Vantiva Supply Chain Services

Former names

• The Vidtronics Company (1966-1985)
• VCA/Technicolor Duplicating Corp. (1985-1987)
  • Teletronics International (1968-1972)
  • VCA-Teletronics, Inc. (1972-1987)
    • S/T Videocassette Duplicating Corp. (East Coast plants)
    • Teletronics-Texas, Inc. (Houston plant)
• Technicolor Videocassette, Inc. (1985-1997)
  • Technicolor Video Services (1993-1997)
  • Technicolor Optical Media Services (1994-1997)
• Technicolor Video/CD/DVD Services (1997-2002)
• Technicolor Home Entertainment Services (2002-2013)
• Technicolor Entertainment Services (2013-2018)
• Technicolor Supply Chain Services (2018-2022)

List of Home Media Customers

• CBS/Fox Video/FoxVideo/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (1986-2003) (in 1986, some copies of Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi, the release of which predated the duplicator's Q3 1987 purchase of CBS/Fox's duplication facilities; in the 1990s, some copies of Speed and Independence Day, perhaps among others; in the early 2000s, Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace and some copies of X-Men.)
  • New World Video (1985-1989)
• A-PIX Entertainment (2000)
• Avon Products (1988-2005)
• Brentwood Home Video/BCI Eclipse (1997-2004)
  • Simitar Entertainment (1989-1993)
• Bell Canyon Entertainment Inc. (2000)
• Best Film and Video Corporation
• Cabin Fever Entertainment (some copies of Lonesome Dove)
• DawnSignPress
• Embassy Home Entertainment (1982-1986)
• Family Entertainment Network (1991)
• Feature Films for Families (1995-1996) (some tapes)
• Fox Racing (2000-2001)
• FUNimation Entertainment (2002) (some copies of DragonBall Z: Fusion - Losing Battle and DragonBall Z: Fusion - Playing for Time)
• Harley-Davidson Motor Company (2003)
• HIT Entertainment (2001-2006)
  • Lyrick Studios (1997-2001)
    • The Lyons Group (1993)
• Integrity Music
• Interactive Learning Group (1999-2000)
• Jay Jay the Jet Plane Productions (1998-1999)
• Kit Parker Films (1985-199?) (tapes released in association with Buena Vista Home Video)
• Knowledge Adventure (1999-2002)
• The LEGO Group (2001) (Jack Stone Free Video Cassette and Wheelersville Moo Cow Mystery)
• Lionsgate Home Entertainment (1999-2007)
  • Anchor Bay Entertainment (1995)
    • Video Treasures (1990-1995)
      • Burbank Video (1992-1995)
      • MNTEX Entertainment (1992-1995)
      • Strand VCI Entertainment/Strand Home Video (1990-1991, 1994)
      • Teal Entertainment (1994-1995)
    • Starmaker Entertainment (1989-1995)
  • Artisan Entertainment (1989-2004)
    • Vestron Video (1982-1993)
      • Time-Life Video (pre-1982 incarnation) (1980-1982)
  • Trimark Home Video (1992-2004)
• Major League Baseball Productions (1989-1991)
• MGM Home Entertainment (1980-1990, 2002)
  • Cannon Video (1988-1996) (marketed by Warner Home Video)
  • Forum Home Video (1985-1989)
• Monarch Home Video (1988-1989)
• Monterey Home Video (1991-2006)
• MPI Home Video (1985-19??)
• Nelson Entertainment (1987-1988)
• New Yorker Films (2004)
• Nick Jr. (1999) (Little Bill Special Teacher's Edition)
• The Nostalgia Merchant (1984)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (1987-1993, 1999-present) (some tapes; in 1999 and the early 2000s, some demo tapes, co-duplicated with Deluxe Video Services)
  • CBS Video (2005-2007)
  • Nickelodeon Video/Nickelodeon Home Entertainment (1995, 1999-present) (in 1995, some copies of Rugrats: The Santa Experience, marketed by Epic Records and Sony Music Video via Sony Wonder; in 1999 and the early 2000s, some demo tapes, co-duplicated with Deluxe Video Services; post-2002 Canadian tapes; post-2005 US tapes)
    • Nick Jr. Video (1999-2007) (in 1999 and the early 2000s, some demo tapes, co-duplicated with Deluxe Video Services)
  • Republic Pictures Home Video (1992-2000)
  • Worldvision Home Video (1987-1995)
• Pioneer Entertainment (1998)
• Real Entertainment
• Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows
• Shell Oil Company
• Simon Marketing (1988-199?)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (1981-1982, 1987-1988, 2005-2007)
  • SVS/Triumph Home Video (1981-1992)
• Sony Music Entertainment/Sony BMG Music Entertainment (1995-1997, 2005-2007)
  • Jive Records (Backstreet Boys: For The Fans)
  • Sony Wonder (1995-1997, 2005-2007)
    • Random House Home Video (1996-1997, 2005-2007)
  • Zomba Video
• Columbia House (1987-2005)
• Stabur Home Video (1992)
• Starlight Home Entertainment (2002)
• StudioWorks Entertainment (2003)
• Sundance Channel Home Entertainment (2003) (some copies of The Slaughter Rule)
• Super Video
• Synch-Point (2001)
• Tiger Electronics (1990s)
• Time-Life Video
• Tokyopop (2001)
• Tommy Nelson (2000)
• Tyco Industries (1980s-1990s)
• Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (1982-1996, 2005-present)
• Urban Vision Entertainment
• VCI Home Video (1981)
• Ventura Entertainment (2000)
• Vickilew Inc. (2003)
• VidAmerica, Inc.
• Walt Disney Telecommunications and Non-Theatrical Company/Buena Vista Home Video/Buena Vista Home Entertainment (1980-present)
  • Hollywood Pictures Home Entertainment
  • Touchstone Home Entertainment
  • Walt Disney Home Video/Walt Disney Home Entertainment/Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
• Warner Home Video (1980-present)
  • HBO Home Entertainment (1981-1982, 1986-present)
  • Lorimar Home Video (1985-1989)
  • Turner Home Entertainment (1987)
• Weston Woods Studios
• Word Entertainment (1997-2000)

How to Tell

• Tapes duplicated at VCA from 1980-1982 would have a sticker with numbers on it on the tape guard.
• Pre-1991 tapes duplicated at VCA, S/T and Technicolor have 2 different types of stickers (with or without print dates): Tapes duplicated at Technicolor between 1981 and 1991 have a blue (sometimes white) sticker on the bottom left or middle side, while tapes duplicated at VCA and S/T between 1982 and 1987 have a white sticker on the tape guard (and later on the bottom middle side starting in 1985). Sometimes, the print date is read in YY/MM/DD format, but most of the time it is in MM/DD/YY.
• Pre-April 1989 tapes duplicated at Technicolor in California have two different types of a screen test pattern at the end: Some 1985-1986 tapes have a black test pattern with a 410 hz tone, or a 420 hz tone, while most 1986-1989 tapes have either a 400 hz tone, or a 1010 hz tone.
• Most 1986-2007 tapes duplicated at Technicolor have an ink print date instead of a sticker.
• Starting in 1993, some tapes duplicated at Technicolor in Camarillo with an ink print date on the bottom middle side had a time. The following year, the Livonia plant implemented this, mainly for tapes duplicated there on the Sprinters.
  • The time was directly next to the date on post-June 1995 tapes duplicated in Livonia and some duplicated in California. However, on most 1993-1999 tapes duplicated in Camarillo, it would be next to the length code.
  • For example, if the print date/time on the VHS tape reads "010196-1729", that means the tape was printed at 5:29 PM on January 1, 1996.
• Tapes duplicated in Livonia on the Sprinters prior to 1995 had a sticker on the bottom middle side.
• Most 1989-2006 tapes duplicated in Livonia had the DTMF tones at the start and/or end of the tape.
• Most 1981-1999 tapes had a digit for the shift next to the print date, which was usually either 1, 2 or 3 letters or numbers.
• Most 1985-2007 tapes have an abbreviation engraved in either gold orange, dark blue, plain black or plain white on either the left or right side of the tape that usually indicates the company that distributed it.
• Some post-2001 tapes would have "MADE IN MEXICO" printed in either watermark ink on the plastic wrap, or on a sticker, on the back.
• Many 1986-2005 tapes would have an assembly date in addition to a print date, sometimes in dark ink. Starting in the beginning of 1992, the assembly date on tapes assembled in California would include a time.
• On some tapes printed in California and Livonia that had a sticker during the 1990s, the sticker was either white or yellow with information like this for example:

Example (California plants):

DRACULA A.D. (1972) WHV

0285337 V25100

09/29/94 S-3 P-X

113-01-7

• Some tapes had a white sticker on the right side of the tape, with information like the following examples:

Example 1:

ROUGH CUT V

11111 1 113 113

Example 2:

THE BOY

38381 3 332 1292

• Occasionally, a few tapes from this duplicator may have the static roll of death at the end.

Fun Facts

• VCA-Teletronics was spun off in 1987, shortly after the acquisition of CBS/Fox's duplication facility.
• Technicolor Videocassette, Inc. adopted the name "Technicolor Video Services" as its DBA name by October 1993, as the arm was completing a move from Newbury Park to Camarillo. "Technicolor Videocassette, Inc." remained the arm's legal name until 1997 when the arm began DVD replication by which point both the arm's legal and DBA names, as well as its CD replication counterpart Technicolor Optical Media Services, were combined to become "Technicolor Video/CD/DVD Services".
• S/T Videocassette Duplicating Corp. was a joint venture between Sony Corporation and VCA-Teletronics, set up not long after VCA-Teletronics itself was founded.
  • S/T = Sony/Teletronics
• Around 70% of Disney's videocassette output was being duplicated at Technicolor's Livonia plant as of 1996.
• The first Macrovision-encoded MCA Home Video tapes, as well as New World Video's lineup around 1985, are among the tapes duplicated at VCA/Technicolor's Newbury Park plant.
• Some Disney tapes beginning in the early 1990s, as well as certain "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" tapes from Family Home Entertainment (sold through the Burger King Kids' Club), a majority of Video Treasures' lineup (including Burbank Video, Media Home Entertainment and MNTEX Entertainment) and Starmaker Entertainment's lineup between the early 1990s and 1995, and Best Film and Video Corporation, Simon Marketing, and Vestron Video's lineups prior to the late 1990s, and select copies of certain tapes from Sony Music Entertainment's divisions and subsidiaries (including a small portion of Sony Wonder's lineup, including "Rugrats: The Santa Experience" from Nickelodeon Video and some post-1995 Random House Home Video releases) were among the tapes duplicated at Technicolor's Livonia plant using Sony Sprinter systems.
• As part of Technicolor's agreement with Video Treasures, which was secured in September 1992, Video Treasures closed its Cincinnati, Ohio duplication plant and sold its equipment there to Technicolor which would add the equipment to its Livonia, Michigan plant.

Known abbreviation letter codes

• DIS - Buena Vista Home Video (1985-1988)
• BVHV - Buena Vista Home Entertainment (1990-2007)
• AVN - Avon Products (1988-2005)
• NWV - New World Video (1985-1989)
• WHV4 - Warner Home Video (198?-1985)
• WHV - Warner Home Video (198?-2006)
• VT - Video Treasures (1992-1993)
• VM - Trimark Home Video (1992-????)
• RV - Family Home Entertainment (some copies of Frosty Returns; 1993)
• RVS - 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Paramount Home Video, Columbia TriStar Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video (1994-199?)
• T275 - Columbia House Video Club
• 275T - same as T275
• EP - Starmaker Entertainment, Video Treasures (EP/SLP tapes; 1994-1995)
• SP - Starmaker Entertainment, Video Treasures (SP tapes; 1994-1995)
• 2 PK - unknown
• SKG - DreamWorks Home Entertainment (1998-2006)
• EHE - Embassy Home Entertainment (1982-1986)
• MCATM - MCA Home Video (1982-1990)
• MCAT - same as MCATM
• MGM - MGM Home Entertainment (some early copies of Barbershop; 2002)
• HW - Buena Vista Home Entertainment (Hollywood Video exclusive tapes; 199?-200?)
• BB - Buena Vista Home Entertainment (Blockbuster exclusive tapes; 199?-200?)
• BRC - Brentwood Home Video (1997-2001)
• BRCSP - Brentwood Home Video (SP tapes; 1997-2001)
• BRC-E - Brentwood Home Video (EP/SLP tapes; 1997-2001)
• BCI - Brentwood Home Video (2001-2004)
• BFSP - Best Film and Video Corporation (SP tapes; 199?-199?)
• BFEP - Best Film and Video Corporation (EP/SLP tapes; 199?-199?)
• PHV - Paramount Home Video (1988-1991)
• PHE - Paramount Home Entertainment (2000-2007 [Canadian]; 2005-2007 [US])
• TCI - Universal/Alliance Video Distribution (2000-2006 [Canadian])

Known batch and stock number prefix codes

NOTE: Most tapes duplicated after 1988 using Sony Sprinter systems will use prefixes indicating the label and/or distributor.

• WHV - Warner Home Video (1988-2000)
• WB - same as WHV
• NL - New Line Home Entertainment (1997-200?)
• TW - Warner Home Video (2000-2006)
• BVH - Buena Vista Home Video (1988-1990)
• WDTNT - Buena Vista Home Video (1981-1988)
• WDT - same as WDTNT
• WD - Buena Vista Home Entertainment (1988-2006), Starmaker Entertainment (1995)
• VA - VidAmerica (1981-1992)
• VTM - Media Home Entertainment (tapes distributed by Video Treasures; 1990-1994)
• VTSV - Video Treasures (1990-1992)
• VT - same as VTSV (1991-1995)
• VTBV - Burbank Video (1992-1995)
• VTTG - same as VTBV (some tapes; 1992-1995)
• VTTR - same as VTTG and VTBV (some tapes; 1992-1995)
• VTHR - Hal Roach Studios Film Classics (tapes distributed by Video Treasures; 1992-1995)
• VTMN - MNTEX Entertainment (1992-1995)
• BRC - Brentwood Home Video (1997-2004)
• ES - Avon Products (1989)
• AV - same as ES (1988-2005)
• AVE - same as ES and AV (1989-1994)
• AVON - same as ES, AV and AVE (1989-1994)
• SM - Simon Marketing (1988-1993), Sony Music Entertainment (199?-199?)
• PCG - Simon Marketing (1993-199?)
• HBO - HBO Home Entertainment (1988-2000)
• VV - Vestron Video (1982-1993), LIVE Entertainment (some tapes; 199?-199?)
• LV - Artisan Entertainment (19??-200?)
• RPE - Republic Pictures Home Video (1992-2000)
• RNK - Paramount Home Video (1988)
• RK - MCA/Universal Home Video (199?-199?)
• WV - Worldvision Home Video (1988-1995)
• PA - Paramount Home Entertainment (demo tapes; 1999-200?)
• VM - Trimark Home Video (1992-2004)
• SNY - Sony Video Software (1982-1991)
• ST - Starmaker Entertainment (1989-1995), R&G Video (1994-1995)
• RG - R&G Video (1990-1994)
• LM - Shell Oil Company (Peanuts tapes; 1991-1993)
• CV - Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment (1981), Columbia House Video Club (199?-199?)
• CLHS - Columbia House Video Club (199?-199?)
• MGM - MGM/UA Home Video (1981-1990)
• WDWD - same as WD (1994)
• WDKM - same as WD and WDWD (some tapes; 1994-1995)
• WDTG - same as WD, WDWD and WDKM (some tapes; 1994-1995)
• WDWM - same as WD, WDWD, WDKM and WDTG (some tapes; 1994-1995)
• WDL - same as WD, WDWD, WDKM, WDTG and WDWM (on some copies of the first four Disney Princess Collection tapes; 1995)
• UV - Urban Vision Entertainment (????-????)
• LHV - Lorimar Home Video (1987-1989)
• RB - Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows (199?-199?)
• CD - Family Entertainment Network (????-????)
• WC - Strand Home Video (1994)
• Random codes (S8, X23, Y1, RC, Y5, X8, X12, M12, S35, etc.) (tapes duplicated in Livonia after 1990 using industrial duplicators or Otari TMD systems)
• 000 (some tapes; 1986-1988)

Known stock number suffix codes

These codes could be seen on tapes printed in Livonia using Sony Sprinter systems, from 1988 to May 1995.

• V (some tapes)
• VPD - same as V
• -V - same as V and VPD
• -S - SP
• LPD - LP
• EPD - EP/SLP

Gallery

Sony/Teletronics

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  This is what the "no print date" sticker looked like on some tapes printed in Leonia prior to around 1986.

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  Same example as picture #1, sans the VCA logo.

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  This is what the print date sticker looked like on tapes printed in Leonia from 1982 to 1987.

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  This is what the print date sticker looked like on some tapes printed in the East Coast, beginning in the mid-1980s.

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Vidtronics

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  This is what the print date sticker looked like on some tapes printed in California, beginning in 1981.

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  This is what the print date sticker looked like on some tapes printed in California, beginning in 1981.

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  Same example as picture #1.

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VCA/Technicolor

East Coast plants

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  Same example as picture #1 in the "Sony/Teletronics" section.

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  Same example as picture #2, sans the VCA logo.

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California plants

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  Same example as picture #5 in the "Vidtronics" section, except the font used is slightly different and the sticker itself was colored normal blue.

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  Same example as picture #2, except the font used is slightly different.

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  This is what the ink printing, used on some tapes printed in California from July 1986 to 1988, looks like with the print date on it.

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  This is what the ink printing, used on some tapes printed in California beginning in early 1987, looks like with the print date on it.

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Technicolor

California plants

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  Same example as picture #4 in the "VCA/Technicolor California" section, though slightly akin to the ink printing used on tapes duplicated at Video Technology Services in Newbury Park.

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  This is what the ink printing, used on tapes printed in California from late 1985 to 1994, looks like with the print date on it. Notice that there is an assembly date below the print date in dark ink in this picture.

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  This is what the print date sticker looked like on tapes printed in California prior to early 1991.

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  Notice that there is an assembly date below the print date in dark gray ink in this picture.

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Livonia plant (acquired from CBS/Fox)

Industrial Duplicators and Otari TMD

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  This is what the ink printing, used on tapes printed in Livonia using industrial duplicators, from 1987 to 1990, looks like. The printing you see on the far bottom was also used on some tapes duplicated at the plant, although some tapes duplicated at the company's California plants also used these printings and so did some tapes from different duplicators (e.g. Rank Video Services America, Sony Digital Audio Disc Corporation, VTR Video and WRS Motion Picture & Video Laboratory).

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Sony Sprinter

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  This is an example of what the sticker on some tapes by Vestron Video, Forum Home Video, Tyco and Monarch Home Video, using the Sony Sprinter, looked like during 1987-1988.

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  This is what the ink printing, used on some tapes printed in Livonia using the Sony Sprinter, from early October 1992 to mid-May 1995, looks like with the print date on it. These kind of printings had the distributor's prefix, stock number and tape speed on the left of the lot number, akin to the "no print date" barcode stickers used by the same facility from 1988 to 1995. If the letters following the stock number did not indicate the speed, they would always be either VPD or -V.

Other plants

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Montreal plant (acquired from Astral Media)

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Ciudad de México plant (acquired from Televisa)

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VBI codes

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  An example of what the code on the VBI looks like on tapes duplicated in Livonia using industrial duplicators and Otari TMDs prior to 1999.

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  Same as the previous example, but with the Macrovision signal.

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  An example of what the code on the VBI looks like on tapes duplicated in Livonia using Sony Sprinters, beginning in 1994. This variant of the code was used until the fall of 1994.

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  An example of what the code on the VBI looks like on tapes duplicated in Livonia using Sony Sprinters between the late 1990s and the 2000s.

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  On some tapes duplicated in California, the text in the VBI scrolls to the left and there is a date code in it, possibly implying when the master tape was last copied. This variation usually appeared at the beginning and the end of these tapes. This is an attempted re-creation of an example of the full code.

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Locations

• Beverly Hills, California (1999-????) (acquired as part of Central Video purchase)
• Camarillo, California (1993-2007) (acquired from Everest & Jennings and sold to Sandstone Properties)
• Camarillo, California (1994-2007) (expansion of initial Camarillo site)
• Cincinnati, Ohio (1992) (assets acquired from Video Treasures, building ultimately consolidated into Technicolor's Livonia operations)
• Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal (1999-????) (acquired as part of Central Video purchase)
• Dallas, Texas (1980-1987) (originated with VCA-Teletronics, acquired from Inovision, divested as part of VCA-Teletronics spinoff)
• Des Plaines, Illinois (1979-1987) (originated with VCA-Teletronics, divested as part of VCA-Teletronics spinoff)
• Don Mills, Ontario (1999-????) (acquired as part of VTR Video purchase)
• Guadalajara, Jalisco (2001-present)
• Hollywood, California (????-????) (originated with Technicolor, unknown status)
• Houston, Texas (1980-1987) (originated with VCA-Teletronics, divested as part of VCA-Teletronics spinoff)
• Huntington Beach, California (198?-1990s) (originated with Technicolor, unknown status)
• Leonia, New Jersey (1972-1987) (originated with VCA-Teletronics, divested as part of VCA-Teletronics spinoff)
• Livonia, Michigan (1987-2016) (first facility acquired from CBS/Fox, building later sold to battery supplier A123 Systems as their headquarters before it was ultimately demolished for a Beaumont Health medical center. Most of the work from the first facility was transferred to a second facility around 2010. The second facility was later sold to Ford Motor Company, which currently uses the site as an auto parts warehouse)
• Mexicali, Baja California (1999-present) (acquired as part of Central Video purchase)
• Montreal, Quebec (2000-????) (acquired from Astral Media)
• Naperville, Illinois (198?-198?) (originated with VCA-Teletronics, currently used by cleanup and restoration company Servpro)
• New York City, New York (198?-????) (originated with VCA-Teletronics, unknown status)
• Newbury Park, California (1981-1993) (originated with Technicolor, moved to Camarillo)
• Toronto, Ontario (1999-????) (acquired as part of VTR Video purchase)

Trivia

• Some tapes that used the company's masters, particularly post-July 1995 pressings of pre-July 1995 Video Treasures, Burbank Video and MNTEX Entertainment releases, as well as some post-July 1995 pressings of pre-July 1995 Starmaker Entertainment releases that still came in their original packaging with the "Video by Technicolor" notation intact, were instead duplicated at Allied Digital Technologies.
• The original Camarillo site had S-VHS duplication capabilities.

See also

• Technicolor DTMF sequences