VHS-C

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2008)

VHS-C is the compact VHS format introduced in 1982^[1] and used primarily for consumer-grade compact camcorders. The format is based on the same videotape as is used in VHS, and can be played back in a standard VHS VCR with an adapter. Though quite inexpensive, the format is largely obsolete even as a consumer standard and has been replaced in the marketplace by digital video formats, which have smaller form factors.

The magnetic tape on VHS-C cassettes is wound on one main spool and used a gear wheel which moves the tape forward. It can also be moved by hand. This development hampered the sales of the Betamax system somewhat, because the Betamax cassette geometry prevented a similar development.

VHS-C was one of the pioneering formats of the compact camcorder market, and was released to compete with Video8. VHS-C cassette was larger than Video8 cassette, but was compatible with VHS tape recorders. A higher quality version of VHS-C was released, based on S-VHS, known as S-VHS-C, that competed against Hi8, the higher quality version of Video8. The arrival on the market of inexpensive S-VHS-C camcorders led to the inclusion on many modern VCRs of a feature known as SQPB, or SuperVHS Quasi-PlayBack, but did not make a significant impact on the market as the arrival of MiniDV as a consumer standard made low-cost, digital, near-broadcast-quality video widely available to consumers, and rendered analog camcorders largely obsolete.

Compared with Video8, VHS-C had identical video quality but a shorter run time, 120 versus 40 minutes at SP speed, 240 versus 120 for longer-running modes. Although at one time JVC marketed a 45-minute and a 60-minute SP Mode tape with the Extra High Grade formulation (135 minutes, and 180 minutes in EP/SLP Mode). Hi8 and S-VHS-C both have laserdisc quality pictures, but media is far less readily available than the cameras themselves, and thus most S-VHS-C units support S-VHS ET, which allows recording of an S-VHS signal on high-grade VHS tape.

Although Video8 acquired a digital variant, Digital8, it is extremely unlikely that D-VHS will ever be adapted to a compact format, as the consumer camcorder industry has largely standardized on small-format MiniDV and the new hard drive based recorders. As of 2010, a few VHS-C and S-VHS-C camcorders are still available from JVC at extremely low prices (~US$200), and the media remains widely-available at relatively low cost.

[edit] References

v • d • e Video storage formats Videotape Analog Quadruplex (1956) · VERA (1958) · Type A (1965) · CV-2000 (1965) · Akai (1967) · U-matic (1969) · EIAJ-1 (1969) · Cartrivision (1972) · Philips VCR (1972) · V-Cord (1974) · VX (1974) · Betamax (1975) · IVC (1975) · Type B (1976) · Type C (1976) · VHS (1976) · VK (1977) · SVR (1979) · Video 2000 (1980) · CVC (1980) · VHS-C (1982) · M (1982) · Betacam (1982) · Video8 (1985) · MII (1986) · S-VHS (1987) · Hi8 (1989) · S-VHS-C (1987) · W-VHS (1994) Digital D1 (1986) · D2 (1988) · D3 (1991) · DCT (1992) · D5 (1994) · Digital Betacam (1993) · DV (1995) · Digital-S (D9) (1995) · DVCPRO (1995) · Betacam SX (1996) · DVCAM (1996) · HDCAM (1997) · DVCPRO50 (1997) · D-VHS (1998) · Digital8 (1999) · DVCPRO HD (2000) · D6 HDTV VTR (2000) · MicroMV (2001) · HDV (2003) · HDCAM SR (2003) Videodisc Analog Phonovision (1927) · Ampex-HS (1967) · TeD (1975) · Laserdisc (1978) · CED (1981) · VHD (1983) · Laserfilm (1984) · CD Video (1987) Digital VCD (1993) · MovieCD (c.1995) · DVD/DVD-Video (1995) · MiniDVD (c.1995) · CVD (1998) · SVCD (1998) · EVD (2003) · XDCAM (2003) · H(D)VD(2004) · FVD (2005) · UMD (2005) · VMD (2006) · High Definition HD DVD (2006) · Blu-ray Disc (2006) · HVD (2007) · CBHD (2008) Solid state P2 (2004) · SxS (2007) Digital tapeless MOD (2005) · AVCHD (2006) · AVC-Intra (2006) · TOD (2007) · iFrame (2009) Non-video TV recording Kinescope (1947) · Electronicam kinescope (1950s) · Electronic Video Recording (1967)