You're better off with a VHS than a DVD

[cwathen]

With the end of prerecorded VHS tapes now just around the corner, is it only me whose noticed that in actual fact, there has never been a better time to buy VHS? The deals shops are doing to clear older stock to make way for more DVDs, and the falling prices that new releases go on at are making the format better value for money than ever.

If presented with the same film on DVD and video, right now I'd go for the tape. I know i'll get a lower resolution picture and I won't get the 5.1 sound which hardly anyone sets up properly anyway and I won't get the extras, but the price incentive has become such that I'd go for the tape just for the saving.

WH Smith stopped stocking VHS (except blank tapes of course) at the end of last year (or at least they seem to). In the months leading up to this they slashed prices on their older stock to clear shelves, but as the weeks wore on and then as we went in to January when they had pulled the plug totally, newer and newer releases were having their prices cut and cut - even to the point that a video which went on sale in 2003 for £12.99 could now be bought for £4.99.

I personally got a very good dealing, buying a complete season of upstairs downstairs (two double take packs), inside a tenner - they had drop the price to £4.99 (for two tapes). Less than two months ago, they would have been £15.99 a piece, so over £30 in all. At the same time, I picked up an only fools video that not so long ago had a price tag of £12.99 for only £1.99 from them (admittedly this particular tape had been out since 1994, but this particular run was quite recent - it only reappeared in Smiths about 6 months ago.

This week I've bought an Avengers video from Virgin for £2.99. 3 weeks ago, it had a £9.99 price tag (it's part of the big video release they did in 1999), it was down to £5.99 this time last week, and as I said was slashed again to £2.99 this week.

That's old stock, but new releases are in the same boat. Star Trek: The Next Generation started to be reissued (in new packaging, and now with 3 episodes per tape) in 1998 with the tapes priced at £9.99 a piece (they couldn't justify much more than that, since it was a reissue and the series had ended in 1994). Being a trekky at the time, and spoiled with the £22.02 a week EMA I got whilst at sixth form, I went out and bought them as they came out, and kept doing so until I'd got halfway through season 3. I did keep an eye on the prices though and noticed that the seaon 5 tapes which came out in late 2002 (sadly they abandoned that rerelease after season 5 was complete, and since all the original tapes were deleted in 1998 when they started issuing the new ones, you now can't get seasons 6&7 on video) went straight on sale in Virgin for a £5.99 price tag.

The goldmine WH Smith sale now seems to be over in most stores, but Virgin (I think sensibly) do still maintain a VHS section (albeit it getting smaller all the time - 3 years ago one side of their DVD/Video section was for DVD's, the other for VHS. Then they swapped sides since one side is bigger than the other and DVD's are gradually working their way down what used to be VHS aisles so that the VHS section now only consists of one display unit and a wall, which they've lost half of this week), and there are some bargains to be had, both on old stock and new releases alike.

VHS is undergoing something of a renaissance with me, making it affordable to by new releases of things which I couldn't justify paying full DVD price for, and I'm more than happy to live with the lower quality as long as I've paid peanuts for it.

I realise of course that it won't last long - it wouldn't surprise me if 2004 is the last year where things are still released on video in general (save for specialist subjects which won't sell many copies, where VHS still seems to be the most common release format, presumably because it's much cheaper to make video masters than to author DVDs?), but at present I'm making the most of it whilst I still can.

[fusionlad]

I couldn't go back to VHS now. I have a Dolby 5.1 amp, which when set up properly, gives stunning sound.

I'd also miss the widescreen picture.

[Gavin Scott]

I reckon I'm the only one left without a DVD player of any sort. The idea of buying a playback only machine just didn't seem satisfactory to me when the format started. Not for the price they were, certainly. Now my local supermarket has players for £38 (albeit unknown brands) so I suppose I should really get on board.

Mind you, I've got this far without actually feeling like I'm missing out on anything. One exception to that is hearing about the 'extras' from Lord of the Rings. I'd like to see that. 75 percent of my vcr usage is to record from the tv, so I might end up waiting another year or so until DVD recorders are at a price I can live with.

[Jenny]

I reckon I'm the only one left without a DVD player of any sort. The idea of buying a playback only machine just didn't seem satisfactory to me when the format started.

I haven't got a DVD player either. That's not very interesting, but it's true. The whole "regions" thing irritates me so much that it's killed off any appeal the format might have had for me.

[mr smuf]

Some of the cheap DVD players will only play region 2 DVDs, although many can be modified to play all regions just by pressing a few buttons on the remote control. It's just a case of knowing which button combination to press.

I'm not much of a film buff myself, even though I still have a DVD player - probably just for the sake of it. I suppose the recordable DVD's are more useful and are dropping in price all the time. Even so, what is there on TV worth recording? In my case, nothing.

[Cheese Head]

But even VHS has regions, well, NTSC instead of PAL etc etc etc

We have DVD players and one working VCR, which is in my room. I'll still buy VHS, but I'm more likely to go for DVD. I'll go for the tape, because as you said, it's cheaper. I'm likely to buy DVD's second hand anyway, because DVD's, like CDs, are extorcionate (spl) and there's nothing wrong with buying it second hand.

I'm more likely to buy DVD's just because eventually your going to have to convert your tapes to CD's. (Is it illegal to make copies of legitimate material for personal use? EG: VHS > SVCD?)

It's actually a bit silly putting DVD players in consoles and buying them cheap (I got mine from Asda!) because, as Gavin said, a DVD-R will eventually become about 100-150 pounds, lets just hope that that a 5 pack of DVD-R wont cost 30 pounds. Can you use 80min CD's in players ?

Actually, scratch all that, buy a Mac with a DVD-R drive and a TVCard. Cheaper and easier!

[nwtv2003]

To be honest I prefer DVD's, I only ever use my VCR to record programmes, but I usually buy DVD's anyway as I think they are a lot better, especially with old TV shows and brand new films. The only thing I don't like about tapes is that they do start to degrade after a while and once I easily broke a good video tape, which had the first ever screening of the BBC1 balloon, but I broke it as the top thing fell off when I dropped it on the floor. Though in our house I have 2 DVD Players, one being the PS2 and the other being the PC, my sister has a cheap DVD Player from Asda and thats it. We have a big widescreen TV and we don't have a DVD for that, but my parents always watch videos and take advantage of the cheap prices, as their collection seems to have grown rapidly. As they seem to have bought tons of cheap videos from our local Morrsions. Though I have been watching DVD's since the end of 2000 and I can't complain. I don't have a Dolby 5.1 thing, but I have an Amp thing for the PS2 and when that is switched on is does give the same effect, it felt great when I was watching The Matrix Reloaded on DVD the other day. The only other reason why I don't buy tapes is that my VCR isn't fantastic, it is a bog standard 2 Head thing which is worn out, well it is a Televideo, I should really buy a new VCR or an S-VHS one. But its always worth keeping your VCR to watch old programmes. Though I demand the BBC gives Rab C Nesbitt a DVD release, as you can get it on video but for a stupid price.

[stu]

Tapes ain't what they used to be anyway, my early VHS tapes from 81 havent degraded at all and look fantastic as the day, while my more recent tapes and gone mouldy and snapped in the machine.

And they were a damn sight heavier!

Currently the quality of a DVD is better than my digital cable picture!

[cwathen]

Tapes ain't what they used to be anyway, my early VHS tapes from 81 havent degraded at all and look fantastic as the day, while my more recent tapes and gone mouldy and snapped in the machine.

Yep, falling prices for VHS (both the machines and the tapes) has resulted in a big quality drop. At home I've got a 1988 recording from TSW (it has the last 10 minutes of blockbusters, a complete ITN 545 news bulletin, and about half of TSW Today, along with lots of old commercials and a nice long IVC link - i've been meaning to offer TV Ark a copy for a while now) which, despite being 15 years old, still looks like it was recorded yesterday, and that's after a LOT of playing.

The tape itself is in mint condition, and if I were to record over it it would doubtless still provide excellent reproduction. And on top of all of that, it doesn't seem to go damp. Some of my newer tapes have gone damp and mouldy (how I don't know since we live in a modern house with central heating - if anything the air is too dry), this older one holds up beautifully.

And they were a damn sight heavier!

Yep, older tapes ARE heavier. No idea why, is it just better quality casing or was the tape itself higher grade back then? You did pay more though in the 80's - £10.99 for a pair of 3 hour tapes was now uncommon

[cwathen]

Currently the quality of a DVD is better than my digital cable picture!

Not surprising, DVD's aren't usually as compressed as digital TV, and of course are less likely to suffer from data errors.

It does come to something though when a home video format looks better than a broadcast does.

[Marcus]

You did pay more though in the 80's

You certanly did. First video Tape I ever brought was Doctor Who and the Revenge of the Cybermen, in 1985. Cost me £39.99 for a 90 min tape