I remember some VHS tapes I had when I were little played seemingly random DTMF tones at the beginning. I wondered why for years and have just found out.
From Wikipedia:
"DTMF signaling tones may also be heard at the start and/or end of some prerecorded VHS videocassettes. Information on the master version of the videotape is encoded in the DTMF tones. The encoded tones provide information to automatic duplication machines, such as format, duration and volume levels in order to replicate the original video as closely as possible."
So there you go.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DTMF_signaling
DTMF signaling - Wikipedia

@KaraLG84 some commercial audio compact cassettes used a similar thing, a sequence of tones, at the beginning of the recording to indicate custom EQ settings to the playback equipment. I only ever had one that did this (Marillion’s Clutching At Straws), but no compatible tape deck.
@WiteWulf Oh neat.