VHS is dead, official.

[Tool Man]

Seems like the humble VCR has taken it's last breath.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041122/344/f739b.html

[yoda313]

Hello,

Sorry this was on the main page already....

Kevin

[Cobra]

Never mind, eh? I hardly used them before DVD and I haven't had to touch one for years. Maybe this will cause a price drop in DVD recorders, too.

[Capmaster]

THat's OK with me. I got all our VHS movies transferred already 8)

[Devanshu]

"VHS is dead, official" - Tell that to the 20 people that come in to BB everyday bithcing about how the vhs selection is too small.

[yoda313]

"VHS is dead, official" - Tell that to the 20 people that come in to BB everyday bithcing about how the vhs selection is too small.

Hello,



I thought BestBuy ditched VHS all together???? (except for blanks????).

Kevin

[shoozleboy]

psst, Yoda - BB can equal "BlockBuster" too

[yoda313]

psst, Yoda - BB can equal "BlockBuster" too

Hello,

Oohh....

You can tell where I shop more often!

Kevin

(I do rent mainly from Blockbuster - but not very often)

[Tommyknocker]

As long as there are grandparents, other relatives, and newborns, there will always be VHS.

[hech54]

Does than mean I can pick up a D-VHS machine for like....€20 ?

[yoda313]

Does than mean I can pick up a D-VHS machine for like....€20 ?

Hello,

Um... NO!

It said VHS!

Kevin

[hech54]

AWE C'MON.....


I'll be over here sulking if you need me....

[Rookie64]

As long as there are grandparents, other relatives, and newborns, there will always be VHS.

Also...all the ones who keep asking where the RECORD button is on DVD player


DVD has come along way....but it still has a long way to go before everything becomes available on DVD (they're not even close)

[handyguy]

You would think vhs cassettes would be cheaper than ever, but actually they are $2 each or more. Lets not forget that there are HDTV VCRs.....still being sold just fine.

[JohnnyCNote]

VHS is going to be around for some time yet, and it's still easier to record with than DVD's, although I haven't used my VCR in many months....

[Craig Tucker]

The figure quoted in the press along with the article about Dixons dropping VHS, is that DVD sales outnumber VHS sales by 40 to 1. Yet DVD's are still more expensive than VHS even though the manufacturing costs must only be a fraction of what it costs to produce a VHS tape. Work that one out.

[gooberguy]

I guess VCr's been done or a while, but blanks are prolly gonna go on for a while brcause not too many have that much money for like "TiVo's" and dvd recodders.

And about those people who bitch at BB about Vhs tapes they should buy a dvd player cuz there really cheap now. I got a decent one for 70$.

[ChrisX]

VHS is dead, official.

Yes, I say so officially.

I just dumped several Beta tapes into the trash and no more VHS videotapes in my room.

All of my movie collection is now DVD with only handful on video CD.

The last dozen of VHS pre-recorded music videos is all I have and put away in a cupboard just where the last Beta videotapes were stored.

This is the official archive storage box, the small cupboard in the garage where life is the end.

The VHS VCR is no longer recording anything from outside and this is now connected with a digital TV box and a DVD recorder.

What to do with left over blank VHS tapes?

Oh well, may record music into it from old vinyls or perhaps use the DVD recorder to record the vinyls into DVD-R discs too.

[ChrisX]

VHS is going to be around for some time yet, and it's still easier to record with than DVD's, although I haven't used my VCR in many months....

The only advantage of a VHS tape compared with a DVD-R disc is the length.

A SP of a VHS videotape is 4 hours compared with a DVD-R disc of only 2 hours.

There is a 2 part TV series on this week and recorded into HDD digital recorder. The first part was on last night and other half will be on tonight.

The Australian TV series is over 5 hours long broken over two nights and too long on DVD-R disc.

I going to edit out the commericals and transfer into an LP six hour VHS tape to keep.

[VideoTechMan]

VHS is going to be around for some time yet, and it's still easier to record with than DVD's, although I haven't used my VCR in many months....

The only advantage of a VHS tape compared with a DVD-R disc is the length.

A SP of a VHS videotape is 4 hours compared with a DVD-R disc of only 2 hours.

There is a 2 part TV series on this week and recorded into HDD digital recorder. The first part was on last night and other half will be on tonight.

The Australian TV series is over 5 hours long broken over two nights and too long on DVD-R disc.

I going to edit out the commericals and transfer into an LP six hour VHS tape to keep.

That is incorrect. An SP mode VHS tape holds only 2 hours like a DVD-R, while the LP mode holds 4 hours (modern VCR's now you can no longer record in LP mode). EP holds 6 hours of content.

VTM

[ChrisX]

VHS is going to be around for some time yet, and it's still easier to record with than DVD's, although I haven't used my VCR in many months....

The only advantage of a VHS tape compared with a DVD-R disc is the length.

A SP of a VHS videotape is 4 hours compared with a DVD-R disc of only 2 hours.

There is a 2 part TV series on this week and recorded into HDD digital recorder. The first part was on last night and other half will be on tonight.

The Australian TV series is over 5 hours long broken over two nights and too long on DVD-R disc.

I going to edit out the commericals and transfer into an LP six hour VHS tape to keep.

That is incorrect. An SP mode VHS tape holds only 2 hours like a DVD-R, while the LP mode holds 4 hours (modern VCR's now you can no longer record in LP mode). EP holds 6 hours of content.

VTM

VideoTechMan as you're an American and your TV color system is NTSC and I don't know your VHS videotape time limit. I know your DVDs though.

Hey, looks as though you got less video recording time than here in Australia.

Here in Australia, the maximum SP VHS videotape time available is 4 hours on PAL.

The TV color system is different here, so the length of the VHS is different here as well.

I think this is all to do with our TV 625 lines compared with your TV NTSC 525 lines of video information.

So, the video resolution on PAL is as so much better than NTSC having the interlacing as much more noticeably seen watching your US DVDs.

To rid the annoying interlacing is one reason I am aiming for a progressive scan compatible LCD or Plasma TV one day.

The DVD-R is disc is still only 2 hours on SP and this is half the time I can do on a VHS videotape.

If I want to record more I have to use LP record mode or get a another DVD recorder on DVD+R.

ChrisX

[VideoTechMan]

VHS is going to be around for some time yet, and it's still easier to record with than DVD's, although I haven't used my VCR in many months....

The only advantage of a VHS tape compared with a DVD-R disc is the length.

A SP of a VHS videotape is 4 hours compared with a DVD-R disc of only 2 hours.

There is a 2 part TV series on this week and recorded into HDD digital recorder. The first part was on last night and other half will be on tonight.

The Australian TV series is over 5 hours long broken over two nights and too long on DVD-R disc.

I going to edit out the commericals and transfer into an LP six hour VHS tape to keep.

That is incorrect. An SP mode VHS tape holds only 2 hours like a DVD-R, while the LP mode holds 4 hours (modern VCR's now you can no longer record in LP mode). EP holds 6 hours of content.

VTM

VideoTechMan as you're an American and your TV color system is NTSC and I don't know your VHS videotape time limit. I know your DVDs though.

Hey, looks as though you got less video recording time than here in Australia.

Here in Australia, the maximum SP VHS videotape time available is 4 hours on PAL.

The TV color system is different here, so the length of the VHS is different here as well.

I think this is all to do with our TV 625 lines compared with your TV NTSC 525 lines of video information.

So, the video resolution on PAL is as so much better than NTSC having the interlacing as much more noticeably seen watching your US DVDs.

To rid the annoying interlacing is one reason I am aiming for a progressive scan compatible LCD or Plasma TV one day.

The DVD-R is disc is still only 2 hours on SP and this is half the time I can do on a VHS videotape.

If I want to record more I have to use LP record mode or get a another DVD recorder on DVD+R.

ChrisX

Oh ok, I guess it has to deal with the color system....ive never seen a show in PAL or seen its resolution so I guess I wouldnt know. But as far as US standards go for VHS, the recording times are accurate for NTSC VHS tapes.

I know there used to be a format called SECAM, but that was in Europe I think, and it was phased out.

I usually wonder though, how best a picture quality can a standard get? With all the flavors of HD and plasma and LCD, one can wonder how high can one go on picture quality--its as good as it can get for the most part.

VTM

[Craig Tucker]

You can get 4 hour SP tapes here as well, 8 hours on LP

[Dr. DOS]

THat's OK with me. I got all our VHS movies transferred already 8)

Me too... until I start to encounter a few read errors or unexplained freezing with compliant MPEG's and 'good' to 'best' media...."where the F is the backup tape" ..... It ain't a perfect science is it.

[offline]

You can get 4 hour SP tapes here as well, 8 hours on LP

& 12 hours on a 4hour SP using Pal EP mode. 8)

[JohnnyCNote]

I know there used to be a format called SECAM, but that was in Europe I think, and it was phased out.

SECAM is still in use at least in some countries. They had it Russia when I was there in '93:

SECAM (Séquentiel Couleur avec Mémoire, French for "sequential color with memory") is an analog color television system first used in France. SECAM has been invented by a team lead by Henri de France and working at Thomson. It is historically the first European color television standard.

Work on SECAM began in 1956. The technology was ready by the end of the fifties, but this was too soon for a wide introduction. Notably, SECAM did not work with the 819-line television standard then used by the then sole French TV network. France had to start the conversion by switching over to a 625-line television standard, which happened at the beginning of the sixties with the introduction of a second network.

SECAM was inaugurated in France on October 1st 1967, on la seconde chaîne (the second network), currently called France 2. A group of four men, all dressed in suits, presumably presenters and network officials, were shown standing in a studio. The image was originally black and white and suddenly switched to color; one of the people said something along "now you can see us as we really are".

The first color television sets costed 5000 Francs. Color TV was not very popular initially; only about 1500 people watched the inaugural program in color. A year later, only 200,000 sets had been sold of an expected million. This pattern was similar to the earlier slow build-up of color television popularity in the USA.

SECAM was later adopted by former French and Belgian colonies, Eastern European countries, the former Soviet Union and Middle Eastern countries. However, with the fall of communism, and following a period when multi-standard TV sets became a commodity, a lot of Eastern European countries decided to switch to PAL.

[pbhalerao]

VHS is dead in Asia also. Mostly replaced by VCD culture - mainly because DVD's are too expensive to buy or rent. I am wondering what to do with my VHS collection - over 60 movies. I don't think that I have the patience to convert each and every one of them.

I have not purchased VHS in the last 2 years although DVDs are pricier than VHS. But the price difference can be considered "worth paying for" if one considers the factors in favour of DVD: quality, DD/DTS sound, durability, availability of extra features, less storage space, etc.

I am now waiting for the standalone DVD recorders price to drop.

[NamPla]

I am wondering what to do with my VHS collection - over 60 movies.

You could always have a beer & a bong & WATCH them again?

:P

I can watch my favourite movies (there are 100's) over and over again. BTW my favourite movies aren't on DVD!!! (Well, some of them aren't! :P )

[Madz]

I remember BASF releasing 9- and 10-hour VHS blanks in NTSC land. Think the latter is longest I've ever seen. Prerecorded tapes can be had a'plenty for 2 bucks each @ the local Goodwill. Few days ago, they even had some fairly recent films like, Star Wars I, LOTR2 & Pearl Harbor. But really, after seeing DVD players for as low as $29.99, there's no excuse not to have one.

Oh yeah, to the person who chucked a bunch of Beta tapes: Shame! Should've sent them to me; one of the probably few left on here who still has something to view them on!

Seriously, I've got so much material on Beta including a load of rare/out-of-print B-movies & cult stuff that's hard enough to find on VHS these days, never mind chances of reissue on DVD. Tapes released on tiny long-forgotten labels, some of which are so old that they only have mono soundtracks. Most of the precious parts of my collection have been backed up to DVD, however.

[ChrisX]

VHS is going to be around for some time yet, and it's still easier to record with than DVD's, although I haven't used my VCR in many months....

The only advantage of a VHS tape compared with a DVD-R disc is the length.

A SP of a VHS videotape is 4 hours compared with a DVD-R disc of only 2 hours.

There is a 2 part TV series on this week and recorded into HDD digital recorder. The first part was on last night and other half will be on tonight.

The Australian TV series is over 5 hours long broken over two nights and too long on DVD-R disc.

I going to edit out the commericals and transfer into an LP six hour VHS tape to keep.

That is incorrect. An SP mode VHS tape holds only 2 hours like a DVD-R, while the LP mode holds 4 hours (modern VCR's now you can no longer record in LP mode). EP holds 6 hours of content.

VTM

VideoTechMan as you're an American and your TV color system is NTSC and I don't know your VHS videotape time limit. I know your DVDs though.

Hey, looks as though you got less video recording time than here in Australia.

Here in Australia, the maximum SP VHS videotape time available is 4 hours on PAL.

The TV color system is different here, so the length of the VHS is different here as well.

I think this is all to do with our TV 625 lines compared with your TV NTSC 525 lines of video information.

So, the video resolution on PAL is as so much better than NTSC having the interlacing as much more noticeably seen watching your US DVDs.

To rid the annoying interlacing is one reason I am aiming for a progressive scan compatible LCD or Plasma TV one day.

The DVD-R is disc is still only 2 hours on SP and this is half the time I can do on a VHS videotape.

If I want to record more I have to use LP record mode or get a another DVD recorder on DVD+R.

ChrisX

Oh ok, I guess it has to deal with the color system....ive never seen a show in PAL or seen its resolution so I guess I wouldnt know. But as far as US standards go for VHS, the recording times are accurate for NTSC VHS tapes.

I know there used to be a format called SECAM, but that was in Europe I think, and it was phased out.

I usually wonder though, how best a picture quality can a standard get? With all the flavors of HD and plasma and LCD, one can wonder how high can one go on picture quality--its as good as it can get for the most part.

VTM

Just for the record, an E180 or 3 hour PAL VHS tape as the same as for only 2 hours 8 minutes of NTSC SP recording.

In other words your NTSC speed is almost 1.5 times faster to our PAL tape speed on a 3 hour VHS tape.

This compensates the picture recording and viewing. The one thing I did notice was the sound as so much better on an NTSC recording than on PAL due to the speed.

Another example, an E240 or 4 hour PAL VHS tape as the same as for only 2 hours 50 minutes of NTSC SP recording.

I used to record an NTSC LD movie into a PAL VHS tape as is, as NTSC recorded using a multi-system VCR on a multi-system TV.

The LD player is now gone and all of my movie collection is onto DVD.

We don't have to worry on this PAL Vs NTSC in future as we will be enjoying much better viewing on HD on a plasma or LCD TV or monitor.

This is one advantage of digital TV is forget the nonsense of PAL or NTSC.

The VCR will be gone and history anyway.