Vhs's

[Cops]

They're going like hot-cakes, the studios are no longer producing VHS's (wont be able to get them at Blockbuster, I assume Rogers Video will follow). I was able to snag Garden State, Bowling for Collumbine, Final Destination 2, Troy, Ghost World and a few others for two bucks a pop.

[NaiLed]

yeah, i was gonna buy the Memento DVD from amazon at £9, then I realised I could get the tape for £0.80

[za gophar]

anyone else with me in thinking that dvd's are evil? seriously, the world was a better, more simple place without them. when they came out, not only did people have to buy new equipment and replace vhs's, but you can barely rent one without it skipping these days. fuck extra features and shit, they arent worth it. neither is the no rewinding. rewinding a vhs is as easy as leaving the vcr running after you watch a movie.

[ConcreteSchlyrd]

I'm so far from being with you that it's ridiculous. Let's run down the list of VHS vs DVD, shall we?

1. Quality
Have you ever looked at an old VHS tape? I'm not talking about that copy of Spy Kids that you bought a couple years ago, I'm talking about the original Star Wars episode 4 that you watched religiously as a little kid. Chances are, the video and/or audio quality is horrendous. And just like a record, each time you play it, the quality is degrading--it's just the rules of the physical world. The magnetic residue on the tape itself is going to rub off, and time (assuming you're a normal person who doesn't necessarily pay attention to the humidity and temperature of your tape storage) will cause the same coating to crack and/or flake off. On the other hand you have DVDs, which use light to access the data off a disc--no physical touching of the media happens at all. The degradation process is a LOT longer, assuming you don't leave your DVDs just lying around unprotected. Not to mention that VHS tapes don't have nearly the resolution of DVDs to begin with.

2. Non-linear access
Not even dealing with rewinding, but lets say you really like the gun fight scene in the first Matrix. Now, technically you could remember the exact time where the fight takes place and then fast-forward to that place on a VHS tape, but that takes time (not to mention user intervention) to do. Why would I waste 8 minutes looking for something that's easily accessible off of a menu? The answer is: I wouldn't. Linear access is dumb.

3. VHS vs Betamax
Look, VHS isn't even a good TAPE format, let alone a good format period. Beta kicked the crap out of it.

4. Storage capacity
Sure, you can cram a fair amount of stuff onto a VHS tape at SUPER EXTENDO PLAY, but by doing so you're again sacrificing quality at an exponential rate. Why use it then? There is no good answer.

5. Equipment failure rates
Because of the need for so many moving parts in a VHS player, they have a bigger possibility for equipment failure. If you have an early 1980s VCR, the capstans and rollers are made of metal with rubber coating--however, the actual read/record heads are of a lower quantity/quality than of a newer VCR. This means that the equipment will stand up to more wear and tear, but the quality of recording/playback will be less. If you have a recent VCR, chances are that the capstans, rollers, and all of the actual tape transport are made of plastics, but the read/record heads are usually of a higher quantity/quality. This means that the playback/recording will be of a fairly decent quality, but the transport has more of a chance for breaking. DVD players, on the other hand, have fairly few phsyical moving parts--there's the DVD tray motor itself, then the mechanism for moving the laser back and forth from the center of the disc to the edge and back.

I'm sure there's more arguments to make, but the resounding answer is that VHS deserves (and needs) to die. Maybe if your argument was about DVD-HD vs. DVD, maybe then it'd hold some water, but until then, DVD is still entirely ahead of VHS categorically.

Edit: Added #5.

[Sarien]

I prefer DVD's absolutely myself, except for the encryption. I think that's just a load of ass, and I'm glad the guy cracked it those years ago.

DRM is such an ass backward concept. Competing with the entire world to keep people from getting a copy unless they pay for it. It's insane.

The rental scratches thing just means stores are going to have to pay more attention to different things before it gets settled in is all. Rather than make a person pay for it when it eats a tape, make a person pay for the disc when they scratch it all to hell.

[Jerome Scuggs]

all i know is my entire recorded-from-family-channel collection of original adam west batman tapes are even better when they suddenly warp and garble because my cellphone interferes with my VCR during playback

[Subjugation]

I actually really like the special features, esp the director's/actor's commentary. If I see a movie that I really like enough to watch more than twice, I ALWAYS watch it with the director's commentary. I find it interesting to see the film from their perspective, and they usually add some sort of nuance that I completely missed.

I'm glad VHS is dying out now, for many of the reasons that Conc mentioned. Like, when I watch Heat, I love putting in the DVD and setting up my audio for mega-gunfight mode and just watch the carnage in the middle of the film when they have that huge bank heist that goes badly. I don't want to fuck around for 5 minutes FF'ing it, then realizing "Shit, I ff'd it too far, now I have to rewind it. "

[Superted]

DVDs > VHS

I usually buy DVD's that have special features, but to be honest I never watch them, the special features that is.

As for functionality, there are too many functions you can do with a DVD that you can't with VHS for example repeatdly playing point A to point B, and one of the biggest functions I use; subtitles. I'd be lost without them.

My VHS player now only serves to watch Father Ted and to tell me the time.

[Subjugation]

Oh, also, for snowboarding and skateboarding videos...it's way better to watch slo-motion on a dvd player than a vhs tape. You can totally frame by frame that shit.

[Dameon Angell]

We still have VHS tapes at Hollywood Video and we will continue to be supplying them for some time now.

[Jerome Scuggs]

D2: THE MIGHTY DUCKS

[eehh]

kvakk kvakk

[Roggan]

Like, when I watch Heat, I love putting in the DVD and setting up my audio for mega-gunfight mode and just watch the carnage in the middle of the film when they have that huge bank heist that goes badly. I don't want to fuck around for 5 minutes FF'ing it, then realizing "Shit, I ff'd it too far, now I have to rewind it. "

Omfg, i love that scene. My older bro had this $500 or so stereo system (older fashioned, with the 4' tall speakers) in his room. And i watched that scene with friends hundreds of times on full blast.

Fuckin whicked.

But yah... DVD>VHS.

[Cops]

i'm down with dvds and vhs's.

[ZeUs!!]

Plus if you own pornos on dvd (I don't) you get a perfect still when you pause it, not some fuzzy line going through the screen a la vhs