VHS tapes have recently been making a comeback and we can provide you with shop-ready copies, with unique full colour on-body prints also available
Please note, due to current demand our VHS products have a lead time of 2-3 weeks.
Launched in the late 70’s, the VHS tape was the most popular video format in the 80’s and 90’s with a comparatively low resolution of 335 x 576 pixels (in PAL format) that adds a unique low res and grainy character to music videos or films that help transport many of the older generation viewers back in time and probably baffles the younger ones!
Available with brand new black tapes of 30, 60 or 180 minute length with your own sticker or on-body printing and clear cases with printed full colour inserts.
Benefits of our VHS tape duplication include:
Brand new VHS tapes recorded in real time from DVD
Available in clear, black or white VHS cases with full colour inserts
Tape print options include both full colour UV-LED or sticker prints
When VHS tapes we created the world was using two main formats for the resolution and screen frame rate, which were PAL (310×576 resolution with a frame rate of 25fps) and NTSC (320×480 resolution with a frame rate of 30fps – technically 29.97fps) and we have to encode your VHS tapes in one of those formats. In Europe and most of Asia, Australasia, Africa, Brazil and Argentina, the PAL format was used and for North America, most of South America and Japan, NTSC was the format of choice. You can view our maps of the exact PAL and NTSC countries.
Most VHS players are able to play both formats, however some may only be able to play either PAL or NTSC, so you will need to select the format that you would like us to encode to depending on where you think your main target market will be. For larger VHS runs we can also produce some of your tapes in PAL and some in NTSC and label/print your tapes accordingly for identification.
Please note that there are also different playback speeds between PAL (0.921 inches per second) and NTSC (1.313 inches per second), so whilst our tape lengths are quoted for PAL, if you are going for NTSC format then the longest playback that you will get on one of our E240 VHS tapes (the longest that we stock) will be around 168 minutes.
VHS aspect ratio
As VHS was developed before the widescreen era, the VHS output is always 4:3 ratio, so normally letterboxing (adding black bars to the top and bottom) is used when customers send us 16:9 (or alternative ratios) for VHS conversion. This keeps the VHS output true to the original format if played back on an older 4:3 ratio screen. The issue is that most people are probably playing back on 16:9 ratio screens these days in which case (unlike DVD) the TVs are unlikely to be able to recognise the ratio automatically, so to avoid squashing the picture down slightly, viewers should ideally select the 4:3 ratio on their screen remote to enlarge and play at the correct ratio on their display.
Whilst some viewers may not be aware of this ideal 4:3 viewing ratio, you could mention on the VHS case jacket insert that you recommend selecting 4:3 as the viewing ratio on your screen for best results, although we tend to find that most customers don’t mind the slight resizing of the picture as VHS is hardly a high resolution format and are not expecting perfect results and see it as part of the character of the VHS format.
Do you need a barcode?
If you will be selling your discs through a retail store then you will probably need to register a unique barcode for your release and apply it to the rear outer artwork of your product to make it possible for them to sell via their product barcode scanner.
In Europe we use the EAN 13 barcode system and in North America the UPC system is used. We can register an EAN 13 barcode for you and embed the barcode graphic within your disc packaging artwork. The only information that we will require from you will be the name of the band/artist and the title of the release, then just leave a suitable space in your artwork and we will register the barcode and add it to your artwork for you.
If you would like customers to be able to tap your cassette tape, CD, USB, VHS or just about anything else on their Android or Apple phone to open up a web page, music video, specific Spotify artist page, album or track then just include NFC (Near Field Communication) tag stickers with your order and we can then apply them to your product.
These tags measure 19mm x 12mm in size, use an NTAG213 chip with clear PET and a strong adhesive back. They have a strong field for their size and are very durable.
An order can be created by selecting the required product options above and adding them to your order. If you have your audio and artwork files ready, you can upload them at this stage. This process will generate a quote, which will be emailed to you and our admin team. No payment is required at this point.
A member of our team will then be in touch, generally within 1-2 working days, to check your quote and artwork and discuss your order. Should you then wish to proceed, they will email you an invoice for payment before we start production.
If you wish to upload your files at a later date or have any issues uploading via our website, you can also send your files to us via WeTransfer.
Any questions?
There are often many questions that customers may have that are not answered above, in which case please do not hesitate to pick up the phone or email us and we will try to help. Our contact details can be found here.
The template to use for the card insert within the outer clear jacket of the case, containing the front, rear and spine artwork, measuring 254mm x 194mm
