General Information

Serial #

COSA30021

Part Number

1

Total Parts

8

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Metal casing with synthetic sides and front/ Synthetic and metal controls and working parts

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

47.4 cm

Width

36.7 cm

Height

10.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Communications

Category

Television

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Matsushita

Country

Japan

State/Province

Unknown

City

Osaka

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

1990 +

Canada

An American made piece of home entertainment equipment used by a Canadian. The donor, Dr. Paul Attallah (1954-2009), was Associate Director, Mass Communications in the School of Journalism and Communications at Carleton University, Ottawa. His use of home theatre equipment for personal entertainment also contributed to his understanding of the technical and perceptual attributes of new media technologies. Despite being categorized as the obvious successor to VHS, S-VHS did not come close to replacing it. For many different reasons, S-VHS was very unsuccessful in the home market and therefore their manufacturers did not gain substantial market shares. In the early 1990s, S-VHS VCRs were selling for approximately $2,000.00 and, not surprisingly, timeshifters were not interested in paying more for slightly superior picture quality. A few pre-recorded movies were release to VHS but poor market acceptance encouraged studios to substitute S-VHS with Laserdisc technologies.

Function

An S-VHS VCR is an electronic device for recording and playing back video images and sound on S-VHS or VHS vidiocassettes.

Technical

An example of an S-VHS (Super VHS) videocassette recorder. Introduced in Japan in 1987, the S-VHS was an improved version of the VHS standard for video cassette recorders. The S-VHS was a high quality system offering a horizontal resolution of 400 pixels per line, as opposed to VHS's 240 pixels per line. In terms of audio recording, S-VHS retained VHS's usual linear and Hi-Fi soundtracks. Although the advent of S-VHS technology was unsuccessful, the PVS4990 still had many high-quality characteristics that made it unique, such as a digital quartz tuner with an auto-set feature, special effects playback (FF, REW, still/pause. Slow motion); synchronized editing; bar code programming; digital effects (picture-in-picture, TV-in-TV, memory, strobe, multi-strobe, channel search, screen zoom, noise reduction). These functions alone were enough to capture the attention of electronics enthusiasts, but it wasn't enough to keep companies interested in their production. As of 2005, S-VHS VCRs were still available, but difficult to find in retail outlets.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

White label on back reads 'Panasonic/ VIDEO CASSETTE RECORDER/ MAGNÉTOSCOPE À CASSETTE/ SERIAL NO./ No. DE SÉRIE COSA30022/ MFR'D/FABRIQUÉ 3.29.1990/ MODEL NO./ NO DE MODÈLE PV-S4990-K/ 120V. AC/ 60 Hz/ 44W', 'MADE IN JAPAN/ FABRIQUÉ AU JAPON' and 'L40389 (VGNS2523)/ Gold lettering on front reads ''Panasonic S VHS/ Omnivision'/ Gold and blue lettering for control functions on front, white on back

Missing

Appears complete

Finish

Glossy black painted metal and black synthetic casing/ Black and multicoloured controls and parts/ Brushed metal feet exteriors with black rubber? interiors

Decoration

Black horizontal striping on feet