by Amanda Lipson and Vanessa Pressault
It wasn't long ago that the Video Home System (VHS) ruled the home-video industry. Introduced in the mid-1970s, the VHS broadened the horizons of individuals everywhere, allowing them to watch movies on their own time outside of movie theatres and broadcast TV's schedule. For the first time, the general public was also able to record live TV and replay their favourite shows and segments at their leisure. The VHS reigned supreme until the early 2000s, when the higher quality and more compact Digital Video Disc (DVD) sales finally overthrew the VHS.
Many VHS tapes were created and used during its 30 years of glory, from commercially successful movies to pornography, home TV recordings and personal home videos. Much of the data stored on VHS tapes is unique or no longer released on newer formats. The dubious shelf life of VHS tapes has highlighted the need for conversion to newer and longer-lasting digital formats in order to preserve their contents.
The following pages will explore some of the basics of VHS digitization and preservation. They will aslo show you a glimpse at our personal experience digitizing two (2) VHS tapes from the Ashley Turner fonds for the University of Ottawa's Special Archives and Collections (ARCS) through November 2019, for the ISI6354 - Cultuaral Heritage Resources class.