RIP, VHS

Post by **ShyViolet** » November 15th, 2006, 11:00 pm

I got this link from the Animation Guild Blog. It's hysterical!

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111795 ... id=20&cs=1

Also if you think about it, VHS's last gasp was probably the movie The Ring and Ring 2.

Post by **bawpcwpn** » November 16th, 2006, 1:28 am

Very funny indeed! Poor VHS. Well at least I know I contributed to the 30 mill + copies of the lion king on VHS. It reminds me that i must update my lion king DVD. Or maybe I should wait till it comes out on Blu-Ray or the next gen format.

Post by **ShyViolet** » November 16th, 2006, 1:44 am

Just recently the on-campus video store here had a sale of used VHS films for 2 dollars each....some great, awesome films there, unfortunatly I don't have a VCR anymore so I couldn't get any of them.

The new films releases that come out are all DVD, while a lot of the older films are still VHS. But who has a VHS to play it with?

There used to be a store called "The Compact Disc Shoppe" near my old house that sold CDs right when they were becoming popular, even beforehand. The had lots of laserdiscs too, which I found very weird since I didn't know anyone with a laserdisc player. Also, they listed the scenes which I found strange, how could you "skip scenes"?

They had Beauty and the Beast, Batman '89, and E.T. all on Laserdisc.

I don't think you can buy it now except on ebay.

Post by **Ben** » November 16th, 2006, 7:01 am

Vi...many of DVD's features were "invented" by LaserDisc technology.

Chapter indexes (scene selection), alternative audio tracks (isolated music scores, filmmaker commentaries), bonus features (making of, deleted scenes, still frame galleries)...

...these were all around in LD's day. Instead of a main menu, you'd punch in the number of the scene you wanted to skip to and the laser would jump to it - just like a DVD!

Of course, like any technology, DVD progressed things and now we have interactive menus, though even some LDs had these (the Pocahontas set has an index that one selects by the numberin system rather than hovering over an option) and in Japan they were just getting into issuing anamorphic LDs just as we have with DVD now.

Quality wise, they had digital audio and towards the end the same 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks and DTS were issued on LD discs. Picture was about twice that of VHS, but two-thirds DVD "officially", though I have some LDs that outshine their DVDs (my Men In Black and The Mask lasers are noticably cleaner than the DVDs even without anamorphic enhancement).

That's why so many folks have kept their LD collections intact. There are still several titles only on LD and many, many extras that will probably never see the light of DVD, or HD disc, day.

eBay is the best place for picking up a player and several old discs - all worth it to the right people!

Post by **ShyViolet** » November 16th, 2006, 7:42 am

Vi...many of DVD's features were "invented" by LaserDisc technology.

Chapter indexes (scene selection), alternative audio tracks (isolated music scores, filmmaker commentaries), bonus features (making of, deleted scenes, still frame galleries)...

...these were all around in LD's day. Instead of a main menu, you'd punch in the number of the scene you wanted to skip to and the laser would jump to it - just like a DVD!

Oh yeah, I knew that.

I just meant that it seemed strange to me at the time, since there were no DVDs yet then, this was around 1994-1995. All I knew was VHS.
I also never played records, I always had cassettes.

eBay is the best place for picking up a player and several old discs - all worth it to the right people!

Once I even thought about getting a player just so I could get my hands on those Disney laserdiscs through ebay--Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Little Mermaid, because they still had JK on them. (pre-1994)

But now it's so great 'cause I don't have to, since he was on the Mermaid DVD!

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » November 16th, 2006, 11:28 pm

I dunno.

I'm thinking of getting rid of a big chunk of BOTH my comic book and LD collections.

The stuff I really, really liked on LD, I'd like to archive on back-up DVD as soon as I get a decent DVD recorder with a hard-drive. I've got a new Mac that has a Pioneer DVD burner that can write onto DUAL-layer DVD media. Big advantage for those multi-LD sets of Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, and what-not.

I'm not really sad to have seen LD go away. 50 DVDs sure weight a lot less than even 20 LDs!

Post by **Ben** » November 17th, 2006, 7:05 am

That's true George, but I still love my LD collection. If you do decide to shift a chunk, PM or email me with what you have and let me make you an offer!!

Post by **ShyViolet** » November 22nd, 2006, 2:45 pm

I don't mean to sound ignorant, but can someone here explain to me exactly what "beta" was?

Post by **Ben** » November 22nd, 2006, 4:56 pm

Back in "the day", just as we have the whole world wanting to use HD-DVD and Sony trying to claim the same with Blu-Ray, they did it with VHS too.

In the mid-70s, you had JVC pushing VHS, and Sony (you guessed it) pushing Betamax, simply the same idea in another tape casing.

And as today, VHS was priced fairly and Betamax was very expensive.

Where JVC licensed their technology to others (Hitachi, Panasonic, etc), Sony kept it all in house. Where JVC allowed machines to be leased, Sony insisted that you buy their expensive machines.

Naturally, and although Betamax was technically a little superior, everyone bought the much more widely available, cheaper and rentable VHS machines, while Sony were stuck with a heap of slightly better but more expensive (and therefore unaffordable) Betamax decks.

Format War Number One won by everyone but Sony. The same that will happen, if anyone has any sense, with HD/Blu-Ray.

As for Betamax, they dropped the max, upped the quality and launched it as a pro tape format, BetacamSP which halved tape recording length but added twice the quality and is pretty much what everything mastered to tape on between the early 80s until the mid 90s was archived to.

After that, Digital Betacam (or DigiBeta) became the norm and is still the standard definition format of choice today.

There.

Post by **Daniel** » November 22nd, 2006, 4:57 pm

EDIT: nevermind Ben answered everything.

Post by **Akiko** » November 23rd, 2006, 4:51 am

Poor VHS!

It's still alive in my house, I've got so many VHS tapes I don't know what to do with 'em all. I'm a packrat, and I've kept many of the VHS tapes I grew up with for memory's sake, plus some things you simply can't get on DVD yet. While a DVD is technically better, how can you replace the memories held in your first copy of "The Lion King", complete with the bent in plastic sides on the package from the many times you opened it too roughly as a child.

I've noticed the downfall of VHS for some time now, and just last week when I went into a video rental store with a friend I noticed they had virtually all of their VHS tapes in tins near the front, selling them for one to two dollars. Naturally, I was drawn to the animation tin like a magnet. Found myself a tape of Rude Dog, the very same I used to rent from that place as a kid. Only $1.25.

This happens though, it happened with cassette tapes in the music department too. I'm just glad I still have a VCR as well as a disc player, gotta show my old, worn VHS tapes some love every now and again.

Post by **ShyViolet** » November 23rd, 2006, 1:56 pm

Thanks for that. Now I finally understand this Simpsons joke:

That criminal Guy Snake just robbed someone's house and stole a VCR. But then he looks down on it and says: "Oh, no! Beta!"

Ha Ha.

Yeah I know how you feel Akiko. I held on to some VHS tapes for a while, but then donated them to one of the dorms here that has a lounge with a TV/DVD/VCR.

But think about it: How much less creepier would "The Ring" have been if it had been a DVD and not a VHS?

There's just something about a VHS.

Post by **ShyViolet** » November 23rd, 2006, 3:14 pm

Couldn't NOT go to youtube with something like this:

For 1983, that's actually pretty advanced looking.

Post by **eddievalient** » November 29th, 2006, 8:02 pm

I still buy VHS tapes from yard sales and flea markets. Earlier this year, I got an old tape from the 80s that had all of the WWII cartoons of Donald Duck in the army! I missed getting the Front Lines dvd, so it was a treat to be able to see them. And last year, I was in my local video store and bought an old tape of "Asterix In Britain". Ya just never know when you're gonna find something cool.

Post by **Ben** » November 29th, 2006, 10:24 pm

I thought I wrote a reply to your VHS camera post - don't you realise how heavy those things were!!??

Eddie - the Front Lines set has so much more than the Donald cartoons - I'd seriously check it out if you can.

While I'm not collecting VHS any more (save for maybe one or two titles per year), I am still on the LaserDisc trail for several titles that haven't made it to DVD in decent form, or at all.