Super VHS

Remember back in the days of floppies? Or when you used a zip disk if you had a particularly large file? Well from the vault of technologies no longer used we bring you...


THE SUPER VHS





Introduced in 1987 by JVC, the Super VHS (or S-VHS), raised quality standards from 240 to 420 lines per picture (compared to standard TV at 500). To the untrained eye an S-VHS tape looks just like a standard VHS tape - unfortunately they don't all play in the same VCRS (as we learned this past week with a patron who had exclusively S-VHS tapes he needed to digitize). To tell the difference you actually need to flip the tapes over.



The main difference can be boiled down to one hole on the bottom of the tape. Consumers soon realized that a standard VHS tape could be used in a S-VCR if simply modified by drilling a hole -- by some reports this practice even increases tape quality. Instances of altering S-VCRs to make this hole unnecessary also occurred. Many models of S-VCRs now support playing standard tapes.

The format has mostly fallen out of favor (and never caught on as some had hoped) but, as with formats like floppies, we're left with the vestiges of s-VHS in that people still need to access data stored on them.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
* If a VHS tape won't play for any apparent reason, check to see if it is an S-VHS.

* If it is, encourage the patron to use the black JVC decks. These are the only decks on the floor that will play S-VHS.


Fun Fact:

S-VCRs were one of the first pieces of hardware to use S-Video cables leading many to believe the "S"s stood for the same thing. In fact, the S in S-VHS stands for "Super" while the S in S-Video stands for "separated."