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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.
The advantages of the blanks should be clear enough... It's still not cheap/easy for most folks to record TV any other way.
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.
1: My wife is pregnant with twins, and as much as I'd like to get a DVD of the ultrasounds, they spend their money on staying abreast with the latest childcare technologies, just like they should. So I need VHS to take those ultrasounds home with me (just did this today, in fact);
;)
2: My grandparents (in their late 80s) were very reluctant to accept VCR technology; moving them to DVD will be impossible. And we want them to see the ultrasounds.
saying my dvd player is always flashing 12:00 just doesn't sound right.
For myself and a dozen million other people, VHS is still the cheapest easiest way to record TV programs. Yeah, yeah, I'm behind the tech curve because I don't TIVO or digitally record tv. I don't get tv via bit torrents and honestly, I just can't bring myself to spend the money or the time learning all of that. VCR. Put in Tape. Hit Record. Done.
This is not the way to build a lasting empire.
What is the major reason for people still sticking with VHS?
We'll always have our VCR because my wife has nearly every Disney movie ever made on VHS (sad, I know). And since we have a VCR, we can get our 5 year old VHS tapes that are often cheaper than DVDs. And honestly, they hold up quite a bit better with a 5 year old than DVDs and CDs do.
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I know a fanatic who refuses to watch movies on computer screen. He records Divx to VHS tapes and then watches them on TV, from the player.
Perverted, isn't it?
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I got my VHS 6 years ago when I moved out into my first flat. Naturally Iit had to be the cheapest one available. It contains one tape since half a year now and records my daily dose of Trek.
Easy. Programmed it once never runs out of tape. At the end it just rewinds and starts over. Quality is ok, as I don't need high definition to watch nice scifi stories before bedtime. I won't replace it unless it breaks.
I really like digital HD-recorders a la Tivo but I don't think my mum would throw away her extensive opera collection on VHS just yet.
I will replace mine, however, if it dies with a DVR. If, by the time, there is still one out there with a sane DRM policy that is...
What is the major reason for people still sticking with VHS?
Pornography, of course.
-kgj
-kgj
"What is the major reason for people still sticking with VHS?"
;-)
Easy, it gives me warmer, deeper, and groovier playback on my vintage VHS machine, compared to the over-produced, sterile playback of a DVD.
Say all you want, but I can just see and hear the difference, the resonance, the WARMTH. I just love tubes.
VHS is dying.
Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
It's where your kids keep the toast they didn't want to eat just yet.
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...is because Han shoots first like I remember! ;)
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Well, perhaps some of us don't cream our pants for every new technology. Perhaps some of us don't feel like cable is worth the cost, and therefore devices like Tivo are worthless. Perhaps some of us don't have DVD recorders. Perhaps some of us don't feel like making a "media center".
Perhaps some of us have VCRs that work, and don't feel like it's money well spent to invest in a something new which isn't useful to us. Perhaps some of us don't really like TV so that we consider it worthwhile to invest in something new when something we have works.
I really am insulted sometimes when people act as if I'm not doing my patriotic duty when I don't rush out and buy a 42" digital television and cable and tivo and x and y and z. My 20 year old zenith and VHS are good enough for me to watch a rented flick every now and then.
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1. Not everyone has a Tivo, and while people are recording programming on VHS, they are likely to pick up a VHS every now and then particularly becaus of point #2.
2. PRICE!!!! Have you priced VHS compared to DVDs? It's the same racket as cassettes versus CDs. They are more expensive to produce, like cassettes, but are usually a fraction of the price. Hmmmmm. While the prices of VHS are so much less than DVDs, there will still be a market, especially at discount places like Wal-mart.
Prof. Farnsworth - "Oh a lesson in not changing history from Mr I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!"
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?
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I've vaguely heard of VHS... isn't it a bit like Tivo?
Read reviews of shopping cart software
I want things I buy to last a long time. I am thrilled when I spend $100 on something and it doesn't need to be replaced in a year. There's a reason that earlier generations of American families had more money (well, net worth) than current generations, and while it is a GREAT oversimplification to boil it down to consumer tendencies, it is certainly one of the possible suspects.
I can't tell you how often I walk into a house and see a 20 year old TV or a 100 year old piece of furniture. I also can't tell you the last I thought to say "Man, that particular digital component was really well made...I shouldn't have to replace that for decades (not "years" or "months").
Older manufactured equipment was simply made better, and some of us prefer it to spending more of our liquidity on the latest and greatest (which, as stated above, tends to be more poorly made and hence, more quickly replaced).
If this post sounds a little "that's the way it was in my day, and WE LIKED IT", too bad....it's simply a reflection of my own anecdotal experience and preferences.
Umm, I have 20 year old VHS tapes. Most of my 7 year old DVDs have issues. You have that argument reversed, although the rest are valid. Do some googling on DVD rot- the oxide layers on most cds and dvds die in under a decade.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
also, as someone who is leaving work early right now to go to an ultra-sound to find out the sex of my incoming baby, they will record the ultrasound for you, but only if you bring your own VHS tape.
/* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
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.
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Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
But isn't that the best argument for the death of VHS? More specifically, isn't pornography on the Internet the death knell for the VHS? Seriously, no longer do you have to stand the humiliation of having to go rent a pornographic video.
Two points here.
First, I've got favorite mix tapes on VHS. I'm too lazy or whatever to digitize them.
Second, I got over the humiliation, with practice. Stand tall, look the clerk in the eye, make your purchase -- it's just business. Moreover, it seems that while Americans are fettered by sexual shame, most Europeans have an open attitude about the matter. Granted, I'm an American -- but I'm no less a man than any Euro-porn-hound, I tell you what.
-kgj
-kgj
DVDs are great, unless you have kids. My kids have magically found a way to scratch nearly every DVD I have either owned or rented. CDs too.
VHS tapes are cheaper, and don't get scratched. A kid has to get past the back-flap on the VHS to get at the tape, which - while not being Fort Knox by any means - seems to (thusfar) have prevented them from damaging any of my VHS tapes.
The day they invent the scratch-proof DVD is the day I stop buying and renting VHS. Until then, I only rent DVDs when either the VHS is unavailable, or the extra content with the DVD is extremely compelling.
Play XVID, DIVX, DVD, MP3, SVCD, KVCD, etc etc all for $55 at walmart.
Then join groups.yahoo.com dvp642 and download one of the many hacked firmwares.
Region free, no macrovision, skip any previews, change the backround image, etc etc.