The last days of VHS

[GA Russell]

Here's an article from today's Chicago Tribune about the last guy in America to wholesale VHS tapes. He thinks that this has been the format's last Christmas.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationw...,0,492307.story

[Jazzmoose]

What is this 'VHS' that you speak of?

[Dave James]

How time flies. I bought my first VHS recorder in the mid-70's; a top-loading RCA for which I paid the ungodly sum of $900.00. Back then, that just about broke my piggy bank, but it was one of those things I just had to have. The cost of the machine was one thing, but they also nicked you pretty good for the blank tapes. If I recall correctly, those went for around 20 bucks apiece. Still, the first time you came home from work and you could watch a movie that aired in the middle of the previous night, it was some kind of rush.

RIP, VHS.

Up over and out.

[Jim Alfredson]

VHS sucked. BetaMAX all the way!!!

[Ted O'Reilly]

I'm going to have to run out and buy a VHS machine, just to have as a backup transport...I have bunches of PCM digital recordings on VHS tapes that will become unplayable if I'm without a tape playback machine.

And I'll admit I still use a VCR...it's hooked up to a Sharp Aquos HDTV, and records one or two shows a week, just as it did 20 years ago.

[Van Basten II]

What i am going to do with my vhs porn collection

[Dave James]

What i am going to do with my vhs porn collection

PM coming your way with my mailing address.

Up over and out.

[Jazzmoose]

VHS sucked. BetaMAX all the way!!!

Damn straight! Never forget!!

[BruceH]

VHS sucked. BetaMAX all the way!!!

Damn straight! Never forget!!

What is this 'BetaMAX' you speak of?

[Jazzmoose]

Busted...

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I really liked this bit

But Kugler, with a sly smile, offered a warning to consumers.

"The days of the DVD are numbered," he said. "And that is good news for me."

My wife still uses a VHS recorder for her TV programmes. Mind you, nearly fifteen percent of my record collection is on K7

MG

[sheldonm]

...I watched a movie last night that I had recorded on vhs many years ago.....the lost weekend...great flick. My vcr sounded as though it was going to "lift off" as it was rewinding!

m

[Chuck Nessa]

Have about 100 pounds of tapes to dump. Any better suggestions than landfill?

[Guest youmustbe]

I had a lot too...just thrw them in garbage after transferring to dvd. Nobody wants vhs since very few have the machines.

[Jazzmoose]

Have about 100 pounds of tapes to dump. Any better suggestions than landfill?

Tie each one to a turkey, rent a helicopter, and...

[porcy62]

I have to say that VHS is/was a far better format into professional field, rather then DVD. VHS is/was a quick, cheap (and rewritable) tool for directors/producers/musicians/editors for work in progress. When I am into a work, like editing a 50 minutes documentary, I can do a rough copies of it on the fly and it's quicker then all those 'formatting' and 'finalizing', etc of DVD. Now I do dozens of DVDs for whoever is involved into the project, that after a couple of views are just useless pieces of plastic to dump.

But yeah, now everybodys want a DVD, even if I am working at the lowest definition, as usual with big projects.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

A very interesting perspective. Thanks Porcy.

MG

[ejp626]

But yeah, now everybodys want a DVD, even if I am working at the lowest definition, as usual with big projects.

Well, I hear you, but on the other hand, if I am going to sit down and watch your work, am I going to want to lug it home to my somewhat broke-down VCR or do I want to watch it on the DVD player on my laptop?

As it happens, I still have probably 50 VHS tapes that my wife has been bugging me to go through and discard. For better or worse, I mostly used the format to tape TV shows that later came out on DVD and only a handful of movies, so I don't have the mountains of tapes some people have. I haven't joined the DVR/Tivo movement yet, mostly because I have cut way, way back on the amount of TV watching I do. In fact, the only thing I have bothered time-shifting in the last six months was an episode of the Simpsons (which I recorded on VHS).

[porcy62]

But yeah, now everybodys want a DVD, even if I am working at the lowest definition, as usual with big projects.

Well, I hear you, but on the other hand, if I am going to sit down and watch your work, am I going to want to lug it home to my somewhat broke-down VCR or do I want to watch it on the DVD player on my laptop?

Actually, I am talking about professional use. Everybody into the business has/had a VHS player at home, office, studio, etc.

Things change, I just pointed out some of the plus of VHS vs DVD.

[Hot Ptah]

Have about 100 pounds of tapes to dump. Any better suggestions than landfill?

I found that an assisted living center for low income people was delighted to get over 100 cassette tapes from me this year. The staff member literally had tears in her eyes as she said that they would set them out next to the boombox in their break room, which is the only source of music for their residents. Maybe something like that would work for VHS tapes.

[rockefeller center]

I have to say that VHS is/was a far better format into professional field, rather then DVD. VHS is/was a quick, cheap (and rewritable)

[................]

Now I do dozens of DVDs for whoever is involved into the project, that after a couple of views are just useless pieces of plastic to dump.

DVD-RW is rewritable, too.

Still have a couple of hundred VHS cassettes (the media was never really cheap, IMO) with music footage - guess I'll convert some of them to x264 files before the video/audio signal vanishes; gotta love VHS chroma noise.

[porcy62]

I have to say that VHS is/was a far better format into professional field, rather then DVD. VHS is/was a quick, cheap (and rewritable)

[................]

Now I do dozens of DVDs for whoever is involved into the project, that after a couple of views are just useless pieces of plastic to dump.

DVD-RW is rewritable, too.

Still have a couple of hundred VHS cassettes (the media was never really cheap, IMO) with music footage - guess I'll convert some of them to x264 files before the video/audio signal vanishes; gotta love VHS chroma noise.

DVD-RWs are more expensive then DVD-Rs, so they haven't any place in today's broadcasting industry, at least over here.

In this sense VHS was cheap, (and enviromental friendly FWIW) because you could record it over and over, for preview purpose obvioulsy.

The solution would be a wireless world in wich the people involved in the production could download from the company's server the rough working editing. BUT, since the editing suites are connected only to a local net, because of virus, and a true broadband is a mirage, I produce dozen of pieces of plastic every month, that usually are dumped.

[BruceW]

I remember my first VHS experience, an old piano key top loader VCR with a wired remote that only stopped and started the recording or playback. The wire was about 6-8 feet long and that was it. You could not sit way across the room. We used to edit out commercials by watching very closely for signs of a coming commercial and clues for when the commercials ended.

We still have VCR's in two rooms, both are combination VCR recorders and DVD playbacks. Don't have a DVR yet. These are mainly for my wife's usage.

BruceW :bwallace2:

[Van Basten II]

Bought a VHS/DVD combo to put my old VHS into DVD. Buyers beware Despite they were all homemade tapes, some are considered copyright protected and i can't put them on a DVD.

[ejp626]

Bought a VHS/DVD combo to put my old VHS into DVD. Buyers beware Despite they were all homemade tapes, some are considered copyright protected and i can't put them on a DVD.

Yeah, I ran into that a few times. You are generally better off running the VHS outputs into a computer, but sometimes you run into Macrovision!. Finally watching the inputs directly on the computer screen, I could figure out macrovision. The whole picture goes bright, then dark, then bright in an endless loop. VHS players can cope with this in playback mode, but they are supposed to be prevented from dubbing over/copying anything with this pattern. Most of the commercial software packages for your computer have built in functions that prevent the recording of Macrovisioned inputs, though like most things there are hacks around it. I even bought a gizmo that you insert between the VHS output and the computer input that is supposed to run interference and "remove" Macrovision, but it only works about half the time.