D-VHS Lower the price already!!! (1 Viewer)

[John_Berger]

Lead agent: We do not take pleasure in this, men. But, sometimes, we must weed out the old in the name of 1080i progress. At all costs!

You forgot to say "..at all costs, which are of course to be paid by the unwilling consumer."

 

[Patrick Sun]

It's a niche solution looking for a non-existent widespread problem.

 

[Mark_Mac]

And how does that make it any better than a $199 Panasonic progressive scan DVD player?

Well the big one for me is it can record HDTV. How much do DVD recorders cost....about the same or more and they cant record 5.1 or HDTV. Also a 30gig TAPE cost about the same as a 4.7gig DVDr.
No laser rot either.

 

[John_Berger]

Well the big one for me is it can record HDTV. How much do DVD recorders cost....about the same or more and they cant record 5.1 or HDTV. Also a 30gig TAPE cost about the same as a 4.7gig DVDr.

Well, if you can find HD programs that are even WORTH recording on HD tape, more power to you. You're still in an excruciatingly small minority, though. Enjoy it while you can.

 

[Gregg Loewen]

Jack, thanks for sharing ???
Im in whole hearted agreement with Rob Tomlin.
D-VHS is a test market. HD is so close in quality to the original masters that if released and is copied the studios would lose their revenue stream. Any HD material must be copy right protected to be released.
Once you watch a D-VHS flick (ie Xmen), youll not want to watch it any other way.
Gregg

 

[Mark_Mac]

Well, if you can find HD programs that are even WORTH recording on HD tape, more power to you. You're still in an excruciatingly small minority, though. Enjoy it while you can.

Well lets see,

The Patriot is on tonight...how about 2001 or Gladiator...Shrek. I think Moulin Rouge is airing in the next month or 2. Im not sure what you watch but HDTV isnt as bland as you think. I hate the fact Im in a small minority and I hope that changes. I hope we all have HDTV very soon and its priced reasonably and MPAA doest bog us down with copy protection. Just dont compare your $50 vcr you bought at Bestbuy with the JVC DVHS. People are saying shit that isnt altogether true. If you take care of your equipment and dont rent dirty vcr tapes then your going to have great success with this machine. Prices will come down and the library will grow.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Once that DVHS tape wears and has dropouts and streaks/lines/creases and any of the normal vagaries of tape, that source becomes less atttractive option for purchase of film software (or even to record HD OTA).

Sure it may look good for the initial few viewings, but I don't see the tape itself standing the test of time for the quality it promises.

I'll hang on until an optical HD format is rolled out before I jump into the HD game.

 

[Mark_Mac]

Once that DVHS tape wears and has dropouts and streaks/lines/creases and any of the normal vagaries of tape, that source becomes less atttractive option for purchase of film software (or even to record HD OTA).

Comeon there not that fragile. Digital information on tape can stay intact for years. Tapes are used for storing all kinds of information. All audio and video masters are on tapes all corporate data is on tape. Besides I have DVD's and tapes Ive only watched a few times or just once. Im not worried one bit about wearing out a tape. Like I said earlier i have had more movies on laser disc go bad then on tape and I babied my laser disc. Nothing last forever including DVD's. By the time I wear 1 tape out there will be a new medium anyway.

 

[John_Berger]

I hope we all have HDTV very soon and its priced reasonably and MPAA doest bog us down with copy protection.

The former will happen as it does with all electronics. Unfortunately, the latter will also happen as HDTV gains popularity.

 

[RobertR]

We'd have HD laserdiscs now

Your memory is rather short, it seems. We DID have HD laserdiscs. They were extremely expensive (7-10 times the cost of DVHS), attracted miniscule attention, and are no longer made because they were a commercial failure. You really need to accept the fact that DVD (and HDDVD) succeeded (and will succeed) where LD failed.

 

[Todd Hochard]

I hope we all have HDTV very soon and its priced reasonably

Me, too. But, that second part is why I won't currently be investing in D-VHS, even though I was at the head of the line to buy into DVD.
Too much money for a limited function tape deck, that will break before my 3-year old DVD player does. No thanks. But, ask me again, when I can get better functionality in a

 

[Gordon Moore]

I guess even the 21st century needs the equivalent of BETA.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Once that DVHS tape wears and has dropouts and streaks/lines/creases and any of the normal vagaries of tape, that source becomes less atttractive option for purchase of film software (or even to record HD OTA).
Sure it may look good for the initial few viewings...

Again with the paranoia about tape wearing out? Reality check. Do you really think that these tapes will wear out after "the initial few viewings"? I have a high end Hitachi VCR that was purchased about 7 years ago. My three year old daughter has watched her VHS copy of "Lady and The Tramp" at least 30 times. To this day, I do not see any dropouts/streaks/lines/creases. The tape still looks good (for VHS) and there has not been any noticeable loss in picture quality.
This attitude that tape will self destruct and disentegrate after being watched a couple of times just isn't justified in my opinion.
Frankly, if I could get 20 or so viewings from a D-Theater tape, I would be completely satisfied. I can't think of any DVD's that I own that I have watched more than 5 or 6 times in the the three years that I have owned my DVD player.

 

[John_Berger]

Gregg, its nice to know that there are actually a few people on this forum who support this new high def technology!

I think that you're completely misunderstanding us. It's not that we don't support it. We simply cannot justify the cost (present and future total cost of ownership) vs. the value of that it provides.

 

[Stephen Orr]

I agree. Because of the cost, DVHS isn't even a blip on my scope. I have too much invested in DVDs and players, and I have no financial means of "keeping up with Jones" on this one....

 

[Brian Kidd]

I have no problem with HDTV. I can't wait until I can have one in my home. It's the greatest thing since sliced bread! You also currently need a small fortune to buy one. Even those who say that one can be purchased for $2000 and that's not expensive are just people with way more disposable income than the average shmoe. I've got nothing against people with money. Count your blessings. I'm just saying that in reality, HDTV is a long way from becoming mainstream and that D-VHS is certainly not the way to go. Tape-based formats are, by their nature, inferior to optical formats. By the time HD-DVD comes around, perhaps people will be able to afford the televisions to play them on. Until then, hold on to your D-VHS decks and tapes. They'll make great conversation pieces along with your 8-Tracks and Betamax machines.

 

[Paul McElligott]

I just had a rather evil and paranoid thought. Think how they could jump start HDTV and DVHS if they put out the original Star Wars trilogy and the Indiana Jones trilogy as a DVHS-only release.

 

[John_Berger]

Think how they could jump start HDTV and DVHS if they put out the original Star Wars trilogy and the Indiana Jones trilogy as a DVHS-only release.

Well, I know that it wouldn't trick me.
I would also like to think that most people aren't so gullible and desperate for a movie that they'd fork out upwards of $4,000+ for HD equipment (HDTV + D-VHS) just to watch six movies.
Besides, Lucas and Speilberg would make far more money answering the years-long call to put it to DVD (of which we can probably assume millions of units sold) than from a few hundred or a few thousand D-VHS sales.

 

[Brian-W]

.

Regarding that last comment (in bold)
You're kidding right?
We're talking $3-$5 tapes for HD here. You'd rather have a $15-$25 480i DVD over the ability to record the same movie in 1080i on a $3-$5 tape?
Hell, even if you watched a movie you recorded 20 times (I've demoed the same clip over 45 times with no problem thus far) and it did go to the crapper, I'd say you got your monies worth.
While the VCR and satellite equipment isn't cheap, the media is, even if all these tape horror stories did come true.
About the only thing that is difficult to swallow is 2:35:1 movies being cropped to 1:78:1. Personally, I don't care if a 1:85:1 movie is cropped to 1:78:1, the difference is negligible. But I agree 2:35:1 movies that are cropped are a crime.

 

[Jack Briggs]

It's the hostility to D-VHS D-Theater that I don't understand.