D-VHS support pretty sad (1 Viewer)

[Brian-W]

The JVC decks have proven to be junk. However, the Panasonic decks (don't play D-Theater) have proven reliable work horses. I've got one that's played and recorded hundereds of tapes with no problems. My friend has recorded over a thousand tapes and watched quite a few with no problems.

The JVC on the other hand...

 

[Paul_Scott]

Bikini Destinations in state-of-the-art HD is as good as this hobby gets ?

 

[NickFoley]

Im not going to cry a river over a supped up tape format not getting support. The idea should have been scrapped before anything was put into production.

All of the companies should have put their heads together and get HD-DVD to us a soon as possible.

 

[Eric_R_C]

Suffice it to say that you have to cross your fingers every time you use this machine

That's funny, since many DVD releases have had problems that would yield the same effect. I remember buying The Matrix not simply to see the movie, but to see if my new DVD player (Toshiba SD-1200) would actually play the damned thing. So far, I've only had two incompatible disks (a sub-menu of AVIA, and the international posters in AOTC) so I consider myself lucky. For all of DVD's abilities, it opens a whole new world of technical problems. This doesn't even touch on "intentional" problems (forced FBI warnings, ads, and animated menus.) Raise your hand if you'd like your DVD player to automatically default to the Dolby (or DTS) soundtrack and just play the damn movie!

 

[Brian-W]

The tape argument has been hashed over a million times in a million different threads.

Bottom line is this: If you expect HD-DVD to be recordable out of the starting gate, you're sadly mistaken. It took DVD many years for $2000 consumer (now ~$700) and $500 PC decks (2001 to be exact) to become affordable.

While tape does suck, it is recordable, and when many of you will whine about why your favorite program (movie or more importantly TV) isn't available on HD-DVD, when recordable does become a reality, it should be easy for those of us with archived tape collection (and I know a few with over 2000 tapes of HD content) to transfer to the optical format.

 

[Paul_Scott]

Brian,
you make an interesting point i hadn't considered.
still in all, the kind of stuff that is getting/will get the majority of broadcasting in hd (so you can record it), really isn't going to be the material i want .
if TCM, AMC, etc started up a hi-def channel that would be a different story.
also- someone posted a screen grab from an Indiana Jones HD broadcast on ABC a while back. it looked AMAZING.
the only thing that sucked was the ABC logo permenently plastered in the bottom of the frame (come to think of it, i don't think it was 2.35 either).

i was just in CC about an hour ago (looking for some recent released catalog titles on dvd which they of course didn't stock...bastards!)
anyways, i saw a beautiful Panasonic plasma set being fed a hd satelite signal.
i would say i was standing about 15-20' back from about a 48" screen. startlingly 3-d like.
very trippy.
the only thing was, the broadcast was video.
when they cut to film clips and trailers that awesome 3-d effect was greatly diminished, and it really only looked marginally better to me than a really good dvd.

i asked if they had a DVHS deck, and to my surprise they did, but after about 10 minutes of several of them fiddling with it trying to get a picture and failing, i thanked them for the effort and went back to the dvd racks.
they were getting some kind of siginal, because you could see the counter on the screen, but when they went to play it, all they got was a black empty screen.

 

[Andy_MT]

DVHS needs a killer application. i'd be tempted to think that pornagraphic material certainly wouldn't hurt (hi-def porn ). how many people out there do you think would be willing to put down the cash for that ? quite a few i'd expect. at least it would make this format more financially viable and help encourage studios to bring out more films [not that i'd be aware of it ... i'd be too busy watching the other stuff ]
i believe it was the driving force for VHS, so why not ? although i can't imagine the likes of fox or dreamworks providing the material ... maybe it's time to diversify ... fox porno presents ... perhaps not.

 

[Christopher a]

As you can see, the design of these decks leaves much to be desired

Anytime someone jumps in and buys a first generation player of anything, they are taking a chance. When I bought my first dvd player, it would bring up Spanish subtitles whenever the hell it wanted, froze up, broke up into pixilation, etc. One day, it ate up my Autin Powers dvd and refusued to eject the damn thing. Overall, I would have to say that my experience with JVC's deck has been far more reliable than my first dvd player...so far.

 

[Eric F]

Well, I have a PC-HDTV card now, and frankly the programs take up way too much space. I have Indy on hd and it takes up 25GB (Yes, ABC did broadcast it in 2.35). So, putting them on $3 SVHS tapes seems like a good option.

But, I will qualify it by saying that the manufacturers need to stop being so afraid of the MPAA and stick an ATSC tuner in there. Without a DVHS deck being every bit as capable as an old VHS deck, most folks aren't going to bother.

 

[Brian-W]

D-VHS only "killer app" is that it is recordable, and on $3 S-VHS tapes too. That's it.

It'll never be the pre-recorded second coming, nor will it ever attain mass acceptance. Pricing isn't necessarily the issue either, as the Panasonic HD-1000 when it debuted ('98 or '99, can't remember) it was only $800.

The only thing I support D-VHS for is the ability to record HD. I too want optical, but I won't deny myself a great picture just because it's on tape. And thankfully, I have actually ditched some of my DVDs in place of anamorphic (let alone HD) versions (American President, Son in Law, Cool Runnings, a host of others...)

 

[John Alderson]

they were getting some kind of siginal, because you could see the counter on the screen, but when they went to play it, all they got was a black empty screen.

They probably forgot to rewind it

 

[Bob Black]

The glitches being reported are worrisome, but what D-VHS D-Theater can do is help hasten the overall rollout of HDTV—and the arrival of some sort of HD-DVD.

Jack,

Perhaps you're correct with this statement, but I feel D-VHS can actually HINDER the arrival of HD-DVD! Probably the biggest supporter of D-Theater has been Fox, recently offering the first day & date title "Ice Age" last week.

I know many here think Fox is the greatest for its fabulous DVD releases of late, but I remember when the paranoid execs at Fox (Bill Mechanic) would not even enter into the DVD market. When they finally did (after their pathetic support of DIVX), they released bare-bones discs priced ridiculously high ($29.99 - $34.99) with no anamorphic enhancement and no features whatsoever! I remember their release of "Hope Floats" priced at $34.99, as well as "Ever After" and all other new release titles.

Mechanic chastised Warner Brothers for their support of the DVD format when they released "The Matrix" on DVD priced for sell-through while the VHS version was priced for rental. And "The Matrix" would go on to break records for the DVD format, helping to increase the popularity of the new format like no other title before.

Anyway, D-VHS seems to please the paranoid studio execs with its tough encryption and its tape-based medium. If the format were to become viable, maybe certain studios such as Fox would think twice about another optical disc format, this time in true HD! Food for thought...

 

[orestes]

I am not about to throw my money away into hd-vcr. The main problem I have with a hd tape is that it is bulky. So to keep 300 or 400 movies on tape will be out of the question.
I have a HD TV set at home, and I'd love to see HD programming since my cable does not carry HD signal. I think the only way I can watch something HD is if I have a HD player; however, I don't think a tape based HD player is not a good idea.
I will not be able to "instantly" go to a place on the tape that I am interested in watching as I do with my DVD players. Then, I am not going to buy another HD tape re-winder so that the HD tape based player don't get over used. Then, I will have to buy another HD tape to clean the heads. I also wonder if these HD tapes will come with both DD 5.1 and DTS sound tracks? I don't think so.

Sincerely,
orestes.

 

[Eric F]

Don't think HD-DVD won't have as much or more encryption than D-VHS does.

For playback of pre-recorded software I think there's no turning back. Most people just won't go back to a tape based medium. As I said before, I just want a deck to be as functional as a standard VCR. That means it must have an ATSC tuner. I don't want to go through all this nonsense with transfering a tranport stream from my PC to D-VHS over firewire. Talk about a pain.

You don't see the manufacturers jumping to put out D-Theater enabled D-VHS decks do you? There should be at least 3 or 4 of them out at this point, with some in the under $500 range. I heard Sharp was going to put one out. I own their VC-S100 SVHS and it has one of the best NTSC tuners I've ever seen.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Which is what's so baffling: Right now, D-Theater most closely resembles the commercial-theatrical experience.

 

[Paul McElligott]

However, it took more than a decade after the CD was introduced for recordable CD's to became available and affordable.
It's taken DVD's less than half that time. There will be lag between read-only HD-DVD and a recordable format but it probably will be less than it was for DVD.

 

[Seth_S]

Agreed. Most of the D-VHS titles are B action films. When something by either Coppola, Hitchcock, Welles, Kubrick, Forman or Allen comes to D-VHS, then I'll be interested.

 

[Todd Hochard]

Which is what's so baffling: Right now, D-Theater most closely resembles the commercial-theatrical experience.

...provided you've only been to a theater that's only ever shown 20 titles.
And, for D-Theater, the questionable JVC deck is the only choice right now. Are any other D-Theater players coming in the near future?

 

[Julian Lalor]

The tape being reviewed in the current WSR is hardly "pornographic."

It's also hardly Braveheart, either. I'd be happy to support D-VHS if the Studios released their best product to the format. Van Wilder and Big Momma's House are just insulting when the same Studios own far, far better films. And, to date, there is little evidence the Studios are concerned enough to do this.

 

[Alex Spindler]

I can see a direct parallel with the launch of any new consumer electronic platform. Faulty devices, limited library, and high cost to quality ratio.

Of course, that isn't to say that this is a very bad launch considering the success that DVD has enjoyed when it gained its stride.

I don't necessarily agree with a tape based system, and the issues present seem to be stemming from that concept, but I would expect that it would impove as second generation players and a greater library develop.

Of course, everyone is expecting DVD like successes these days (which may be hard to duplicate given the economic situation), so it may fail on more than it's own merits.

That said, a recordable optical format makes so much sense, it's scary. Even better if it were re-recordable.