Tape manufacturers
This list is dedicated to the tape stock companies and their customers.
3M
Customers
- Buena Vista Home Video
- Walt Disney Home Video
- Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment/RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video/Columbia TriStar Home Video
- Fotomat Video
- Magnetic Video Corporation/20th Century Fox Video/CBS/Fox Video
- MCA Videocassette, Inc./MCA Home Video
- MGM/CBS Home Video/MGM/UA Home Video
- Paramount Home Video
- Thorn EMI Video/Thorn EMI/HBO Video
- WCI Home Video/Warner Home Video
How to tell
- On some tapes, especially early ones, the Scotch logo is engraved in white on the tape guard.
- Mid 1980s-Early 1990s tapes may have the Scotch logo engraved as part of the tape nominal information above the record tab.
- Some tapes have "3M" printed as part of the print code information on the bottom side, mainly on those duplicated by Technicolor Videocassette and West Coast Video Duplicating/MediaCopy.
Agfa-Gevaert
Customers
- MGM/UA Home Video
- United Home Video
How to tell
Ampex
Customers
- Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment
- Magnetic Video Corporation
- MCA Videocassette, Inc.
- MGM/CBS Home Video
- Paramount Home Video
- Time-Life Video
- WCI Home Video
How to tell
BASF
Customers
- Lionsgate Home Entertainment
- Artisan Entertainment (1987-2004)
- Vestron Video (1987-1992)
- Artisan Entertainment (1987-2004)
- Anchor Bay Entertainment (1995-2007)
- Video Treasures (1986-1998)
- Burbank Video (1987-1995)
- Jenal Entertainment (1987-1991)
- Troy Gold (1987-1989)
- MNTex Entertainment (1987-1998)
- Strand Home Video (1989-1998)
- Burbank Video (1987-1995)
- Starmaker Entertainment
- Video Treasures (1986-1998)
- Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (1987-2007)
- Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (1994-2007)
- Sterling Entertainment Group
- UAV Corporation (1985-1998)
- VidAmerica, Inc. (1987-1992)
- Paramount Home Entertainment (1994-2007)
- Warner Home Video (1987-2007)
- MGM Home Entertainment (1987-2007)
How to tell
- Many 1985-2007 tapes duplicated on BASF cassettes have dark or silver ink prototype codes. Usually, these codes included the tape nominal length, the shift digits, the print date and/or the print time.
- For example, if the dark ink code reads "T-82 M3" on top and "012393 S 1223", or "012393 S", that means the cassette is a T-82 length and that the tape was manufactured on January 23, 1993. The time code would mean 12:23 PM, and S and M3 would be two of the shift digits.
Fuji
Customers
- Astral Video (Canadian)
- Magnetic Video Corporation
- Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment/RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (Canadian)
- Thorn EMI Video
- Time-Life Video
- Buena Vista Home Video (Canadian)
- Walt Disney Home Video
How to tell
JVC
Customers
- Allied Artists Video
- Magnetic Video Corporation
- Media Home Entertainment
How to tell
Maxell
Customers
- 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment
- CBS/Fox Video
- 20th Century-Fox Video
- CBS/Fox Video
- MGM/UA Home Video
- Paramount Home Video
- Columbia/TriStar Home Video
- RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video
- Thorn EMI Video
- Time-Life Video
- VCI Home Video
- Buena Vista Home Video
- Walt Disney Home Video
- Touchstone Home Video
- Warner Home Video
- Anchor Bay Entertainment (1995-2007)
- Video Treasures (1988-1998)
- Burbank Video (1988-1995)
- Troy Gold (1987-1989)
- Burbank Video (1988-1995)
- Starmaker Entertainment
- Video Treasures (1988-1998)
How to tell
Memorex
Customers
- Anchor Bay Entertainment (1995-1996)
- Video Treasures (1990-1996)
- Burbank Video (1988-1995)
- Troy Gold (1987-1989)
- Burbank Video (1988-1995)
- Starmaker Entertainment (1990-1996)
- Video Treasures (1990-1996)
- Buena Vista Home Video (1988-1994)
- Walt Disney Home Video
- Warner Home Video
- HBO Home Video
- Allied Artists Video
How to tell
- Some 1987-1998 tapes have “Made in U.S.A.” or "MADE IN U.S.A." moulded on the back right of the cassette.
- Some 1987-1998 tapes have dark ink code information, including the day-year code.
- For example, if the code reads "8 322 90 2211", then that means that the side of the tape is labeled 8 and that the tape was manufactured on the 322nd day of 1990, or November 18, 1990, at 10:11 PM.
Panasonic
Customers
- CBS/Fox Video
- RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video
How to tell
RCA
Customers
- Magnetic Video Corporation
- MGM/UA Home Video
- VCI Home Video
- WCI Home Video
- Buena Vista Home Video
- Walt Disney Home Video
- Touchstone Home Video
How to tell
Sony
Customers
- HBO/Cannon Video
- MGM/UA Home Video
- RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video
- Buena Vista Home Video
- Walt Disney Home Video
- Warner Home Video
How to tell
For VHS, either small round depressions in the frontal shell of the cassette, or a large grid of squares along the entire frontal area thereof.
TDK
Customers
- Magnetic Video Corporation
- MGM/CBS Home Video
- Paramount Home Video
- RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video
- U.S.A. Home Video
- Walt Disney Telecommunications and Non-Theatrical Company
- Walt Disney Home Video
- WCI Home Video
How to tell
Notes
- The first companies to provide tape stocks for the official home entertainment and media industry are the larger manufacturing companies, including those that invented the media formats and accessories.
- 1930 - 3M invented the Scotch Tape under their then-formed sub-label, Scotch.
- 1935 - TDK invented iron-based magnetic material during their establishment.
- 1961 - Memorex invented the computer tape.
- 1975 - Sony invented the Beta format.
- 1977 - JVC invented the VHS format.
- 1987 - An improved version of the VHS format was developed by JVC, called S-VHS. In the meantime, the VHS format has won the war that it once had with the Beta format. As a result, VHS gained more popularity than Beta did.
- 1988 - Sony began making VHS players/recorders.
- The last companies to provide tape stocks for the industry were a soda and chemical manufacturing company named BASF, doing business as Baden Aniline and Soda Factory, and a battery company named Maxell.