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MediaCopy

From Home Video

History[edit]

In May 1994, West Coast Video Duplicating sued Michael Nesmith for $4.8 million due to unpaid bills for video duplication services. According to court records, the actual amount was $2.4 million. Since the invoices clearly showed his company liable for the services, Nesmith and his lawyers opted for a trial with a jury in an attempt to delay the proceedings while he tried to win a lawsuit with PBS.

Former names[edit]

  • West Coast Video Duplicating, Inc. (1987-1996)

List of Customers[edit]

A (*) indicates that the company duplicated its product at the former Media Home Entertainment facility as well; a (^) indicates that the company exclusively duplicated its product there.

  • 3:13 Productions (2000)
  • ABC Video Enterprises (1991-1992) (tapes sold through Simon Marketing)
  • A.I.P. Home Video (1990-1992)
  • Apple Computer (1996) (one known copy of Macintosh or Windows? Spring 1996)
  • Bandai Entertainment (2000-2001)
    • Anime Village
  • Central Park Media
    • U.S. Manga Corps
  • Columbia House (19??-2005)
  • Columbia TriStar Home Video (1990-1996) (screener copies)
  • DreamWorks Home Entertainment (1998) (selected copies of Small Soldiers)
  • Emshell Home Video (1994)
  • Fox Lorber Home Video (1997) (some copies of Tetsuo the Iron Man)
  • Globalstage Productions (1999)
  • GPN Educational Media^ (1997)
  • Hemdale Home Video
  • HIT Entertainment (2001-2002) (Bob the Builder, Kipper and Angelina Ballerina tapes)
    • Lyrick Studios (2000-2001) (Bob the Builder, Kipper and Angelina Ballerina tapes)
      • The Lyons Group (1992-1996)
  • J2 Communications (1991-1992) (some tapes, including The Star Wars Trilogy Animated Collection, Volume 1 sold through Simon Marketing)
  • J & N Media (2002)
  • The Jesus Video Project (one known copy of Jesus)
  • kaBOOM! Entertainment Inc. (2001-2004)
  • Lincoln Media Group (2002)
  • LIVE Entertainment (1997) (some tapes sold through the Columbia House Video Club)
    • Family Home Entertainment (1990) (some copies of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tapes sold through the Burger King Kids' Club)
  • Major League Baseball Home Video
  • MCA/Universal Home Video (1994) (one known copy of Back to the Future)
  • MCA Music Video
  • McDonald's (2000-2001) (The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Birthday World and The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Have Time, Will Travel)
  • MGM Home Entertainment* (1990-2004)
    • Orion Home Video (199?-1998)
    • Fries Home Video (1987-1989)
  • Miramar Productions^ (1992-1995)
  • MPI Home Video (1991-????)
  • Media Home Entertainment^ (1990-1993)
  • New Horizons Home Video
  • Pacific Arts Video
  • Paramount Home Entertainment (1990-2005) (some tapes, particularly tapes sold through the Columbia House Video Club)
    • Nickelodeon Home Video (1996-2005; some tapes sold through the Columbia House Video Club)
  • Pioneer Entertainment* (1994-2000)
  • PolyGram Video
  • PPI Entertainment (2002)
  • Prism Entertainment
  • Questar Home Video^ (1991)
  • Random House Home Video (1991-1992) (The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners, sold through Simon Marketing)
  • Rhino Home Video (1988-19??)
  • Saban (2000) (Power Rangers in 3-D)
  • Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment
  • Silverado Productions
  • Simitar Entertainment (1990) (some copies of Fighter Aces of World War II)
  • South Gate Entertainment (1991) (one known copy of Julia Has Two Lovers)
  • SyberVision
  • Tai Seng Video Marketing (1996-1997)
  • Touchstone Home Video (1989) (one known copy of Who Framed Roger Rabbit)
  • VCI Home Video (1994) (one known copy of A Christmas Carol)
  • Video Treasures (1994)
    • Strand Home Video (1992-1994)
  • Vidmark Entertainment
  • Viz Video
  • Warner Home Video (1989-1992) (some copies of Batman and Batman Returns and some tapes sold through the Columbia House Video Club)
    • HBO Video (1992) (one known copy of HBO's Hottest Moments)
    • Turner Home Entertainment (199?-1997)
      • Hanna-Barbera Home Video (1992)
      • New Line Home Video* (1991-????)
  • Wolfe Video (1998) (one known copy of Thin Ice)
  • World Wide Pictures Home Video
  • Xenon Entertainment Group (1998)

How to Tell[edit]

  • Most VHS tapes duplicated here have printings on the bottom spine of the tape. Sometimes, the color of the printings varied.
    • Until 1990, the printings were laid out like the following examples:

Example 1: 

27A1      15000                  10119
T-130                            20:19

Example 2: 

TMD-EP                15833    27842          12490
21A2           APRIL FOOLISH W/COMMERCIAL     22:15

Example 3: 

T-59       106813/WC0634       31590
21A2            WCVD           17:41

Example 4: 

T-130   BATMAN  WCVD15000  20:33
27A1                         10169

Example 5: 

T-52       110737/F0176        51790
71A3            WCVD           09:26
  • The printings generally included the print date and time on the right. Next to the print date and time are letters that usually indicate the duplicator (though on some tapes, they indicate the distributor). This was usually followed by a catalog number and, optionally, the tape speed's initialism. Even on tapes with a different color cassette, the color and style of the printing varied.
      • For example, if the print date/time is numbered "020795 1358", then that means the specific VHS tape was printed on February 7, 1995 at 1:58 PM.
    • Until January 1990, as seen in the first example above, the date was in MM/DD/Y format. From January to September 1990, the date was in M/DD/YY format.
  • Some Fries Home Video tapes duplicated here prior to 1989 said "WCV" (1988-1989) or "WCVD" (1989) in the bottom right corner of the face label.
  • Some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tapes sold through the Burger King Kids' Club said "W" on the face label.
  • In addition, tapes duplicated at this company also have a length code in the far left of the printings. On pre-1996 tapes, the length code is above the record tab spot, while on post-1996 tapes, it is at the label space portion of the spine. Generally, the length code was in the form of the nominal length, though on some tapes printed using Otari thermal magnetic duplication systems, it was in the form of the actual time length and was preceded by the letters "TMDSP" or "TMDEP".
  • After 1996, tapes duplicated at MediaCopy would have an engraving on the left side that indicates the company that distributed it.
  • Tapes from this duplicator, that say "TMDEP" or "TMDSP" in the printings, had a few additional seconds of black screen following the blank space at the very end. While the "fading rainbow" didn't usually appear on tapes printed in late 1990 or later, one known EP mode copy of FX2 had a rumbling sound during the first few seconds of the tape in the linear track.
  • Some EP/SLP (TMDEP) tapes from this duplicator may lack a hi-fi audio track; others may include it.
  • Some tapes with the tape speed’s initialism (e.g. T-120) in the printings, end abruptly.
  • Very rarely, a tape printed here may have a silent white screen test pattern at the end.
  • Tapes duplicated by this company's Los Angeles locations had a print date in dark ink, like this for example:
  T-48      99-3M    082195     M
                     1142       P
  • Some Reading Rainbow tapes duplicated here had only the date and time, like this for example:

071497

0917

  • Sometimes, however, as seen on some New Line Home Video demo tapes and Miramar tapes, there were white printings above the record tab, like this for example:

T-127

CS

  • Tapes from the Los Angeles locations also usually had white printings on the left side of the tape, like this for example:

PA12220 01

0445 150619

  • Some 1998 tapes had a white sticker with information, a print date and time, and barcodes on both sides. The information and print date and time were enclosed in a grey background on the sticker, and the information was formatted like this for example:

LITTLE CAESAR

F74063-00 - 1

MG6148 084:03

206148 L - 4

04-28-98 08:34:07

59-008-2

  • Some tapes assembled in Juarez and duplicated across town in El Paso had the notation "ASSEMBLED IN MEXICO" printed in either black or white ink (presumably depending on the color of the area of the packaging it’s at) on the shrinkwrap over the back of the packaging. Such tapes had the printings formatted like these two examples:

"Blue Hawaii" (Paramount Home Video, 1997): 

 T-102  G55993-00-1        100101
31121-1 MCI JZ 371413  76   1806

"Snow Day" (Nickelodeon Home Video through Paramount Home Entertainment, 2001): 

 T-113  G55169-00-1        091401
31121-1 MCI JZ 156233  71   2203
  • Post-2000 printings of pre-2000 releases from Paramount Home Entertainment sold through the Columbia House Video Club that were printed here are more likely than not to still lack a Viacom byline below the Paramount logo at the top of the face label, even if the label itself uses the then-current lettering format.

Known abbreviation letter codes[edit]

  • 131 - Columbia House Video Club (1996-2004; some tapes)
  • MGM/UA - MGM/UA Home Video (1996-1999)
  • MGM - MGM Home Entertainment (1999-2004)
  • WHV - Warner Home Video (1989-1997), Turner Home Entertainment (1997)
  • OHV - Orion Home Video (1996-1999)
  • TURNER - Turner Home Entertainment (199?-1997)

Known stock number prefix codes[edit]

  • WCVD (1988-1996)
  • MCI (1996-2002)
  • MCI JZ (tapes assembled in Juarez and duplicated across town in El Paso; 1998-2002)
  • INFO (2002-2005)
  • JLB - J.L. Bowerbank & Associates (199?-199?)
  • PAR - Paramount Home Video (1998)

Gallery[edit]

West Coast Video Duplicating, Inc.[edit]

  • An ad for the company, circa 1989
    An ad for the company, circa 1989
  • An ad for the company, circa 1990. Where this was found, it was split into two pages, so they're combined in this image.
    An ad for the company, circa 1990. Where this was found, it was split into two pages, so they're combined in this image.
  • An ad for the company, circa 1991
    An ad for the company, circa 1991
  • An example of what the dark ink printings looked like on some, but not all, early tapes prior to 1990.
    An example of what the dark ink printings looked like on some, but not all, early tapes prior to 1990.
  • An example of what the printings on tapes from early 1990 look like.
    An example of what the printings on tapes from early 1990 look like.
  • An example of what the dark ink printings looked like from late 1990 to 1996.
    An example of what the dark ink printings looked like from late 1990 to 1996.
  • Same example as picture #3, except the letters read "JLB".
    Same example as picture #3, except the letters read "JLB".
  • This is an example of what print dates on tapes printed in Los Angeles looked like. It may be hard to see in this capture.
    This is an example of what print dates on tapes printed in Los Angeles looked like. It may be hard to see in this capture.
  • This is an example of what the white printings on the left side of tapes printed in Los Angeles looked like.
    This is an example of what the white printings on the left side of tapes printed in Los Angeles looked like.
  • Selected tapes that were duplicated in the EP/SLP speed had something that most other tapes from this duplicator generally lacked: material printed in the vertical blanking interval. This, for example.
    Selected tapes that were duplicated in the EP/SLP speed had something that most other tapes from this duplicator generally lacked: material printed in the vertical blanking interval. This, for example.

MediaCopy[edit]

  • Tapes on an assembly line at one of the company's plants.
    Tapes on an assembly line at one of the company's plants.
  • An example of what the ink printings looked like on some mid-late 1996 tapes.
    An example of what the ink printings looked like on some mid-late 1996 tapes.
  • An example of what the ink printings looked like from late 1996 to 2002.
    An example of what the ink printings looked like from late 1996 to 2002.
  • An example of the sticker used on some tapes in 1998.
    An example of the sticker used on some tapes in 1998.
  • An example of what the ink printings looked like from 2002 to 2003.
    An example of what the ink printings looked like from 2002 to 2003.
  • An example of what the ink printings looked like from 2003 to 2005.
    An example of what the ink printings looked like from 2003 to 2005.
  • On some 2004 tapes, the printings did not say INFO.
    On some 2004 tapes, the printings did not say INFO.

Locations[edit]

  • Beverly Hills, California (199?-????)
  • Brisbane, California (1987-1995) (moved to San Leandro)
  • Culver City, California (1990-199?) (acquired from Media Home Entertainment, moved to Beverly Hills)
  • El Paso, Texas (1998-2004)
  • Juarez, Chihuahua (1998-2004)
  • San Leandro, California (1995-2001)

Website[edit]

Trivia[edit]

  • Some tapes with the company's WC initialism in the printings on the bottom spine of the cassette, specifically Strand Home Video tapes printed in late 1994, were instead duplicated at Technicolor Video Services, possibly by way of then-parent Video Treasures. This was also the case with some 1989 Fries Home Video tapes with the company's WCVD initialism on the face label.
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