Hello and welcome back to picsandportraits.
With the entirety of human creation potentially a click away, it can be hard imagining getting
up to physically put a movie on, let alone travelling to a store to get it.
Though convenient, I, like many, still pine for the weekends spent browsing video store
shelves.
In this video we will revisit those days by looking at the history of home video rental,
but first the format that made it all possible.
To say videotape changed the way we consume media would be an understatement.
Prior to its invention, television was broadcast live, once.
Miss it and that’s it.
It’s gone.
The same could be said for movies.
While some popular films would be rereleased in theatres, if you didn’t see a certain
one on its first run, well, you may be out of luck.
An early process for recording and archiving TV broadcasts was the kinescope.
This involved recording a video monitor with a film camera and allowed studios to distribute
their programs across different markets.
Though the quality was impacted, this was the only viable option until 1951 and the
emergence of video tape.
Video was first experimented with by Bing Crosby’s production company, BCE.
In addition his performance legacy, Crosby is also considered an audio pioneer.
Having seen what tape was capable of during wartime, he invested $50,000 in technology
company AMPEX to develop reel-to-reel tape recorders.
This allowed him to prerecord and produce his radio show in a way that hadn’t been
heard before.
Seeing potential in the format, BCE modified these recorders and attempted to capture and
store moving images.
While they succeeded, the quality was deemed too poor to broadcast.
This was because the video signal is so much higher than the audio signal and as such,
required more space and quicker speeds of recording.
It would take five years for AMPEX to develop the two-inch, quadruplex system that would
eventually exceed kinescope in every way.
This quickly became the norm for recording television broadcasts however, due to the
fact that tape was expensive and reusable, many early recordings are lost.
What you are seeing here is the oldest surviving videotape footage, a Bing Crosby variety show
starring Louis Armstrong, Rosemary Clooney and Frank Sinatra.
It was sponsored by the the Ford Motor Company to promote their new line, the Edsel, in 1957.
This format would be improved upon and evolved to include colour, with new formats emerging
as the technology became quicker and more compact.
The next major development in video was the introduction of the videocassette.
In 1971, Sony released the U-matic cassette, intending to market it to consumers, but they
didn’t bite.
We are going to see this with a lot of these early formats, mainly due to cost.
However, thanks to U-Matic’s durability, it did catch on with broadcasters and would
be used extensively in television production.
Now almost all of what we’ve discussed has been for commercial purposes.
In terms of home viewing, open reel-to-reel systems existed but suffered from again, cost,
and ease of use.
In 1972, Philip’s released the VCR, or, Video Cassette Recording, system.
While the purpose was similar and the acronym the same, this was not what is commonly referred
to as a VCR.
Philip’s VCR used square cassettes capable of recording at three speeds, allowing users
to capture 30, 45 or 60 minutes worth of footage, with quality and functionality degrading as
the duration increased.
However it did improve upon previous systems and added features that would become standard,
such as a programmable clock that could be set to record.
Still, it never took, and was limited to Europe, Australia and South Africa.
That same year, US based Cartrivision debuted, offering prerecorded media, such as feature
films or educational programs that could be ordered and returned through catalogue.
Like VCR, Cartrivision tapes were square but were capable of recording up to 114 minutes,
thanks to a process known as skip-field.
This helped conserve media space by recording only half the video field, with playback running
at three times, concealing any lost resolution.
These tapes were compatible only with Cartrivision sets, priced at nearly $8000 when adjusted
for inflation.
While revolutionary, Cartrivision faced poor sales and production ceased just 13 months
into its life cycle.
Video’s true consumer breakthrough came in 1975 with Sony’s Betamax.
An improvement upon the U-Matic system, Beta was more accessible, in terms of use and affordability.
Ever since the U-Matic, there had been calls for a single, standardized format.
Sony saw this in Betamax and sought to license it to other companies, though their attempt
to monopolize the industry was met by JVC and their rival format, the Video Home System,
or VHS, in 1976.
The period that followed is commonly referred to as the Format War, with Beta and VHS emerging
as the two superpowers.
Both were commercially available well into the 1980s but while Beta sported a better
viewing experience, it was hampered by a short recording time.
At only an hour, it was unable to record the entirety of movie, unlike VHS, which could
record two hours from the moment production began.
Though recording times would increase, Beta never recovered and VHS went on to become
the dominant format.
In 1968, Andre Blay founded Magnetic Video, a video duplication service in Farmington
Hills, Michigan.
In 1977, Blay approached 20th Century Fox about licensing 50 of their films for consumer
release on both VHS and Beta.
Echoing Cartrivision, consumers would be able to purchase tapes through mail by joining
Blay’s Video Club of America.
With tapes costing upwards of $100 each, and recorder-players, those VCRs, over $1000,
not adjusted for inflation, this was still very much a luxury.
Shortly after Magnetic Video began releasing films for home use, entrepreneur George Atkinson
purchased a copy of each, on both formats, with the intent of lending, or renting, them
to customers.
Atkinson charged $50 for an annual membership and $100 for a lifetime.
Now on top of this, one still had to pay $10 per tape, per day.
This service was very well-received and he would go on to open The Video Station, the
first video rental store, in Los Angeles.
Following Atkinson’s lead, hundreds of independent video stores began opening.
In 1979, Fotomat started offering video rental services at their photo kiosks, at a price
$12 per five day rental.
The widespread acceptance of home video allowed for smaller distributors that catered to a
particular niche, pornography.
It also lead to piracy, as users could duplicate or record copyrighted material off television.
Major studios attempted to sue the manufactures of the technology, the most notable case being
Sony Corp. of America vs. Universal City Studios.
The supreme court ruled in favour of Sony, stating, more or less, that home recording
falls under fair use and just because the technology allows for piracy, does not mean
this is its intended purpose.
Seeing the revenue potential in releasing their films commercially, studios would eventually
embrace home video.
From the mid-80s into the 90s, the video rental industry exploded.
Several national and international chains emerged, the largest being Blockbuster Video.
Founded in Texas in 1985, Blockbuster quickly grew into a multi-billion dollar company,
expanding rapidly and swallowing up its competition.
As technology advanced, more avenues for home video rental appeared to challenge the video
store model.
Like Blockbuster, pay-per-view came to prominence in 1985.
Evolving out of closed circuit television, pay-per-view delivered special programming,
like sporting events, pornography, and feature films directly to customers through their
television providers, for a limited time.
The switch to digital video in the late 1990s allowed for video on demand services, where
customer could view a program or film at any time.
It also forced rental stores to update their stock to a new format, the digital versatile
disc, DVD.
Inspired by Amazon’s success during the dot-com boom, Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings
toyed with the idea an online video store but felt shipping and stocking VHS too cumbersome.
The advent and convenience of DVD allowed them to launch Netflix in 1998.
Similar to how the industry began, Netflix mailed DVDs to customers all facilitated through
the internet.
They did away with late-fees and did not charge for shipping and handling.
In 2000, Blockbuster was given the opportunity to purchase Netflix for $50 million but passed.
Netflix would adapt to the changing landscape and in 2007, after delivering their billionth
DVD, the company announced a streaming, VOD service.
Today, Netflix has over 148 million subscriptions worldwide, produces more original content
that any other network, and is synonymous with television.
Blockbuster, on the other hand, declared bankruptcy in 2013.
Some video stores still exist but the model is disappearing rapidly.
Pay-per-view, VOD and streaming platforms all contributed to the decline of physical
media, but each can be classified as video rental, as rights expire and certain media
can disappear at any time.
Hang on to those DVDs, people.
The affection felt towards video can be attributed obviously to nostalgia.
I’ve said it many times on this channel but VHS, video tape, is absolutely an inferior
format.
However, I was raised on videotape.
My memories are informed by videotape.
I was introduced to so much media through video that in some circumstances, watching
on any other format just looks wrong.
Now this was not mean to be an exhaustive history and I’m no expert so feel free to
correct or comment down below.
I will post links to relevant material in the description and we will be exploring this
topic more in a process video over at Patreon.com/picsnportraits.
You can support us there.
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