I remember when we got a Beta from some relatives who were upgrading to a VCR. They gave us the dozen or so movies they had bought. They’d had the thing awhile and the color quality wasn’t very good. It went from clear color to mottled, to black and white, sometimes all in the same scene. We bought a VCR a few months later and marveled at the quality of sound and picture.
In the years since, we have been through three VCR’s. The wife doesn’t watch many movies when I’m not home, so movies are more my thing than hers. We have more than a hundred tapes, filling three bookcases. My portable TV that stays in my truck has a built-in VCR so I keep a collection of favorite films with me, exchanging them every time I get home. I also buy new movies from time to time, when I see something interesting. It’s a great way to pass the time when I’m stuck waiting to load or unload. The main problem is space. My truck doesn’t have room for a big collection of VHS tapes, so I have to keep my numbers down.
The wife just bought the “Star Trek, Next Generation” series on VHS. The tapes fill a large box and we don’t have a place for them to be properly displayed yet. It’ll take another bookcase or two. The main problem with VHS has to be the size and difficulty storing. The other problem is tape-eating VCR’s. We lost more than one favorite movie when the VCR ate it and stretched the tape beyond repair. Another favorite didn’t rewind all the way and the next time we tried to watch it, it was frozen and couldn’t be fixed.
We got a home theater system last Christmas, surround sound, cd player, radio and DVD player. The music is great! So far we’ve only watched a few movies on the DVD, because we only have a few. The quality, as you watch the movie, is about the same as a good VHS (at least as far as I can tell) but there’s the added bonus of being able to go one frame at a time, stop motion and use the other functions that VHS doesn’t have. On the downside of DVD’s, they can get scratched and damaged. On the good side, most video stores have polishers that can restore the quality very easily at little or no cost to you.
Comparing the two is more than just the obvious fact that VCR’s are on their way out and DVD’s are the new technology. However, it is an important consideration. It won’t be long before buying a VCR will be a matter of yard sales and second-hand stores. All those VHS tapes will be interesting dust collectors, much like old record albums are now. I’m angling for a DVD player for Father’s Day (attached to a TV, of course… for my truck.) The DVD’s take up a lot less space than the VHS tapes do. I’ll be able to carry more of them with me and buy new ones without worrying about where to put them. At home, it’ll be a little different. Those bookcases we now have filled with VHS tapes will eventually hold other things. The DVD’s are much easier to store.
I haven’t figured out what to do with all those VHS tapes once we replace them with DVD’s. Maybe add on an extra room as a video library? Maybe have a yard sale? Or find a collector? We’ll think of something, right?
