In the early 70’s, watching television was different than it is today. From the 40’s to the 60’s, if you wanted to watch a certain show or film you had to be present the moment it was aired live. This is obviously a huge setback because you would have to wait for your favourite movie to air again to rewatch it and you simply couldn’t miss an episode of a show because those were not aired again at all.
With this in mind, the “Japan Victor Company” created a system that could allow people the chance to record live television into tape cassettes. The VHS (short for Video Home System) revolutionized the television industry.
Until then, the only tape cassettes were used in a professional envoirments- be it in recording studios or medical imaging - due to their inaccessibility. Because something that was used so little had become accessible to every home, the television industry viewed videocassette recorders as having the power to disrupt their business, while television users viewed the VHS as a means to take control of their viewing experience. In fact, JVC established some objectives for the VHS’ creation in the hopes of making the system reliable and affordable. Objectives like “The system must be compatible with any ordinary television set.”, “Picture quality must be similar to a normal air broadcast.”, “Recorders should be affordable, easy to operate and have low maintenance costs.”, etc… were put in place because if they sold an overcomplicated system, they would not have the revolutionary user engagement they ended up having.
For 3 decades, VHS reigned supreme with a 60% or more user preference over the most relevant competition, Betamax, and VHS’ only downfall (as is with most things related to technology) was technological advance. The introduction of the DVD in 1996 meant that from 2000 to 2008 both systems had a shared spotlight until VHS could not compete and was totally replaced by DVD as the preferred low-end method of distribution of media.
In conclusion, the VHS was nothing short of revolutionary for the viewing experience of media consumers around the world but, as most things in the industry, was replaced by a better, faster, more compact and cheaper alternative.