History Main / DeliberateVHSQuality

* Website/CollegeHumor used this effect in [[https://youtu.be/tD0rchvuoMU “We Found Sinbad’s SHAZAAM Genie Movie”, reportedly a degraded VHS recording of the 90s movie many people remember existing but it never actually did.

* In a similar vein, The horror channel WebVideo/Local58 has many videos with this effect (speeding up and down, audio distortion), as they're supposed to be clips and Main/FoundFootage from an old TV station.

See also: {{Retraux}}, DeliberatelyMonochrome, RasterVision, and CassetteFuturism. Related to DecadeThemedFilter. Contrast CrystalClearPicture.

* The film ''Film/{{No}}'' was shot on Sony U-matic magnetic tape in order to make it look more like footage from a television news report from 1988, which is when the film is set.

The creator either achieves this through a computer effect such as a video filter, or they find an actual VHS video cassette to film on; usually, the more warped and degraded the better, as it wouldn't be as obvious if they used a well-preserved tape. After all, UsefulNotes/{{VCR}} wouldn't have been considered at least passable as a video format for more than twenty years, even outselling formats with superior image quality like Betamax and UsefulNotes/LaserDisc, had it always looked so warped. Particularly with the advent of Hi-Fi, picture and especially sound quality on VHS improved a lot compared to when it first debuted; and of course, professionally-made VHS tapes typically looked and sounded better than a tape recorded off the television, which itself would typically look better than something recorded with a camcorder. As such, usage of this trope can be a type of StylisticSuck, as creators that want the look of an aged and degraded VHS tape but are still looking for a certain level of authenticity will often purposely use a worn-out tape, use a VCR with dirty recording heads, or record from one tape to another back and forth with two [=VCRs=], to get the desired effect. Video filters usually already have the video quality be exaggeratedly bad even for VHS. Other clues that a filter was used instead of the real thing include when the word "PLAY" on the top left corner of the screen never goes away, as on most real [=VCRs=] it only stays for a few seconds, and if the video is widescreen and not formatted for a square-shaped CRT television (as actual rips from a VHS tape will usually be)[[note]]Some poorly made VHS rips may [[VisualCompression stretch]] or [[PanAndScan crop]] the image to 16:9, which aren't the original aspect ratio. This can only be justified if the video was {{Letterbox}}ed on the tape to begin with. That would make the image smaller, and therefore even lower quality.[[/note]].

* ''Series/CheckItOutWithDrSteveBrule'' looks like a cheap public access TV show viewed from a VHS recording. To really sell the aesthetic, the show will occasionally display scanlines and cut into some unrelated scene as if to make it look like was recorded over something else.
* Season 1 of ''Series/TheEricAndreShow'' was shot in 4:3 resolution using a cheap vintage cameras to capture the feel of NoBudget public access shows.

The creator either achieves this through a computer effect such as a video filter, or they find an actual VHS video cassette to film on; usually, the more warped and degraded the better, as it wouldn't be as obvious if they used a well-preserved tape. One thing for younger viewers who don't remember the UsefulNotes/{{VCR}} to note is that actual picture quality on VHS could vary; it wouldn't have been considered at least passable as a video format for more than twenty years, even outselling formats with superior image quality like Betamax and UsefulNotes/LaserDisc, had it always looked so warped. Particularly with the advent of Hi-Fi, picture and especially sound quality on VHS improved a lot compared to when it first debuted; and of course, professionally made VHS tapes typically looked and sounded better than a tape recorded off the television, which itself would typically look better than something recorded with a camcorder. Usage of this trope can be a type of StylisticSuck, as creators that want the look of an aged and degraded VHS tape but are still looking for a certain level of authenticity will often purposely use a worn out tape, use a VCR with dirty recording heads, or record from one tape to another back and forth with two [=VCRs=], to get the desired effect. Video filters usually already have the video quality be exaggeratedly bad even for VHS. Other clues that a filter was used instead of the real thing include when the word "PLAY" on the top left corner of the screen never goes away, as on most real [=VCRs=] it only stays for a few seconds, and if the video is widescreen and not formatted for a square-shaped CRT television (as actual rips from a VHS tape will usually be)[[note]]Some poorly made VHS rips may [[VisualCompression stretch]] or [[PanAndScan crop]] the image to 16:9, which aren't the original aspect ratio. This can only be justified if the video was {{Letterbox}}ed on the tape to begin with. That would make the image smaller, and therefore even lower quality.[[/note]].

Since [[TheNewTens the 2010s]], this has become a way of establishing a time period as being in the [[TheEighties 1980s]] or [[TheNineties '90s]], in much the way filming in black and white has for the early to mid 20th century, and can be meant to invoke nostalgia.

* ''WebAnimation/AFoxInSpace'' is made to look and sound like a forgotten animation series from the late '70s or early 80s, complete with fuzzy, heavily compressed audio.

See also: {{Retraux}}, DeliberatelyMonochrome, RasterVision. Related to DecadeThemedFilter. Contrast CrystalClearPicture.

* Some scenes in ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe3'', mainly those that involve [[BigBad Balthazaar Bratt]], were shot in VHS quality. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], as he was a famous child star in TheEighties.

* The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBS6MM05KdY "Montreal"]] by Roosevelt was filmed in this style, even beginning with a brief static like a VHS tape being started.

When used in a FoundFootage film it can add a horror element by making it seem more authentic, though these days this is more likely to be done with a smart phone camera, unless it's supposed to be a PeriodPiece. May be combined with an AspectRatioSwitch to show a 4:3 frame, as VHS only ever supported that AspectRatio.[[note]]While widescreen VHS tapes technically exist with select movies, they show widescreen content {{Letterbox}}ed to 4:3. This practice was used for nearly every widescreen movie on UsefulNotes/LaserDisc in TheNineties. A "true" widescreen VHS tape or [=LaserDisc=] would either be incompatible with an existing player, or would [[VisualCompression look squished]]. "True" widescreen wouldn't become popular until digital formats, such as UsefulNotes/{{DVD}} and UsefulNotes/HighDefinition came around.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/PowerDrillMassacre'''s overall visual style makes the game look like the player is watching a videotaped horror movie, complete with its menus using [[https://www.dafont.com/vcr-osd-mono.font blocky monospaced font]] that people who lived in the VHS era's heyday might be familiar with.

* [[WebVideo/ScottTheWoz Scott the Woz's]] very first video, "The Internet and You", is made to seem like it's an educational [=VHS=] tape from the 90s, complete with TotallyRadical aesthetics and dialogue. [[{{Defictionalization}} It even received an actual limited [=VHS=] release in 2019 as part of a charity drive.]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBs2Y3i14e1NWQxOGliatmg Mother's Basement]], a Youtube channel dedicated to commenting on anime, uses this effect in their ''Public Service Anime'' videos.

When used in a FoundFootage film it can add a horror element by making it seem more authentic, though these days this is more likely to be done with a smart phone camera, unless it's supposed to be a PeriodPiece. May be combined with an AspectRatioSwitch to show a 4:3 frame, as VHS only ever supported that AspectRatio[[note]]While widescreen VHS tapes technically exist with select movies, they show widescreen content {{Letterbox}}ed to 4:3. This practice was used for nearly every widescreen movie on UsefulNotes/LaserDisc in TheNineties. A "true" widescreen VHS tape or [=LaserDisc=] would either be incompatible with an existing player, or would [[VisualCompression look squished]]. "True" widescreen wouldn't become popular until digital formats, such as UsefulNotes/{{DVD}} and UsefulNotes/HighDefinition came around.[[/note]].

** [=Timecop1983=]'s video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkQ6H21QBXE "Let's Talk"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KZ2f1BEXqE "My First Crush"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEYNRi9ufWs "Secrets"]]...and the majority of their other music videos.

** Coldkill's lyric video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNSnPQDwveM We Believe]]" (a cover of an old Music/{{Ministry}} song) uses this trope, and even has the lyrics in the blocky white VCR font.

** On one occasion this was done completely on accident by a post-punk band actually from the era being imitated: Music/JoyDivision's one and only music video made during their lifetime, that for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuuObGsB0No "Love Will Tear Us Apart"]], was handled very poorly in production, resulting in the footage dipping in quality numerous times and creating a brown, solarized effect indicative of tape degradation. Even then, the parts that aren't browned out look very muddy due to the low quality of the recording equipment, which in combination with the dips in quality lend the video a distinctly gritty look that both perfectly captures the feel of an old VCR recording and fits the dark tone of the song.

** Twin Tribes uses the effect in their video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_clqb26cx5A “Tower of Glass”]], paired with a red filter.
*** Twin Tribes [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91AvRIu1XQM also did a livestream performance with a VHS filter]], and in black and white.

** French coldwave group Hante uses this effect as well as other filters on their video for [[https://youtu.be/Zk0G24HAx20 “Blank Love”]].

* Indy synthpop group Choir Boy [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSOpPJGAzqc uses this effect in several of their music videos]].
* As the movie itself, the main theme from ''Film/KungFury'' (Creator/DavidHasselhoff's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTidn2dBYbY True Survivor]]") was filmed in the same way than the movie, but with some parts refilmed with Hasselhoff as protagonist.

* Vaporwave artist Ian Felpel's video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZBeqVHqiQ8 "N O T H I N G"]].
* Modesta's appropriately titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CajuRKkCxMw "VHS"]].