How the 90s VHS look works

90s VHS video filters are in fashion right now, and most producers are using the same filter as everyone else. Why does the filter look like it does? To answer that question, I went to talk to the person that wrote it!
Thanks to Harry Frank and all the team at Red Giant - you can find out more about them here: www.redgiant.com
(This is not a sponsored video!)
Edited by Michelle Martin / @onthecrux
Graphics by Mr Weebl: / @weebl
🟥 MORE FROM TOM: www.tomscott.com/
(you can find contact details and social links there too)
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[@TomScottGo]

I had way too much fun adding the filters to this one.

[@mfw9902]

2 weeks ago :thinking:

[@grand776]

WOW. This video was less impressive than i thought it would be.ehh at least its content

[@FMRovers]

nononononno Too much fun is not possible :)

[@amylaneio]

mfw, like many youtubers, Tom tends to upload the videos well in advance of actually publishing them, hence the comment being dated before the video was piblished.

[@Neonator]

Not two weeks ago. Two DECADES ago.

[@lulzdragon7339]

Don't forget to rewind this video for the next person before moving on.

[@alanowa123]

Gold

[@KvaGram]

Ok, which of you lazy bums forgot to rewind the tape? You know how annoying it is to rewind it, right?

[@yoshimasachong2766]

Im your 700th comment and I'd like to say its rewind time

[@JayAreAitch]

Yoshimasa Chong ???

[@gniksamkcab6036]

I did this as a joke and found out you can change the time infront of the total video time to the remaining time of the video.

[@eliasblum753]

The most 1990s nostalgic part of it was the continuity announcer at the end. That was a very good touch. Well done!

[@metakarp_]

Yess, I giggled at that! So good!

[@davydatwood3158]

As someone who clings desperately to his Generation Y identity, that was *perfect*.

[@SebastianAdamss]

My last video was Captain Disillusion - Tom knows how predictable I am.

[@aino-kaisav5504]

Those announcers were still a thing in the 2000s here in Finland. It's really nostalgic to see them nowadays when watching old VHS tapes (our family has still a working VHS player).

[@stanleybochenek1862]

Yes

[@catfree]

" And over enthusiastic voices ! " Watch any bad KZbinr, and you'll get a feeling of nostalgia

[@MetaBloxer]

Maybe, but they didn't do 30 jumpcuts a minute, or add a bulge effect to their face every time they make an off-topic comment.

[@MackenziiRivers]

@@MetaBloxer.... *cough* theykindadotho

[@ihavekalashnikovyoudomath9275]

The more things change, the more they stay the same

[@zedmelon]

@catfree so... most of them?

[@tensevo]

Another algo victim.

[@HaniiPuppy]

"But next, a programme chosen for you, by: The Algorithm." sounded far more ominous and dystopian than probably intended.

[@auxencefromont1989]

Its even more distopic when your phone is in monochrome mode

[@Zyrdalf]

And when the next video is Captain Disillusion.

[@0_-]

@@Zyrdalf It got both of the correct like wtf

[@stepexgd6628]

Because it is?

[@nelsonnicholson6175]

No, I think it sounded exactly as dystopian as it was meant to.

[@SatanicJamnic]

You forgot about crazy zooming. That old cameras had really nice zoom range, and every video made in 80-90 has that close-ups with zoom.

[@Berniebud]

Fish-eye lenses were probably in the top 10 list of most abused camera technologies in that era

[@Kaoskadosk]

Still the most abused camera technology in skateboarding. Well, skateboarding footage never really went past the 90's to be honest.

[@Ben_306]

Oh the feeling of getting hit right between the eyes with a fish-eye lens as the camera operator loses track of his surroundings again.

[@wfd87]

not to mention for some reason when they make the picture black and white and all posterized and like reduce the frame-rate

[@MrHack4never]

Back when digital zoom was a hassle, and most zooming was done by hand or motor

[@annekedebruyn7797]

The funniest thing is that VHS didnt look that bad at all. It's similar to what people think audio cassettes used to sound like and what it actually sounded like. They weren't bad at all.

[@thegardenofeatin5965]

I think there's more truth to audio cassettes sounding crap than VHS looking bad. Audio cassettes were used by such a wide range of devices from audiophile hi-fi to answering machines to children's toys; some of them are very, very good, some of them are absolute garbage. That, and there was a wide range of very amateurish operation; there were some of us in the 80's and 90's who had a tape recorder, and a radio. Two separate boxes. No cable to connect them. You wanted to record a song off the radio, you held the microphone of the recorder up to the speaker of the radio. This produced some CRAP recordings. Or, you'd buy a high end Hi-Fi tape deck and metal tapes and you'd set the levels and get extraordinarily good quality from it. VHS on the other hand...looked not quite as good as broadcast television. You'd use it to record broadcast television by connecting an antenna or cable to it, you'd record your home movies with a camcorder, or you'd buy a pre-made tape with a movie or something on it. There weren't $20 VCRs for children like there were for audio tapes, and you probably wouldn't point a camcorder at a TV screen to record something. If anything, that became more likely in the smartphone era. So you didn't have the "this is a very cheap, badly made tape recorder operated by a child" jank on VHS that you did on audiocassette. The modern image of what VHS video looked like is what a heavily damaged tape playing in a clapped out failing VCR looks like.

[@masterkamen371]

​​​@@thegardenofeatin5965It's true that VCRs were never cheap toys. However, there are so many possibilities for things to get messed up that it commonly did end up looking like crap. In humid areas tape gets mouldy very quickly. That's why Japan for example adopted optical and digital media as soon as they came out. Poorly maintained VCRs can end up with an image even worse than with this filter. My father has one that is so messed up that you would have trouble seeing anything on the screen. Tape can also get creased, scratched and who knows what else so you get lines on the screen. Also audio tape sounded decent if recorded at least on somewhat respectful equipment. The cheap tapes had a lot of noise but it's not the kind of noise portrayed in today's media. I've got a 1960s low end Grundig Magnetofon with horribly cheap (and in some places rotten) tape and you wouldn't even know it was recorded on tape unless I told you.

[@metjovi]

I think it's all about perspective. I mean, back then the VHS tapes and music cassettes were the most common formats in the market and likely the best quality ones available. The digital era makes everything released before seem like garbage when it comes to quality, but then again, it would be garbage only from the present perspective.

[@Papinak2]

They did look bad, but not much worse than TV broadcast, so it wasn't that bad in comparison. Especially in LP mode that people used to save cassette space. Audio cassettes weren't even meant for music use, they were originally designed for dictaphones. Only later improvements made them good enough.

[@sam_64]

i mean… if you compare vhs to laserdisc or beta it’s a different story

[@armyofthewolves]

It's amazing how this filter is so effective at giving "that 90s feel" to video, when almost none of what many of us watched was that bad. I think I had few home videos and a recording of Gulliver's Travels that were comparable, but that's it. Yet it feels correct.

[@5roundsrapid263]

I thought the same thing; it never looked this bad back then. VHS was only a consumer format. TV networks used much higher quality tape formats, some of them digital.

[@CaramelMeako]

Those "tape damage" effects would often get the thing thrown away i dont understand why people want THAT effect 😂

[@reesetube]

Can’t recall a single VHS tape that look like that.

[@solinus7131]

@@reesetube It was because this "vhs effect" was a bit exaggerated

[@segevstormlord3713]

I used to record Star Trek: TNG on a timed recording on a VCR when I was a kid. I thought I was very clever for setting it to the highest speed so I could get six episodes on one tape. I spent so much time messing with tracking settings to get the episodes watchable, and (being a kid who didn't understand the trade-offs involved) had no idea that the quality was so poor because I was recording it at such high compression.

[@maxximumb]

Tom, you missed a trick. You should have ended with the scrolling white noise revealing an old episode of 'Things You Might Not Know' that was taped over.

[@milograamans2]

Oh god, yes.

[@JosephDavies]

Or one of the missing Doctor Who episodes...

[@Tustin2121]

That, plus cutting to blue right when the second video starts getting interesting. There’s a channel called “analogkid01” who has old MST3K videos uploaded here that often have taped-over things at the end.

[@cninh4574]

Maxx B now I wish they’d done that, great video anyways!

[@ejcmoorhouse]

+Joseph Davis VHS is an old format, but not that old!

[@RealEngineering]

That outro 😂

[@slaughterround643]

Daddy D - uh, I mean Captain D - is the best

[@ethanf5961]

Throwing shade at Autoplay!

[@hehehepssst]

Brilliant!!!

[@iamjimgroth]

And none of your videos suggested. Maybe I've seen them all.

[@chrisborgars-smith2439]

In that moment, I was right back on the carpet in front of the TV...

[@juango500]

Tom: *tries to be enthusiastic for once* Also Tom: *has a stroke*

[@apothecurio]

Classic British Person

[@grommile]

If your ears are calibrated for British people, Tom is enthusiastic.

[@nitehawk86]

The last time Tom was enthusiastic he injured himself on the Mystery Biscuits.

[@JordanBeagle]

"Captain Disillusion is going around in circles." "But next a program chosen for you by, the algorithm." Gold!

[@arv584]

no replies after more than a year

[@jamess.7811]

@@arv584 and now a second one, two days later

[@icarokaue7334]

@@jamess.7811 one day later

[@RichConnerGMN]

@@icarokaue7334 two weeks later

[@inactiveytchannel]

Captain Disillusion

[@Lowekinder]

2:23 this man's gentle enthusiasm and mild intellectual curiosity for pushing things to the breaking point speaks less to a mad scientist and more to a sociopathic serial killer. I'm glad he found his interests outside of biology ;)

[@rightwingsafetysquad9872]

I think 2:09 shows your point a lot better

[@captainmackerel4482]

Much better than Anatomy

[@Iceman259]

After listing various abuses being performed upon the VCR at the time: "and then it mechanically failed all of the sudden"

[@edopronk1303]

Ah, I read it as "I tortured a device and I am a little ashamed of myself" Although the "and it was interesting" is certainly also there.

[@andracatheduckking257]

also his giant eyes

[@ImaginaryMdA]

"Do a lot of bad things to it." he said excitedly.

[@robertstoppel1837]

i cracked at that

[@jtb9751]

i could almost feel his hardon

[@AlexS-sc3gb]

it sounded more like a regret to me

[@Alzter0]

666th like

[@bobbytonson5890]

Kinky

[@carso1500]

And now i can't wait for the filter that reduces the imagen to 360p with "unregistered hypercam" on top of the vídeo and with sound system dreamscape playing at full volume

[@DanQuine]

I wrote the several of the original QuickTime filters in the late 90s, including "film noise" which simulated old analog filmstock. It was a lot of fun simulating hairs caught in the gates. Nothing like as sophisticated as this VHS filter, but one of the earliest filters of this type available to consumers.

[@Cae_the_Kitsune]

"But next, a programme chosen for you by the Algorithm." Talk about the perfect blend of 2010s internet culture and 1990s television aesthetic.

[@bangerbangerbro]

@@ragnkja I thought all of them do?

[@RobMacKendrick]

What missing is "...and you WILL enjoy it." That brings it up to the 2020s.

[@MakersMuse]

Those nostalgic feels flooding back guess I'm off to listen to synthwave for the rest of the night.

[@fredhasopinions]

i like the "muse" script in your profile pic

[@christopherlam5329]

I'm surprised that it has been 2 years and no one has noticed you here.

[@jackwhitman9278]

Hey Angus! - never expected too see you here! :)

[@cheetahluv210]

I’d rather have the filmic look the only thing I miss about vhs is being able to fast forward previews and the fbi warning aside from that I love blu ray and not looking back

[@a_bullet_0]

Synthwave fans are the vegans of music. You make sure to let everybody know you listen to synthwave 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@JohnSmith-qn3ob]

I think one of the problems with adding the imperfections is you add too much of them. The image is going to be soft and the colors will be washed out but when you had a good tape and good VCR you didn't get a lot of "glitches" like the "pop lines" and "scrolling wrinkles". I recorded plenty of TV shows on VHS and rarely had any of those. Like I said when you had a good tape and good VCR it was rare. The tape would have to be very worn to see those. Pre-recorded tapes (like movies bought from a store) never really had any of that.

[@electrictroy2010]

REMEMBER that most 1960s to Mid-90s TV shows were recorded or stored on analog tape (Umatic, Betamax, VHS, Betacam, S-VHS). When released for sale to customers, they don’t look anywhere as bad as this VHS tape filter .

[@ef5supercell]

thank you. i do love my awful VHS tapes that have been damaged over the years, but most had absolutely BLOWN OUT colors. intense greens and blinding white levels, that's what you saw way more than the overly edited stuff that the new generation makes.

[@intiorozco5063]

The fact that that guy had to torture a VCR to produce those imperfections kinda proves the point that they weren't so common.

The funny thing is that VHS wasn´t actually that bad. I´ve had some tapes converted to digital and the image was really good, for the time.

[@KissyfaceJenkins]

Very true. I remember VHS tapes even though I was born in 2000 and most of them looked as good as 480p KZbin videos.

[@electrictroy2010]

ALSO REMEMBER that most 1960s to Mid-90s TV shows were recorded or stored on analog tape (Umatic, Betamax, VHS, Betacam, S-VHS). When released for sale to customers, they don’t look anywhere as bad as this VHS tape filter .

[@vancemccarthy2554]

Home video are affordable players based on commercial units and just as good as DVD. A guy I know still has vhs recording he made in the 1970's and it plays well.

[@ledoynier3694]

that filter gives the look of that one disney VHS your little cousins wanted to watch over and over again for years. I remember recording star wars on tv and watching it constantly, and that's how it looked after a few years ^^'

[@JoeBleasdaleReal]

Loved Matt Gray's voiceover at the end 😂

[@catfish552]

It's a Continuity AnnounceMatt!

[@CarlosEduardodeMeloRodovalho]

your fake enthusiasm is very genuine

[@sad_lil_cucumberunoriginal8719]

I dint understand it yet i really did

[@sheamartin8786]

"that belt failed while I was using 2 pencil erasers that were taped to my fingers, slowing down the head while dropping a magnet on top of it ... it was interesting" you don't say

[@Cjoudan]

Right?! Those tapes are fragile.

[@JulianShagworthy]

1:50 That is EXACTLY what a VHS engineer should look like. I'm absolutely thrilled to see this and it's reignited that feeling I used to experience when walking into a Blockbuster back in the '90s. Safe. Surrounded by fellow virgins.

[@pugsareawsome5202]

Only 90s kids will remember. Only 90s kids will ever remember. 90s kids remember everything. They remember the birth of the universe. They remember humanity’s greatest downfalls. They remember things that have not happened, things that might never happen. They can see the death of everything. All of these vivid memories will haunt them forever. Will the 90s kids ever be able to forget?

[@Reverend_Salem]

That was community news, and now onto the weather

[@realdunky69]

Only 90s kids will remember this comment

[@BrandonCuringtonOfficial]

They will never forget

[@GeForce1080]

pugs are awsome Love the profile occurs

[@GeForce1080]

Picture *

[@RobbyHuang]

Even as someone who grew up in the 90s, I cannot understand the nostalgia for this. I'm curious if in another ten or twenty years horribly compressed 320 by 240 internet video will be nostalgic to people.

[@RobbyHuang]

But a very fascinating look into how they did it!

[@joemuis23]

I think im qquite fond of it because of the ethereal look of washed q out colours

[@AltName7]

I already find stuff like horrifically compressed jpgs nostalgic. or unregistered hypercam 2

[@Zeigren]

It already is fam

[@sione_etc]

"Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them." - Brian Eno

[@Meekox]

1:48 Why did this sound like a confession to a murder xD

[@noonehere4332]

Meeko The calm apathetic voice and the background noise.

[@thewanderingmistnull2451]

It was one.

[@Digi20]

This does look like a VHS Recording indeed. On a dying two head recorder from the 80s, filled with dust and nicotine, on a tape that has been in use for at least 10 years regulary and stored on a sunny place in the kitchen right above the water heater.

[@MXB2001]

Haha, you nailed it.

[@HemogIobin]

I like Matt doing the outro, nice work

[@benjaminmiddaugh2729]

It's nice to see a Matt cameo on these videos every now and again.

[@Fawkes42]

It's so weirdly relaxing...

[@nerdwiththehat]

That continuity announcement from Matt was excellent

[@Grashnook]

The filters are completely overkill though because they put all of the negatives in at once when that was actually relatively rare

[@bradhoehne6467]

Fascinating explanation. One quibble: The aesthetics of this, with the colorful, day-glow shapes, looks a lot more like the mid-80s to me.

[@electrictroy2010]

The dayglow shapes were lifted directly from Saved by the Bell which aired 1989-94 .

[@electrictroy2010]

Actually it aired until 1999if we include the sequel (Saved by the Bell: The Next class). So yes very 90s graphics .

[@parkerr3244]

"So, what do you do for a living?" "Well, I creatively abuse VHS tapes while they're being played and record how it affects the video so we can make other videos look like they're being played on a damaged VHS tape"

[@Gamer-uf1kl]

@rena ... you could ?

[@RobMacKendrick]

(Listener opens mouth to ask why, then just closes it again and smiles.)

[@heychrisfox]

A program chosen by The Algorithm sounds like the 90s version of a dystopian future.

[@OutOfNamesToChoose]

Maybe we are in the dystopian future. Where are our flying cars and moon bases, damnit?!

[@XYNHA3000]

OutOfNamesToChoose maybe we are in the dystopian future. Where are governments and corporations tracking our every move? Oh wait...

[@nickmonks9563]

STAY INDOORS! And DON'T talk about THE EVENT!

[@U014B]

>implying we're not in a dystopian future

[@Croz89]

Don't give Charlie Brooker more ideas...

[@Bushmills21]

Oh Tom, you know damn well that 90's enthusiasm was absolutely genuine.

[@xaverlustig3581]

Most of the time, VHS wasn't that bad. It actually worked, and dust or tape damages were thankfully a rare occurrance. It wasn't as if all VHS footage was riddled with it, that would be unwatchable. The washed out contours and colours are true, but I don't think the colour was that much off or desaturated. It might be an NTSC problem which we in PAL and SECAM land didn't have.

[@Ragnar8504]

Could be. I seem to remember that some of my dad's Hi-8 PAL recordings had some vividly exaggerated colours rather than muted, possibly a white balance issue. Certainly not all of them but some, which leads me to assume a settings issue since they were all recorded on the same 1991 Sony camcorder until he bought a D-8 camcorder much later.

[@electrictroy2010]

REMEMBER that most 1960s to Mid-90s TV shows were recorded or stored on analog tape (Umatic, Betamax, VHS, Betacam, S-VHS). When released for sale to customers, they don’t look anywhere as bad as this VHS tape filter .

[@xaverlustig3581]

@@electrictroy2010 VHS and Betamax were not used in professional environments.

[@Jernaumg]

Correct. That whole part only applies to NTSC. Hence why it was always knows as Never Twice the Same Colour. It was utterly dreadful for no good reason.

[@jesuschrist711]

@@xaverlustig3581 thats incorrect. both were used professionally, and beta dominated the space, completely choking out VCR after a brief attempt. VHS only really had success professionally with Technics’ audio editing computers. iirc some professional places still used betamax into the late 00s

[@Mostlyharmless1985]

The problem I have with this vhs filter is I simply don’t remember it being this bad. Maybe we just had good tape decks and took care of our cassettes...

[@RosieGamgee]

Mostlyharmless1985 yes! It's over done

[@tonyhong20]

Yeah I mean they even used magnets and slowed down the tape head to make it look worse

[@harryjf]

There are several clean presets, including "S-VHS"... people just choose not to use them. Also, all of the sections can be disabled, but few people do that. It's sort of not covered completely in the interview, but I talk about the idea of "perception vs reality", of what VHS really does look like compared to what people think VHS should look like. There's a wide variety of styles available, but people tend to go either: default setting or heavy damage. (source: am that nerdy guy in the video)

[@SteveGouldinSpain]

I had a tape-head cleaner cassette. Happy days!

[@romajimamulo]

Most people using VHS filters are from the era where movies came out on DVD or HD formats as their main release. At that point, VHS players in use were either old (and starting to break), or cheaply made, to try to squeeze under DVD. So, they see "VHS" as they remember it looking on the terrible players of their time. Also, if it's not going to look that different, it's hard to justify adding a filter

[@manuelbonet]

Thanks Matt for that final voiceover

[@melon6274]

2:33 Is this guys job just to torture VHS tape decks?

[@liamhtml979]

*breathes loudly,* it was interesting

[@AlfaGiuliaQV]

Yes, until they physically die.

[@filipelopes9101]

@@AlfaGiuliaQV *mechanically die

[@sahulianhooligan7046]

@@filipelopes9101 thanks for the correction 😂

[@Crashpng]

3:30 best outro in youtube history

[@biocode4478]

That smile when he said "do a lot of bad things to it"

[@MaraK_dialmformara]

You make a very convincing 90s TV host (in small bursts at least). I want to see your latest skate video. And Matt is now my favorite continuity announcer (not that I grew up with continuity announcing; I just know it from bad rips of Doctor Who and QI).

[@stumbling]

Still very much a thing on British television.

[@slaughterround643]

Are you growing up in the future? They're still around - admittedly less common, but you'll still easily hear at least 5 in an average day

[@vaclav_fejt]

I agree with David Mitchell on this - continuity announcers do a disservice to everyone in the production of both the finishing and upcoming programme. In Czechia we don't have that - only the movie end credits get cut off after a few seconds and replaced by a bright credit screen with just the main cast and director. And cue the next programme...it's better. But I don't watch TV anyway.

[@bennylofgren3208]

Václav Fejt They could just put up a QR code to the relevant IMDb page instead. Save everyone some time. 😃

[@vaclav_fejt]

Some people want a film to sink in. That's why films have stylised end credits with music. Or...that was a sarcasm. Well, people, who still watch TV, have phones with buttons anyway (a slight hyperbole here).

[@lukedavis436]

RIP to the VCRs killed in action... Absolute legends

[@mosti72]

Subtle Captain Disillusion shout-out. Love it.

[@cosmicjenny4508]

Gotta love that lil nod to Captain Disillusion at the end, and... _the algorithm..._ Hey, love with your heart, use your head for everything else!

[@CableFlame]

"love with your heart, use your head for everything else!" I love this and may need to use this in the future.

[@MarceldeJong]

@@CableFlame it's Captain Disillusion's catchphrase.

[@poacher5131]

We need Matt doing a continuity announcement at the end of everything on KZbin. It just works.

[@joshward7009]

?

[@Water_Me_Loan_64_YT]

“The Internet And You” is probably the Most Underrated Video Ever.

[@nyan2317]

I'm still waiting for Captain Disillusion going in circles

[@Mike-739]

update: hasnt happened yet

[@fart4623]

Furry

[@Mike-739]

@@fart4623 problem?

[@fart4623]

@@Mike-739 Obviously

[@Bananappleboy]

Argument Hotel? Trivago.

[@TaranVH]

Too many camera angles

[@Denial06]

woah it’s taran

[@lavender_heart3831]

Ok

[@photonicpizza1466]

@@Denial06 If it's even slightly related to video editing, Taran's gonna be there to see it.

[@Ranstone]

At least back then, people held the camera still for more than just establishing shots... Gosh, modern film is so bad... We have access to gimbals that can keep a laser pointer on a quarter while the cameraman is jogging, and we decide to shake the camera like we're having a stroke.

[@rossgoosen7269]

@@Ranstone Oftentimes handheld is used to ground the action, make it feel more real, a gimbal feels too disconnected.

[@Budgiebrain994]

I still feel that there are some things missing - framerate downsampling, 4:3 ratio, reduction and interlacing of resolution, bubble distortion, audio.

[@joeynebulous816]

I think it's also missing head switching noise at the bottom of the picture

[@nonameman7114]

Don’t forget the occasional generation loss

[@thebasketballhistorian3291]

VHS framerates always seemed smooth. Only later did I notice framerates were even a thing when video streaming on the net started coming out.

[@electrictroy2010]

ALSO REMEMBER that most 1960s to Mid-90s TV shows were recorded or stored on analog tape (Umatic, Betamax, VHS, Betacam, S-VHS). When released for sale to customers, they don’t look anywhere as bad as this VHS tape filter .

[@mariocamspam72]

@@thebasketballhistorian3291 The timecode track can have irregularities, leading to busted pacing

[@Kisai_Yuki]

There is one "VHS" effect I have not seen duplicated, and it's the SP/LP/EP switch. When switching tape speeds on the same tape, there is a "peel back" of the video, and then SP will look like a checker-board while having lower vertical resolution. What these VHS filters need, especially when they are "real time", is a way to toggle: - SVHS/VHS (400/200 line mode) - Tape speed (crush vertical resolution, dark outlines on the right of bright areas ) - Tape wear ( creates dark outlines on the right-side of the image) - Tape damage ( many of the glitches seen, are rarely seen on real VHS tapes) - Model quirks. "Connected by RF modulator", "Connected by composite video", "Connected by S-Video", "2-head", "4-head", "camcorder"

[@Ragnar8504]

That has to be an NTSC thing. PAL never had EP (because PAL LP is already roughly the same speed as NTSC EP I think) and while there were brief tracking glitches switching speeds between recordings, the following recording looked fine.

[@guytorie]

I never thought too much about what went into making the VHS filters people use. Unsurprisingly, it took a lot of effort to recreate it. I salute these people, including that guy who tortures VCRs. An extra salute to that guy.

[@electrictroy2010]

Quick & easy: Reduce resolution to 320x480 to match VHS resolution. If possible, separate the chroma part of the digital video & reduce to 40x480 That will look like a VHS tape that is brand new (i.e. no damage)

[@cesariojpn]

Tom Scott kills the retro-VHS fad with one video.

[@january0th]

Yes, please

[@slaughterround643]

God, I hope so

[@xzonia1]

I certainly hope so!

[@mzaite]

He's doing the lords work.

[@MrStronglime]

Is it a fad? I don't really see much of it around.

[@GuyNamedSean]

I find it interesting that the filter is intentionally designed to exaggerate the appearance of VHS and also make it look damaged based on people's idea of what VHS *should* look like.

[@mzaite]

Well it is what a tape would look like if you stuck it in a VCR today.

[@GuyNamedSean]

Michael Zaite - No, it really isn't. Most VHS tapes I have are in much better condition than this filter appears. They even point out in the video that they intentionally added damage and exaggerated the effects because of people's expectations.

[@mapesdhs597]

Very true, I still have a large VHS collection, most play just fine, and it is indeed the LP progs which sometimes might not look so good, especially if they were recorded on a different VCR. Some tapes actually play very well and don't look anything like the filter effect depicted here.

[@JanTuts]

The best thing about most VFX filters like these, is that they often give you a high degree of control of exactly which effects (colour, pop, wrinkle, ...) you do/don't want, and how often they appear, so you can scale it to whatever look you want to go for. So it allows you to go from "It's 1992, and I recorded this footage half an hour ago off of my cable TV onto a fresh S-VHS tape, using my brand new recorder. Check out the amazing quality!", all the way to "It's 2018, and I just found this mud-covered, 30 year old, dollar store brand VHS tape in some shack in the woods... Let's check what's on it!" And to make it easier to hammer down a particular look, they often offer presets (which you can still alter if needed.) (And checking their website, I see that this particular filter does in fact give you the kind of customisability I've described above :D )

[@JanTuts]

Also: Coming soon to cinemas near you, from the makers of "The Blair Witch Project", a new found-footage horror movie: "Some Mud-Covered, 30 Year Old, Dollar Store Brand VHS Tape, That I Found In Some Shack In The Woods"

[@lamichhane]

0:08 Mr Beast would probably say: *Pathetic*

[@huhneat1076]

3:23 when my friend tells me something they're proud of

[@markprimegaming6803]

Yes

[@Robert08010]

Good work! Being a child of the '60s and '70s, I'm very familiar with those looks. You nailed them! One thing that you can add for extra detail. is a 60 & 120 Hz buzz whenever white titles appear on screen. (50 & 100Hz for PAL system users) This was a direct result of the composite video signal, that if the video level got just a tiniest bit too high, it would bleed into the audio channel creating a buzz.

[@electrictroy2010]

ALSO REMEMBER that most 1960s to Mid-90s TV shows were recorded or stored on analog tape (Umatic, Betamax, VHS, Betacam, S-VHS). When released for sale to customers, they don’t look anywhere as bad as this VHS tape filter .

[@AndyLundell]

People always reply to things like this by saying "VHS Wasn't this bad! You young wippersnappers don't remember ... etc etc etc." And it's true that if you had an expensive VCR and nice, professional tapes, VHS could look as good as a DVD. But, growing up, I didn't have an expensive VCR. My dad bought the cheapest one money could buy. And my tapes weren't professionally made. They were taped off cable, in long-play mode, onto tapes that I reused about a million times. With analog media, the quality of the playback drastically depends on your equipment, and I can tell you that my $25 VCR looked a lot more like this video than a DVD. It's like record players. Yeah, an expensive, modern one sounds amazing. But try listening to the kind of cheapo record player a teenager would have owned in the 70s. Awful.

[@KrazyProductions]

shut up boomer.

[@KrazyProductions]

@The Hype twas a joke.

[@nocturnaldivision]

Cheap record players sound only marginally worse than the absurdly expensive ones, but other than that I agree with you

[@MiguelBaptista1981]

I know what you're saying, but I had ALOT of great recorded movies, like Star Wars, Indiana Jones etc, that I proposedly bought the good quality tapes or had blanks saved for when those movies went on TV, and their quality is GREAT, nothing like this wishy washy distorted parody image effect.

[@lemons2300]

Trust me, even brand new prerecorded tapes on good VCRs look like crap compared to DVDs. DVDs played on a standard definition TV (what >99.99% of households in the 90s had, instead of HDTVs) would have been an absolute revelation in the 90s, outperforming way ahead of even Laserdisc. There's no way VHS can beat DVD, unless we're talking about D-VHS which is actually a digital format and is in HD.

[@AidSlashAssist]

The next video chosen by the algorithm was “why the KZbin algorithm will always be a mystery”

[@SoronQuenta]

It’s best etiquette to rewind any video once you're finished watching: 00:00 📼

[@nolesy34]

This needs to be pinned

[@FrozenBusChannel]

THIS is how VHS actually works

[@electrictroy2010]

BE KIND REWIND - Blockbuster rental

[@nolesy34]

@@electrictroy2010 love that film it shot jack blacka goofiness to height

[@lforlight]

I was promised Captain Disillusion. Where is he??

[@staberas]

he run out of tape

[@FridgeEating]

Captain Disillusion isn't real. Grow up.

[@amyshaw893]

dont destroy my dreams

[@oscarchampion5842]

Next video I think?

[@SonOfFurzehatt]

You missed it. I think it's repeated on Sunday morning. It was the series finale when he gains a sense of realism.

[@baduploadschedule1015]

Just zoom in and out furiously now

[@realcartoongirl]

@@nocturnal7345 you mean like thsoe hentai girls chock something on their necks

[@mr-rio2819]

Please receive Christ

[@jamess.7811]

I hate this commenter so mucj

[@inactiveytchannel]

Letting the days go by

[@SuV33358]

Still can't believe the 90s started like 30 yrs ago. Unbelievabl

[@surgicalglitch3265]

I tell you what is very jarring about this, being born in the 80s' and all. How Toms audio is clear 256 AAC bit rate while my brain is expecting a lofi VHS fuzz and dropout to occur. Its very jarring and something my brain cannot get around.

[@user-hi4sm3ig5j]

The most A E S T H E T I C Tom Scott video yet.

[@cosmicjenny4508]

Did somebody say... ＡＥＳＴＨＥＴＩＣ ?

[@MIbra96]

A E S T H E T H I C C

[@LordPixel2012]

AESTHETIC isn't the style. The definition of aesthetic is similiar to "art style". Aesthetic isn't the 80's neon style. Cyberpunk is an aesthetic too.

[@16bitvirtual]

I love the end with Matt giving voice over. I thought you managed to get the guy who did it from the BBC. :D

[@OliwerOlekSuch]

3:35 omg I had captain disillusion in my play next section, now I'm scared

[@markusexz2320]

Me to I think they are somehow changing it

[@janmamu8721]

nope

[@Feakre]

If my VHS videos had those 'pop' lines, I'd have been seriously pissed off. I don't think I've ever seen them on a real video.

[@aapjeaaron]

Matt missed his calling. This video made this clear.

[@gibberishname]

Matt’s up next voice was great. I would love to see an honest to goodness Captain Disillusion collab

[@freman]

"do a lot of bad things to it" he said with clear and obvious guilt on his face.

[@Cptn.Viridian]

1:48 This guy sounds so emotionally ruined by the loss of his VHS player... :(

[@edentyler-moss1157]

For anyone interested in a highly technical explanation, the 'Technology Connections' channel has some excellent videos on VHS and various analogue formats.

[@Phroggster]

Still waiting for him to break 200k subs... TechConnect HYPE!

[@m1lkweed]

"Captain disillusion is going around in circles"

[@gmcubed]

while VHS does have less color information, I remember the colors being over saturated, not under. Perhaps we over compensated by cranking the saturation on our tube tvs back then to adjust for the perceived lack of color.

[@MiguelBaptista1981]

Most youtubers are fakely enthusiastic, so that hasn't gone away. Tom on the other hand isn't, great channel and always interesting content. Cheers!

[@farmjunk]

"The Algorithm" sounds like a collective alien entity at the end of a Doctor Who episode...

[@rightwingsafetysquad9872]

Prepared to be assimilated.

[@MatthewProctor]

That's gonna be the name of my civ in my next space 4X

[@dominickeijzer5844]

Sounds like it'd be a supposed one time villain trying to control something and finding the best way to assimilate minds, but ends up losing. Then it comes back and it's gained control.

[@JETZcorp]

That outro was pure platinum perfection. I now know everything there is to know about British TV in the 1990s.

[@Technobabylon]

My Dad got so much use out of his USB VHS machines. He was finally able to back up all of his old tapes on to one hard drive, and now he's bugging relatives to see if they've also got tapes that they want digitising.

[@MrHatoi]

2:00 This reminds me of that scene from Spongebob where Patrick gets the CD from the band who died recording it.

[@january0th]

Next up Captain D, I've been waiting for an hour, Its just black screen

[@mzaite]

Fighting the Frizzies, at 11. No old VHS is complete without some mention of some other thing you never recorded after the show you did record.

[@amyfowler2387]

I really loved Matt's credit voiceover at the end of the video. It was a great detail guys. Thanks!

[@englishtwister]

The end part with the 'next show' outro, left me with a big grin on my face. Oh.. the memories. *happy sigh*.

[@cookieretrogaming]

It's interesting how the imperfections of a vhs tape are now something people want as a unique style instead of frowning upon the damaged quality. Maybe this can be compared to the natural vines hanging on a crumbling stone pillar, or the cracked paint on a historical home.

[@JAN0L]

The filter isn't perfect though, if you watched VHS tapes on a CRT display in the past you can tell it's not quite the same thing.

[@ags911]

Interlacing or scan lines? And the fact the sound doesn't flutter in pitch creating that off key effect

[@Nova-du5on]

To be fair, the effect on the displayed media from VHS and the effect on displayed media from the CRT are two different things. One has to do with the nature and quality of the tape recording, the other to do with the mechanism used to emit light from the screen. Rolling, flutter, noise, bleeding colors, all that comes from the VHS. The CRT creates the more stable distortions, like scanlines, phosphorous dots, or even the bent display (due to the curvature of the screen.)

[@blackham7]

To me the filters aren't accurate I can always tell when an overlay has been used instead of an actual VHS Camcorder

[@paulhan9843]

i think it's the lack of randomness in the filter. it's obvious the filter has some sort of pattern to the noise. it's perfectly inperfect

[@VauxhaIIOpel]

As was most likely stated in the video, the filter is overexaggerated, since young people want it to look more... VHS than VHS actually was.

[@felagoncalves]

In my view, it was just too dark, not saturated enough (CRT TVs didn't have presets for the brightness, contrast or color, so we used to put everything to max!) and, if you were lucky enough, the tint was off! Plus, the quality of the audio is excellent, but it just sounds like a mad scientist's dream because it's so crisp and clear. Also, the "tape* is pristine, so no audio has been lost at any point.

[@neurofiedyamato8763]

@@felagoncalves The whole color problem is due to NTSC requiring tuning and not really VHS tapes requiring tuning by itself. Not all analog systems required tuning, but most CRT TV did have tuners.

[@advancedhell42069]

@@felagoncalves VHS is actually really bright

[@robertt9342]

So, it looks nothing like VHS recordings then. I was wondering why the quality was so much worse than real life.

[@kyllepoiencot4361]

90s coming back into fashion? I think we’re still on the 80s and I’m loving it!!

[@1978Prime]

I hated the 90s while it was the 90s

[@makecowsnotwar]

Interviews? Interesting information? Quality editing? Not 10 minutes long? You are the hero we deserve.

[@theopenrift]

Funny how most people associate these sorts of things with the 90s even though the Memphis-style designs (squigglies and bright colors) and VHS cameras became mainstream in the 80s.

[@endersquid1132]

The way that guy refers to the machines almost like their people and the "I work here" sign on top of the television and his hesitation before saying "uh, we did alot of bad things to it" and the cold look in his eyes and that slight smile filled with both joy and guilt kind of scared me...

[@organfairy]

I have good memories from VHS tapes. It was not perfect, but still good enough for a 20'' CRT television set. The only tapes I had that looked half as bad as this filter was some former rental tapes I had bought very cheap, but those had probably been played thousands of times.

[@zackakai5173]

The other thing we have to remember is that the vast majority of VHS tapes were played on CRT screens, which have an inherent fuzziness to them you don't get on modern LED screens.

[@amylaneio]

Great video, but am I the only one who thought the audio was too good for the vhs quality video? I found it kind of jarring, since I don't expect audio to be that good when the video is that low quality.

[@beezertwelvewashingbeard8703]

Vcr's with hi-fi audio rivaled CD quality, with the flying audio heads.

[@renakunisaki]

@@beezertwelvewashingbeard8703 sure, VHS was capable of high quality audio, but if your tapes were this badly degraded, it'd sound all muffled and hissy.

[@JakobKsGarage]

I love Matt's voiceover at the end, so nineties! Allmost the best part.

[@JJtoob]

"A program chosen for you by... the algorithm" that bit played like some scene out of a futuristic movie that would have been made back in the 80's, and today we'd all marvel at the accuracy of the prediction.

[@steven44799]

matts voice over at the end. the flashbacks.

[@skthejanner]

Coming up next with strong language and violence from the start it's Quentin Tarantino's Tellitubbies

[@beckyzwhite]

In the digital age, HD picture quality is undeniably superior. The same cannot be said for most modern content.

[@mabk29048]

2:47 He's a *_murderer_* 😭