article s lead section may not adequately summarize key points of its contents . please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article . please discuss this issue on the article s talk page . may 2012 victor company of japan ltd. type subsidiary industry professional electronics and consumer goods founded september 13 1927 ; 89 years ago 1927 09 13 yokohama japan headquarters yokohama japan key people shoichiro eguchi president products audio visual computer related electronics and software media products revenue 658.4 billion fiscal year ended march 31 2008 1 number of employees 19 044 consolidated as of march 31 2008 parent jvc kenwood corp. subsidiaries victor entertainment jcvision website jvc global victor company of japan ltd nippon bikut kabushiki gaisha tyo 6792 usually referred to as jvc 2 is a japanese international professional and consumer electronics corporation based in yokohama . founded in 1927 the company is best known for introducing japan s first televisions and for developing the video home system vhs video recorder . from 1953 to 2008 matsushita electric industrial co. ltd. was the majority stockholder in jvc . in 2008 jvc merged with kenwood corporation to create jvc kenwood holdings . contents 1 history 1.1 1920s creation to world war ii 1.2 post war 1.3 1970s 1980s and the vhs betamax format war 1.4 other notable achievements 1.5 21st century 2 sponsorship 3 brand name 4 subsidiaries 5 product gallery 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message 1920s creation to world war ii edit jvc was founded in 1927 as the victor talking machine company of japan limited 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 . in 1932 jvc started producing radios and in 1939 japan s first locally made television . jvc severed relations with its foreign partners during world war ii . today the record company in japan is known as victor entertainment . post war edit jvc hr 3300u vidstar 1977 in 1953 jvc became majority owned by the panasonic corporation . panasonic released its ownership in 2007 . 3 in the 1960s jvc established the nivico nippon victor corporation brand for delmonico s line of console televisions and stereos . in 1970 jvc marketed the videosphere a portable cathode ray tube crt television inside a space helmet shaped casing with an alarm clock at the base . it was a commercial success . citation needed in 1971 jvc introduced the first discrete system for four channel quadraphonic sound on vinyl records cd 4 compatible discrete four channel or quadradisc as it was called by the radio corporation of america rca in the united states . citation needed in 1975 jvc introduced the first combined portable battery operated radio with inbuilt tv as the model 3050 . the tv was a 3 inch 7.6 cm black and white cathode ray tube . one year later jvc expanded the model to add a cassette recorder as the 3060 creating the world s first boombox with radio cassette and tv . citation needed ky d29 digital s camcorder . in 1976 the first vcr to use vhs was the victor hr 3300 and was introduced by the president of jvc at the okura hotel on september 9 1976 . 4 5 jvc started selling the hr 3300 in akihabara tokyo japan on october 31 1976 . 4 region specific versions of the jvc hr 3300 were also distributed later on such as the hr 3300u in the united states and hr 3300ek in the united kingdom . 1970s 1980s and the vhs betamax format war edit in the late 1970s jvc developed the vhs format introducing the first vhs recorders to the consumer market in 1976 for the equivalent of us 1060 . sony which had introduced the betamax home videocassette tape a year earlier became the main competitor for jvc s vhs format into the 1980s creating the videotape format war . the betamax cassette was smaller with slightly superior picture quality to the vhs cassette but this resulted in betamax having less recording time . the two companies competed fiercely to encourage others to adopt their format but by 1984 forty companies were using jvc s vhs format while only 12 used betamax . sony began producing vhs recorders in 1988 and after 1993 stopped making betamax recorders completely . 6 other notable achievements edit in 1979 jvc demonstrated a prototype of its video high density vhd disc system . this system was capacitance based like capacitance electronic disc 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 suffered numerous delays and the product was launched in 1983 in japan followed by the united kingdom in 1984 to a limited industrial market . citation needed in 1981 jvc introduced a line of revolutionary direct drive cassette decks topped by the dd 9 that provided previously unattainable levels of speed stability . citation needed during the 1980s jvc briefly marketed its own portable audio equipment similar to the sony walkman on the market at the time . the jvc cq f2k was released in 1982 and had a detachable radio that mounted to the headphones for a compact wire free listening experience . jvc had difficulty making the products successful and a few years later stopped making them . in japan jvc marketed the products under the name victor . citation needed in 1986 jvc released the hc 95 a personal computer with a 3.58 mhz zilog z80a processor 64 kb ram running on msx basic 2.0 . it included two 3.5 floppy disk drives and conformed to the 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 hc 95 was first sold in japan and then europe but sales were disappointing . citation needed jvc video recorders were marketed by the ferguson radio corporation 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 video8 . ferguson was later acquired by thomson sa which ended the relationship . jvc later invented hard drive camcorders . citation needed 21st century edit jvc prohd 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 renowned jvc tokyo video festival and the jvc jazz festival have helped attract the attention of more customers . citation needed jvc has been a worldwide football soccer supporter since 1982 having a former kit sponsorship with arsenal and continued 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 corporate partnerships with espn zone and foxploration . in 2005 jvc joined hana the high definition audio video network alliance to help establish standards in consumer electronics interoperability . in 2005 jvc announced their development of the first dvd rw dl media the dual layer version of the rewritable dvd rw format . 7 in december 2006 matsushita entered talks with kenwood and cerberus capital management to sell its stake in jvc . 8 in 2007 victor company of japan ltd confirmed a strategic capital alliance with kenwood and sparkx investment resulting in matsushita s holding being reduced to approximately 37 % . 9 in march 2008 matsushita panasonic agreed to spin off the company and merge it with kenwood electronics creating jvc kenwood holdings on october 1 2008 . 10 in april 2008 jvc announced that it was closing its tv plants in east kilbride scotland and japan . this left it with one plant in thailand . it stated it would outsource european production to an oem . 11 jvc tvs for north america are now being manufactured by amtran video corporation along with distribution service and warranty under license from jvc kenwood . 12 in europe dixons carphone owner of currys digital and pc world has a similar arrangement with jvc kenwood . 13 in europe jvc sells mainly some audio accessories like headphones and until recently din type car audio . also in europe jvc is present with camcorders security cameras audio systems and with their emblematic boom box projectors . jvc tv sets in europe are manufactured mainly by turkish manufacturer vestel but are not available in all countries . sponsorship edit jvc is a well known brand among english football soccer fans due to the firm s sponsorship of arsenal football club from 1981 to 1999 when sega took over as arsenal s sponsors . jvc s 18 year association with arsenal is one of the longest club sponsor associations with any professional club football . citation needed also shirt sponsored aberdeen football club in the eighties and early nineties . jvc also sponsors the away shirts of the australian a league club sydney fc and dutch race driver christijan albers . citation needed brand name edit victor logo used in japan see also his master s voice nipper victor talking machine company and hmv group jvc is generally known within japan by the victor brand preceded by the his master s voice hmv logo featuring the dog nipper . because of a conflict in trademarks between hmv and victor hmv is not allowed to use nipper in japan . 14 at one time the company used the nivico name for nippon victor company overseas before rebranding to jvc which stands for japan s victor company . therefore the victor and jvc victor web sites look quite different . conversely the hmv store chain exists in japan though no longer owned by hmv group but it can not use the his master s voice motto or logo ; its logo is a stylized image of a gramophone only . 15 subsidiaries edit jvckenwood marketing india gurgaon haryana india jvc america inc. tuscaloosa alabama us jvc americas corp wayne new jersey us jvc canada inc. mississauga ontario canada jvc asia singapore jvc australia australia jvc china china jvc europe united kingdom jvc middle east and africa dubai uae jvc latin america s.a. panama jvc do brasil ltda . brazil jvc international austria victor entertainment jcvision product gallery edit jvc cd player jvc camcorder jvc television jvc boombox jvc kd d10e tape deck jvc 9f 220c radio jvc picsio pocket camcorder see also edit companies portal list of digital camera brands list of home computers mitsubishi electric taiyo yuden partner with jvc video vhs d vhs s vhs w vhs videotape video tape recorder videotape format war videocassette recorder wondermega xrcd references edit annual report 2008 financial section for jvc pdf . jvc kenwood holdings inc. retrieved 2012 05 22 . jvc japan s victor company . matsushita owned jvc 1953 2007 . retrieved 2012 10 08 . a b always helpful full of information on recording media made in japan after all . nipponsei.jp . retrieved 2011 07 11 . jvc hr 3300 . totalrewind.org . retrieved 2011 07 11 . video dvd a brief history