Is VHS Dead in the Water?

Apparently a new and inexpensive coating has been developed which may be used on CD/DVD discs (and will work with existing players/writers). The delevopers couldn't even scratch it with a screwdriver, so the old problem of sratched discs may not be around for much longer.

I think thats them on their way out now but hopefully not for a few years yet because we haven't got a DVD recorder yet lol but i'm sure everyone will in 10-15 years! I certainly prefer DVDs than VHS because
1) Much better sound/picture quality
2) Easier to operate
3) Extras!

Now that i have a DVD player I just get DVDs and when I get a DVD recorder I will probably get recordable DVDs.
But I still think that videos aren't that bad - some times the quality is good (sonys!)

Yup some VHS recorders are very good quality, mine in perticular is brilliant quality and kicks out a really good Stereo sound.

Another thing about DVDs is, that you can't fast forward through the annoying promos and station logos they put on the beginning, argggh!

That is annoying isn't it!

Yes the one thing I find annoying on DVD's, BBC's are the worst. For example if I watch a single episode of Red Dwarf. The Episode Ends. It goes back to the episode menu. I turn off the DVD Player. Turn it back on again. I go straight into the episdoe menu select an episode. The copyright information screen then comes up followed by the BBC logo & I have to go through all that boll*cks again.

Minder DVD's used to let you fast forward them but the last couple of sereis won't.

I don't own a DVD player and have never actually watched one properly - apart from on display in shops/exhibitions and such like. True story. Noggin is right; this is a profit and Christmas marketing driven exercise on behalf of the retailer in question.

Having said that I'm desparate to move away from my manky old VHS tapes. They need to be looked after, and (hell mend me) I just never bothered. They are pretty old though. I still have 1979 (or was it 1980) Christmas programmes on tape from our first toploading Ferguson Videostar. It had a cabled remote control with a slow speed linear slider. Fab it was. I took it when I moved out to drama school in 1989 and it worked great. In fact I'm sure it still does.

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Oh god we had one of those -- it was the size of a microwave. Dunno where it is now.

It was such a novelty that our next vcr rewound a tape in under twenty minutes. The little plastic numbers clicked round so slowly if the tape was at its end, you could've done it quicker with a biro.

Mind you I don't have any tapes since that have recorded as clearly as that vcr did -- but tapes were much thicker then.

Surely most people will take years to transfer home videos/recorded programmes to dvd -- if ever. If it's as much fuss as in that yellow pages advert years ago I certainly can't be arsed.

I bet it wasn't the size of our first microwave. That was the size of a dishwasher.



You are right. Our second vcr had all sorts of professional features - like audio dubbing and insert editing. I always found it odd that newer videos could do less and less - and had less and less buttons. I understand why now, but at the time it struck me as rather backwards.

I dont have a DVD player so I hope the VHS isnt on the way out

One thing I'd say- don't EVER buya DVD player for less than 60 quid. We bought one from asda for 40 quid, and we've had noting but trouble with it. We had to replace it once because it ate a disc then refused to switch back on, and the replacement's hardly any better- refusing to play disks, stopping halfway through, palying some episodes but not others, refusing to aknowledge theres even a DVD in the player etc..... A nigtmare- I'm on the verge of taking a hammer to it. Whereas we haven't had a single problem with the one we payed over 100 quid for (A Hitatchi one from Comet though- not a cheapo Pacific one from ASDA).

One of the reasons I'm holding out for a DVD recorder is because I don't want to pay £150 for a "cheap" one to find out it's crap. I'd rather wait until a higher range one is around that sort of price.

I've got a DVD player but not a recorder.We've still got our betavideo by the way.Takes ages to set up but its worth it if it means i can watch the end of 50 years of the BBC with the TV50 trailer and the BBC1 globe!
I want a DVD Recorder though.One of the reasons i want it is to convert Videos to DVD! They're getting cheap now aren't they? Maybe next christmas.