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VHS officially dead

I buy movies on VHS tapes at yard sales for pennies. They're not bad in my nice Mitusbishi S-VHS deck but compared to a DVD you can see why no one wants them.
 
hakemon said:
Note my deck STILL has the original feature sticker on the door.
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:thmbsp: I am guilty of doing this also . I catch a lot of flack from my friends . But , most of them own bose , so what gives them the right to poke fun . :stupid:
 
VHS movies, like cassette tapes, are cheap[yard sales/estate sales/etc]. Both being a best "bang for the buck" buy. Maybe not the best quality, but very acceptable viewing and listening on good equipment.

TankDonovan
 
I just watched Independence Day (with will smith) on VHS about a week ago, flipped on my Pro Logic 1 Rcvr and WOW the sound was incredable! I mean just AWWWing.
 
I just hooked up my Sony SLV-795HF, recorded a whole album into it from my CD player, with no video connection, and am playing it back, it DOES sound good.

Actually, to be honest, I'm using it for a party right now, I asked some people what they thought was playing it, and they thought it was a computer, ipod, or a CD. They have no idea a VHS deck is playing this.

Good observation!
 
In a way, we've gone backwards. 15 years ago, everyone knew how to tape a TV show for later, or to take to a friend's. Now, almost no one I know can record a TV show. I don't know anyone with a DVD recorder, and most of my friends don't have a DVR. As someone who records EVERYTHING so I can watch it when I want and skip the ads, I'm surprised that home video recording turned out to be a fad of the 80's and 90's.
 
andy said:
In a way, we've gone backwards. 15 years ago, everyone knew how to tape a TV show for later, or to take to a friend's. Now, almost no one I know can record a TV show. I don't know anyone with a DVD recorder, and most of my friends don't have a DVR. As someone who records EVERYTHING so I can watch it when I want and skip the ads, I'm surprised that home video recording turned out to be a fad of the 80's and 90's.
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Andy, If you do that much recording, you might want to seriously consider getting a DVR.

No tapes to buy and store. Picture quality is better. Much easier to program, set and forget type thing. Find a show by actor, title, genre. Light years ahead of VHS, although it had a pretty good run, and changed home video watching/recording immeasurably.
 
outshined said:
Andy, If you do that much recording, you might want to seriously consider getting a DVR.
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I've had a ReplayTV DVR for several years, but before that, I used both SVHS, and SuperBeta for time shifting. I always had at least one VCR on timer. I briefly used a DVD recorder for time shifting, but I could never find one that was easy to program, and bug free. I rarely use my VCRs any more.
 
tankdonovan said:
VHS movies, like cassette tapes, are cheap[yard sales/estate sales/etc]. Both being a best "bang for the buck" buy. Maybe not the best quality, but very acceptable viewing and listening on good equipment.

TankDonovan
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My brother recently came across some F-Troop episodes on VHS for a dollar each. :D It is rather fun looking for movies on VHS at the thrifts. You can get VHS recorders for a song. I came across a Panasonic Hi-Fi VHS VCR for $9.99 with remote.
 
rushfan said:
I snap up better quality blank tapes whenever I find them since I know that the supply is drying up.

Few people seem to know that Hi-Fi VHS made for great listening. Music recorded on VHS sounds fantastic - I think that the S/N ratio approaches CD quality and fidelity does not degrade even when recording at the lowest speed. I bought a Mitsubishi Hi-Fi VCR a couple of weeks ago that features record level adjustment so that I could continue to make quality tapes. I have tapes that I made years ago that still sound smashing. Reel to Reel might be better for editing but as far as fidelity and recording length, Hi-Fi VHS is hard to beat!
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I remember talking with a video editor in some production studio 10 years ago telling me that they record a lot (all?) of their audio stuff on VHS tape because the sound reproduction was so good. I thought that was pretty interesting, but I also didn't know if he was crazy or not. I guess he wasn't.
 
My wife uses her VHS daily for recording off tv.We also have a few hundred prerecorded VHS tapes we dont want to have to find and buy again on dvd:A huge Little Rascals Collection,about 40 or 50 episodes of The Waltons,The Singing Detective Miniseries,a sealed The Who Tommy 25th Anniversary video,etc.I still find many great videos that would be very pricey or hard to find on DVD.And new high grade blank tapes are always high on my list of Goodwill buys.
Jimmy
 
I'm not entirely sure why I feel this way, VHS is crap for video reproduction, but...I still look at these old high-end VCRs I have and think back to a different time. Ostensibly, the format should have died as soon as Laserdisc was released, but I suppose not everyone could afford ~$100/movie...

Still...can't argue with S-VHS quality. Not quite the 400 lines of DVD, but I've managed to get some pretty nice imaging on S-VHS-recorded tapes. Lamenting aside, it's really good ridance. I'm sure we'll all be sitting around our PCs, lamenting the decline and fall of DVD, when that day comes, and the last DVD player is made, and the last movie is printed to disc, we'll still be trying to make that live on well past it's deserved death...

Do they have a word for electronic necrophelia?
 
breetie said:
I'm not entirely sure why I feel this way, VHS is crap for video reproduction, but...I still look at these old high-end VCRs I have and think back to a different time. Ostensibly, the format should have died as soon as Laserdisc was released, but I suppose not everyone could afford ~$100/movie...

Still...can't argue with S-VHS quality. Not quite the 400 lines of DVD, but I've managed to get some pretty nice imaging on S-VHS-recorded tapes..
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Laserdisc could not record (exception was some very expensive commercial recorders and discs) which I think was the #1 reason they were not popular except with videophiles who wanted the best picture quality available at the time. They tried though. The movies were actually considerably cheaper on LD than on tape in the beginning, when tapes cost $100 but a LD of the same movie was less than $25. I remember when Blockbuster here tried renting laserdiscs in 89-91. LDs recorded well onto S-VHS! No copyguard ever on LD. Rentals never did do well enough to justify the space the racks of laserdiscs took up in the store so they went away.

S-VHS should be able to do 400+ lines. Depends on the machine. The JVC S-VHS machines could record & pb video out past 5 mHz.
 
I just picked up 20 brand new Sony S-VHS 120 tapes for a song, goes well together with Panasonic AG-456 camcorder....I know... still stuck in the tape media :D
 
Vintage TX said:
I just picked up 20 brand new Sony S-VHS 120 tapes for a song, goes well together with Panasonic AG-456 camcorder....I know... still stuck in the tape media :D
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VHS may be "officially" dead, but there are plenty of folks who can neither afford, nor want to go DVD. Enough it seems to allow your purchase of the tapes.

I just save stuff on my DVR. If I really want to archive it, I'll transfer it to VHS. (Maybe "save" is a better word than archive.)
 
Vintage TX;....I know... still stuck in the tape media :D[/QUOTE said:
:yes:

I think a lot of us here at AK is "stuck" somewhere else rather than the present. And we love it! :banana:

TankDonovan
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