# What Did We Do Before VHS? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2007, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196 "2007-05-23T08:16:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/81 "2007-05-26T08:33:38Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] Ah yes. I remember, in the years before VHS, occasionally Dad would get out the movie projector, set up the screen, and we’d watch things like this (I remember we had a ~10-minute silent “version” of _Star Wars_), … . [/QUOTE] [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8mBDQXWflbM/hqdefault.jpg "Silent Star Wars") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mBDQXWflbM) ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/82 "2007-05-26T08:53:26Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] Ah yes. I remember, in the years before VHS, occasionally Dad would get out the movie projector, set up the screen, and we’d watch things like this (I remember we had a ~10-minute silent “version” of _Star Wars_), cartoons, and/or home movies. [/QUOTE] It seems everyone I know whose dad had a Super8 home movie camera and projector had several reels of cartoons - and everyone agrees that the cartoons were much funnier run in reverse 😛 About _Star Wars_ - shortly before _The Empire Strikes Back_ was released, the story of the original movie was run as a radio play. On public radio. Imagine that happening today? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/83 "2007-05-26T12:33:41Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] The main reason is that video tape was expensive and can be reused. Before home video systems were common, they thought that there would be no market for the old episodes, and recycled the tapes. It wasn’t just Doctor Who, a lot of great TV was destroyed. [/quote] IIRC, almost the entire set of Steve Allen’s 60’s nightly shows were erased and reused for that reason. In contrast, most of the Parr/Carson Tonight shows were preserved. Maybe NBC had more money for blank tape. So the only record of Steve Allen’s shows now in existance is in the minds of the viewers. If only we could transfer that to a more permanent media! ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/84 "2007-05-26T17:00:57Z")
[QUOTE=Will Repair] Beta and the larger tape Betamax (used in the broadcast industry) came out followed by VHS. [/QUOTE] U-Matic was the term I should of used instead of just “larger tape Betamax.” [QUOTE=Wiki] U-matic is the name of a videocassette format first shown by Sony in prototype in October 1969, [/QUOTE] **commasense** , your edit of my post changed the meaning: You quoted: [Quote=Will Repair] Beta and the larger tape Betamax (used in the broadcast industry) came out followed by VHS. (This may be incorrect…) [/quote] Which you followed with the sentence: “Yes, it is incorrect.” The correct quote is: [Quote=Will Repair] Beta and the larger tape Betamax (used in the broadcast industry) came out followed by VHS. (This may be incorrect but I understand Sony patented both formats and licensed VHS because it had inferior resolution (that part is true.) [/quote] It is quite clear that the term “This may be incorrect” refers to the patents. The effect of the meaning change by the edit may be evident in **BJMoose** ’s post when he wrote: > [@](#): > > I’m also under the impression that Sony developed VHS (from it’s 3/4" system). So was I **BJMoose** , but I haven’t done a patent search yet. Are the patents that old accessible on the Internet yet? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/85 "2007-05-26T17:26:53Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] IIRC, almost the entire set of Steve Allen’s 60’s nightly shows were erased and reused for that reason. In contrast, most of the Parr/Carson Tonight shows were preserved. Maybe NBC had more money for blank tape. So the only record of Steve Allen’s shows now in existance is in the minds of the viewers. If only we could transfer that to a more permanent media! [/QUOTE] Steve Allen was the host of _[Tonight!](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0046652/)_ from 1953 to 1957. In the Steve Allen era, the show was broadcast live, not taped. NBC didn’t start using videotape until [1957](http://www.labguysworld.com/VTR_BirthOf.htm). However, the networks started making [kinescope](http://www.tvhistory.tv/KinescopeMachine.JPG) films of their broadcasts in 1948. [Many](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPwRo0YTTe4) of Steve Allen’s shows (including his first network _Tonight!_ show in 1953) exist as kinescope films. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/86 "2007-05-26T18:14:15Z")
[QUOTE=Will Repair] So was I **BJMoose** , but I haven’t done a patent search yet. Are the patents that old accessible on the Internet yet? [/QUOTE] 1952: Bing Crosby Enterprises demonstrates first videotape prototype. 1956: Ampex introduces 2-inch Quadruplex videotape. 1957: [Clip](http://www.ev1.pair.com/edsel/edselshow1.html) from one of the first entertainment programs recorded on videotape. 1958: [Clip](http://www.ev1.pair.com/colorTV/NBCcolortape-video.html) from one of the first entertainment programs recorded on color videotape. 1965: First videotape recorders marketed for [business, educational, and home](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940973,00.html) use. 1971: Sony introduces [U-matic](http://www.sony.net/Fun/SH/1-13/h3.html), world’s first videocassette format. 1972: [Avco Cartrivision](http://www.angelfire.com/alt/cartrivision/), first VCR marketed primarily for home use. 1972: Philips VCR format (UK). 1975: Sony introduces 3/4-inch [Betamax](http://www.sony.net/Fun/SH/1-13/h5.html) videocassettes. 1976: JVC introduces 3/4-inch VHS videocassettes (although several of VHS’ critical technologies are licensed from Sony). 1978: MCA DiscoVision optical disks. 1978: Pioneer LaserDisc optical disks. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/87 "2007-05-26T18:46:40Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] 1976: JVC introduces 3/4-inch VHS videocassettes (although several of VHS’ critical technologies are licensed from Sony). [/QUOTE] Thanks, **Walloon**. One of my instructors mentioned this and I always wondered if it was true. I see Google now has a patent search. The Patent Office searches only do text seaches to 1972. … ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/88 "2007-05-26T21:04:47Z")
[QUOTE=Will Repair] **commasense** , your edit of my post changed the meaning: …snip… It is quite clear that the term “This may be incorrect” refers to the patents. [/QUOTE] Well, it’s not _quite_ clear what the “this” in that sentence refers to, but I apologize for the misunderstanding. I didn’t realize you were referring to U-matic when you spoke of the “larger tape Betamax.” BTW, U-matic was not initially used by broadcasters; the signal wasn’t good or stable enough. It wasn’t until tape formulations improved and digital time base correctors became relatively cheap and common in the late 1970s or early 1980s that it was taken up by broadcasters. Another minor point… > [@Walloon](#): > > 1975: Sony introduces 3/4-inch Betamax videocassettes. > 1976: JVC introduces 3/4-inch VHS videocassettes (although several of VHS’ critical technologies are licensed from Sony). Beta and VHS are 1/2-inch formats, not 3/4-inch. ---
**Author:** ![Grimpen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/82dd89/32.png) [@Grimpen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grimpen)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/89 "2007-05-26T21:40:39Z")
My, am I feeling old… As other posters have noted, real life had a lot in it. For music, there were round things called “records.” Also “musical instruments”; you played them yourself. And there were other artifacts called “books.” I read them. Games were played using actual physical objects, too. As for TV; in my area we got one channel. If we were lucky. Movies? Maybe once or twice a year. Except I remember one summer when our town rented a projector and hung a big sheet on the back wall of the grocery store, and we all sat out in an empty lot and watched Tarzan. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/90 "2007-05-26T23:25:13Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] The main reason is that video tape was expensive and can be reused. Before home video systems were common, they thought that there would be no market for the old episodes, and recycled the tapes… [/QUOTE] Wasn’t Actors’ Equity also afraid that if the BBC (& ITV) could keep showing old programs over and over again it’d put actors out of work? ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/91 "2007-05-26T23:33:37Z")
[QUOTE=Will Repair] * * * So was I **BJMoose** , but I haven’t done a patent search yet. Are the patents that old accessible on the Internet yet? [/QUOTE] I dunno. I stumbled across the Patent Office’s website a couple of years back (think I tried to look up Armstrong’s FM patent). My memory is vague, but I don’t think they had everything in their database and, as someone has noted, search options were limited. Keep meaning to go back there someday. Maybe this discussion will motivate me. This really isn’t germane to the discussion, but it reminded me of how they had to edit 2" videotape before the development of edit controllers. Just like audiotape, they cut and spliced it. The tape had a recorded “control track” along one edge and the editor would smear some solution on the tape to make the blips on the control track visible (if you didn’t edit precisely “between” video frames you would get a nasty glitch on playback). I was a bit slow getting into home video - my first Betamax had a “hard-wired” remote with three buttons (pause and two shuttles, I think). In these parts in the Sixties a TV remote control was hardly necessary, there being only three broadcast stations. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/92 "2007-05-26T23:53:03Z")
[QUOTE=urban1z] RCA also had a competing (sort of) version. It was actually vinyl and used a needle for playback. Failed miserably (more so even than Laserdisk). [/QUOTE] It was called the Selectavision. I personally would love to get my hands on one of those as a collector’s item. In fact, there’s [one on eBay](http://cgi.ebay.com/RCA-SelectaVision-SJT-200-Video-Disc-w-237-Movies_W0QQitemZ160118890976QQihZ006QQcategoryZ3284QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) right now with 237 movies included, for $500, and the auction is ending in 33 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/93 "2007-05-27T08:32:22Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] Actually, telerecording is a complex process, beyond the means of the home viewer. It was only ever done by the studios. [Kinescope - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telerecording) [/QUOTE] I get that, this really wasn’t great quality (from what I’ve seen of partly reconstructed episodes) you can see the curved edges of the screen and lines running down it from what I assume is some sort of lack of synchronisation between the frames on the tv and the film. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/94 "2007-05-27T23:30:38Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] > [@Musicat](#): > > IIRC, almost the entire set of Steve Allen’s 60’s nightly shows were erased and reused for that reason. In contrast, most of the Parr/Carson Tonight shows were preserved. Maybe NBC had more money for blank tape. > > So the only record of Steve Allen’s shows now in existance is in the minds of the viewers. If only we could transfer that to a more permanent media! Steve Allen was the host of _[Tonight!](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0046652/)_ from 1953 to 1957. In the Steve Allen era, the show was broadcast live, not taped. NBC didn’t start using videotape until [1957](http://www.labguysworld.com/VTR_BirthOf.htm). However, the networks started making [kinescope](http://www.tvhistory.tv/KinescopeMachine.JPG) films of their broadcasts in 1948. [Many](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPwRo0YTTe4) of Steve Allen’s shows (including his first network _Tonight!_ show in 1953) exist as kinescope films. [/QUOTE] Although you are probably correct, nothing you say changes anything I said. I was referring to a _different_ show in the early 60’s. Steve Allen was the host of this nightly show, taped across Vine Street from the Hollywood Ranch Market in the early 1960’s. This followed a Sunday night show that competed with Ed Sullivan in the 1950’s. The Steve Allen 1960’s nightly show was videotaped, but I understand most tapes were erased shortly after airing to save tape and be reused. Apparently the concept of a profitable rerun or syndication had not yet matured. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/95 "2007-05-28T03:39:25Z")
Ah, you are referring to _The New Steve Allen Show_, which ran from 1961 to 1965. It was shown over the ABC network in 1961, but from 1962 to 1965 it _was_ syndicated, by Westinghouse TV. An ABC episode from 1961 is available from [KineVideo](http://www.kinevideo.net/comedy_variety.php). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/96 "2007-05-28T03:48:02Z")
A Westinghouse episode from 1962 is also available from [KineVideo](http://www.kinevideo.net/new.php). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/97 "2007-05-28T03:48:11Z")
Reminds me of my grandparents admitting that the family would all gather around in the parlor and watch the radio. Literally. Remember too, that before cable there was a lot less stuff available to watch in the first place, and still most of it was crap. In case you wanted to see 2 shows on at the same time, you’d have to depend on a friend watching the other one, and then you’d both recite what happened. Movies? There used to be things called “theaters” for those. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/98 "2007-05-30T01:01:07Z")
As **Diogenes** notes, we didn’t _know_ it sucked that there were fewer than 10 channels. One thing I remember is a lot more movie theaters, including some that would show little but old movies. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/99 "2007-05-30T04:12:21Z")
I don’t think anyone’s mentioned it yet, but comic books. I got into them I guess early-mid 70’s or so, and whatever time wasn’t taken up by schoolwork, swimteam practice and eating, could be pretty easily filled with reading and rereading my ever-increasing collection of comics. In my later teens I got into music and punk and hanging with my punk friends and we could spend hours just listening to music and being punks. I can’t remember the last time I’ve sat down and really listened to a whole album, much less a few albums in a row. I mean, just sitting there doing nothing but _listen_. Seems almost bizarre now. Oh, when I was younger and we went to the movies, mom would sneak a tape recorder in her purse and record the movie so we could listen to it later. The last time I remember that was when mom took me to see _Logan’s Run_. We used to listen to that movie over and over. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196/100 "2007-05-30T05:30:48Z")
Hmm. I was only a kid in the 70’s, so my persception was a bit skewed. (And I guess, it still is.) We were at the mercy of whatever the local four or five TV stations saw fit to show us. But it wasn’t too bad. _Happy Days_, _Three’s Company_, etc. Oodles of sitcoms come to mind. My dad liked _M.A.S.H._, but I was too young to get the more subliminal messages. Tons of shows come back as what might be called classics now. (My grandparents loved _The Waltons_.) Police crime/drama (_Police Story_, _Hill Street Blues_, _Husky and Starch_), Scifi (_Battlestar Galactica_ which seems so campy now, _Space 1999_, _Buck Rodgers_ with Erin Gray. Yumm), “family values” shows (_The Waltons_, _Little House on the Prarie_), variety shows (remember _Donny and Marie_ Osmond show?), and of course, Johnny Carson. Plenty to pick from. Now, If you still didnt like what was available on TV, you had the movie theatre. (The first movie I ever saw multiple times in the theatre during it’s initial release phase was _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_.) Then, the local drive-in’s would show the lesser hyped releases (I saw _Star Wars_ the first time in a drive in), as well as showing major releases for a cheaper price ($5 a car load, IIRC) after the theatres moved on to newer stuff. Failling that, my parents would throw on the vinyl records, invite over friends, and party. Us kids had no problems finding ways to entertain ourselves in any case. (“Stop it! Stop it! DaaAAaad! Scott’s LOOKING at me…!”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-we-do-before-vhs/405196.md?page=4)