RIP VHS is Dead

[MEDIUMMYND]

Actually I think you are confusing two formats. The discs that came out in the early 80' did not have a good picture at all. They looked like records and were in large sleeves. You put the sleeve into the machine and it would take the disc out and give you back the sleeve. You always had to turn the disc around halfway through the movie.

The quality laser disc that came out in the late 80's was much better picture quality. They as you say never did catch on.

Many today think they were the same thing and even Wikipedia gets it wrong, but I had one of the old machines and they did not play the next generation of large discs. In my opinion those first discs did not have great picture.

As for the end of vhs, I could really care less. I always thought the quality stunk, they easily got damaged or ruined and like cassettes that got tied up in the machinery. They also easily got dirty and the quality went downhill from the moment they were viewed. I also always hated having to rewind them and did not find them to be user friendly. On a DVD you can easily skip huge chunabouks of movie to find a particular spot.

Tha ony thing I liked abuot VHS was that you could tape tv specials you wanted to keep.

You are quite right i had forgotten about the early version i now remember a friend buying a new one along with 20 discs for £50 they were sold off cheap because the format bombed

 

[mike]

Just so long as we don't misplace our media collections and viewing devices in our trouser pockets and have them go through the wash. :eusa_doh:

Have to watch out for that time when small will eventually become too small.

Also one day we will probably be hit by one of the regularly occurring interstellar magnetic storms that has bombarded the Earth often in our history, but hasn't really happened since the technology boom of the last few generations. I think the last one was around the turn of the last century with had close to no affect but could possibly erase all digital media and hard drives today!

 

[Senator Jack]

I have a very weird love/hate relationship with any sort of magnetic tape. I never cared for cassettes, video or audio, but I'd rather record on analog reel-to-reel than digital. It's that big warm fuzzy sound when you go into the red.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

VHS is now 99p generally at charity shops. All those old movies i don't want to pay ridiculous prices - 20 GBP and up - for. Excellent.

What happens to people's VHS collections? My boss in Indiana took all his very-well-cared-for 1950s and 60s RVG Blue Note 33 1/3s to a charity shop in the 1990s and replaced them with CDs. He saw me looking at an eBay auction going at $200 or so for a Lee Morgan record and almost started crying. I feel that VHS collections will not be so missed.

bk

 

[Brian Sheridan]

VHS is now 99p generally at charity shops. All those old movies i don't want to pay ridiculous prices - 20 GBP and up - for. Excellent.

What happens to people's VHS collections? My boss in Indiana took all his very-well-cared-for 1950s and 60s RVG Blue Note 33 1/3s to a charity shop in the 1990s and replaced them with CDs. He saw me looking at an eBay auction going at $200 or so for a Lee Morgan record and almost started crying. I feel that VHS collections will not be so missed.

bk

They won't be missed since VHS degrades, especially the really thin tapes. As long as LPs are cared for, they still produce a wonderful warm sound.

 

[MPicciotto]

Don't lament! Rejoice!! As previously stated your favourite movies are now available for as low as a quarter at the flea market!! And for a quarter if the particular VHS you picked up is no good. No major loss. Though I do like DVD's better. I also have a projection screen but alas no DLP projector yet. One day when I have the money I too will have "the big screen" in my living room. My screen is about five feet across. Bigger then all but the most expensive of big screen tv's AND I have a movie theatre type popcorn machine (not vintage, but modern).

Matt

 

[Doh!]

Although I rarely use it, I still have my VCR hooked up for the few tapes which have yet to be issued on DVD (mainly things I taped back in the late '80s/'90s).

I love DVDs and am not looking forward to the day when everything is download-only. I like having physical "things" on hand I can pop into a machine. Also, I love the packaging and goodies that we sometimes get with DVDs -- such as the repro postcards that came with King Kong a couple of years ago or the full shooting script with West Side Story.

 

[Edward]

I love DVDs and am not looking forward to the day when everything is download-only. I like having physical "things" on hand I can pop into a machine. Also, I love the packaging and goodies that we sometimes get with DVDs -- such as the repro postcards that came with King Kong a couple of years ago or the full shooting script with West Side Story.

The download-only universe is my nightmare scenario. It definitely is catching on with the kids who have grown up with it, though. I can see the point if you are fairly fickle in your tastes, but I loathe the idea of being able only to lease music or films for as long as I pay a subscription rather than adding to my own precious collection.

 

[Lady Day]

I loathe the idea of being able only to lease music or films for as long as I pay a subscription rather than adding to my own precious collection.

Thats what netflix and internet radio are.
I dont mind downloading my media, but there are those rare and special CDs and movies that I will always buy. But for every day wear, I dont mind a DL of something.

LD

 

[Flivver]

I'm loving the "demise" of the VHS format.

At the flea markets around here, the going price for pre-recorded VHS tapes of classic movies is 50 cents to a dollar. I'm really building up my collection of classic movies at a very low cost.

And on my 4:3 format analog TV, they look just fine. Sure...DVDs are better, and blue ray is superb. But for 50 cents per movie, I'm quite happy with VHS tapes.

 

[CherryRed]

I have been fighting this idea for a while. I have most of my classics on VHS. But the reality struck this Christmas when I sat down to watch Christmas in Connecticut and Holiday Inn and neither would play correctly. Now I know I will have to replace all my VHS with DVD's as they are wearing out.

 

[Sefton]

Soon at a video store near you: DVDs that reproduce all of the fun of VHS (for triple the price of VHS). Never feel those pangs of videotape nostalgia again as they are guaranteed to have faded colors, weird tracking lines that streak across the screen and when you click on the next or previous chapter the image blurs as you wait for rewind or fast forward!

 

[Mrs. Merl]

I was going to say, the fabulous clarity of the new formats in lost on those of us who still have old television sets. We don't see much difference from our VHS to our DVD collection! Maybe I will care more when this set finally gives up the ghost and we have to get a new one. But for now you can all send your unwanted VHS to me - I still like them!!

 

[MrBern]

JVC

Oh gee Thanks! after all the bucks we spent on tapes, now longer alive! :eusa_doh: I'm not tell you anything new, you probably know first hand.
I recently saw Indiana Jone’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark “ on VHS, you can see the big difference from digital DVDs, much brighter, and as much as I like DVD’s DVR’s I enjoyed VHS machines because it was so easy to use.
That’s technology for you.


http://tech.msn.com/news/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=16348943&GT1=40000

I loved the ease of VCR use as well. It might not be great for movies, but it was a simple way to record television shows for those of us working on the night shift.
I was sorry to read last October that the last major manufacturer was ceasing VCR production. Although some are still making the VCR/dvd hybrids...
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1971328/

 

[LizzieMaine]

I still use VHS for time-shifting -- it works, it's efficient, and it's cheap, which are all I ask of a video-type device. Considering that it's attatched to a 55-year-old black-and-white TV set, I'm not too concerned about HD. Plus I have hundreds of VHS cassettes containing various things I've taped off TV over the past twenty years or so, none of which are ever going to be released in any kind of DVD/Blu-Ray/Whatever format.

If you move snappy, it's still possible to get very good deals on new-in-box VCRs on eBay -- I recently nabbed a replacement for one of mine that gave out, fresh from the warehouse, for less than $30.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I still time-shift on VHS all the time too. I've got two different VCRs on cable-boxed TVs in different rooms. (Sure, DVDs look better - but I spent my formative years watching b/w TVs with snowy antenna reception, and I don't require AV perfection to enjoy something that's worth watching.)

And after 20+ years, I've got a bit over a hundred VHS tapes, most of them home-recorded classic films. I'm not about to replace all of them on DVD... the budget for it simply isn't available.

Besides, I still play LPs and audio cassettes, and watch Super 8 and 16mm films. Some of us take great delight in using the older media... Frankly, on a retro-themed forum like this, I'm surprised that there aren't more of us!

 

[nola89]

The thing that is most irritating to me about the progression of technology is when to buy.

When something first comes out and you buy it immediately (mostly true for computer operating systems) the product will probably have some sort of bug that the manufacturer will have to fix (we've all seen those stories "product x is crashing all over the country, consumers furious.). If you wait, shortly after you buy, your product is obsolete.

Not necessarily so with VHS and DVDs I suppose, but with computers, absolutely. Anyway, as far as blu-ray discs, I'll buy one of those when I get a tv that is worth looking at blu-ray with. I'm not sure how much better quality blu-ray is, but, what I don't know, won't hurt me.

 

[KY Gentleman]

Hey Nola- I agree with the technology progression frustration.
I replaced albums with CD's after a lifetime of album buying. Then I bought replacement DVD's of the VHS movies I enjoyed. I'm done replacing one technology for another for a long time.

 

[nola89]

Hey Nola- I agree with the technology progression frustration.
I replaced albums with CD's after a lifetime of album buying. Then I bought replacement DVD's of the VHS movies I enjoyed. I'm done replacing one technology for another for a long time.

That's the spirit! Don't replace until you want to even though the bigwigs say you need to.

 

[Matt Deckard]

I was the last generation to be in classrooms that used projectors. I'm surprised we don't implement flat screens for schools.... I'm guessing now that the VCR is dead they will be in classrooms for about 7 more years before they catch up to DVD's... by that time the public will be straight downloading.