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Reports of VHS's Death Highly Exaggerated
aicrules writes "What does it take to ensure that a technology choice will remain relevant and available to the general public? Well, being sold by Wal-Mart is certainly pretty high on that list. According to a CNN/Money article, Wal-Mart Stores will continue to sell VHS tapes for as long as its customers want them. With Best Buy, Circuit City, and Target all dropping sales of the VHS medium, how long can VHS hold out? What is the major reason for people still sticking with VHS?"
There's a poll in the article asking " Are you planning to replace your VCR with a DVD player? "
I guess that sums up why VCR and VHS tapes are still selling, because while DVD players are pretty advanced and cheap right now, DVD recorders are still expensive to most households, and what are consumers going to do with their precious VHS tapes?
What is required is a VHS+DVD recorder with easy to use interface to transfer VHS to DVD, that'll be the first step to move consumers away from VHS.
I'm moving all my CDs to DVDs. It's pretty easy to do that with a software, and let's not forget that my DVD writer is also capable of reading old CDs, that's why I didn't think so much while buying a DVD writer.
I suppose if technology moves too quickly without sufficient transitional period, older technology might get a chance to stay longer.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
If it remains profitable to sell it then I don't see why it will disappear. Some shops might find out that the demand is not worth stocking VHS but on the other hand some stores might come up that only cater for the VHS clients. Somehow a la Vinyl. If the demand persists.
It's also pretty annoying to fast forward a DVD when the stupid thing just puts up a big red X icon and forces you to watch crap you don't care about.
Morphing Software
Let's see. The vast majority of households already have VCR technology.
There is a huge installed base of players and media.
It's the only recording technology the average home consumer understands and is willing to invest time in. My mom can record on a VCR. The letter PVR and DVR don't mean anything to her.
It's only in the last few years that 1.44" floppy drives are no longer included in PCs by default. I personally haven't had data on a floppy in quite some time, I've still recently used 'em for boot disks.
TV stations have been using video cassette to archive video for as long as we've had them.
Why does someone always get shocked by the fact that technology which has been massively accepted by the consumer market doesn't suddenly go away overnight just because someone else builds something new??
Hell, how many people do you know who own manual (or even electric) type-writers.
Despite what you've read in Wired magazine, a new digital technology doesn't automatically obviate and replace and older, clunkier technology. Sometimes the sheer inertia of that old technology takes a while to get rid of.
Heck, how many Windows 3.11 or Window 95 boxes are still out there?
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
More accurate version:
VCR: Find show in guide. Enter show time information into user interface that has not been improved since mammoths roamed the Earth. Look for blank tape. Stare at tape and wonder what was on it. Put in tape. Hit record. Hope scheduled time for show does not change if it's a recurring recording for a series.
Tivo. Find show in guide. Hit record. Done.
One of the main reasons I prefer to watch movies at home rather than the theater is because of the ads. I don't want to sit thru 15 minutes of ads before I watch a movie. Guess what? I've never bought a VCR tape of a movie that has ads on it. Guess what? I've never tried to fast forward through something at the beginning of a VCR tape and have my player tell me "NO! the maker of this DVD insists that you have to watch an ad first! Just because you bought it does not mean you can skip the ads! Sucker!"
I record TV shows to DVD and buy shows on DVD that I know don't have ads on them, but for the most part I prefer VCR. I'd rather forgo the convenience of not having to rewind if it means I am not supporting a system that will eventually be used to force me to play more ads in my home. I'm sick to death of all the inane chatter and insipid "buy me and you'll be cool" shit. I'm sure as hell not going to pay for more of it.
Oh yeah, and VCR tapes, despite being more expensive to manufacture, are cheaper (even if you factor in the cost of a blank DVD for me to encode it on).
According to About.com, it affects only a small % of discs. Of course, like all digital data, replication is essential to keeping eternal life (despite the best efforts of the MPAA to stop you ;) ). More about the overalarming cries of DVD rot from PC Magazine, Manifest Technologies, and Enterprise Networks and Servers.
Your 20 year old VHS tapes should have suffered significant quality loss by now. It doesn't have to be defective to go bad; VHS slowly goes bad on its own.
"This wallpaper is killing me. One of us has got to go." -- Oscar Wilde on his deathbed