Further evidence of the inevitable demise of VHS tape

[Calhoun07]

VHS will be next to dead in a few years, relegated to a small section in a few stores, and only a few titles at that. And further proof of that is that US anime companies are now releasing more and more DVD only releases. Big O, Love Hina, and Pilot Candiate, among others, will be DVD only releases. And I know that there are other companies out there that are going to be going this route for their titles as well.

[James Harvey]

I read that -- and think it's great! Within a few years, VHSs will only be around for rentals, and DVDs wil be for rental/purchases. Just like now, except a bit mroe extreme. I like it. DVD really makes a good movie experience, and makes numerous watchings a pleasure. VHS is...getting stagnant...

[don Jaime]

I think VHS has a way to go yet, but that's because writable DVDs aren't readily available. Once you can convert your kid's home movies from tape to disc with the push of a button, then VHS's days are numbered.

[Calhoun07]

things I will never miss about VHS tape is color drop outs that can appear on the tape, tracking problems, the image bending at the top of the screen, tape getting eaten or wrinkled, and having to rewind the stupid things. DVD, of course, offers so much more than that, but those were the most annoying things about VHS.

[RockItShipper]

Originally posted by don Jaime
I think VHS has a way to go yet, but that's because writable DVDs aren't readily available. Once you can convert your kid's home movies from tape to disc with the push of a button, then VHS's days are numbered.

Also, all my Japanese monster shows are on VHS. I'm moving towards DVD whenever a new CCS or an interesting Ranma comes out, but it's an issue when my two fave shows are VHS only. Episodes of Pokemon and Digimon are out on DVD, but not in the format I want. Plus, I've grown fond of watching 'em with the original commercials. There's one that implies a teen boy fathered a child with a snack food.

[James Harvey]

When you say that Pokemon and Digimon are not released how you like, can you specifiy. I thought Digimon was being released by season, and Pokemon in episode order. Personally, I think all shows should be released by season, not dumb BEST OF...

[RockItShipper]

Originally posted by DickGrayson
When you say that Pokemon and Digimon are not released how you like, can you specifiy. I thought Digimon was being released by season, and Pokemon in episode order. Personally, I think all shows should be released by season, not dumb BEST OF...

I mean as in uneditted sub format or at least as a option of DVD play mode. But I know I'm not the target audience for either show, so as long as I have some source that works for me, it's not that big a deal. I am trying to pick up Japanese anyway. And it's nice being a year ahead with Pokemon, and 12 episodes into the 3rd season of Digimon.

[Mr. Obsession]

Originally posted by calhoun07
...further proof of that is that US anime companies are now releasing more and more DVD only releases. Big O, Love Hina, and Pilot Candiate, among others, will be DVD only releases. And I know that there are other companies out there that are going to be going this route for their titles as well.

That would be because Bandai announced that by 2002 they will only be releasing on DVD, ADV & Pioneer by 2002 or 3 and the rest are will follow shortly. Not that it bothers me much as I buy all my anime (and everything else) on DVD, the best of everything. I can sit-down and watch the dub, watch it again in the sub, then watch it again in the dub with sub captures to compare the two. Plus the extras. My only hope is that with DVD becoming the media of choice the price will come down.

I don't think VHS will go away for awhile, at least the blank tapes. I still need a cheep method to record everything I want to watch but don't have the time for, or will miss do to work and stuff.

[Calhoun07]

Originally posted by RockItShipper
I've grown fond of watching 'em with the original commercials. There's one that implies a teen boy fathered a child with a snack food.

You too? I've always thought this would be a neat feature on DVD releases of TV toons, especially the older toons, putting the vintage original commercials on there that you could either watch as bonus material or you could choose the seemless branching method and select to watch them at the appropriate commercial breaks during the cartoons. And if advertisers got into this, it could drive the prices of DVDs down if they were paying to get their old commercials on the DVDs! I would like it, anyway. And while I may not watch the cartoons with the commercials every time I watch the DVD, I think it would be a fun, original bonus feature to have.

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by Mr. Obsession
I don't think VHS will go away for awhile, at least the blank tapes. I still need a cheep method to record everything I want to watch but don't have the time for, or will miss do to work and stuff. Yhes VHS will be around till they perfect DVD recording. Personally I go far DVD's too or SVHS since hell alot of DVDs come from a SVHS tape since it is still heavly used in the industry since SVHS tapes are cheaper then burning DVDs (of course mass produced DVDs are cheaper)

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by calhoun07
You too? I've always thought this would be a neat feature on DVD releases of TV toons, especially the older toons, putting the vintage original commercials on there

Ah, like TVLand's "retrommercials," which are just about the ONLY commercials I will pause to watch.

[Calhoun07]

Originally posted by Maxie Zeus


Ah, like TVLand's "retrommercials," which are just about the ONLY commercials I will pause to watch.

Exactly. And these were collected on VHS tapes from time to time, proving there is a market out there for them. Putting the original commericals for cartoons on DVDs (but it MUST be done with seemless branching!) would increase their market potential. I think adults who may not think of their favorite cartoons as worthy of buying on DVD may think again if they knew they could watch the same commercials they saw when they were kids. People love this stuff! It would sell!

[James Harvey]

VHS will be around for awhile, but it'll down to the status of cassette tapes today. There are recordable CDs out there now, but blank cassette tapes are still around. I still use blank cassette tapes, as I prefer them over writable CDs. DVDs are a fast growing medium, thankfully. I can't wait to see what's around the bend.

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by calhoun07
Exactly. And these were collected on VHS tapes from time to time, proving there is a market out there for them.

What commercials (individual, or generally for some toy or product brand) from your youth would you like to see again?

I can't think of any offhand, otherwise I'd put this up in a new thread. Anyone who has an answer is welcome to the topic.

[Calhoun07]

I think the original commercials for the Star Wars toys would be a blast to see again. This is an awfully hard question to answer, because commercials rarely stick out in our mind like TV shows and movies, but when we see something from our youth, we like it. One commercial that was hands down my favorite as a kid was the Connect Four game. "Sneaky move, sis!" was a catch phrase my sister and I used all the time.

[DR. BELCH]

--if I sound like a know-nothing mook, but is it possible to transfer material from VHS to DVD? If so, I could shrink my gargantuan tape library to a mere few disks and burn some CD's the way I want them--like all the Exorcist movies on one disk, all the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th flicks on their own disks, one for Monty Python and one for The Three Stooges--you see my point. I have tapes I've made that go back to the eighties, I think, and g.d. if I even know what's on half of the dozens of tapes in my drawers.
A teenage father and a snack food mother? I'll never look at Mrs. Butterworth quite the same way again...or that piece of jailbait with the umbrella on the salt box.... :p

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by DR. BELCH
--if I sound like a know-nothing mook, but is it possible to transfer material from VHS to DVD? If so, I could shrink my gargantuan tape library to a mere few disks and burn some CD's the way I want them--like all the Exorcist movies on one disk, all the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th flicks on their own disks, one for Monty Python and one for The Three Stooges--you see my point. I have tapes I've made that go back to the eighties, I think, and g.d. if I even know what's on half of the dozens of tapes in my drawers.
A teenage father and a snack food mother? I'll never look at Mrs. Butterworth quite the same way again...or that piece of jailbait with the umbrella on the salt box.... :p Yes you can but you would need a DVD burner and they are far from cheap

[RockItShipper]

Originally posted by DR. BELCH
A teenage father and a snack food mother? I'll never look at Mrs. Butterworth quite the same way again...or that piece of jailbait with the umbrella on the salt box.... :p

That what it seems like. A teen boy is pointing out a snack food to a friend. There's 2 pieces, a tall one and a baby. They turn around, revealing a face on the baby. Brown eyes, actual nose. The friend turns to the boy and points accusingly, even making some "Aha!" kinda sound. The first boy looks mortified.

This commercial airs during Pokemon in Japan.

[James Harvey]

My tape collection is also massive, and having a writeable ld help cut back on space and tapes. I got all the pisodes for SPIDER-MAN, X-MEN, BATMAN, SUPERMAN, BATMAN BEYOND, FANTASTIC FOUR, IRON MAN, SILVER SURFER, GARGOYLES, INVASION: AMERICA, SPIDER UNLIMTED (Even I don't know why I taped this), X-MEN: EVOLUTION (ditto), MEN IN BLACK, some good JACKIE CHAN ADVENTURES, RUSTY THE BOY ROBOT, ROUGHNECKS: STARSHIP TROOPERS, REN & STIMPY, SPAWN, and a bunch of other animation specials...you could see where I have a bit of trouble finding room...but havin gthose all on DVD would be so very nice...

[Calhoun07]

Originally posted by calhoun07
One commercial that was hands down my favorite as a kid was the Connect Four game. "Sneaky move, sis!" was a catch phrase my sister and I used all the time.

Not that I think anybody cares, but that quote never sat right with me. I believe it was, "Very sneaky, sis!" One of the best lines from the 70's, right up there with the singing ladies "I hope you get heartburn!" Oh...the memories come back!

[Calhoun07]

I could certainly free up a lot of space in my place if I could transfer my VHS tapes to DVD as well, but I wonder how much would the picture quality improve, if you could improve it at all? I would hate to have a crappy VHS copy on an expensive DVD burner.

[RockItShipper]

Originally posted by calhoun07
I could certainly free up a lot of space in my place if I could transfer my VHS tapes to DVD as well, but I wonder how much would the picture quality improve, if you could improve it at all? I would hate to have a crappy VHS copy on an expensive DVD burner.

I've heard it's apparent when you've burned VHS onto DVD. A friend of mine got a bootleg DVD and soon figured out it came from a video source, with the lines and such.

[Calhoun07]

I get the feeling the only thing recordable DVDs will work best for are MPG4s (which are said to be to video quality what MP3s are to audio quality) and on digital TV. But in the future, Dick and I and others will be able to download any TV show we want on demand anyway and record it digitally, so the VHS question will be rather moot by then.

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by RockItShipper

I've heard it's apparent when you've burned VHS onto DVD. A friend of mine got a bootleg DVD and soon figured out it came from a video source, with the lines and such. On EP it is very noticeable but on SP you could get away with it

[i]Originally posted by calhoun07
I get the feeling the only thing recordable DVDs will work best for are MPG4s (which are said to be to video quality what MP3s are to audio quality) and on digital TV. But in the future, Dick and I and others will be able to download any TV show we want on demand anyway and record it digitally, so the VHS question will be rather moot by then. SVHS tapes look good on DVDs too. But still even then people will still need a cheap way to record and if DVD is not it then VHS will probably still be around.

[Calhoun07]

I am optimistic. I believe WB knows that fans want Batman, Superman, and Batman Beyond on DVD, and will do something about it. Maybe not this year, or next, but hopefully, one day, will realize the cash cow they are sitting on and do something about it.