History Main / DeliberateVHSQuality

When used in a FoundFootage film and/or AnalogHorror, it can add a horror element by making it seem more authentic, though these days this is more likely to be done with a smartphone camera, unless it's supposed to be a PeriodPiece. It can also be used to [[ObscuredSpecialEffects disguise imperfections in CGI animation]], making the footage look more "real", though dated. 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 Platform/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 Platform/{{DVD}} and Platform/HighDefinition came around.[[/note]]

* This trope is extremely popular within the UsefulNotes/{{Synthwave}} genre, since the genre is all about striving for a 1980's aesthetic. Some examples:

* Music/BrunoMars' "Treasure" is inspired by late-1970s & early 1980s music videos, and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPvuNsRccVw official YouTube video]] is capped at 4:3 480p resolution, in keeping with [[UsefulNotes/DisplayTechnology NTSC]] broadcast TV/VTR standards of the time.

* {{Vaporwave}} songs usually have their music videos and/or images under VHS filters in reference to the 80s and 90s eras; as with UsefulNotes/{{Synthwave}}, it is part of the aesthetic.

* ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' uses a VHS filter for 1980s mode.

* ''Sega Genesis Classics,'' a compilation re-release of 20 of the Platform/SegaGenesis' greatest hits, uses a staticky VHS tape filter for when you rewind or fast-forward gameplay with the left and right shoulder buttons

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, VHS 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 UsefulNotes/{{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]].

When used in a FoundFootage film and/or AnalogHorror, it can add a horror element by making it seem more authentic, though these days this is more likely to be done with a smartphone camera, unless it's supposed to be a PeriodPiece. It can also be used to [[ObscuredSpecialEffects disguise imperfections in CGI animation]], making the footage look more “real”, though dated. 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]]

* [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in [[https://youtu.be/EVBHuhrY1Ew A 2019 April Fools commercial]] for the Honda Passport. It's in 4:3 ratio, has slightly muted colors, and a narrow column slightly brighter than the image on the far left. However, the quality looks more like a UsefulNotes/LaserDisc or a well-restored analog master tape.

* ''VideoGame/NoDelivery'' and many of the other games by the same developer feature this aesthetic prominently. While the games are made in UsefulNotes/RPGMaker, often there is a [=VHS=] filter over the gameplay and/or cutscenes.
* ''Sega Genesis Classics,'' a compilation re-release of 20 of the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis' greatest hits, uses a staticky VHS tape filter for when you rewind or fast-forward gameplay with the left and right shoulder buttons

* WebVideo/TechnologyConnections: Alec puts segments of his own videos on a real recordable[[note]]for obvious reasons, he does not do this with formats that can't record, such as UsefulNotes/{{CED}} and UsefulNotes/LaserDisc[[/note]] format (VHS, Betamax, [=Video8=], etc.) when demonstrating how these formats looked.

** In [[https://youtu.be/cvwuAKi1ZB4?t=1175 DVD: The Death Knell of LaserDisc]], Alec does this to show how little image quality comes through when {{Letterbox}}ing widescreen content to a 4:3 SD analog format like VHS or UsefulNotes/LaserDisc.

* Webvideo/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.

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmzfJeLINhY opening bumper]] to a typical video on the Website/YouTube channel New Retro Wave starts like it's being played on a VCR, before going to a still image for the rest of the song.

** Holygram's videos for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihhgJqs_yZg "Still There"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43zT5aIkT2E "She's Like the Sun"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFegik2nrNg Acceleration]]. They are quite fond of this effect.
** The video for Honey Beard's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJAhfmLyisY Dreamless Sleep]] starts like it was recorded off a late 90's or early 2000's VCR.
** The lyric video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E1m-AinDNc "Save Me"]] by Void of Axis
** Lebanon Hanover's video for [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kmZmbp-nb_k Petals]] was recorded on a VHS camcorder. They didn't go out of their way to make it look degraded either, somewhat unusually for music videos that use this trope.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ojIdFun68Q Hands]]" by HAPAX looks like it was recorded on a VHS tape that was in pretty bad shape.
** Boy Harsher uses it in the video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4PDXmo-Gxo "Face the Fire"]].
** The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mDqnZmAg00 "Calm"]] by Secret Shame is filmed like someone brought a camcorder to one of their concerts.

** The music video for SYZYGYX's remix of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj9feWUGMJ0 "Le Moment"]] by Antipole consists of VHS footage of a dance club.
** The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG2_M-Oap58&list=LL18ksJ7fHsXs37zrikDZc-Q&index=5&t=0s Cabaret Grey’s “Almost Frantic”]] looks like it was filmed on a video cassette that had varying picture quality.
** The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Wn3Vu_6dlkM&fbclid=IwAR2k_4o_kqudemeCyjiYy720GNt9heA-ze0ueHJ4vJEpXRwwJhNBseE9P0g&app=desktop “Guilty and Gifted”]] by SDH was filmed using a real VHS camcorder.
** Drab Majesty [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjBo82hQXFA uses this effect]] fairly regularly in their music videos, often paired with other effects and filters giving the whole video a distorted feel.
** 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.
** The Belarussian darkwave band Molchat Doma used a VHS filter in the lyric video for “[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnjs569Ba20 Zvezdy]]”.

** French coldwave group Hante uses this effect as well as other filters on their video for [[https://youtu.be/Zk0G24HAx20 “Blank Love.”]]
** The lyric video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrcxSPe5qo0&feature=emb_title “E Tu Reagisci” by Ascending]] was recorded on a very worn VHS tape. In [[https://post-punk.com/detriti-records-founders-dark-synth-project-ascending-reveals-its-experimental-vhs-for-e-tu-reagisci/?fbclid=IwAR2maCNT80K2BqflEAdhLxkHzMDhkgpfKUZKwdQXP2baMHeibeQD0MDh7uM an interview]] the singer said that he filmed his video this way as a tribute to underground music videos of the 1980s by bands such as Severed Heads.
** The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G591bCYgpi0 “Закладка” by Russian post-punk band Ploho]] incorporates a VHS filter over modern footage paired with actual VHS footage from the early 1990s, being a song about the tumultuous years immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union.

** Synthpop artist Male Tears like making their music videos look like cheesy goth or New Wave videos from the 80s,[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGZ6BqqgtOY with most of them done on VHS]].
* Indy synthpop group Choir Boy [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSOpPJGAzqc uses this effect in several of their music videos.]]

* The Website/YouTube channel WebVideo/{{Meat}} produced creepypasta-esque vids which turned out to be either an ARG or an art project, and at least one of which (Floatsam and Jetsam) used Deliberate VHS Quality.

* Website/YouTube channel [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpvtp7mH0Cdq8FQUxcjDq0Q My Life in Gaming]] created "how to beat" videos [[{{Retreaux}} in the style of old 1980s and 1990s gaming tips VHS tapes]]. For added authenticity, they ran the video through an actual VHS recorder to achieve this quality (and even spliced in video from an ''authentic'' VHS home recording to give the impression of a tape being reused and poorly recorded over).

* ''WebAnimation/TheBlueChannel'': "BLUE_CHANNEL: THALASIN" is made to look like a VHS recording. The screen is windowboxed and there are grainy flickers.

When used in a FoundFootage film and/or AnalogHorror, it can add a horror element by making it seem more authentic, though these days this is more likely to be done with a smartphone camera, unless it's supposed to be a PeriodPiece. It can also be used to disguise imperfections in CGI animation, making the footage look more “real”, though dated. 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]]

When used in a FoundFootage film and/or AnalogHorror, it can add a horror element by making it seem more authentic, though these days this is more likely to be done with a smartphone 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]]

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

* Website/{{Nerdix}} made their own VHS trailer for ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}'' as it was ''really'' made in 1995 (the time supposely ComicBook/CarolDanvers goes to Earth in the movie), with some scenes from Creator/SamuelLJackson movies from TheNineties, and properly called ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y0Yp5T_6Ho Captain Marvel 1995]]''.

* A couple scenes in ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'' are made to look like footage from a camcorder made in the TheNineties as it is meant to show what Mei and her friends recorded during their fundraising for 4*Town tickets.

* YouTube channel [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpvtp7mH0Cdq8FQUxcjDq0Q My Life in Gaming]] created "how to beat" videos [[{{Retreaux}} in the style of old 1980s and 1990s gaming tips VHS tapes]]. For added authenticity, they ran the video through an actual VHS recorder to achieve this quality (and even spliced in video from an ''authentic'' VHS home recording to give the impression of a tape being reused and poorly recorded over).

* ''Film/TronLegacy'' used this in several flashback moments, like Flynn's last address to Encom. Again, {{Justified}} as the scenes were set in 1989, and an ExploitedTrope as the grainy VHS style downplayed some of the UnintentionalUncannyValley aspects of the DigitalDeaging.

Deliberate VHS Quality is when, to achieve a certain aesthetic, something is deliberately filmed in grainy VHS quality to make it appear older as a stylistic choice. Often in videos that try to mimic the quality of a VHS tape, you'll see a blue screen at the beginning, with "PLAY" in blocky white letters at the top left corner of the screen, and the ensuing video quality will be grainy and full of tracking lines. Occasionally, even the audio may sound warped or distorted. By definition, a video using this trope will have been created sometime after VHS was supplanted by the DVD, so the late [[TurnOfTheMillennium 2000's]] at the earliest.

* WebVideo/TheBackrooms videos typically take place in the 80s or 90s, and involve someone holding a camcorder filming their journey through the endless Backrooms after clipping through reality. They normally employ a VHS filter, which disguises the CG animation in the higher quality ones.

* The AnalogHorror fan series ''WebVideo/DeltaruneVHS'' use deliberately bad quality images (sometimes coupled [[MediumBlending with realistic footage]]) with slowed down music tracks.

* The YouTubePoop ''WebAnimation/AdventuresInHyrule'' video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqf6PXw5cRk "Hyrule Visits 1993"]] by iteachvader achieves this effect with a video filter in Sony Vegas.