I want more D-Theater!!! (1 Viewer)

[Darrin B]

For those who are lucky enough to have the new JVC, you know
what I'm talking about. For those of you holding out for
HD-DVD, you don't know what your missing. I have watched
T-2, U571 and X-Men. All three of these are a sight to
behold. T-2 looks great but the other two are just amazing!
I did direct comparisons to the DVD and it just KILL'S it's
DVD counterpart. Looking at U571, the colors (white) of
their uniforms (on the DVD) didn't really look white. When
you switch to the D-Theater tape, the whites are so pure
it slaps you in the face. The details of the lepels and medals on the tape is also to be noted. This is all lost
on the DVD. Just no comparison. I WANT MORE D-THEATER!!!!
Bring on FIGHT CLUB!!

 

[HenrikTull]

Me too. Any donations, like a HDTV, D-VHS - player, HD - movies/tapes for the D-VHS - player, will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Brajesh Upadhyay]

Me too, but I'm waiting for JVC's next two DVHS decks due out in the Fall, the HM-DH35000 & the HM-DH40000. One of them is supposed to be under $1,000 retail. By then, there should be a better selection of tapes & a Samsung OTA STB w/Firewire for recording.

 

[Robert Saccone]

I love the idea of having the HiDef movies. However, I just can't bring myself to invest in a tape based medium. Especially one as large and clunky as VHS Tape. Maybe if they were small like camcorder Hi-8 tape but you still have the prospect of the tape deteriorating over time. Hopefully this will help push the time frame for HiDef DVD up.

 

[Mike_G]

I agree with Robert. Let's please try and get away from tape.

I don't care how good it looks, I will never invest in tape-based medium ever again.

Mike

 

[Brennan Hill]

I'm sure its great. What I'm curious about is, does the picture alone make your old DVD's unwatchable in comparison? When HD-DVD makes its way to the market will we still be able to enjoy watching our current collection? For instance, its hard for me to enjoy watching a video tape today because of the audio quality.

 

[Dave Anderson]

I too am waiting for the cheaper decks to come out. Unless an HD DVD format has a date by that time, I'll certainly invest in HD-VHS.

 

[Rob Lutter]

I was just wondering... will D-VHS eventually degrade after multiple viewings?

How many viable viewings could I have from one D-VHS tape? 20? 50? 100?... in which there would be no degredation?

 

[Dan Hitchman]

I'd say there would be degredation if you are unlucky enough to get a player that eats tapes.

Tape, especially what they chose to go with for D-VHS, is fragile. Even though the studios say "hey, D-5 and D-6 masters are tape" they are much higher quality cassettes with stronger tape formulations than the consumer grade stuff, and they aren't played very often (they are archival).


Disc based for me, but not what the DVD Forum is currently proposing with red lasers. I'll pass, thank you very much.

Dan

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Heres the problem. As tape ages, you may get a little extra noise on analog. On digital it's your worst DVD fingerprint gone to hell

 

[Rob Tomlin]

I don't care how good it looks, I will never invest in tape-based medium ever again.

I just don't understand this type of attitude. How could any home theater enthusiast say they "don't care how good it looks" just because it is tape??
I mean, I understand that there are some concerns with tape, but they have been blown way out of proportion. To not even give it a chance by saying "I don't care how good it looks" just doesn't make sense to me. Isn't our main goal in home theater to have a great picure and sound?
Shouldn't you at least take a look at it? Perhaps you will find the quality to be so superior to DVD that you would be willing to put up with the disadvantages that you believe tape has!

 

[Joseph Bolus]

I mean, I understand that there are some concerns with tape, but they have been blown way out of proportion. To not even give it a chance by saying "I don't care how good it looks" just doesn't make sense to me. Isn't our main goal in home theater to have a great picure and sound?

A lot of this resentment is simply a natural backlash from people that are only just now "settling-in" to the DVD format.
Many of the major HT enthusiast magazines and journalists have already proclaimed D-VHS to be a better way to view a movie at home on HI-DEF equipment than the equivalent DVD.
And they would be right.
As we all know, DVD was never designed to be a HI-DEF format. Instead, it was designed to be a hybrid format that would "straddle the fence" for a short period of time between 4:3 analog sets and 16:9 digital sets. That's why the best it can do as a source for a HI-DEF monitor is 480p. That's why it can provide anamorphic downconversion to 480i from a 16:9 enhanced source for a 4:3 set. It is and always was a hybrid format.
However, the consumers have declared it to be their viewing format of choice at the moment. This is mainly due to the way the format looks on analog 4:3, analog 16:9 RPTV, and 32" direct-view monitors.
It's therefore now obvious to the studios that DVD is not going to be the short-term "bridge" format that it was initially designed to be. Until the majority of homes in this country own true HI-DEF monitors, DVD will be "good enough" for the largest majority of consumers.
However, the problem still remains as to what to do with HI-DEF monitors, which hardware, software, and broadcasting vendors all want to be the future of TV.
That's where D-VHS tape, with its native 1080i resolution, can come in and immediately fill the needed gap. It can provide ready demo material to help sell HI-DEF monitors while at the same time allowing the studios to properly show off the HI-DEF masters of their titles that they've been creating since the mid-90's. It can also provide some immediate satisfaction for the hard-core film enthusiast.
Once there is enough penetration of HI-DEF monitors into the market place, then we'll see a worthy HI-DEF successor to the DVD format.
So, again, why are current DVD owners antagonistic toward D-VHS? Because they know that DVD was and is not good enough to fulfill the goals outlined above in the future world of HI-DEF.
And it hurts to know that about a format that we all have grown to love in just five short years.

 

[Mark E J]

Once there is enough penetration of HI-DEF monitors into the market place, then we'll see a worthy HI-DEF successor to the DVD format.

Are you sure about that? Studios have always leaned toward tape over disc. I can easily see D-VHS pushing out disc formatts if studios decided to back it 100% based on the early sales figures.

 

[Dave Mack]

Anyone notice though that the warranty on the JVC deck is only 1 Year Parts and 90 day labor??? Same as a $75.00 VHS deck. That kinda blows, if you are spending $1400 or whatever, they can't even give you a longer time frame? The stores must LOVE this, it almost ASSURES them that the consumer will buy an extended service agreement! And how much will THAT cost on 1 of these decks?
I too, am curious of this product. I have a 55908 Diamond mits. and I have NEVER seen 1080i on it. NO STB, I just use it for DVD mostly.
However, I DO have a $500 S-vhs editing deck which, although the pic. quality is GREAT, is VERY temperamental and has one of the WORST tape auto-loading mechanisms I have EVER seen!! It spits 1/3 of the tapes out, doesn't load AT ALL sometimes and I understand this is a COMMON "quirk" of this model, and Hmmmmmmm, it's a JVC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So when the new DVHS deck does inevitably "chew" up somebody's D-VHS tape, (and BELIEVE me, it will...) who is liable? The tape manufacturer? The Deck?
At least DVD's can't get chewed up!

Now I am Not "anti-tape", I own a Sony VX2000 MiniDV camera and I LOVE it. I am just concerned over these issues!

Peace!!! D MACK

 

[Justin Lane]

If the price on D-BHS comes down to a level of around 500 bucks for a deck, I will be all over the format.

Alot of people are anti-VHS, due to issues of tape wear. Personally this is not that big a deal to me because I do not expect my DVDs or tapes to last forever. Unless I am watching the same D-VHS movie continuosly everyday, I would expect the tapes to last a great deal into the future until something better comes along.

J

 

[Jack Briggs]

Remember no matter how good D-VHS might look now, tape based formatts are vastly inferior to disc based.

Mark, that's not entirely true. If D-VHS D-Theater, a tape-based format, is "vastly inferior" to any current disc-based format, then how come does it offer native 1080i resolution while the other can do only 480p at best? In terms of picture quality, then, D-VHS D-Theater is the current state of the home theater art, like it or not.

DVD's popularity is in no way threatened by D-Theater. And the onus is now on the DVD Forum to come up with something better--and MPEG-4 is not it.

Remember how Widescreen Review's editor-in-chief Gary Reber put it? "I want home theater to be the best it can be," he said. And right now, D-VHS D-Theater is the best home theater can be.

My hope is that D-Theater hastens the arrival of a true high-def optical disc format.

 

[Mark E J]

Jack you misunderstood what I was trying to say. I wasn't n compareing D-VHS to nessesarily "current" disc formatts, but disc formatts in general. I'm sure picture quality is 100% better than the current DVD's but they offer no special features.

I personally would sacrifice picture quality to have massive SE's like Fight Club, Brazil, and the upcoming Pearl Harbor Vista Series. Atleast for now.

I could be wrong but I'm not so sure about DVD not being threatened. Big SE's have already been threatened by rising costs. If D-VHS become very popular with advent of the Analog-Digital switch over it is not a stretch to see big studio's going with D-VHS and dropping DVD alltogether.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Sorry for misunderstanding you, Mark.

As for D-Theater posing a threat to DVD: Don't count on it. D-Theater will probably, at best, expand to a reach that is equivalent to LaserDisc's in its heyday. It is a niche-market format that will appeal to those with 16:9-based, high-scanning displays. The P&S-loving crowd currently embracing DVD and taking it into the mainstream will never cotton to D-Theater in the numbers being enjoyed by the earlier format. At least, I don't think so. Except for issues regarding the framing of feature films, the mass-market public likes DVD for many of the same reasons the enthusiasts do: value-added content, convenience, durability, and other bells and whistles (note, I did not include picture quality here, as I doubt the mass market pays much attention to that).

 

[Dave Mack]

Hey again! I'm just worried about the "Physical" aspects. NOT the technology. What are the new cassetes like BTW? I have a few Old (from early 80's) blank T-120 tapes and they weigh about 3X what the new current blank tapes weigh!!!!
They obviously cut costs over the years by making the tapes cheaper, and I know that a D-VHS tape is different tape-wise, but how are the housing, reels etc... on these new tapes??
As I said, I am very interested but let's be honest.. When you 1st showed your DVD's to the uninitiated, you most likely popped in several different discs and showed several different scenes to show the improved (over VHS) pic. quality. And probl'y got "Woah! Show that again!!" Like in "Gladiator" when the woman Gladiator gets sawed in 1/2.
Now, when most of your friends see that you shelled out $1400 or so for what they see as a newer fancier VHS machine, 1) They will think you are nuts... and will say, "Woah, dude! You just spent 2 years telling everyone they HAD to get DVD!!!!"
and 2) You are gonna wanna show them the differences.
Are you gonna just put it in U-571 and just watch it from start to finish including credits? Probl'y not. You will be tempted to show a VARIETY of scenes, just like when we 1st got DVD. And if you haven't finished a film, are you gonna rewind it to the beginning of the tape every time, or leave it in the player with the tape loaded. (Not good for tape...) or are you gonna eject it and leave that bit of the tape partially exposed to the elements (not all the way rewound back on reel) Also not good. I have TONS of tapes with dropouts at points like these. I KNOW this is a DIGITAL signal which is different but still...

And HONESTLY, hasn't EVERYONE had at least 1 tape chewed a bit???

When it ejects and gets a TAD stuck, and you pull, and then the tape... You KNOW what I mean. And as I said before, the JVC's CAN have pretty shoddy auto-load systems.

So's anyways, I definitely AM curious, but also want to hear more about these specific issues.
Also, anyone know in NYC where I can see a DEMO of this?
They aren't sdvertising it in ANY of the chains, (The Wiz, Circuit City, Best Buy, PC Richards) that I know of...

Peace! D

 

[Mark E J]

No problem Jack. I should also point out I'm not nessarily aginst D-VHS in theory. I'm all for seeing films in 1080i Hi-Def. But I do worry about added value content. I believe SE's are the best way to preserve classic films. If D-theater will be approached by studios a niche-market formatt and not a replacement for HD-DVD then fine, I'm all for it. And if they ever sell one for less than a used car, then what the hell, put me down for one as well.