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[warninglabel0]

"VCR Virus" Fake VHS Copy-Protection Warning Label.

March 8, 2016 ~ destroyedforcomfort

warninglabel1

This photo crossed my social media feed the other day, and I
immediately wanted to find more information about it. Unfortunately I
didn't find much, but hopefully posting about it will encourage more
information to surface. It helped with finding out more about a
certain hideous stuffed animal.

For starters, even though mostly cropped out, some Googling revealed
the VHS video in the photo is likely "Nobody's Perfect: How To Cope
With Relapse" a video about dieting struggles created by National
Health Video in 1991. Unfortunately, the website doesn't offer scans
of their VHS tapes, but looking on eBay I found a similar label on
this tape about alcohol recovery.

warninglabel2

Of course, "VCR Viruses" aren't actually a thing, and a tape can't
make your VCR catch on fire. A strange sort of bluff coming from an
educational company, considering it relies of misleading the customer
on how their own equipment works. It's similar to the KTC Warning
Screen, which also makes use the threat of an imaginary, vaguely
threatening copy-protection technology.

warninglabel3

In the real world, if a company knowingly created tapes that damaged
playback equipment, lawsuits would go through the roof. It would also
likely go against FCC regulations. Real VHS copy protection, like
Macrovision, relied on signal interference that the playback device
wouldn't even detect, distorting the signal received by the recording
device.

In any case, this is an interesting piece of copy-protection history.
Don't Copy That Floppy!

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This entry was posted in Copyfight / Culture Jam, Debunk (Smoking Gun
/ Snopes), File Sharing, Media, Movies, Nostalgia, Tech, Television
and tagged copy protection, vcr virus, warning labels. Bookmark the
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- 3D-Printed D20-Shaped Dice Box
Synthesizer Saturday: Houston Tracker Calculator Chiptune -

4 thoughts on ""VCR Virus" Fake VHS Copy-Protection Warning Label."

 1. [0d1127] Max
    July 12, 2017 at 4:34 am

    Actually, blockbuster used this technology for a while in the
    90s, too. No, it wouldn't set your vcr on fire, but it would put
    a hideous black bar over the tape you copied. That was the
    "virus." Hope that helped.

    LikeLike

    Reply
      + [eda6ce] kalawak
        November 6, 2019 at 3:19 pm

        That is not at all what this fake label is talking about. And
        it wasn't just Blockbuster that used Macrovision

        LikeLike

        Reply
 2. Pingback: Links: Women in jazz, the power of arts funding, Chrome
    will kill torrent sites. - Rocknerd
 3. Pingback: VCR Virus Fake VHS Copy-Protection Warning Label (2016)
    - The web development company Lzo Media - Senior Backend
    Developer

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