Variety Declares VHS Dead 339
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?
hey, wait a minute! (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:hey, wait a minute! (Score:5, Funny)
Will no-one rid me of this flashing clock?
Don't worry (Score:3, Interesting)
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I'm impressed. Not only are you completely wrong, but you're so creatively wrong. Tell the truth, were you being deliberately silly, or did you really think this?
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Reference : http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=207016&cid=16
And shame on you.
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Given their disrespect for other people's intellectual property, I suspect they're some sort of RIAA official.
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You're bang-on there... They also have to fall in price. My parents 'program' their VCR all the time, and they bought it for $40 from Future Shop. VCRs have a huge anount of functionality for a very low price.
the real question (Score:5, Insightful)
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?"
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Re:the real question (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:the real question (Score:4, Interesting)
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A lot of it has to do with the specific type of voting machine used. I've heard stories of some really bad designs from people who voted in different areas last week, but it can be done...not necessarily right, but at least better.
The machines that my district has used for the last ~2 years are pain to us
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The real answer (Score:5, Insightful)
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You live an -hour- from a Blockbuster and you have internet fast enough to download DVD quality videos with ease?
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and how much own a dvd player??
Re:the real question (Score:4, Interesting)
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2010 called, they want their comment back
Re:the real question (Score:5, Funny)
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In other words, a used computer?
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Your computer has a VCR deck built into it?
I don't think even the Amiga had one of those.
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remember tapes? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Oh yeah,
Load "*",8,1
I never new really what that meant, but i knew the result was I could get a list of all the programs on the disk, and then i could run defender! Or Zork!
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More like the cassette than 8-track. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:More like the cassette than 8-track. (Score:5, Insightful)
Hmm, I wonder how commonplace it is. I still use mine. Not so much to watch movies, but I will record things and watch them. I just don't have that big of a desire or need to get a DVR. I had a friend that used his VCR a LOT. He had probably 100 video tapes of things he had taped that he needed to watch. He upgraded to TiVO, and now he has a more compact way of recording things that he never watches. I honestly don't know what people are recording. I watch about 3 shows, and if I miss them, I miss them - whooptie doo. I just can't really justify the cost of a DVR. But then again, I don't understand why people spend $1200+ on a television, or $300 on a video card for their computer.
Re:More like the cassette than 8-track. (Score:5, Insightful)
We have a recorder here and often I wonder if the old model was better designed for the task.
It was rare a tape just broke.
Sure, it would get slowly grainy and you could basically get one final watch out of them.
The DVDs suck because one error can fuck up the entire show.
I hope NTL hurry up and bring out a PVR.
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I was planning to get a DVD recorder instead of a DVR/PVR if my old VCR ever dies.
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We have had programs showing up lasting -96 hours (or similar unrealistic figures) which were completely unusable.
Mind you, this seems no different to the experience I have had with dvd-rw's.
YMMV
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These days, people spend $300 on a video card so that six months later they can replace it and wire the little fan from it onto an old USB cable and make a USB fan to blow cool air at them when they're playing whatever FPS is in vogue.
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I think tonight I am going to just stick a $150 eyeTV hybrid on my satellite box and forget about the VCR, I forgot to change the tape two nights in a row.
Cassettes/VHS not dead for many (Score:3, Insightful)
http://naks.com/ [naks.com]
I imagine the use of video and cassette tapes is still very active outside the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
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VHS? Dead? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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8-Track (Score:3, Insightful)
VHS, on the other hand, didn't have any cute annoyances. It wasn't a great standard, but it had no major drawbacks. And for that reason, I don't expect it's nostalgia to hang on nearly so long.
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And one of my decks has a fast-forward
And a pause button, rewind would make a god-awful mess tho, hehe.
I am worse than an 8-track buff, I am a QUADraphonic 8-track buff
hehe, Quad recorder with a 4-channel dolby box and 2 EQs. I need to make some mix tapes one of these days.
If I could format shift the VHS easily I would but there is nothing to format shift my QUAD tapes to nor would I
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Yeah, but.... (Score:2, Insightful)
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Most people don't have "high-traffic" needs. Plus, even at its best, VHS quality is hardly palatable anymore.
Mass adoption (Score:3, Insightful)
Variety Confirms It (Score:2, Troll)
VHS won't die until. . . (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:VHS won't die until. . . (Score:4, Insightful)
Most purchasers these days don't care about DRM and have no idea what NTSC or ATSC are. Those who do know NTSC don't know what ATSC is.
DVD recordable is almost there, but is less flexible than an HTPC and won't record high-def, so why bother upgrading?
I agree that DVD*R is pretty much DOA, mainly because it was just too complicated for a lot of people though.
Tivo almost has it, except...
tivo decides how long you can keep recordings (in some cases at least), NOT you
Well, it is a FIFO setup, at least for content that you select, although not all DVRs work this way. But that's usually okay, and given the choice many people would prefer dropping the oldest footage they've asked for rather than the newest. In any case, if you try to put 22 hours of content into a 20 hour space, 2 hours of it are going to be lost.
PLUS it requires a monthly subscription and either a land line or ethernet connection to phone home.
Well, that's for namebrand Tivo. Almost all cable companies offer DVRs. Besides, compared to the cost of cable/sattelite, most people don't care about a Tivo subscription fee if they make use of the Tivo-specific features.
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
Yup. Turns out that most of your friends probably have DVRs too. Those who don't, generally don't care. Those who do care will come and visit you to watch it if its that important.
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.
So what? With many providers, you can just go online and add it yourself. Besides, unlike a traditional VCR you've probably set up a Season Pass to record what you want before you leave the house in the first place.
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.
DVRs are easy to use, HDTV capable, and the public is aware of them. And almost nobody outside of
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Never The Same Colo(u)r.
Always The Same Colo(u)r?
I know, really it's Network Television Standard Comittee, but no idea what ATSC is.
Until I googled it: Advanced Television Standard Committee.
But you are right about "most purchasers", though.
Not FIFO- flagged (Score:2)
if I snagged something on vhs five years ago, I still have it.. tivo can set it so you lose something X hours after recording it.. even if you mark it as save until deleted.
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Oh, wait.
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Since VHS cannot reco
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MythTV is pretty godawful. Why is the setup like 20 pages of crap that I have no interest in changing, or even knowing about? Knoppmyth is similarly bad, and the process of installing the ivtv driver for Hauppauge cards is way too complex, extracting firmware from a Windows driver package.
OTOH, Sa
8-tracks live! (Score:2)
Some of us still have 8-track minds [8trackheaven.com].
VHS will die when... (Score:3, Insightful)
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It can't ever go the way of 8-track (Score:2)
* This metaphor was brought to you by Sluggy Freelance [sluggy.com]. Remember - a metaphor is a simile that's grown up.
This is shocking news (Score:2, Funny)
Great source of a slashdot article (Score:5, Insightful)
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No problem! (Score:5, Funny)
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.
VHS to 8 Track - Bad Analogy (Score:2, Insightful)
but... (Score:2)
Just kidding, almost half is on DVD now tho not neccessarily the best half
I'm not dead yet (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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Then I found a great deal on a Tivo (80-hour unit and a year of service for $125). It's great, easy enough for my wife to use and not ask directions, and it records the shows every time they are on.
I've definately come around and becom
The one thing I'll miss about VHS... (Score:4, Insightful)
Cheap DVD Recorders (Score:2)
Variety is a bunch of idiots (Score:2)
Tape Decks & Turntables Are Still Around (Score:2)
However, in the audio field there's a few perks to analog. You have DJs who want vinyl, collectors who love vinyl as a format, and folks who believe analog tape (usually in the form of reel to r
Hoooraaay!!! (Score:2)
Cueing is easier on VHS (Score:2, Interesting)
What about Tammy and the T-Rex? (Score:2)
Still use them. (Score:2)
I do have a computer with a HDTV tuner PCI card [www.bbti.us] ($40) that works in both in Linux and Windows.
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Dead? Someone tell Sony... (Score:2)
I think VHS will last at least as long (Score:2)
VHS is still alive and well in our house. (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Future Variety headline (Score:2)
miniDV (Score:2)
Why do I get the impression that camera manufacturers will be charging exorbitant prices for small capacity hard drives?
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Re:Consider the source... if you can understand th (Score:2)
While I would normally agree with you, the linked article is surprisingly free of any such lingo and uses relatively normal English. In short, RTFA :)
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Mostly because it's so gratuitous. Where normal people would use "comedy," they write "laffer," which in addition to not being an actual word, isn't even any shorter! They use the word "actioner," which my brain always interprets as "auctioneer" at first glance. But at least that saves some characters compared to "action movie," so I can sort of va
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Therein lies the problem: You need good tapes (and tapes will wear out, and with no new ones...), and a good VCR (many suck). On top of that, VHS HiFi stereo really isn't all that great. It's not as bad as VHS linear mono (shudder), but it's not like vinyl or anything. And there's no surround sound support (no, "Dolby 2.0 surround" doesn't count). Dolby 5.1 at 448kbps is not that b
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