Some things are misleading. When I hear the acronym VHS I remember good times, I think of many hours on my sofa, I think entertainment. Many other words come to mind, Revolutionary being one, but the actual meaning of VHS is unbelievably misleading. “The Video Home System is a video tape recording standard developed during the 1970s”. Hold on a second Wikipedia, “Video Home System”? Let’s try ”Very Hot System”. It truly is the only system worth owning and one we will hang on to for many years to come. Let me explain.
The VHS is my favorite form of entertainment. It is unbelievable. An entire feature length film shrunk down in size and fit in the tiny compounds of the VHS cassette, run off a single strand of advanced black tape. Wow! How Hollywood can take big-screen entertainment and make it fit on one (sometimes two) black cassette is beyond my knowledge. Will science ever stop amazing me? I don’t think there could be much more in the evolution of how we watch movies. It is electrifying to think about.
I get very excited about some of the great features of the VHS cassette and its companion, the VHS player. I have listed the basic features that make up its “button-system” below that gives a great snapshot of each, including their function and purpose:
Play – allows the viewer to start the movie. After you insert the cassette you absolutely need this feature to enjoy your movie experience.
Fast Forward – allows the viewer to transport themselves to any point ahead in the movie. It’s like time travel.
Rewind – allows the viewer to experience memorable moments over and over again. Enjoy this feature if you’ve missed moments and want to revisit great scenes.
Pause – enables the viewer to stop the movie, but only for a moment. Use this sparingly, because the longer the movie stays paused the more likely it is to stop.
Stop – enables the viewer to fully stop the movie. You really don’t want to see the credits.
Stop/Eject – allows the viewer to go a step further by automatically spitting out the cassette from the player. Be cautious when using this feature, it can be hazardous or even dangerous.
There are also some advanced features to the more expensive VHS players that I will outline now. The “Record” button allows you to take a blank/empty VHS cassette and record some of your favorite TV programs on it. If there is a favorite commercial you want to see again, that is no problem for the VHS player, just insert the tape, sync it up with the commercial and press record. 10 minutes later you have your own copy. The “Timer” feature can be used to sync the recording of a program with the VHS player. I like this feature because of the simplicity to which I can time my favorite program to start recording on my empty cassette without worry. After you are finished with your movie, there is another feature that makes you more likeable at your local video rental store. It’s called “Rewind”. I listed the rewind feature under basic as well as here because there is an addition. When you have stopped the movie you should then rewind the film to allow it to return to the start for the next viewer. The rewind button does just this. This feature may have been hidden to you because you wouldn’t think of “re-starting” a movie, shouldn’t it do that automatically? That is the beauty of the VHS system, there are some great hidden features to enjoy.
The future of this amazing system is unending. Will we ever see its equal? Can anything beat the ease of use that is the button-system? Will we ever see a rival picture quality? These are things that may come, but the VHS player and cassette will form the backbone of how we watch videos. While the acronym may be misleading, please don’t let this amazing system escape your purchase today.
— Luke —
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