Argentina Video Home

Background
Argentina Video Home (AVH) was an Argentinian video distributor that was formed in 1984 by the Coll-Saragusti group, and it was led by Luis Saragusti and Dardo Ferrari, who was the founder of a defunct video company Cine Video after leaving the United States, which by 1985, in order to release titles from mostly Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and CIC Video (later Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment), as well as titles from third-party distributors, and for a brief time, from 1987 to 1989, distributed titles from Ledafilms, until the company's affiliation switched to Dealer Video. In 2001, the company became the first to bet on the DVD format locally. By 2011/2012, the video rental market was significantly non-existent and the company began to falter economy. In 2013, the company began expanding into other areas in 2013 when AVH San Luis SA, led by Pablo Coll, in order to do electronic products, and by 2016, in order to stop distributing movies, the group was dedicated to distribute and sell other labels, as well as video games, which two years later, the company decided to downsize its import operations, although the company decided to keep operations in the Argentinian market.

1st Logo (Late 1984-1986)


Nickname: "Square Letters"

Logo: On a black background, we see some blue ovals in, forming in a dark AVH logo (which consists of the words "AVH" with "SA" to the right on the fourth box, and VHS symbols above, which are fast forward, play, stop and rewind above the boxes). Blue ovals grow, then the AVH logo then turns white on a blue background.

FX/SFX: The ovals growing, the AVH logo fading.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare. Seen on earlier AVH videos from the time period, like Scandalous (Un crimen escandaloso).

2nd Logo (1986-1987)


Nicknames: "Square Letters", "AVH in Star Trek"

Logo: On a space background, we fade to a unknown planet as 2 copies of the AVH logo ("AVH" in a blocky font and in teal green tones) fade and zoom in, with 1 copies being upside down, representing a reflection. The copies spread apart from each other and then we cut to a different with a explosion, wiping in the same logo, but without boxes and the letters having a 3D trail. The background changes to 4 copies of the USS Enterprise escaping from an explosion, then to a mirrored shot to a planet with a sun in the corner. The logo flashes a bit and then zooms out.

FX/SFX: The space background, the AVH logo.

Music/Sounds: The opening portion of "Empire" by Tom Elliott, also used in the Fax Video Design and Dutch Video Star logos.

Availability: Extremely rare. Appears on VHS's distributed with Warner Home Video.

Legacy: The animation was typical for an Argentinian VHS logo of the time, but looks cheap and cheesy today. It also stole footage from Star Trek.

3rd Logo (1987-1988?)


Nicknames: "Square Letters II"

Logo: In a space background with a 3D rotating globe, appear three yellow 3D outlined cubes, with blue spheres inside. One cube flies from space, the other appears behind the earth, and finally the last one appears from outside the screen. While rotating, the cube get to the screen, and eventually reveal the "AVH" letters in red on white squares, along some red indicators above (the VHS symbols, which are the fast-forward, play and stop symbols).

FX/SFX: The rotating cubes.

Music/Sounds: A electric guitar/rock theme.

Availability: Extremely rare.

Legacy: The animation is miles ahead of other Argentine video logos of the time.

4th Logo (1988-1991)


Nicknames: "The Flipping Computers", "LedaFilms Era", "Square Letters III"

Logo: On a black background, we see three computer-generated computer monitors, the left one flipping horizontally, the center one flipping vertically, and the right one also flipping vertically, but reversed. "AVH" in a red blocky font comes from the left and flips into place, positioning itself on the computers.

FX/SFX: The flipping computers.

Music/Sounds: An ominous-sounding synth fanfare that sounds like a bad remix of the Jeopardy! theme.

Availability: Rare. The original Argentinan VHS of The Man Called Flintstone has this logo intact. This can usually be found on videos released by big-name companies, such as Hanna-Barbera Home Video, Warner Home Video, CIC Video (under license from Paramount), etc. (On a side note, Argentina and Uruguay are the only Spanish-speaking countries [other than Spain] to use the PAL/N format--most other Spanish-speaking countries, like Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela, use NTSC)

Legacy: A pretty good logo, compared to other Argentinian VHS logos of the time.

5th Logo (1990)
Nicknames: "Argentinian Hanna-Barbera", "Square Letters III", "Swirling Star"

Logo: Same as Hanna-Barbera Cartoons' 8th logo, but it starts from during the swirling, and the squares (now with the edges and letters being blue and the inner part being yellow) slide in from the top to the bottom.

FX/SFX: The swirling star animation from the stolen logo, and the square letters sliding down.

Music/Sounds: The beginning of the trailer this was seen in.

Availability: Ultra rare. This was only seen in the trailer of Feds on the Argentinian VHS of Batman. There's a chance there are more sources of this logo out there, but it is unlikely, considering the nature of this logo.

Legacy: This logo is infamous for stealing Hanna-Barbera's Swirling Star logo.

6th Logo (1991-1998)
Nicknames: "The Environment", "Square Letters IV"

Logo: On a shot of a (random) scene, red lines rotate in to form the AVH logo. The letters shine as silver bars come in to surround the letters, which also shine. Then we flashes to footage of San Luis, and once the last footage comes in, we see the word "hecho en San Luis, Argentina" (literally translates to "made in San Luis, Argentina) in yellow script with "hecho en" (in smaller).

Variants:
 * A prototype version of the logo exists, with a canyon scenery at the beginning, and much different San Luis footage, and has a river shot at the end.
 * Starting in 1994, the footage looks different, and there's no flash when the AVH logo disappears.

FX/SFX: The logo forming, the shine. Still a bit on the cheap side, but much better than other companies in the era.

Music/Sounds:
 * 1991-1992: A saxophone theme, with some synth melody behind the theme throughout the whole logo.
 * 1992-1994: A synth choir, followed by a drumbeat and a guitar theme when we get to the San Luis montage, and ends with a synth drone when the last footage appears.
 * 1994-1998: A synth drone, and then a Latin-style techno synth theme with some bongo notes.

Availability: Rare. Seen on AVH's VHS tapes from the era, such as Lethal Weapon 3, Stop or My Mom Will Shoot!, a reprint of Nico, Rhapsody in August, Alive, Jurassic Park and Jade.

7th Logo (1997-2000)


Nicknames: "The Montage II", "The New Square Letters", "Square Letters VII"

Logo: On an orange background with two transparent filmreels (one small, one large) moving, we see footage of San Luis (which was the same one from before), is shown on a TV with a purple border zooming in. The text then appears on the bottom right, "Hecho en San Luis" (which translates to "Made in San Luis") appears flashing in a similar font to Comic Sans. The text dims and then the new AVH logo, which was similar to the previous logos, except the words were less futuristic and in sans-serif, and three gold borders fades in. The montage then disappears, leaving the AVH logo, the text and the background.

FX/SFX: The San Luis montage, the background moving, the text and AVH logo fading in.

Music/Sounds: A piano/synth jungle-esque theme.

Availability: Seen on later AVH tapes from the 1990s, like Dibu, La Pelicula, Patch Adams, The Snow Queen, Practical Magic and Lethal Weapon 4.

8th Logo (2000-2001)
Nicknames: "AVH 2000/2001"

Logo: On a space background, a rocket flies towards a superimposed asteroid. The asteroid passes over a moon, and on the moon there is an astronaut holding a giant flag of Argentina. The rocket returns to earth, and a futuristic type of TV with pictures of San Luis (the same images seen in the 1992 logo) suddenly comes out of the spaceship. The text on the television (in a font similar to Comic Sans) reads "Hecho en San Luis" (which translates to "Made In San Luis"). When there are no more images on the rocket's TV, twelve videocassettes appear with a transparent marbled cassette/satellite in orbit. The rocket goes straight to the satellite and a white cassette, and a star flashes, revealing "AVH 2000" as it flashes and zooms out (the AVH logo is the same as before, but it now has gold edges and shadowed lettering). The written text "Cine para llevar..." in white appear. The logo shines a little.

Variant: During 2001, the logo is the same, but has the "2001" text instead. The logo is already in place and the text below it wipes in.

FX/SFX: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: The song "Rock is Dead" by Marilyn Manson.

Availability: Rare. Seen on AVH videos from 2000 to 2001.

9th Logo (2000-2004)


Nickname: "AVH DVD'', "Earth-Disc", "The New Square Letters III", "Square Letters IX"

Logo: On a space background, a shot of the Earth is seen. The left half changes into a DVD via a clock effect and zooms out. The AVH logo from the previous two logo flashes in, along with the DVD Video logo, which also appears to be in gold, which flashes in.

Trivia: This logo was first seen on the demo's promotional VHS instructional DVD (Space Jam) and commercials in 1999, which was one year before the logo's use.

FX/SFX: The clock effect, the flashes.

Music/Sounds: A four note synth tune culminating in a wind-like sound.

Availability: Seen on AVH DVDs from 2000 to 2004. Was found on the original version of Magnolia.

10th Logo (2002-2004)
Nickname: "AVH Beams", "Square Letters X"

Logo: On a black background, 3 metallic squares rotate in. They all have a 3D effect on their borders. 3 quick beams of light fly through the squares, forming "AVH" in the same font as the first six logos, which are cote-outs, which was a metallic version of the original design, which shines.

FX/SFX: CGI

Music/Sounds: A series of whooshes.

Availability: Seen on AVH VHS's from the time, such as See Spot Run, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Shrek, Ocean's Eleven (2001) and Scooby-Doo.

11th Logo (2004-2013)


Nicknames: "Play"

Logo: On a black background; we see a new AVH logo appear letter by letter which was similar to the previous logos, only the text was in white, and also in a straight font again, and has a red box behind it. A red play button creating a curve comes in and remains as the curve continues drawing. A light shines on the logo.

Anniversary Variant: The same logo, but with "20TH ANIVERSARIO", which slides in when the light passes by.

FX/SFX: The AVH logo appearing, the play button, the light.

Music/Sounds: A hip hop beat.

Availability: Common. Seen on DVDs released in Argentina by them as well as some of the last ever VHS's ever from them.

Editor's note: Though used for a long time, this was not a very popular logo, due to the simplistic animation.

12th Logo (2013-2016)


Nicknames: "Play II"

Logo: We see a red wave (made by red balls) bouncing to the right, in the center the AVH logo (in a futuristic font) is revealed, with a play button, more similar to the previous logo, except that the play button is white and has a white circle behind it, and after the wave leaved the screen, the logo shines. Finally, the logo fades out.

FX/SFX: The waves, the logo flashing. 3D animation.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Currently in use. Look for DVDs released in Argentina by them.

Legacy: Though the animation is basic, it is an improvement from the previous logo.