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Corporation
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The Perfect Experience
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Yokohama , Japan ( 1927 )
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Yokohama , Japan
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Masahiko Terada , President
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34,493 (Consolidated, as of March 31, 2005)
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840 billion Yen (Fiscal year ended March 31, 2005)
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Electronics
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Audio, visual, computer-related electronics and software, media products
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JVC Global
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(), usually referred to as , is a
Japan ese consumer and professional electronics
Corporation based in
Yokohama ,
Japan which was founded in
1927 . The company is best known for debuting Japan's first
Television s, and inventing the
VHS system.
JVC was founded in
1927 as "The Victor Company of Japan" as a subsidiary of the
United States ' leading
Phonograph and
Record company, the
Victor Talking Machine Company . In the
1930 s JVC were producing phonographs and records. In
1932 JVC started producing
Radio s, and in
1939 JVC debuted Japan's first TV.
The Japanese company severed relations with its foreign partners during
World War II . In
1929 majority ownership was transferred to
RCA-Victor . Since
1953 , JVC has been owned by
Matsushita , and today they own more than 50% in shares of JVC.
JVC invented the
VHS format, and debuted the first VHS players for the consumer market in
1976 for $885.
Sony introduced the
Betamax home
Videocassette tape a year before in
1975 , becoming the main competitor to JVC's
VHS into the 1980s creating the
Videotape Format War . The Betamax cassette was smaller than the VHS cassette, and the format produced a sharper picture, although the difference was not always obvious to the home consumer, as both technologies progressed. By
1984 , forty companies utilized the VHS format in comparison with Betamax's twelve. Sony finally conceded defeat in
1988 when they also began producing VHS recorders.
In
1970 JVC marketed the
Videosphere , a modern portable
CRT television inside a space helmet shaped casing with an
Alarm Clock at the base. It was a commercial success. In
1976 JVC introduced the 3060, a 3" portable television with an included
Cassette Player .
/
AHD disc system prototype from
1979 .]] In
1979 JVC demonstrated a prototype of their
VHD /
AHD disc system. This system was capacitance-based like
CED , but the discs were grooveless with the stylus being guided by servo signals in the disc surface. The VHD discs were initially handled by the operator and played on a machine that looked like an audio LP
Turntable , but JVC used caddy housed discs when the system was marketed. Development was interrupted continuously, but in April
1983 it was first marketed in Japan, and then in the
UK in
1984 to a limited industrial market. By this time both
Philips and
Sony already had
Compact Disc s on the market, and the VHD format never caught on.
During the
1980s JVC had a brief appearance in marketing their own portable audio equipment similar to the
Sony Walkman s at the time. The JVC CQ-F2K was released in
1982 and had a detachable radio that mounted to the headphones for compact, wire-free listening experience. JVC had difficulty making a success of the products, and a few years later abandoned the product line. In Japan, JVC marketed the products under the name ''Victor''.
In
1986 JVC released the HC-95, a
Personal Computer with a 3.58MHz
Zilog Z80A processor, 64KB RAM and ran
MSX Basic 2.0. It included two 3.5"
Floppy Disk drives and conformed to the maximum graphics specification of the
MSX-2 standard. However, like the
Pioneer PX-7 it also carried a sophisticated hardware interface that handled video superimposition and various interactive video processing features. The JVC was first sold in Japan, and then
Europe , but sales were disappointing.
JVC video recorders were marketed by Ferguson in the UK, with just cosmetic changes. However Ferguson needed to find another supplier for its camcorders when JVC produced only the
VHS-C format, rather than the much more popular
Video8 . Furthermore, Ferguson was taken over by
Thomson SA and so ended the relationship. At the time, JVC had a reputation for reliable, high quality equipment. Over the years however, JVC's reputation has taken a battering, in part but not only due to a range of exceptionally unreliable digital camcorders.
Today, JVC Americas Corp. is a subsidiary of Victor Company of Japan, Limited. Building upon several technologies, exemplified by the JVC-developed
VHS Videocassette Recorder , JVC is offering products for the
Multimedia age. JVC Professional Products Company distributes a complete line of broadcast, professional and presentation equipment, including
Camera s,
VTR s, editing equipment,
D-ILA and
LCD Projector s, visual presenters,
Monitor s and computer products. JVC Service and Engineering Company has service and parts centers across the United States and is committed to serving our customers.
In October
2001 , the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presented JVC an
Emmy Award for "outstanding achievement in technological advancement" for “Pioneering Development of Consumer Camcorders.” Annual sponsorships of the world-renown JVC
Tokyo Video Festival and the JVC Jazz Festival have helped attract the attention of more customers.
In addition, JVC has been a worldwide soccer supporter since
1982 and continues its role as an official partner of
2002 FIFA World Cup Korea / Japan™. JVC made headlines as the first-ever corporate partner of the
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. JVC has recently forged elite corporate partnerships with
ESPN Zone and with Foxploration. In
2005 , JVC joined , the
High Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance to help establish standards in consumer electronics interoperability.
JVC also developed the first
DVD+RW DL in 2005.
JVC is mostly known in Japan by the Victor name, preceded by the store chain exists in Japan, but they are not allowed to use the His Master's Voice motto and do not use the Nipper logo; it is replaced with a stylized image of a
Gramophone .
