Are You Rebuying Your VHS Movies On DVD?

[hoyboy]

Most of the VHS tapes I own are of TV series, like fawlty towers, the games, dad's army, mr bean etc. If I can get them at a reasonable price on DVD, I will, but if I can't- I'll do it the long way around!

[thayne]

The "classic" trilogy will never come out on DVD. What will come out on DVD are the tampered-with, so-called "special editions" -- assuming Lucas doesn't decide to screw with them some more, and release the "ultra-super-special editions -- now with 20% more digital eye candy and new, "improved" scenes that totally screw up the character arcs without adding anything to the plot!" instead.

This is true. I read Lucas was going to put some scenes from the latest movies into the old ones, specificly Natalie Portman.

[overloaded_ide]

Yea, rights sold and lost and no-one knows who owns what so again we lose great movies, just like they let the old classics rot and lost reels etc...

Copy right laws at work! We can't have it, but they can destroy it! This is art, and this is history!

Anyway, back to the main sublect at hand.

I buy what I can get for $5 on DVD, if I have the VHS the heck with the $15-$20 DVD unless it has some type extra's I really want, or if my VHS is so bad it needs replaced anyway. I been buying lots of decent to good movies at wallmart for $5 on DVD. More proof the prices are nuts for CDs and DVDs at $15-$20 for old stuff!

Heck I even have BETAs still! I will be putting most of those onto DVD-r becuase the player is about shot. It has to be played with enternally to make it rewind, and I have to be very carefull it does not EAT a tape. But why buy a new one (if I find one) as long as I get my movies changed over before it totally dies!

As for laser disk? Is that the old large disks like a phono record? About that size I mean?
Can I back thoughs up same as VHS? I figure I could. Perhaps I'll get into those if they are going cheap

Might look nice stored with my 8track tapes and Beta's and 78rpm records

[bartman]

Another missing option:

"I want to but feel ripped off that I have to buy the same thing twice"

Which brings an interesting point...If I buy a VHS tape, I have bought the rights to WATCH the movie only....however I can make a backup.....is that a backup of the tape or a backup of the movie I want to watch???? i.e. how (il)legal would it be to copy a friends DVD if I have a tape of the same movie??? I have the tape, I have the rights to watch the movie and I have the rights to backup the movie.......

[overloaded_ide]

As long as the tape and the DVD are the exact same, there is no difference! It's either legal or it is not, same movie so the source should not matter!

However, if you get something extra in the DVD you did not buy that on the tape so that is probably not legal! All those extra langauges you can often choose are not on the tape! So that could be sticky? Also if you get extras like behind the scenes or other stuff.

Also they like to butcher some of the stuff when they put it on the DVDs, I hear Star Wars is bad about that, so you don't really have the exact same movie if they did.

Like audio, I have bought the same thing at least three times for some songs. 8track, cassettes, replaced broken cassettes. Also some stuff I even had on old phone records. I'll never do that agian! Buy once keep forever now! And I want the orginal as it was first made, not digitaly enhanced the way they want it to be now!

[ChrisX]

Heck I even have BETAs still! I will be putting most of those onto DVD-r becuase the player is about shot. It has to be played with enternally to make it rewind, and I have to be very carefull it does not EAT a tape. But why buy a new one (if I find one) as long as I get my movies changed over before it totally dies!

Yes, you have to careful with a Beta VCR and the risk is so high of a tape jam or to be eaten. This is what I do before loading videotape into the Beta machine, forward the tape inside the cassette manually by moving one of the reels with my finger so it doesn't get stuck or jam when loading in the machine. Do this several times just enough before the movie starts. This works.

I do find VHS as much better and more reliable than Beta and having a much less risk of maintenance and costs. The VHS repair risk is still there but not as much as the Beta. In fact a VHS tape got jammed in the machine and thrown out a couple of years ago.

I am lucky I still got the Beta VCR and now mostly in use as a tuner for the computer’s video card. The video transfers from Beta to VHS or to the computer are now over.

I've transferred some of the LD movies over to VHS and without a problem.

Just about all of my movie collection is now DVD with a handful of imported video CDs.

VHS is dead - long live DVD

[lpn1160]

One other option of course does exist, which I think thousands of others have thought of if they are not already doing it. Between digital cable and sattelite there is a plethora of channels, and old classics are floating around. They may not quite be the original releases but by sticking to better channels(& without comercials) Doing the captures by oneself, you have a great chance to make the DVD "YOU" want from scratch.
Keep the TV guide handy and that capture partition empty!

[Faustus]

Converted a few I couldn't rebuy, the rest I replaced if important enough to me, the rest are in a box in a closet somewhere. DIE VHS DIE! (the format, not my player, its still used for the rare conversion.)

[bartman]

VHS will die when dual format settop DVD recorders become cheap enough so that Average Joe can get one when his current VCR bites the dust....the DVD recorders will have to piss easy to use as well (i.e. put disk in, press record.....menu's are either optional or automatic)

[oldfart13]

You can still buy Beta decks at Ebay, though they can be expensive. I bought 2 of the same model and cannabalized one for parts to make the 2nd one work. My experience tells me to buy SONY units. Many of the others, especially Sanyo were notorious tape eaters. For a nice look at the whole spectrum of Betas go here:

http://www.betainfoguide.com/

Luckily for me in town there are a couple of guys who were really good techs when it came to Beta decks so getting them fixed is not a problem and Sony parts for many of the Super Beta units are still available.

VHS used to be bad for tapes getting eaten. My old RCA VBT-200 did it all the time. Nothing changed really until they went over to the tape loading system used by Beta (M-Load, I think) then the tape loading problems for most units went away. And all those features that appeared on Beta first: real time counters, hi-fi stereo, improved video (Super Beta), digital effects, etc. that we now take for granted. Ah...the old days...

[i_am_dave]

Like most here, I burn my favorites.
There are still a lot that have not been released on DVD and have not been re-issued on VHS for years.

Case in point, I just bought Disney's 'One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing' from Half.com.
It has been out of production for years, fortunately, the tape I bought (1988 release) is in perfect condition.
I plan to DVD it this weekend.

[overloaded_ide]

Yes beta was the best.
VHS won because of lower price!

I'm sure a NEW beta player would not eat my tapes, but what can you expect from probably a 30 yr old player? Well, maybe not that old, but still!

I hadn't messed with it for awhile, BUT I wonder if that old thing would act as a time base correcter, or disable macrovions and such? Funnel the new vcr though the beta and into the pc?

I still have some vhs tapes that flash the brite dim effect when watching them on the pc. I hate that, the monitor has such a better picture so if I am the only one watching a movie, I watch it on the pc. But just watching it, not even capturing I get that flicker.

What about movies released on VHS but not on DVD (yet)?

[K2]

With hundreds of VHS tape in my library, replacement is too expensive.

[tgpo]

With hundreds of VHS tape in my library, replacement is too expensive.

I thought so too, until the "rare" movie I was buying on VHS, started showing up on DVD for $9, with extra features and making of's and commentaries. I love commentaries!

[Marco33]

What about movies released on VHS but not on DVD (yet)?

Like "Heart Like a Wheel", What about 'em.

[overloaded_ide]

For anyone that grew up watching the BATMAN tv series of the 60's it was a real kick to find the $5 DVD at wallmart, with extras like the making of the batmobile and other stuff. Did not show making it, but the creator discussed it. And told a funny storie about getting a ticket in it!
That I could not find on VHS anyway, but never tried hard

I have 2 of elvira's first movie, the tape has a bad spot in the first one for some reason. SO I have a second never been opened, just in case. But unless it shows her dressing or something wild I would not buy it a third time just for DVD, although I will probably buy her second movie on DVD. I saw it and did not like it as well as the first. But I'll buy it for a reasonable price since I have the first movies and 2 model cars from the first movie. Kinda a set type thing

But even at $9 it is too expensive to replace 100's of movies for many of us. Especaily when we could be buying NEW movies we don't have yet at all in any form!
But as long as we got the time and DVD-r is a buck, nice hobby!

[EddyH]

I think i need to go to a hypnotherapist for a cartoon brain-purge. Reading the latest bits of this thread has made me think solely of three things.

1. Cowboy bebop, where they get a 50 year old beta tape in the space-mail... and first it almost gets eaten in some collector's machine, then they try to put it in a salvaged VHS

2. Wonder who has the rights to Cities of Gold these days.. do DiC, NHK and Studio Pierrot still hold it or what... hell does DiC etc even still exist.. is it worth $1000 an hour to find out if i win the lotto

3. Where in the heck can i find a Warriors of the Wind VHS? (or CoG..)

call a doctor...

[pbhalerao]

Yeah! I would like to use tgpo's credit card. Where is it?

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=171821&highlight=

[oldfart13]

Esteban (The Cities of Gold) was still on in Canada last I checked on one of the kids channels. I had seen it when it originally aired in Japan years ago. I've seen Warriors of the Wind at local Mom and Pop video stores as well as at pawn shops. I had it and sold it recently on VHS. Beta tapes have no macrovision so they are easy to dub over to DVD-Rs. That's one reason I buy them or get them cheap from people cleaning out their attics. I got 200 movies that way last year since the guy didn't want them. Lots of out of print faves like: Phar Lap, Delirious (Eddie Murphy), Last American Virgin, etc. Sure cheaper than renting them from Blockbuster...

[EddyH]

But was it in English... and where's the damned english DVD? (there's a french one.. but no english soundtrack or even subs!! jeez )

All the 'mom and pop' video stores seem to have died out in the UK.. p'raps they couldnt afford to upgrade to DVDs.. i know WotW was released here at some point. Just wanna see if I can get hold of it before or around the same time as the Nausicaa DVD finally comes out.. then I can redux it, maybe even rearrange the scenes into the right order and chop up the existing speech to fill in the gaps

(told you i needed a mind purge)