JVC

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Victor Company of Japan, Limited 日本ビクター株式会社

Type of Company	Corporation TYO: 6792
Founded	Yokohama, Japan (1927)
Headquarters	Yokohama, Japan
Key people	Masahiko Terada, President
Industry	Electronics
Products	Audio, visual, computer-related electronics and software, media products
Revenue	840 billion Yen (Fiscal year ended March 31, 2005)
Employees	34,493 (Consolidated, as of March 31, 2005)
Slogan	The Perfect Experience
Website	JVC Global

Victor Company of Japan, Limited (日本ビクター株式会社, Nihon Bikutā Kabushiki-gaisha^?) (TYO: 6792 ), usually referred to as JVC, is an international consumer and professional electronics corporation based in Yokohama, Japan which was founded in 1927. The company is best known for introducing Japan's first televisions, and inventing the VHS.

1 History
2 Brand name
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

[edit] 1920s - 1960s

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 1929 majority ownership was transferred to RCA-Victor. In the 1930s JVC produced phonographs and records, but in 1932 JVC started producing radios, and in 1939 they introduced Japan's first TV. JVC severed relations with its foreign partners during World War II, and since 1953, JVC has been owned by Matsushita, who holds a majority stake in the company.

[edit] 1970s - 1980s

JVC invented the VHS format, and introduced 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.

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 continually, 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 discs 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 Walkmans 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. JVC has gone on to invent Hard Drive Camcorders, again changing the face of one of the most important consumer products ever invented.

[edit] Present

JVC Prosumer HDV video camera. 2006

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, having a former kit sponsorship with Arsenal 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 HANA, 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.

[edit] Brand name

JVC is mostly known in Japan by the Victor name, preceded by the Nipper dog His Master's Voice logo. JVC is, however, not allowed to use it outside of Japan. Therefore, the http://www.victor.jp and http://www.jvc-victor.co.jp/english/global-e.html web sites look quite different. Conversely, the HMV 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.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.

Subsidiaries: Panasonic | National | Technics | Quasar | JVC (50% shareholding)

Annual Revenue: 8,713 billion Yen ( FY 2004) | Employees: 334,752 | Stock Symbol: (TYO: 6752, NYSE: MC)| Website: http://panasonic.net/