when dvd first came to be...

[ben7ben3]

were so many people always saying that vhs was fine and there was no need to buy a dvd player, because vhs gets the job done...

im just curious cuz im only 20 now, and have no idea when dvd finally 'beat' vhs

honestly, looking at i, robot the difference in that to its dvd is way more a difference than any dvd to its vhs

[pedigree]

thats a good question... im 21 and remember it was maybe in the late late 90's maybe early 2000's

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by pedigree

thats a good question... im 21 and remember it was maybe in the late late 90's maybe early 2000's

yeah same here

[Petra_Kalbrain]

When DVD came out, it wasn't a question of "VHS being good enough." It was a matter of price. People saw how good the technology was and wanted it... but not desperately. After all, home theatre quality wasn't a staple of the average individual. Once DVD fell in price, all of a sudden home theatre quality became a feasible addition to the average living room with surround sound and big screen TVs.

With Blu-ray it's a whole different psychological approach to trying to understand the "DVD is good enough" mentality. People are willing to spend the money, but on what they have already done to their home theatres. Since it has probably only been in the last 6 years that most people have upgraded their equipment, they will want to wait a bit longer to replace components. They know that prices will fall in the next 3 years and that, by then, it will have been approx 10 years since their initial investment... a much more appropriate point to consider renovations... and at a decent price.

[Kirsty_Mc]

As stated above, most people back then assumed that a video format had to record. It's probably why LaserDisc did not take off as a mass market item. DVD was in the same position. People used to give you a funny look if you said it didn't record.

One of the arguments often heard then was also that people would not want to keep their videos in the same way people keep their music to listen to time after time.

Strange to look back on, but now we are keeping our videos and increasingly buying music in the least durable permanent of all... downloads

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Kirsty_Mc

As stated above, most people back then assumed that a video format had to record. It's probably why LaserDisc did not take off as a mass market item. DVD was in the same position. People used to give you a funny look if you said it didn't record.

That was basically it--
Now that everyone had gotten used to the idea of owning movie collections instead of the rental or taping them off TV, LD was...finally...starting to come into its own as a "prestige" movie-buff item, thanks to Siskel & Ebert exposure...

And by the time we finally knew what an LD was and why we should start considering to care, the biggest obstacle to early '97 proto-DVD was "So, um, it's smaller than an LD, is that it?--What am I supposed to be looking at? "

[tron3]

Originally Posted by ben7ben3

were so many people always saying that vhs was fine and there was no need to buy a dvd player, because vhs gets the job done...

im just curious cuz im only 20 now, and have no idea when dvd finally 'beat' vhs

honestly, looking at i, robot the difference in that to its dvd is way more a difference than any dvd to its vhs

The issue with DVD was you could not record. The dual format player helped open the door. But there were obvious things that made a lot of people convert. The quality, ease, the "giant leap" forward in technology.

Blu-ray (and yes, even HD DVD) wasn't the same technology leap because the benefits of disc didn't change. But the quality of the movie sells, not the extras. I don't recall VHS tapes having extras. But that could be me.

DVD finally came out about 1995 and was 8 to 10 years before VHS dissappeared from all retail shelves.

[Beta Man]

I bought movies on DVD in 1996 just to check them out..... didn't matter if they were good or not.... the quality just blew away anything available at the time..... and that was before I knew about component cables etc...... I think the VHS to DVD jump is about the same as DVD to Blu.... many would strongly disagree..... I actually think on higher quality DVDs, the Jump from VHS to DVD is even GREATER than that of DVD to Blu...... again, I'll get persecuted for saying that, but a lot of people here probably can't remember the last time they watched a VHS Cassette.

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

The last time I watched a VHS tape was in a friends car watching a porno. I gotta tell ya, I haven't seen horrible pq and aq like that in a very long time. Also, last year I was watching an old 80's DWI re-enactment tape from a DWI course.

[tqmilymi]

For me, DVD was prohibitive at first because of a higher cost than VHS. Then again, I was also in college at the time. Seem to recall as well that there was another medium on the market - laser disc. So at the time it was VHS, laser disc, and DVD, and VHS had by far the largest selection. I also don't recall a lot of stores "showcasing" the quality of DVD.

[Blu Haze]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

The last time I watched a VHS tape was in a friends car watching a porno. I gotta tell ya, I haven't seen horrible pq and aq like that in a very long time. Also, last year I was watching an old 80's DWI re-enactment tape from a DWI course.

VHS is horrible the tape get fked up so quickly.

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Blu Haze

VHS is horrible the tape get fked up so quickly.

Yep, then you have to remove the remainder of the film tape from the inside of the VHS player

[Blu Haze]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

Yep, then you have to remove the remainder of the film tape from the inside of the VHS player

Brings back memories. And then sometimes you would drop it and it would crack That sucked. I was like 10 or less then.

[ryoohki]

DVD passed VHS is saled in 2003-2002 i think. so 5 years after...

[MotionBlurr]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

The last time I watched a VHS tape was in a friends car watching a porno. I gotta tell ya, I haven't seen horrible pq and aq like that in a very long time. Also, last year I was watching an old 80's DWI re-enactment tape from a DWI course.

I think porn is better with that grainy VHS look to it. =)

[DetroitSportsFan]

I didn't realize this, but VHS officially died late in 2006.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=20&cs=1

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by ben7ben3

were so many people always saying that vhs was fine and there was no need to buy a dvd player, because vhs gets the job done...

Yes, many people thought that unless you had a large set there was no point to DVD (sound familiar?). And many of us with high-end home theatres were heavy laserdisc collectors, which made matters A LOT worse.

DVD split the videophile community when it came out. Many preferred the analog video and PCM audio available on Laserdiscs, especially as many of the early DVDs had noticeable compression artifacts. In fact a lot of the very early DVD releases were made from the same master tape as the Laserdisc versions, and never had a chance to really show off what DVD could do. After a couple of years, though, once dual-layer discs started coming out, along with higher quality anamorphic transfers, most of the "enthusiast" community rallied behind DVD. Mainstream consumers followed pretty quickly -- though a lot of the reason for that was the convenience factor of a disc vs. tape.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

... I actually think on higher quality DVDs, the Jump from VHS to DVD is even GREATER than that of DVD to Blu...... again, I'll get persecuted for saying that, but a lot of people here probably can't remember the last time they watched a VHS Cassette.

I popped in a VHS or two in recent weeks to copy stuff to dvd. VHS is about half, or a little less, in terms of quality from DVD. And that is simply based on lines of resolution. Compared to a 10Mbit DVD, VHS sucks like a toothless monkey on a frozen bannana.

When I first played a DVD on my TV via coaxial cable, I couldn't believe it was the same TV because the picture was so good.

Blu-ray is not only 6x the picture information we get over SD DVD, the bit rate is 3 to 4 times higher. Anyone who can't see the difference needs a side by side comparison.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by tron3

I popped in a VHS or two in recent weeks to copy stuff to dvd. VHS is about half, or a little less, in terms of quality from DVD. And that is simply based on lines of resolution. Campared to a 10Mbit DVD, VHS sucks like a toothless monkey on a frozen bannana.

Blu-ray is not only 6x the picture information we get over SD DVD, the bit rate is 3 to 4 times higher. Anyone who can't see the difference needs a side by side comparison.

I'm not saying DVD-to-Blu isn't a big jump, I'm just saying VHS-DVD is a BIGGER jump. (based on video only.... Audio with Blu is King.)

[TheTenth]

I don't think the PQ/AQ of DVD was that much better than VHS (with a good player, that is). The first images I saw in stores had pixellisation, over the top contrast and dripping colors. The VHS was from the start used for recording TV, it's not common place now for DVD. The big change was ease of use, smaller packaging, no more tape getting stuck inside the player ... and possible longer duration in time (I still have old VHS that work fine).

I've had a Laserdisc player, mostly for Anime, but I have some LDs which already had special features. The PQ/AQ was much better than DVD, I'm happy to say goodbye to DVD.