[PhilH36]

How long do you think it will be before shops stop stocking pre-recorded VHS or the tv/film companies stop releasing them? By the time dvds of Buffy and The X files were released I had bought all the VHS boxes available so I carried on collecting them on VHS in order to have them all on the same format. With ER I have seasons 1 thru 5 on VHS,it's been renewed to at least season 12,2005-2006. In other words do you think Warner or others will still be releasing VHS tapes to buy in 2006?

[dodgygeeza]

Personally I think the only thing keeping VHS in general alive is that they are recordable and cheap. You can get a cheap machine for about £60 now, wheras a DVD recorder is going to be somewhere in the region of £400. As soon as the price of DVD recorders comes down it's curtains for VHS as far as I'm concerned.

[KRX]

I think shops will gradually phase out pre-recorded VHS within a few years. The popularity of DVDs is continuing to grow (thanks to low cost DVD players which seem to get cheaper and cheaper). The demand for VHS will reduce, and shops will focus on DVD more (as demand for DVD gets bigger) ... plus a shop can stock more DVDs than VHS tapes because of there size (which can only be good for business).

[crazydave]

Last time i bought a VHS was 1997

Arent dvd players cheeper than VHS anyway?

[monkeysoup]

Walk into any HMV or Blockbuster and you can see the decline of VHS and the relentless expansion of DVD. Change is coming. All those people who maintained that they would only buy a DVD deck if it recorded must be finding the cheapness of players and discs harder to resist (think - a few years ago DVDs and VCRs were 300-quid odd each, now you can probably get both for 200 total). Change is coming...

Of course, what it really needs is for a studio to take a stand (like Warner briefly promised/threatened to with the original Matrix release) and put out a new release for rental and retail on DVD only. And in widescreen only, of course. Can't wait for that day...

[kev]

Quote:

Originally posted by monkeysoup
Walk into any HMV or Blockbuster and you can see the decline of VHS and the relentless expansion of DVD. Change is coming. All those people who maintained that they would only buy a DVD deck if it recorded must be finding the cheapness of players and discs harder to resist (think - a few years ago DVDs and VCRs were 300-quid odd each, now you can probably get both for 200 total). Change is coming...

I caved in a couple of months back.

Plus when i eventually get a DVD-R deck i can use my Pioneer DVD as a n MP£ and CD player

My VCR is used like a Tivo now - timeshifting only, so a Pace TWIN would be ideal for me, except i don't have the cash at present.

[monkeysoup]

Quote:

I caved in a couple of months back.

Think many people are starting to. Even using your PS2/Xbox for the odd rental or sales purchase beats VHS (which I now use only for the odd bit of timeshifting).

Don't think I know anyone who rents or buys movies and who doesn't have some box kicking around their house which can play DVDs.

[davey_do_little]

I think it will be like cassette tapes and players, they are still around today (just about), having survived CD and minidisk.

Things are a little different this time round though, DVD players are much cheaper than CD players were in the early days, infact will people still buy CD separates when they can get a DVD player which will play them?

Another thing surprises me, in about 1987 I bought my first VCR, and always remember my dad saying "what you want that for?" (dad's are always right remember?). Anyway, now hes marginally more advanced than me with his PC, and he has a DVD recorder! Times change.........

[monkeysoup]

Quote:

I think it will be like cassette tapes and players, they are still around today (just about), having survived CD and minidisk.

Hmm, must have missed the racks and racks of prerecorded cassetes last couple of hundred times I was in HMV. Tape as a format survived because it was portable as well as being cheap to record on. VCRs may still have their uses (for timeshifting and as doorstops), but as a way to watch new prerecorded film rentals/purchases? No thanks.

[pyphon]

as soon as the dvd-r drop the prices they will go (£750 at mo), the dvd-r's i mean are the ones where you can record onto dvd and play it in any machine, then re-write on it, cos some will only play on the machine it was recorded on.

[mpark]

Quote:

Originally posted by pyphon
as soon as the dvd-r drop the prices they will go (£750 at mo), the dvd-r's i mean are the ones where you can record onto dvd and play it in any machine, then re-write on it, cos some will only play on the machine it was recorded on.

£750? You're looking in the wrong places. £350 is more like it.

Murray

[pyphon]

the £350 will only play back on the machines they were recorded on, the £750 are better as they re-play on any machine

[mpark]

Quote:

Originally posted by pyphon
the £350 will only play back on the machines they were recorded on, the £750 are better as they re-play on any machine

You've been mis-informed.

For over a year now there have been recorders available in the £400-£500 range that will make DVDs that are playable on most DVD players. These have been dropping in price and are available in some places for closer to £350, partly because they'll soon be replaced by newer models.

Murray

[steven123]

i too cant see VHS being around that much longer, of course people will still have VCRs in their homes to record from TV for some time yet until recordable DVD becomes truly affordable but for pre recorded movies and TV there has been a huge shift to DVD and this will only continue.

The growth in popularity of DVD has been no doubt helped by the huge reduction in price we have seen in DVD players over the last few years now costing little more than £50 for a basic one less than the cost of 3 full price DVD movies! You dont even need to have a DVD player as such since consoles and PCs can do a respectable job of playing DVDs

I think its great that DVD has finally managed to overtake VHS for popularity, even before i had a DVD player i used to think that VHS recordings looked poor compared to the original TV broadcast and when i got my DVD player the difference in quality was unbelievable

[David (2)]

Quote:

Originally posted by crazydave
Last time i bought a VHS was 1997

Arent dvd players cheeper than VHS anyway?

A "cheap" DVD player from say Woolworths will cost about £70. But you can't record on these machines - that requires a DVD recorder, starting price £400. A basic VHS machine costs around £60.

[David (2)]

Pre-recorded VHS tapes will dry up over the next 2-3 years. Not all gone, but enough to say you *need* a DVD machine for pre-recorded stuff.

As for time shifting, this will take longer. Recordable DVD will be many people's 1st choice, but machines are still expensive, as are the blank discs. There are other issue's with this. Discs don't hold much (less than 2 hours in highest quality mode). DVD-RAM holds more, but you can't put that "cart" into a normal DVD player. Then you have DVD- and DVD+, 2 formats to choose from. All current DVD recorders only have a normal tv tuner. This is not good. They need a "dual" DTT/analogue tuner asap. Without that, you can't record one digital channel while viewing another digital channel.

The PVR is better, provided you don't need to "share" stuff. A built in hard disc is much bigger than any current DVD recorder, and holds many hours of content. A Sky+ Satellite PVR is good, but you have to have Sky Digital and you even pay extra (£10 a month for now) to use the record function. Pace offer the "twins" PVR for use with Freeview. No subscription on this, but you pay £350 up front, and it holds about half the amount of the Sky+ machine. Biggest problem is signal. If you can't get Freeview, then this machine is no good for you. Both PVR machines allow you to record one digital channel while viewing another digital channel. Both have their "hard discs" built in, so you can't record some thing and give it to a friend.