VHS - History

History

In 1971, JVC engineers Yuma Shiraishi and Shizuo Takano led the effort in developing the VHS tape format. JVC originally collaborated with Sony Corporation and Matsushita Electric (aka Panasonic, National in Japan) in building a home video standard for the Japanese consumer. Soon after, Sony and Matsushita broke away from the collaboration effort, in order to work on video recording formats of their own. Sony started working on Betamax, while Matsushita started working on VX.

By the end of 1971, JVC produced an internal document titled VHS Development Matrix. In the document, it listed twelve objectives in building a home video recording unit. The objectives in the Matrix include:

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

Soon after the Matrix was produced, the commercial video recording industry in Japan took a financial hit. As a result, JVC cut its budgets and restructured its video division - even going as far as shelving the VHS project. However, despite the lack of funding for the VHS project, Takano and Shiraishi continued to work on the project in secrecy within the video division. By 1973, the two engineers successfully produced a functional prototype.

In 1974, the Japanese government started a standards war of its own. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) attempted to force the Japanese video industry to standardize on just one recording format, for the sake of saving the country from consumer confusion of having too many video formats on the market to choose from. 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.

JVC believed that an open standard worked in the best interest of the consumer, as sharing the format among competitors without licensing the technology was better for the consumer. To prevent the MITI from adopting Betamax, JVC made an attempt to have other companies accept VHS, and thereby work against Sony and the MITI. It was a major key to have Matsushita on board because Matsushita was Japan's largest electronics manufacturer at the time. JVC succeeded in persuading Matsushita to back the VHS format because Matsushita was afraid to allow Sony to become a leader, and Betamax could only record one hour of video. Matsushita's backing of JVC persuaded Hitachi, Mitsubishi, and Sharp to back the VHS standard as well. 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, and eventually lead the MITI to drop its push for an industry standard.

Sony's Betamax continued to compete with VHS throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s. Betamax's major advantage was its cassette size and video quality. Beta I was able to record one hour of programming at a tape speed rate of 1.5 inches per second (ips) - its version of standard play mode (SP). Originally, VHS recorded two hours of programming in SP at 1.31 ips, 0.656 ips for four-hour recording (LP or long play), and 0.437 ips for six-hour recording (EP or extended play.) Betamax's smaller sized cassette limited the size of the reel of tape, and could not compete with VHS' two-hours capability by extending the tape length. Instead, Sony had to slow the tape down to 0.787 ips (Beta II) in order to achieve two hours of recording in the same cassette size. This brought Betamax's once superior video quality down to below VHS when comparing two-hour recording. Sony eventually released an extended Beta cassette (Beta III) which allowed Betamax to break the two-hour limit, but by then VHS had already won the format battle.