VHS
It's from 1977, before you were born.
- Maker
- JVC
- Type
- Videocassette format
- Debuted
- 1977
- Note
- Won the format war vs. Betamax
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About
As of 2026, it's 49 years old.
VHS arrived in the US in 1977 and promptly picked a fight with Sony's technically-superior Betamax. VHS won the format war the old-fashioned way: longer recording times, cheaper players, and a healthy supply of movies people actually wanted to rent.
It gave the world the home video rental store, the joy of taping shows off TV, and the eternal moral instruction 'Be Kind, Rewind' — plus the digital clock that blinked 12:00 in living rooms for decades.
Fuzzy, chunky, and victorious, VHS ruled home entertainment for a generation and proved that 'good enough and affordable' beats 'better and pricier' nearly every time.
