VHS winding down...The Official Death is finally here...

[wingdarkness]

Interesting article from the LA Times that just hit my local paper yesterday...As the article suggests Distribution Video Audio Inc, the last big distribution outfit will no longer produce or buy VHS titles (Infact they might even bury the rest of their inventory in a landfill alla the 80's E.T. video game)...Also JVC (the biggest VCR producer in history) will no longer make them...That means that the 2 million or so VHS tapes that are scattered in Walmart bins and Family Dollar aisles all across this world will be the only remnants left of a great age where a weirdly, delightful-smelling black tape was the primal choice of many peoples' enjoyment^^...I still have like every episode of TV-jacked DBZ-eps along with so many random anime titles on like 70 tapes in a closet you couldn't pay me to open and find right now...It was a great age for the few of us who can remember the BetaMax and how the whirring sound of that VCR trumped and kicked it's a$$...I just felt compelled to talk about it because while I haven't used one or watched a VHS tape in some time, the fact that it's gone from word-of-mouth death to categorical and official death made me want to reminisce a bit and maybe even shed a tear T_T...


So what's your take and what are some of your fav titles that you still have in an asbestos filled attic right now? If not, just shake your head and bow at the once mighty VHS...

You won't WILL be missed...

[GuidoHunter_Toki]

As long as I have my Mega Media store nearby VHS will never die. Anyways I still buy vhs from time to time if its a considerably lower price than getting the movie/show in another format and when I'm just low on cash I may buy one for like two bucks.

[wingdarkness]

^It's funny but the dude in this article most likely sold those tapes to that store...But alas they'll be no more inventory in 2009...So only what's still out there will be out there...

[Mystique]

you know ironically, last year, i borrowed the dvds of lord of the rings triliogy from work (library) only to find that 2 of the cd's had scratches on the to the point it ruined the movie midway, kept skipping.
I got the VHS versions, watched it all with no issues and enjoyed it. (The third part, the dvd was fine)
Yeah i couldn't go into chapters, no dvd extras, but every media has it's downsides, so sometimes going back to basics helps

For most part however, I wanna transfer the video stuff to DVD for easier archieving, at least disks take space and can copy easier once a file has been encoded correctly to play on any regular machine

A lot of rental shops I've noticed still stock VHS (in Japan this is). I'm not sure how the evolution process is in other countries tho...
Any clues?

[GuidoHunter_Toki]

I don't know if its just me but I find that in many cases with DVDS the sound quality is all over the place. The dialogue will be real silent so I turn it up to hear whats being said and then you get the enviornmental noise or some big action scene and wham! The nosie is cranked to the max. I rarely have this happen with VHS where I drastically need to turn up the volume in dialogue situations. The only problems I get sound wise with VHS is the ambient noise in the background on occasions.

[escimo]

Originally Posted by GuidoHunter_Toki

I don't know if its just me but I find that in many cases with DVDS the sound quality is all over the place. The dialogue will be real silent so I turn it up to hear whats being said and then you get the enviornmental noise or some big action scene and wham! The nosie is cranked to the max. I rarely have this happen with VHS where I drastically need to turn up the volume in dialogue situations. The only problems I get sound wise with VHS is the ambient noise in the background on occasions.

Sounds like your decoder settings are off. Dialogue is usually mixed in the center channel in the 5.1 audio track so I'd check it's level settings or if you don't have a 5.1 speaker system, I'd check the mixing properties. In any case I'd advise to try to increase the level of the center channel.

On topic:
Personally I'm not shedding tears. Frankly glad to see it go.
Haven't bought a VHS tapes in almost 10 years so I'm not missing out on much.

[wingdarkness]

Originally Posted by escimo

On topic:
Personally I'm not shedding tears. Frankly glad to see it go.
Haven't bought a VHS tapes in almost 10 years so I'm not missing out on much.

Well it's more the symbolism of it all...Something all of us mid-20 somethings grew up with and to see it officially put to rest just makes one think about the days when it was the $hit...Grabbing a blank tape and recording some anime, or a football game, or naughty movie, just doesn't have the same flair as hitting the DVR record button or the timeline at the bottom of a player (When you used to set that crappy record timer you actually felt like you accomplished something)...It was apart of the analog age that pretty much closes the book on the analog media era (In the populous sense)...I just think it's worth a proper send off...

[Guernsey]

All I can say is Kudos to you, VHS! You will be missed and I had a wonderful time with you.

[yezhanquan]

I still have a functional VHS at home, here in Singapore.

[Epyon9283]

I haven't had a VHS player in years. Not really mourning the loss.

[7thMethuselah]

It's not to easy to find VHS players anymore in stores to start with. VHS tapes are just as rare, only some very specialised shops still sell them. They're jsut no match for DVD's. I have been slowly converting my VHS tapes into DVD's whenever I got the chance. Other than a feeling of nostalgia I won't me mourning the loss tbh. DVD is jsut superior in too many aspects.

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by yezhanquan

I still have a functional VHS at home,

As do I. Covered in dust, but it still works. In fact, I know someone with a functional betamax player as well.

[yezhanquan]

Mine is not in storage, just that I don't record much nowadays.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Well, I can't say it wasn't a long time in coming. I like VHS and I daresay I killed 2 rewinders and a VCR watching The Brave Little Toaster when I was a kid. No, I am not exaggerating, either.

In any case, I think it's about time because not only are DVD's more portable and can be kept in storage longer (VHS gets warped and distorted if its left alone for too long), but they also don't need to be rewound. That, and they hold far more information than VHS.

Now, we still have our VHS player, but we never use it anymore. I'm sure it still works, but it is in storage. Any movies we want to keep we have bought the DVD or Blueray versions.

Goodbye, VHS. You brought the movies to our home and much joy to our lives. Salute! *Taps plays in background*

[sa547]

Here, the proliferation of bootlegs and dirt-cheap DVD players (they're almost everywhere despite the efforts of law-enforcement agencies) hastened the demise of VHS.

Video tapes helped shape the notion of home entertainment, gave people the power to record TV shows with VCRs and live events with their cameras as they please, and created an industry of video rentals, gadgetry and home entertainment systems. Through recorded anime episodes of tapes sent from Japan and tape trades at the earliest cons, those VHS and Betamax tapes also helped shape the anime fandom into what it is today.

[whitepearl]

I saw a discarded JVC VCR on St. Mark's Place in NYC a few days ago.

To think that future generations of kids will look at us funny when we bring up VCRs and VHS tapes...

[cuteycindyhoney]

I live in the United States. about eight months ago my VCR died. I had to buy a used one to replace it! As a fan of old movies as well as anime, I always am on the lookout at flea markets for things I can run off onto DVD. (I love my stand alone DVD burner!) I even have a few anime tapes I converted. "Curse of the Yuma" "3X3 Eyes: Perfect collection" "Black Magic M-66" and yes, I ran off my VHS copy of "The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones"

(^_^)

Long live VHS!

[Sesshomaru22]

I've heard about this before. But I'm guessing, in the future, VHS players will cost quite a lot of money and will be considered "Antique" in most places. I, myself, own a DVD/VHS player, but only use the DVD side, unless I want to watch an old Disney movie that I only have for VHS. Such as Beauty and the Beast, the first Bambi movie, The Lion King and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, All the Aladdin movies, ETC. Although, Blu Ray is now the new popular thing these days, it was only a matter of time before they stopped making VHS's and their players. Because, look what happened to cassette tapes when they made CDs? Soon they'll stop selling CDs because MP3 players will be the new thing these days. And some people said that the future, which will be filled with technology, won't exist. How wrong they were...

[Reaver666]

well that sucks b/c alot of the stuff we started watching back then was on vhs now I'm Going to spend even more to get the dvd sets of my old videos. We all gotta the random purchas of the stores. Hell even i get lucky couple of weeks ago went to cvs i found the tekken and all the street fighter anime. it cost 10 bucks for all of it.

[C.A.]

Just a few days ago we were recording something on tape. My brother will be returning from camp this weekend to view it.