Physical Media might not be dead, but Physical Media in Retail Stores are accelerating the death (1 Viewer)

[Guardyan]

From what I've seen, it's mostly stuck-in-the-past horror movie fans that have reembraced VHS.

Hmm so maybe it's the type of tape that you die 7 days after watching it.

 

[The Drifter]

Last week NYT had an article about people that are still buying VHSs. I understand that some titles never saw a DVD release and I understand people that are nostalgic. I also understand that audiophiles and their love for vinyl and the resurgence of this niche with new releases etc. But I don't understand the love for VHSs. Although I totally think some small factory should still be producing some VCRs every 5 years because a lot of people still have tapes, etc.

Agreed. I will never understand the "nostalgia" for VHS tapes, especially now that we have so many far superior formats around - i.e. streaming/Blu-ray/DVD.

I hated the VHS format back when they were the only home video format around: They were heavy/bulky/ugly; you had to rewind them after use; the tapes wore out after a while so that the PQ suffered during each subsequent re-watch; the tapes were known to get tangled in the player, thereby ruining the tape & the player at the same time; the ubiquitous pan & scan format that cut off half the picture of a widescreen film, etc. In fact, when my VCR broke in '96 I got rid of it & all of my VHS tapes, and never looked back.

I didn't become the movie/TV show fan I am now until after DVD's took off in the early/mid 200X's. What a superior format, for all of the obvious reasons.

Conversely, I do completely get/understand the nostalgia for Vinyl records. I don't share in this; but, I understand why people like the larger presentation/larger artwork/larger liner notes. And, there are still some audio "purists" out there who will insist that the sound is better with vinyl than with CD/digital.

However, nostalgia for VHS tapes?! I just don't get it.

 

[jcroy]

VHS? What's that?

Well, presumably, I'll have waaay more than enough discs (and digital titles) in my collection to worry too much about that potential day... unless something else goes wrong -- I may just give up on this hobby (that began w/ having kids and becoming much more homebound) if I somehow lose the vast majority of my collection...

_Man_

No betamax?

 

[jcroy]

Conversely, I do completely get/understand the nostalgia for Vinyl records. I don't share in this; but, I understand why people like the larger presentation/larger artwork/larger liner notes. And, there are still some audio "purists" out there who will insist that the sound is better with vinyl than with CD/digital.

From a technical perspective, I still don't get the fascination with vinyl.

From a non-technical perspective, I would just buy posters of the cover artwork. For example when I was younger, I had posters which had giant blown up versions of classic album cover artwork, such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Blondie, etc ...

 

[The Drifter]

From a technical perspective, I still don't get the fascination with vinyl.

From a non-technical perspective, I would just buy posters of the cover artwork. For example when I was younger, I had posters which had giant blown up versions of classic album cover artwork, such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Blondie, etc ...

I agree with you. I'm not one of those that believe Vinyl sounds better than CD's/Digital. But, there are those that prefer them - go figure. I haven't had a Vinyl record player since 1990, and never plan on getting another one.

However, I do understand the preference for the larger cover art/pictures/etc. Though CD's reproduce this, it's a much smaller format so a lot of the detail is lost (or at least harder to see).

I have though about buying some re-released Vinyl records - but it would be for display/collectible purposes only.

 

[TravisR]

Agreed. I will never understand the "nostalgia" for VHS tapes.

The simplest explanation is nostalgia. VHS reminds people of when they were younger and the "good old days" of the 1980's, etc. Personally, I have very fond memories of browsing the aisles of video stores but I have no interest in getting tapes again. I still have a functional VCR and some tapes but I certainly would be glad to see that stuff come to disc so I could dump the tapes and have the show in a better quality.

 

[jcroy]

I agree with you. I'm not one of those that believe Vinyl sounds better than CD's/Digital. But, there are those that prefer them - go figure. I haven't had a Vinyl record player since 1990, and never plan on getting another one.

However, I do understand the preference for the larger cover art/pictures/etc. Though CD's reproduce this, it's a much smaller format so a lot of the detail is lost (or at least harder to see).

I have though about buying some re-released Vinyl records for nostalgic purposes - but it would be for display/collectible reasons only.

The only times I ever bothered buying (or re-buying) vinyl copies of stuff I had on cd, was sometime during the 1990s when albums were a 50 cents a pop.

Typically it was albums which I thought the cd versions sounded kinda crappy, which were mastered really horribly back in the day. For example, such as "Stay Hungry" by Twisted Sister. Even back in the day, I thought the vinyl version sounded better than the original cd version.

 

[jcroy]

Other times it was when the album was never released on cd back in the day. (Or it was only released officially on cd after 2010).

 

[jcroy]

Some really horrible cd versions was when it was just a straight vinyl rip, where the record noises are there intact. Typically in cases where the original master tape was lost or damaged beyond repair.

In such cases, I'm glad I didn't throw away my old vinyl copy.

 

[The Drifter]

For the most part, even TV shows/movies on VHS that haven't ever been released to DVD/Blu are available via streaming - in some capacity. Typically, the streams are no better than a VHS rip - but they are no worse, either. For example, the iconic 1977 film Looking for Mr. Goodbar (starring Diane Keaton) has never been released on Region 1 DVD/Blu. However, there are streams of the movie floating around online so anyone who wants to can see this.

I've got some relatives who still have their old VCR & some VHS tapes, and I tell them that if the VCR ever breaks - it's going to be tough to find someone to fix it. And, if they do - the repair shop will probably charge as much (or more) $ for the repair than the machine is even worth - LOL.

 

[jcroy]

I've got some relatives who still have their old VCR & some VHS tapes, and I tell them that if the VCR ever breaks - it's going to be tough to find someone to fix it. And, if they do - the repair shop will probably charge as much/more for the repair than the machine is even worth - LOL.

Another option is to just collect/hoard old vcrs in the closet, in case the current vcr abruptly dies.

Easy to get old vcrs from local family / friends during spring cleaning over the past decade or so.

 

[The Drifter]

Duplicate post

 

[jcroy]

For the most part, even TV shows/movies on VHS that haven't ever been released to DVD/Blu are available via streaming - in some capacity. Typically, the streams are no better than a VHS rip - but they are no worse, either. For example, the iconic 1977 film Looking for Mr. Goodbar (starring Diane Keaton) has never been released on Region 1 DVD/Blu. However, there are streams of the movie floating around online so anyone who wants to can see this.

For such older stuff, is this due to using old transfers made back in the day (ie. 1980s or earlier) ?

IN such cases, I wouldn't be surprised if the movie company is too lazy and/or don't want to invest in a newer modern HD or 4K (or higher) resolution transfers. (Or they're charging a premium for a newer hd/4k transfer).

 

[The Drifter]

For such older stuff, is this due to using old transfers made back in the day (ie. 1980s or earlier) ?

IN such cases, I wouldn't be surprised if the movie company is too lazy and/or don't want to invest in a newer modern HD or 4K (or higher) resolution transfers. (Or they're charging a premium for a newer hd/4k transfer).

Possibly; I suspect that in many of these cases it's not worth it to a potential company to remaster the TV show/film (for either a physical media release or streaming) because they feel the release wouldn't make a profit. Also, music copyright issues can be & are a huge roadblock when it comes to some older releases.

I'm certain that In the case of LFMG, it's not on DVD/Blu yet due to music copyright issues. There's a thread on here that discusses this; I don't want to de-rail this one too much:

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/will-we-ever-see-looking-for-mr-goodbar-on-blu.319390/page-5#post-4873724

 

[jcroy]

The simplest explanation is nostalgia. VHS reminds people of when they were younger and the "good old days" of the 1980's, etc.

This is the only plausible explanation I can think of for stuff like vhs, old vinyl, 8track, etc ...

If not that, then it is likely irrational reasons such as ocd compulsive collecting type reasons.

 

[Purple Wig]

One amusing thing about the VHS rental days was that the tape would be playing fine until a scene containing “adult situations” at which point the tracking would need to be drastically adjusted.

 

[PMF]

Funny how more people were bothered by having to rewind a VHS cartridge, than they were with an actual 6 or 7 inch reel of film. Maybe because with celluloid it was just a way lot cooler, more immersive and fun to look at.

 

[David Deeb]

I'm surprised at the number of recent Blu-ray releases whose case resembles a VHS case or VHS cover. Stranger Things Seasons 1 and 2 sets are both bulky and ugly. There are no special features, deleted scenes, commentaries, auditions or anything else for Netflix's biggest show, but you do get a clunky box.

Another studio, I can't remember which, is releasing BDs of 1970-1980 era films, with cover art meant to replicate the film's original VHS art, but scratched up so it looks like an old-worn out VHS box. It's a cute gimmick...for about 5 seconds.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Guys: Let's not allow this thread to devolve into yet another vinyl vs. CD thread. There are enough threads around here that would welcome your contributions to that discussion.

Do you mean by that that the same release could exist in multiple places/slots on that rack? I'm confused.

Yes. Exactly. If you look at the 1st shot of that one big rack, you see 4k copies of The Joker in the section closest to you AND in the second section. Click the image to make it larger. I checked the shelf tags under the product and they were identical.

 

[Jeffrey D]

I listen to Eddie Trunk’s show on the Volume channel on SiriusXM, and he recently said CASSETTES are actually making a mark in physical media sales. This baffles me.