Finding letterbox VHS tapes was hard back then
“Because back in the VHS days you had to be DAMN LUCKY to find the movie you wanted in letterbox, assuming a version like that was released on VHS at all, and usually wasn't.”
Summary
Letterboxed versions on VHS were uncommon and difficult to locate, as the majority of releases were presented in full‑screen pan‑and‑scan format throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Widescreen/letterbox editions remained a niche market, with only a few titles—often at a director’s insistence—being issued in that format. Consequently, finding a desired movie in letterbox on VHS was indeed a matter of luck.
Sources 59 searched
- VHS - Wikipedia
Newer improved tape formats such ... disc format, LaserDisc; the lack of global adoption of these formats increased VHS's lifetime, which eventually peaked and started to decline in the late 1990s after the introduction of DVD, ...
- Pan and scan - Wikipedia
In the 1990s, widescreen televisions offered a wider 16:9 aspect ratio (1.78 times the height), allowing films with aspect ratios of 1.66:1 and 1.85:1 to fill most or all of the screen with minimal letterboxing or cropping.
- VHS - HandWiki
The popularity of VHS was intertwined ... of these formats increased VHS's lifetime, which eventually peaked and started to decline in the late 1990s after the introduction of DVD, a digital optical disc format.[10] VHS rentals ...
- Pan and Scan - TV Tropes
This practice was common in The '80s and The '90s when movies were released on VHS and Betamax and TVs had smaller screens. As home video became more common in the '80s, film directors would take pan and scan into account when framing shots ...
- Widescreen, pan and scan, and the slow rise of letterboxing | Den of Geek
It added expense and time to the ... that keen on. But still: in the 1980s, pretty much every video release was presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio, a practice that continue for most of the 1990s too....
thesagalinashow.wordpress.com- The truth about Widescreen vs. Fullscreen on home video
How the home video divisions of major Hollywood studios handled letterboxed or pan and scan versions of films on home video formats in the '80s & '90s. Siskel & Ebert talking about the differences between the widescreen (original letterboxed version) & fullscreen (pan & scanned version) versions ...
neovideohunter.wordpress.com- letterbox vhs – THE NORTHEAST OHIO VIDEO HUNTER
I pay special attention to these while out and about, and I even keep an eye on online auctions, and they tend to show up much less often than their full screen counterparts. There are exceptions of course, but apparently widescreen VHS editions of movies were a pretty niche category throughout the 1990s and even into the 2000s; maybe widescreen didn’t truly catch on until DVD flourished, I don’t know.
- The first ever letterboxed home video release | Home Theater Forum
I don't know why more directors don't insist on no pan & scan versions of movies, seems it would be easier today than in the 80s. Steven Speilberg insisted "The Color Purple" be letterboxed on VHS and that's the only way it was available, but his more recent movies have pan & scan DVDs out.
- VHS Collection, a list of films by louferrigno
A list of 434 films compiled on Letterboxd, including The 'Burbs (1989), 48 Hrs. (1982), 8 Mile (2002), The Addams Family (1991) and The Adventures of Milo and Otis (1986). About this list: Sure, why not? The format that refuses to die, the one that's lived on through its aesthetic becoming ...
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