The bell tolls for VHS tape releases

[question everything]

Long Beach Press Telegram

The bell tolls for VHS tape releases

Wal-Mart, Target will scale back their stocks of the eclipsed format
By Greg Hernandez
Staff writer

Wal-Mart and Target will virtually clear their shelves of VHS tapes, except for major new releases, the chains confirmed Monday, a move that underscores the country's shift to digital entertainment.

The moves, which follow the leads of Best Buy and Circuit City, are a major sign that videocassettes are quickly vanishing from the retail scene now that there is at least one or more DVD players in more than 60 percent of U.S. homes. When DVD computer capability is figured in, the number soars to 73 percent.

More..
http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21478~2918880,00.html#

[malmapus]

1. I'm still wondering what happened to BETA

heh

[AlCzervik]

5. beta had a better picture imo, at least thats what the saleman told me

in 1985 :D

[Deja Q]

7. It did. But because VHS tapes offered 45 minutes more recording time,

and that Betamax devices were more complex, it died a slow death.

Meanwhile, VHS devices became more cheapy built, ensuring they're easier to buy... so while repairment were going out of business, the manufactuer co. execs got more $.

Nice.

For them.

[AlCzervik]

10. i still have my sony beta vcr, i can't stnad to part with it

[Taverner]

18. Actually VHS did better because of porn

More porn was produced for VHS due to the cheaper price of the tape.

[Rosco T.]

13. I still have three Sony SL-HF750's...

.. but am slowly transferring all my tapes to DVD-R.

[kysrsoze]

2. Good riddance. VHS sucks and doesn't last over time

You can get a DVD player for 20 bucks these days and DVD's are often much cheaper than music. I don't mind seeing VHS die - I was surprised they still make new release VHS.

[question everything]

11. Except, can you record on DVD?

I use VHS to tape programs that I would like to watch but cannot.

By the way, two years ago we purchased a Samsung dual player for both CDs and tapes and the quality of programs taped is horrible.

On the other hand, we still have our ten year old Proscan tape recorder that skips all the commercials and is great.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. My Friend Has One

The price of those has dropped DRAMATICALLY! Believe me, he's way too cheap to have gone DVD/R if they hadn't come WAY down in price. I'm pretty sure he paid around $220 for a DVD recorder, that does re-writable. It only needs to be finalized if it's going to be played on a non-recorder (iow, my or another friend's machine). So, he can record, watch something later, and then when it's watched, use the same disk over and over.

Also, it has Chase View, which is like TiVo, where he can pick up viewing a show he's recording after the show began and watch what's been recorded while recording what's still on the air. He's actually then scanned forward during commercials and caught up to where the actual program was. It's way cool!

I'm gonna have to get me one, too!
The Professor

[Rosco T.]

15. Easily... Panasonic, Sony, JVC and most everyone else makes..

DVD Recorders...

[ProdigalJunkMail]

3. but ... but ....

http://www.cnn.com/money/2005/06/14/news/fortune500/walmart_vhs/index.htm?cnn=yes

tP

[question everything]

14. LOL I guess someone jumped the gun

[wuushew]

4. The introduction of DVDs should have been delayed

until they perfected the blue laser technology. That way digital tv, high def and mandatory widescride would have all converged at the same time.

Having said that, VHS sucks we had Betamax for many years.

[Dora]

8. But delaying technology

... keeps it our of the marketplace where we're all clamoring to buy the latest state-of-the-art gizwhits.

Digital tv, high definition, and widescreens are not an issue for us. We don't own a television. We're much better off for it.

[Deja Q]

9. A current DVD, dual-layer, can house a standard NTSC program nicely.

Ad be suitable for HDTV.

Unless they cram too much onto a disc, which they are prone to doing in order to save money.

Oh, the HDTV standard is going to be a platinum mine for them...

[youspeakmylanguage]

6. Isn't the current DVD format almost obsolete as well?

http://news.softpedia.com/news/DVD-Wars-Revenge-of-Blu-Ray-2997.shtml

Back in the good old days you ended up buying the same movies and albums every 10 years or so as technology progressed (reel-to-reel, 8-track, cassettes, CDs). Now it looks to be every 5 years or less. And I'm supposed to feel sympathy when albums and movies are bootlegged? Or feel it is somehow fair that I've bought "Apocalypse Now" 4 times on 2 different media formats (VHS (full screen then widescreen) and DVD (original cut and "Redux")) and bought one overpriced ticket to see "Redux" in a theater, but I can't watch either of the DVDs on my Linux PC unless I illegally download a CSS decoder?

Goodbye, cutting and bleeding edge commercial technology. It was nice to know you. I'm tuning out.

[MojoXN]

16. Word.

Copyright laws in this country are a fucking joke. I support piracy, as long as you aren't profiting from another's work. There is NO reason why you should have to pay twenty or more dollars for something that you already own, particularly when the item in qustion is a ten cent plastic disc in a twenty cent package.

MojoXN

[wuushew]

17. Copyright laws are based on pure greed

how can someone own both the physical media and the intellectual content? Theft usually is defined by denying the use of good to a person, so by stealing something via piracy I am supposed to lament over a potential lost sale?

Cartoon characters, music and books now are protected for spans of time well beyond the natural lives of the people who originated them. In my opinion the patent area of the Constitution has been grossly over legislated.

No doubt someone in the music or movie industries will now come along and tell me what a bastard I am for not trying to preserve their livelihood, knowing in the back of their minds of course that the money saved by consumers works its way into other sectors employing different people in other economic fields, so that in aggregate everyone is better off than preserving corporate monopoly.