Shizuo Takano; Led Development of VHS Video System

Shizuo Takano, 68, an electronics engineer and executive who championed development of VHS videocassette recorders. In 1970, Takano, a former Victor Co. of Japan vice president, predicted there would be strong demand for home videotape recorders. As chief of JVC’s video products division, he began development of a system that was to be smaller and easier to operate than the bulky professional machines then in use. The VHS videocassette system, first marketed in October, 1976, became a highly profitable product for Japan’s electronics industry. Takano also was active in urging other electronics companies to adopt the VHS standard instead of a competing Betamax video system developed by Sony. After years of competition, VHS became standard in many parts of the world, and about 350 million VHS machines have been sold, JVC says. Takano joined JVC in 1946 after serving in the Japanese navy as an engineer for two years. In Tokyo on Sunday of an unspecified respiratory ailment.