VHS coming back?

[ronl]

Hi Members.I just saw that the latest in the Alien movie franchise is releasing a special edition on VHS format.complete with a sticker printed to look faded. I know records has seen a comeback but vhs? Acording to the article,some old vhs releases are going for decent money!Are we going to see new VHS machines being built like record players are? RonL. https://www.space.com/entertainment/...rce=SmartBrief

[colortrakker]

Thanks in part to Guardians Of The Galaxy and Stranger Things, cassettes are becoming the new vinyl. So I don't think it would be much of a stretch to think that VHS would make a comeback alongside it.

(Although if the Z kids find out about CED and that starts getting popular, I'm out.)

[DVtyro]

This is just another idiocy to sell physical media, in particular, physical media that cannot be copied losslessly. VHS is even more stupid than compact cassettes - there is no new tape, and no new machines. At best, they have found unused reels that they stowed twenty years ago just in case, and they think the time has come to cash it. Na-ah. Give me a proper Blu-ray. Actually, I don't care. I hate franchises. The only franchise I accept is "Back to the Future". I also watched "Terminator 2".

[Alex KL-1]

+1 for the Terminator 2.

[Dude111]

Originally Posted by Alex KL-1

+1 for the Terminator 2.

I have T2 recordsd from analogue cable and its goregous!! (The Movie channel)

[DVtyro]

Originally Posted by Dude111

I have T2 recordsd from analogue cable and its goregous!! (The Movie channel)

I have it on a Blu-ray disc, and it is gorgeous.

[ARC Tech-109]

another +1 for T-2 (have on laserdisc)

[luRaichu]

I think the "new" turntables they sell in big-box stores are expensive trash platters. So are new walkmans/cassette decks. They all use the exact same shotty mechanism (with plastic fudging flywheels) made by a single company in China. For analog playback and recording equipment you're much better off saving money and buying vintage machines manufactured in the 80s or 70s or so (when the technology reached its peak). That said I don't believe new VCRs will ever be made due to the mechanical complexity & even if they were any model you'd find at the brick and mortar store should be a total piece of crud. Cheap plastic parts galore. Maybe something targeting high end hipsters flush with cash would be built right but you'd be paying through the nose. Still better off buying old equipment at that point...

As for new VHS releases, I am not aware of the quality. Seems like the latest analog fad designed to milk old stock. I know some new music releases on audio cassette are decent and othera really stink. The one I tried had lossy treble & I could hear the other side of the tape in the background.

[ARC Tech-109]

While I respect your opinion I'm going to respectfully ask that you keep your replies family friendly with a PG rating. I'm with you on the modern day retro-fad junk.

[luRaichu]

Originally Posted by ARC Tech-109

While I respect your opinion I'm going to respectfully ask that you keep your replies family friendly with a PG rating. I'm with you on the modern day retro-fad junk.

Done. Through the magic of the internet all is made well again and they'll never know what I originally was saying

[Dude111]

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by ronl

I know records have seen a comeback but vhs?

This is indeed even sillier than the "vinyl album comeback" thing, but I thoroughly doubt that VHS will return at all. (Some artists have released music on cassettes in recent years too, just as silly.) Unlike what some people claim for vinyl records, no one thinks VHS tapes are "better than" DVDs or laser discs, let alone HD formats.

[init4fun]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

This is indeed even sillier than the "vinyl album comeback" thing, but I thoroughly doubt that VHS will return at all. (Some artists have released music on cassettes in recent years too, just as silly.) Unlike what some people claim for vinyl records, no one thinks VHS tapes are "better than" DVDs or laser discs, let alone HD formats.

Chris makes a valid point here.

There are still enough people willing to buy records to make them commercially viable. The reasons being nostalgia, some see a "cool factor" in them, and some believe "they just sound better". All subjective opinion based reasons for sure, but there is enough of "the juice being worth the squeeze" there to give the vinyl record enough popularity to attract manufacturers to produce them. VHS on the other hand is very niche market at best, as I myself well recall people hated the fragility of both the tapes and the machines that play them when they were the only game in town, and I've not yet seen any great nostalgia trip regarding videotape machines.

Who knows, maybe Taylor Swift will release her next concert video on VHS, but anything short of that and I honestly believe VHS is only gonna live on till the last of us old TV collectors die off.

Lastly, something to think about, how many vintage TV collectors do we have here, and how many of us collect VHS?

(Not this old guy, I pulled my last spooled up / wrapped up tape from around a video head long ago )

[Zenith26kc20]

Please no! If a new machine is made, Funai? Will it be VHS/DVD?
I have both Beta & VHS. Mr Betamax keeps my Beta going but nobody I know of really repairs VHS. My surviving VHS are Panasonic.

[DVtyro]

Originally Posted by init4fun

There are still enough people willing to buy records to make them commercially viable. The reasons being nostalgia, some see a "cool factor" in them, and some believe "they just sound better". All subjective opinion based reasons for sure, but there is enough of "the juice being worth the squeeze" there to give the vinyl record enough popularity to attract manufacturers to produce them. VHS on the other hand is very niche market at best, as I myself well recall people hated the fragility of both the tapes and the machines that play them when they were the only game in town, and I've not yet seen any great nostalgia trip regarding videotape machines.

Vinyl records and turntables can be produced in a third-world country. The Soviets made very decent turntables, but no domestic CD players, and the only VCR they made they copied from a 1977 Panasonic model and produced into the early 1990s. Video is much more high-tech than vinyl. No way it returns.

Originally Posted by init4fun

Who knows, maybe Taylor Swift will release her next concert video on VHS, but anything short of that and I honestly believe VHS is only gonna live on till the last of us old TV collectors die off.

The guy I like is so into retro that he even taped parts of his show on a Panasonic VHS camcorder.

Neal Francis - Francis Comes Alive: The Movie

But I don't think this gimmick will last long. His last video is overdone. My VHS has never looked that bad

Neal Francis - What's Left Of Me