the VCR meant that we could watch movies in the comfort of our home for the first time, on demand.
Remember, this is the 1970s we’re talking about. Forget everything Internet-related because it didn’t exist! No one had cellphones either. We didn’t even have cordless phones or wireless anything.
Plus, DVDs and Compact Discs (CDs) didn’t yet exist either.
Up until then you either watched movies in a theater or on your tv through cable or perhaps a premium service like HBO. Or if you were really lucky, a satellite dish.
The thought of being able to rent or purchase a movie that you could watch when you liked and pause or rewind – or fast-forward through if it was boring – was novel.
How the VCR came to be
While the VCR that became commercially successful entered the market in 1975, the seeds of the technology go back to Japan in the 1950s with the invention of a video tape recorder.
Fast forward 10 years later to the early 1960s when several Japanese and European companies such as Toshiba and Philips respectively, came up with new designs that moved the technology along but mostly for the commercial market.
It really wasn’t until 1972 that Philips turned a commercially-sold VCR into a home version and referred to the product as “Video Cassette Recording” which is the first known use of this phrase.
While other iterations from different companies occurred in the next few years, the adoption of the home VCR became a reality in 1975 with major brands like Panasonic, RCA, JVC, Sony and Toshiba leading the way.
By the late 1970s, dedicated video rental stores were common place and many existing businesses such as convenience stores added small libraries of films to rent on demand.
What were the major manufacturers of VCRs?
Major manufacturers of early VCRs included Panasonic, JVC, Sony, Philips, Sanyo, Toshiba, JVC, RCA and more. Many other companies made attempts to build various machines and formats that crashed and burned and are largely forgotten.
The above list of companies are all ones who had built their reputations on other technologies and simply added the VCR to their list of manufactured products.
Sony pioneered the Betamax format of the VCR whereas JVC presented their Video Home Service (VHS) version.
Philips came up with a third option sold only in Europe called Video 2000 that didn’t make much headway and is largely forgotten.
Over time, manufacturers came up with more interesting features such as wireless remotes, front loading machines (as opposed to top loaders) and even double tape decks so you could record videos that you had rented or borrowed from a friend.
There were even tape head cleaners that you would play like a video to clean the inside of the VCR and I remember seeing a ridiculous invention that perhaps only a video rental store would appreciate: A machine that did nothing but rewind VCR tapes at a very high speed.
How were VCRs accepted by consumers and Hollywood?
VCRs were quickly snapped up by consumers and it soon became a staple in every household just like the tv and radio.
Fridays and Saturdays were the popular days to go to any major video store. You had to try your luck to rent a video on those days though. Video rental stores were packed in the evenings and your options were often limited if you waited too long.
As mentioned above though, the film industry – plus movie theater chains and tv networks – weren’t convinced. In fact, they were afraid.
For Hollywood they were used to controlling their films so that people watched them for a high price in the theaters, full stop. People had to watch movies when the film studios released them and when cinemas decided to show them.
VCRs meant people could rent movies on demand and even wait for the movie to go to video – in theory – if they weren’t sure the film was any good. Why spend $7 on a movie when you could rent it for $3 or less and watch it a few times with friends before bringing it back?
Plus, VCRs meant you didn’t have to rely on tv networks any more for films and the Record button enabled you tape trade with friends. You could rent a movie and hook up a second VCR with a cable and make a copy of a tape to share, illegally of course. But people did it anyways just like people made mix tapes of their favorite songs.
This last point highlights a major concern Hollywood film studios had with the VCR: It promoted the copying of films and tv shows and thus encouraged video piracy. Movie theater chains feared they would become obsolete as people would want to watch movies at home instead.
This fear was so strong that Congressional hearings were held in 1982 in the United States to argue against the sale of VCRs to the general public.
What types of VCR formats existed?
While there were many companies that produced VCRs, the most interesting question relates to the format of VCR technology that existed. There were two main types of technology that competed with one another:
Betamax – Designed and sold by Sony. Betamax cassette tapes were slightly smaller in size than VHS tapes. They were often referred to simply as Beta.
Video Home Service (VHS) – Designed and sold by pretty much everyone else. VHS tapes were larger than Betamax tapes but looked similar otherwise.
While the terms Beta and VHS were used by the general public, you were more likely to simply refer to your machine as a VCR.
To this day, it’s widely believed that Betamax tapes were superior in playback quality over their VHS counterparts. But the Betamax brand was made solely by Sony and after several years, stopped being produced and largely disappeared as as result as manufacturers focused on VHS technology.
Why did VHS survive and why did Betamax die?
Betamax was perceived by some to offer superior tape play and quality over VHS. Unless you had access to both machines or saw the same movie played side by side however, how would you know? The superiority was largely perceived if not actual.
Moreover, Sony began by producing video cassette tapes with shorter recording times over VHS which made them less convenient.
For a movie, you typically needed a tape with at least 2 hours recording time. If you wanted to take home videos or tape record from your tv, the longer the better. A 4 or even 6 hour tape was ideal.
The public soon decided that the VHS format was the one they would adopt and video rental stores followed suit. While early on they offered both VHS and Beta tapes to rent, pretty soon the Beta section of a video store became a smaller, isolated area and eventually disappeared.
For the average person, a VCR was just a means to an end. You bought one that was a decent price and showed movies that you had access to. VHS movies quickly became more in demand in video stores and Beta wasn’t as desirable as a result.
How did the VCR work?
Early VCRs were top loading machines. You’d press a button and the tape holder would pop up. You’d insert the tape, push the tape holder down into position and start the tape by pressing the Play button.
Later machines were front loaders that had a slot that you would simply push your tape into. When you wanted to remove it, you’d press the eject button.
Given that the VCR used an actual tape cassette, you had access to Fast-forward, Rewind, Pause and other options. When you finished watching a tape, you’d press the Rewind button and it depending on the tape length, it would take several minutes to rewind.
Unlike audio cassettes which can be taped on both sides, a VCR tape is only capable of operating on one side only.
Also unlike audio cassettes, VCR tapes have a plastic barrier protecting the tape itself so you don’t touch and possibly damage it.
Where you did get VCR tapes to watch?
You could rent video cassettes from local rental stores or you could purchase them from local retailers who sold them. You could also buy blank tapes at many retailers to record shows or movies from your tv yourself.
Major video rental stores in the United States included names like Blockbuster Video and Erol’s which ended up getting bought out by Blockbuster. Other famous names included Hollywood Video, Family Video and Video EZY. In Canada, Jumbo Video was a major rental company and Blockbuster had a very large presence too.
When a major movie was being released on video, video rental stores would advertise how many copies they had to rent or to purchase to hype the release. Some stores allowed you to reserve a copy of a film a few days in advance, too.
Netflix actually started as a mail order video rental service. You’d request a particular video(s) and they’d mail it to you to watch and then you’d return it by mail when you were done with it. Very time-consuming and not very efficient either although for some people it seemed novel at the time before streaming existed.
Pros of a Video Cassette Recorder
- For the time (1970s – 1980s) there really wasn’t a competitor so it was better than nothing. And for awhile, it was the exclusive way to watch movies and videos on demand at home.
- You had access to many recent events that had been recorded (wrestling, concerts, etc) that you could watch that would otherwise be unavailable to you.
- You could tape record tv shows and movies and watch them at your convenience and also skip through tv ads for the first time ever.
- VCR tapes made popular birthday and Christmas gifts especially once box sets were introduced.
- VCR tapes were eventually used by companies as marketing and training tools that they could mail to customers to watch in the comfort of their home.
Cons of a Video Cassette Recorder
- VCR tapes were large and bulky by today’s standards. They were also very large when compared to audio cassettes were still popular at the time.
- VCRs were a primitive technology by today’s standards. Since it used videotape, you had to fast forward and rewind tapes which took time. You couldn’t just quickly start at a particular spot in a movie like you can with a YouTube video for example.
- VCR tapes degraded with use and could be ruined if they got stuck in the machine.
- Early VCRs were very expensive, costing around $1,400. An average machine had dropped to around $770 by 1980 which is still $2,560 in today’s world which is very expensive for a piece of technology.
- VCRs were sensitive to moisture and humidity and were often equipped with a “dew” warning light that when illuminated, warned the user that there was moisture inside the machine which could hinder its performance.
What does NTSC and PAL mean?
NTSC is the VHS video format used in North America and parts of South America and Japan whereas PAL format was used in Europe and much of Asia parts of Africa and Oceania, among other areas.
The two formats refer to the refresh rate of the screen. NTSC offers 30 frames per second whereas PAL offers 25 frames per second.
NTSC also offers an aspect ratio of 720 x 480 whereas PAL uses 720 x 576. This refers to the ratio of the width vs the height of an image similar to that of a computer screen.
NTSC vs PAL: Which format was better?
Technically speaking, PAL has more lines but fewer frames than NTSC. Since lines are what determines picture quality and resolution and more is better, PAL would win out using this metric.
Quirky facts about the VCR and video cassette tapes
- Once VCRs became commonplace, they were largely commodities to most people. The average person wasn’t necessarily brand loyal and would often buy a VCR based on price and compact size as they got smaller.
- Early VCRs were very large and bulky. Later models were perhaps 1/3 the size and much lighter too.
- Early VCRs had a manual counter from 0-999 that would increase when playing a tape and decrease when rewinding. This helped if you wanted to return to a particular part of a video and could glance at the counter to find your desired place.
- VCRs came with a timer feature that enabled you to set a schedule to record a particular event on tv (i.e. movie, tv episode) when you weren’t able to watch it live. Up until that time, if you wanted to watch something, you had to watch it live regardless of the time of day it was airing.
Bonus: You could then fast-forward through commercials for the first time ever, too. - Video cassette tapes were sold in a paper or plastic protective sleeve where you could write the name of the recording or on a sticker on the side of the tape itself.
- Like audio cassettes, VCR tapes had a small plastic tab in one corner of the tape that when removed, would prevent you from accidentally recording over it.
- VCR tapes were typically sold in 2 and 4 hour recording time formats but lower limits like 1 hour were initially offered too. In the end, tapes that offered as much as 16 hours of recording time were available.
- Your VCR typically offered 2 or 3 recording speed options which increased or lowered recording quality. So the faster the tape speed you chose, the lower the recording time but the better the film quality, and vice versa.
- Some video rental outlets like Blockbuster added late fees that would charge you extra if you returned a rental movie past its due date. Other companies offered “tape protection” where for a fee like 25 cents per movie rental, you were protected if your VCR “ate the tape” or otherwise damaged it.
- It was considered bad form to return a rental movie without rewinding it. Some rental stores would charge you extra if you returned the movie without rewinding it.
Why did the VCR die out as a home video option?
The Video Cassette Recorder spent several decades as the go-to home video playback option. At the time, it was revolutionary and enabled home access to films in a way not previously seen. But over time, it got replaced by better technology that came out.
The VCR managed to hold back the challenge of the Laser Disc which was introduced in 1978. Similar to a Long-Playing vinyl record in size and shape, it was big, bulky and easily breakable and hardly made a dent in the market despite its quality superiority to the VHS tape.
The VCR eventually did get replaced, but by the Digital Video Disc or DVD. DVDs are smaller and more compact and offer much better graphics, sound and menu features.
They are also much more convenient as you can quickly and easily skip forward and backward to any part of the movie you like.
The Video Cassette Recorder largely led the market from the period 1975 – 2002 when it was usurped for the first time by DVD sales.