Any fellow VHS nerds in the hive?
June 13, 2012 6:51 PM   Subscribe

Where can I find (United States) VHS release dates for movies?

Wikipedia, IMDB, and Google have all failed me here. I assume somebody has nerded this out on the web-- even in book form, perhaps?
posted by herbplarfegan to Media & Arts (9 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
amazon

i'm not saying you should or should not buy it there, but if it's available i'd think it would be available there, because of their business model.
posted by cupcake1337 at 6:53 PM on June 13, 2012


Response by poster: Doesn't seem to be working. For example, ¡Three Amigos! has a VHS release date listed as March 13, 2001.
posted by herbplarfegan at 6:57 PM on June 13, 2012


i'd imagine that's their latest lot of that movie made in VHS. maybe there was something changed from the VHS issued earlier? i would bet it's the realease date of that item, just not the *first* release of that movie on VHS.
posted by cupcake1337 at 7:03 PM on June 13, 2012


Ooh, this looks promising: VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever, "Containing the most extensive listing of movies available on video more than 23,000 in all and a multitude of cross-referencing within its 10 primary indexes, each new edition includes 1,000 new movies, expanded indexing, a fresh new introduction and more of the beloved categories."

If not, I'd take a peek at Leonard Maltin's 2007 (or earlier) Movie Guide, which has "Authoritative notations on format availability (DVD, video, and laser disc)"

Good luck!
posted by argonauta at 7:22 PM on June 13, 2012


When I've looked at Amazon release dates, they seem to only feature the date they started carrying it as the "release date". For instance, ebooks I know are decades old are listed as being "released" in 2009, and of course the ebook doesn't include the publishing history a normal book would have.

So yeah, don't rely on Amazon.
posted by Evilspork at 7:33 PM on June 13, 2012


Though not necessarily systematic or exhaustive you can get some useful information by using WorldCat to see what editions libraries hold. There are a lot of libraries. For popular stuff, someone almost certainly has it. For the really popular stuff, all the releases are held somewhere. For example: Three Amigos.

VideoHound's sounds promising, too. Also available in many libraries.
posted by GPF at 7:36 PM on June 13, 2012


Yeah, Amazon could be good for any releases after 1999 or so, but Amazon probably doesn't even have solid release date information for VHS released before then. Amazon only got started in 1996 or so with books only, and only added music and video a few years later.

So, for before that time, there were two trade magazines for video stores, Video Business and Video Store Magazine. Here is the only web reference I can find to show they ever existed. But they both had lists of upcoming release dates, and usually articles and reviews about new releases. And usually a double spread ad that could be used as an in store poster for an upcoming release. I have no idea where to find copies of these but they could be the easiest and maybe only record of what was released when from 1979-1999 from all the manufacturers, even tiny ones which are long gone. I have a couple of issues stored away somewhere that I picked up here and there for some reason like the posters, which is how I even know about them.

The above article makes a reference to the Variety trade newspaper, and that may be easier to find in a library or on the net. Billboard is another publication that may be easier to track down. Either might have lists of upcoming releases and dates, I don't know.

It's a shame that books.google is such a mess so far. (But it's great that it exists, so far.) Searching there I found this Billboard page which shows that Three Amigos on VHS was out in the stores sometime before Nov. 14, 1987, as one of the 25 best rentals in the year ending on that date. (Consider - what a strange list to even make.) From this page on the left side you can search any VHS title and check the "Search all issues" box and you will probably get back a sorry listing mess of Billboard pages, but one or more could have dates to help narrow down the true original VHS release date for a major movie.

(IANA Librarian!)
posted by caclwmr4 at 7:42 PM on June 13, 2012


I've gotten old release dates off Amazon, IMDB more rarely. IMDB is too focussed on selling people the ability to put a picture on their name. Lady And The Tramp: Allmovie Amazon IMDB. IMDB has the original release, Amazon has the format release, and Allmovie has the 1955 year.
posted by rhizome at 11:15 PM on June 13, 2012


Oooh -- I like the trade mags. Plenty of library holders for Video Business and Video Store Magazine.

I looked at some of the subject headings provided in WorldCat for Videohound and these trade mags. Lead me to Bowker's complete video directory, which has a sample page that looks like it contains both original release and VHS release information. Widely held by libraries.

(IAA Librarian!) :)
posted by GPF at 6:55 PM on June 14, 2012


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