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Variety Declares VHS Dead
An anonymous reader writes "Variety has written an obituary for the VHS format only 3 years after it was surpassed in popularity by the DVD." While VHS is hardly the format of choice these days, there are still many, many home movies and other favorite recordings and commercial releases floating around in VHS. How long until VHS players themselves go the way of the 8-track player?
From the /. summary:
Did I miss the memo? Is there some danger around the 8-track and availability. Please... ... ... click
... ..., someone tell me this isn't so! Have I invested all
this money on all these artists and their tapes... ... ...click
for naught? Sigh.
How long until VHS players themselves go the way of the 8-track player?
With the cost of storage plummeting and the rise of digital distribution and on-demand services, the real question should be: "How long until physical distribution of media goes the way of the 8-track player?"
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Still around, still useful, just not commonplace.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Well, as long as I have a huge collection of videos with films and stuff recorded off the TV, and until a usable alternative for recording from the TV that I own and control becomes available, VHS is going to be in my house for quite a bit longer.
I suspect that film studios would like to see the back of VHS and any format that allows easy recording, but it's what people want and why it really accelerated into such a popular format.
VHS won't die until the HTPC appliance fully matures, and a DRM-free medium is adapted en masse, and can record both NTSC and ATSC. DVD recordable is almost there, but is less flexible than an HTPC and won't record high-def, so why bother upgrading? Tivo almost has it, except tivo decides how long you can keep recordings (in some cases at least), NOT you, PLUS it requires a monthly subscription and either a land line or ethernet connection to phone home. Also, Tivo makes it FAR to difficult to record say, Smallville or Desperate Housewives or whatever it is you and your friends all want to watch, then take that recording over to a friend's house or simply lend it out. It's FAR to difficult for the average joe to record a show for you while you're on vacation and then give you the timeshifted content.
I think that VHS will be around until the HTPC is easy to use, DRM-free, HDTV capable, AND the public is made aware of it. Myth is so close, and yet so far, because it is a royal pain in the ass to set up, and the easy-to-configure distribution (Knoppmyth) is fully two generations behind when it comes to chipset and video card support.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
You can get movies that are only available on VHS. Or if you have a security system based on VHS recording and you actually get around to switching everything over to DVR. Or if your VHS player dies and you can not find a replacement.
Life was hell, then I discovered Linux...
Why are we paying credence to the likes of Variety on a geek site? And frankly, who cares what they think?
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
It'll happen when broadband becomes as ubiquitous and as reliable as electricity. We have a loooong way to go before that happens.
Well, what I take as a pretty serious indicator is the fact that the prices of VHS tape drives is rising, due to the economies of scale going away. Surveillance customers who were buying machines for $300/unit in January are paying upwards of $500/unit now.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Don't you think that you should wait more than 20 minutes before stealing other people's posts (not mine, but one I replied to) for Karma?
8 78422 @ 6:25pm
Reference : http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=207016&cid=16
And shame on you.
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
That's okay, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are dead too. Oh, and WoW is lame.
C'mon, kids!!! What'll die next? The Zune? The PS3? The PS2? The PS1? The PS4? The Dreamcast? CompactFlash? The mouse? Vista? Slackware? XP? Caldera? Slashdot? Digg? MSDN? Web 2.0? Web 1.0? Internet2? Token Ring? IPv6? Episodic gaming? Non-episodic gaming? In-game ads? The PowerPC? Cell? Core duo? Core trio? Earth? Caprica? The Death Star? SCO? Novell? Red Hat? Sony? IE? Firefox? IceWeasel? The Pirate Bay? Mmmm. Okay, I'm bored. Continue below if you wish.
perl -e 'foreach(values %SIG){$_="IGNORE";}while(){}'
How long until VHS players themselves go the way of the 8-track player?
Until I can buy a DVD-RW recorder or a hard drive recorder for my TV that's under $50. Until then, I'll keep using my VCR to record my favorite shows every week.
...is that I NEVER had a bad rental tape. More than half the DVDs I've rented have had problems of varying impact. If VHS is dying please bring on convenient downloads because I don't think I'll ever rent a DVD again.
The meme police, They live inside of my head
TrisexualPuppy has made a habit of stealing other people's posts and posting them as his/her/its own. On at least one occasion, they have taken multiple posts made by other people and tried to combine them in an effort to produce "originality".
Given their disrespect for other people's intellectual property, I suspect they're some sort of RIAA official.
My daughter figured out how to play the VHS tape of her choice when she was about 14 months old. The process was simple - just jam a durable tape into the big slot, and kick back and watch some Baby Einstein. If the tape won't go in, press the little eject button, remove the old tape and try again. Piece of cake!
6 months later, she's still working on DVDs. Getting one out of the package is a challenge in itself, and the discs must be handled gently with clean hands (usually we can manage one of those at a time). She knows which button opens the tray, but she's still working on getting the disc centered in the tray, and right side up. The tray is flimsy, and she's almost ripped it off at least once. Even if she gets a disc into the player, she still has to deal with the DVD menu interface or at least press the play button at the appropriate time. This whole process is far from toddler-friendly, but she is determined to figure it out, and I'm willing to let her keep trying as long as she's supervised.
She's fast though, and last week, before I could stop her, she jammed a DVD into the VCR with great satisfaction after getting frustrated trying to get it to play. For the record, a DVD will fit fully into a VCR, and it took me 10 minutes and a pair of needle nose pliers to get it out.
You paid for the 8-tracks which includes a fair use license for the music. Just rip the music off to Audio Compact Discs or MP3s and destroy the 8-tracks. If you have any questions, just contact the RIAA which will assist you in preserving your rights.