The CBS/Fox Company (Duplicator)
List of Customers
- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (1977-1987)
- Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment (1981)
- MCA Videocassette, Inc. (1980)
- Paramount Home Video (1979-1980)
- Walt Disney Telecommunications and Non-Theatrical Company (1987)
- Walt Disney Home Video (1987)
- Buena Vista Home Video (1987)
- Touchstone Home Video (1987)
- Worldvision Home Video (1983)
How to Tell
- Tapes that were duplicated at Magnetic Video Corporation would have "MAG1" engraved on the back of the tape.
- On Canadian copies, the engraving would read "MAG-2".
- 1984 tapes duplicated at CBS/Fox would have engraving on the right side of the tape that says "CBS/FOX."
- 1985-1987 tapes duplicated at CBS/Fox would have printings on the bottom middle side that contain serial numbers and a day and year code that is read in either Day/YY or Day/Y. Additionally, there would also be a side number and a print time.
- Example 1 - if the day and year code reads "1656" or "165 86", that means the tape was printed on the 165th day of 1986.
- Example 2 - if the print time next to the code reads "18-23" or "1823", that means the tape was printed at 6:23 PM.
- Example 3 - Tapes with Day/Y and 00-00 have a double side number, while tapes with Day/YY and 0000 have a single side number. Occassionally, some tapes that are printed with 2 separate print dates/times in both print code types have a triple side number.
Notes
- The CBS/Fox Company's duplication arm was acquired by VCA/Technicolor in mid 1987. Starting then, 1987-1990 VHS tapes duplicated by VCA/Technicolor (1987-1989) (and later Technicolor (1989-1990)) with CBS/Fox-style printings after the acquisition had a white barcode sticker with a generic number on the left side. In addition, the CBS/Fox-style printings on tapes from this date range and the 1990-1991 range are barely visible.
- Occassionally, on 1990-1991 tapes duplicated by Technicolor with CBS/Fox-style printings, the internal and serial numbers are replaced by a tape nominal and a shift code. In addition, the generic barcode sticker on the left side of tapes from this date range is replaced by ink-printed abbreviation letters indicating the company that distributed the release.