Video Asylum

I have a few VHS movies and archived culture things, but as few as possible.

207.67.53.106

Harmonia

In Reply to: RE: VHS as part of the home video library archives posted by user510 on January 01, 2009 at 18:55:12

I never liked the limitations of VHS, and I couldn't wait for DVDs to be launched. I love Blu, BTW.

My main complaint about consumer VHS, besides the poor quality (on anything other than a small screen) is its [un]reliabililty. I dunno what I'm gonna do when my JVC S-VHS gives out. Pray I can get it repaired I guess. Knock on wood - so far it's been trouble free, but it doesn't get as much use as the DVD player. I keep it hooked up to the 27" CRT, as that's the ideal display in my house to watch tapes.

Like Jack, I have some movies and other material on tape that are not available on DVD. So I nurse my machine and keep my fingers crossed. I'll probably transfer a few of my dance/opera and movie tapes to DVD, just to preserve them. PQ will still be poor, but at least I won't lose them.

Follow Ups:

RE: I have a few VHS movies and archived culture things, but as few as possible. - user510 22:50:38 01/02/09 (1)
I've seen some tape failures too. iirc, part of the problem with tape stems from the lubrication used between the years 1973 - 1986 or thereabouts. The lube, which prevents the magnetic coating from sticking against the overlapping layers, would break down after several years and then the tape pack would stick, rot and shed. (Way to go Ampex;-) Still, tape produced after that period should be longer lived. According to the R2R folks, magnetic tape produced before that period had no such problem and is still found, often enough, to be in excellent condition to this day.

I've had some mechanical failures within the vhs cassette housing. Sometimes repairs within are possible. Parts are plentiful. Just cannibalize another cassette.

I'm using a 32" lcd (Samsung) so I might be able to tolerate the lower rez of vhs better than those of you with larger screens. Even so, I do crave for higher picture quality and will likely get a Blu-Ray player sooner rather than later. I just hate to abandon some of those great movies that I have on vhs.

While I don't have use for all of the editing capabilities of a pro recorder, it would be nice to maintain a higher quality consumer deck just for playback. Btw, I had a JVC vhs that I had purchased sometime around 2000. I think it was $250 or so on a discount. The Mitsubishi I'm referring to in the original post definitely provides a better picture quality than the JVC did...and it was at least 10 yrs older. On the other hand it really doesn't show impressive recording quality except with S-vhs media.

-Steve
- Best VHS player I ever had was a Mitsubishi. - Harmonia 12:55:23 01/03/09 (0)
  By a large margin in PQ, and it wasn't that expensive. Good recorder or player, considering the limitations on resolution.
  
  I keep the 27" CRT, even though it's beyond heavy, just for those things taped off air (Balanchine ballets, concerts) and those movies I fear may not make it to DVD.
  
  I use TIVO now for archiving. There really isn't all that much on TV I want nowdays other than certain movies on TCM.
  
  The bigger the screen, the worse VHS looks.

Post a Followup:

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?

Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
	Remember my Moniker & Password (What's this?) Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:

Message:	(Posts are subject to Content Rules)

Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:	Automagically notify you when someone responds.

To view your new posting or follow-up, click on the RELOAD or REFRESH button on your browser.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Signature Sound

[ Signature Sound Lounge ]