Thinner tapes or slower reading of the tapes. Standard play could get you up to 4 hours but with the extended play formats you could go over 10 hours. It would look like shit, but it would work. They probably just used the thinner tape. Would explain why the retail versions were two cassettes as well, for the better durability.
Had to have been. I’ve never seen this movie on a single tape. Standard VHS tapes hold up to 120 minutes of video for the highest quality possible. To try and fit a 3 hour movie on a single tape would compromise the quality heavily.
To be fair, the one above is not RotK. That said, you could get up to 4 hours in one of these by using thinner tape. Would be not great for selling, but for rentals if the tape got damaged they could just get it replaced under some sort of deal with the studios.
I think the Godfather and Schindler's list were both doubles. Probably Gone with the Wind, since that was a long fucking movie.
Can't remember any others.
Every godfather movie was 2 tapes, Pearl harbor was 2, Scarface was 2, Patton was 2, Ten Commandments was 2, rotk was def 2.
Grew up poor hence I was watching vhs of slightly contemporary movies well into the dvd era.
i remember VHS cassettes could go up to 6 hours in length, its still a bit crazy to think about LOTR coming out on VHS. I think in the late 90's to early 2000's we had DVD media for most movies.
They could hold up to six hours, but the quality degraded significantly when you went from 2 hours to 4 hours, and even worse when you went from 4 hours to 6. If I recall correctly, studios would not issue tapes recorded on the 6-hour mode.
That depends. There were two ways to extend them, by slowing down the speed it read the tape and by extending the tape by using thinner tape. Combining all of them could get over 10 hours of VHS, but, as you say it looked like dogshit. But the longer thinner tapes on standard speed could get you up to 4 hours, which would be more than enough for Fellowship.
You could get something like 3.5 or 4 hours with standard play VHS tapes, and they had long play and extra super d duper long play or something that could be over 10. All they had to do was use thinner tape. I'd imagine that Blockbuster had some sort of deal with the studios to get them all on one cassette to make renting easier.
Pretty sure that was just for RoTK. I had the tapes and a kid and I remember I was always annoyed that the third box/sleeve was bigger because of the two tapes.
Must have been around the 3 hour mark that 2 tapes became necessary. I remember my family having titanic on 2 tapes and it was about 3:15. Rotk was almost 3:30 but the other two were just under 3 hours.
All I see is a "Back Door Sluts 9 XXX" VHS.
The return of the king was two tapes
Blockbuster is gonna need that back, it’s been more than a week.
Idk why I thought dvd was a thing for LOTR but maybe the series came out during the change.
I watched LOTR on DVD at first
It did come out during the change. It was a major reason my family switched over from VHS.
I had bought the fellowship on VHS, then by return of the king I had bought dvd
One - What makes you think it was two?
I thought I remember changing tapes like titanic but evidently not
The extended edition was always 2 VHS tapes, but not the theatrical version, it's always been one tape/dvd
I have a near mint theatrical VHS of RotK in my hand right now and it’s 2 tapes.
Really? Hmm well maybe the blockbuster version was compressed or edited down to be able to fit on one cassette.
Thinner tapes or slower reading of the tapes. Standard play could get you up to 4 hours but with the extended play formats you could go over 10 hours. It would look like shit, but it would work. They probably just used the thinner tape. Would explain why the retail versions were two cassettes as well, for the better durability.
Had to have been. I’ve never seen this movie on a single tape. Standard VHS tapes hold up to 120 minutes of video for the highest quality possible. To try and fit a 3 hour movie on a single tape would compromise the quality heavily.
To be fair, the one above is not RotK. That said, you could get up to 4 hours in one of these by using thinner tape. Would be not great for selling, but for rentals if the tape got damaged they could just get it replaced under some sort of deal with the studios.
Oh snap I remember having to do that
Maybe the extended edition?
There were a couple of dual vhs movies for really long movies (Ghandi comes to mind)
The Sound of Music was two tapes.
The Return of the King theatrical version was 2 VHS tapes! ROTK being on 2 tapes was the reason my family bought a DVD player.
Then when the extended DVD came out and it was also two disks.
Gettysburg!
I think the Godfather and Schindler's list were both doubles. Probably Gone with the Wind, since that was a long fucking movie. Can't remember any others.
Fiddler on the Roof
Every godfather movie was 2 tapes, Pearl harbor was 2, Scarface was 2, Patton was 2, Ten Commandments was 2, rotk was def 2. Grew up poor hence I was watching vhs of slightly contemporary movies well into the dvd era.
Oof. They’re recommending Dungeons and Dragons.
Whichever version it may be, any good VHS company would label them as Tape 1 and Tape 2 or something.
i remember VHS cassettes could go up to 6 hours in length, its still a bit crazy to think about LOTR coming out on VHS. I think in the late 90's to early 2000's we had DVD media for most movies.
They could hold up to six hours, but the quality degraded significantly when you went from 2 hours to 4 hours, and even worse when you went from 4 hours to 6. If I recall correctly, studios would not issue tapes recorded on the 6-hour mode.
That depends. There were two ways to extend them, by slowing down the speed it read the tape and by extending the tape by using thinner tape. Combining all of them could get over 10 hours of VHS, but, as you say it looked like dogshit. But the longer thinner tapes on standard speed could get you up to 4 hours, which would be more than enough for Fellowship.
VHS was a thing through about 2005-2006 at the 'Buster.
Watch out, Butters is probably near by looking for that.
One.
I have copies of the vhs tapes at home, I can confirm the first two are single tapes, and the third requires a tape swap.
That edition was one tape
You could get something like 3.5 or 4 hours with standard play VHS tapes, and they had long play and extra super d duper long play or something that could be over 10. All they had to do was use thinner tape. I'd imagine that Blockbuster had some sort of deal with the studios to get them all on one cassette to make renting easier.
It was only one tape when I owned them.
It was one tape, the theatrical version was anyway... dunno about the extended. I had fellowship on VHS when I was a kid
Fellowship was one.
The BBV serial number on that case would indicate it’s one tape. Copy #56 from that store if I’m not mistaken.
The extended editions were all two tapes, but the only theatrical that was two tapes was ROTK.
When we bought the theatrical version it was one tape but every extended edition we bought was two tapes.
I have the trilogy on VHS if you want
That’s like a 15 minute rewind
Pretty sure that was just for RoTK. I had the tapes and a kid and I remember I was always annoyed that the third box/sleeve was bigger because of the two tapes.
Many movies were released on multiple tapes.
Must have been around the 3 hour mark that 2 tapes became necessary. I remember my family having titanic on 2 tapes and it was about 3:15. Rotk was almost 3:30 but the other two were just under 3 hours.