VHS, 30, Dies of Loneliness...

Variety ^ | 11/27/2006 | Diane Garret

[Silly]

Is that at the same store where you bought your 4 yards of calico, 2 pounds of crackers, three pounds of beef jerky and a penny bag of sorghum candy?

[napscoordinator]

What I normally do is put the DVD in the recorder about five or ten minutes before I want to begin a movie and then get to clearing dishes off the table, or gathering snacks or getting the kids ready for bed or whatever. Then when I am ready to watch the movie everything has already gone through the nonsense. I do this with the tv off too which is another bonus. I really wish after you go through them once you could skip them easier but that does not seem to be the case.

[durasell]

The DVD format won't even make it to 20.

[McGavin999]

WOW, he was so young. I knew him well, he was my exercise partner for years and we often went to the movies together.

[sgtbono2002]

I have found it depends on the disc. Some will let you skip others will not. Also I would like to skip that federal crap no one reads anyway. With the VCR you could skip all that crap.

[paudio]

I believe most households still have VCR. Not to watch movies, but to record news, TV programs, etc. It's just cheaper and easier to operate. Yeah, there will a day when VCR dies. But not today... not yet.

[sgtbono2002]

I agree. Jump drive will be the thing one day.. A little jump drive will hold a couple of movies and dont take up any space.

[durasell]

And look at the kids. The idea of owning a physical thing -- LP, 45, cassette,CD -- is entirely alien or quaint to them. In their minds, music is digital code that can be shuttled and forth between devices. Same will hold true for movies with that generation.

[Renegade]

I buy VHS tapes at the flea market for $.50-$1.00 Still get some hard to find early titles that haven't made it to DVD yet .
If you have a large collection buying a cheap player might be good idea in case they stop manufacturing them .

[Renegade]

Most of the students I taught in 6th grade didn't even know what a RECORD was .

[MarkL]

I dont like the DVD. The problem? It wont let you fast forward through the crap they put at the front of the movie. With VCR you can just fast forward thru all that crap.

That's actually due to the manufacturers of the DVD, not an issue of the format... If you buy a commercial DVD, the manufacturer can keep you from fast forwarding through it... But if you record a TV show on a DVD, you can fast forward all you like... And if, like me, you buy DVDs, but keep them archived, you can always "re-author" a DVD using a computer in order to get rid of the stuff you don't like... Of course, someday before long I'm sure that the government will outlaw being able to reauthor DVDs, and even to skip commercials using DVR/PVR on your TV - I'm not kidding about that one... The lobbying groups actually called skipping commercials "stealing."

Mark

[ShadowDancer]

I still have the VCR here in the basement. There is no way I would ever be able to replace all my VCR movies with DVD's.

[usmcobra]

Can you tell me how to stop the blinking 12:00 on the face of my VCR?

[Crolis]

I believe it is the CSS encryption (Content Scrambling System) that the DVD authoring house uses to restrict the ability to use the fast-forward or menu buttons when you first insert a DVD. I've found that some DVDs will let you fast-forward through their previews but most won't allow you to quickly bypass the FBI warning.

Personally, I wish they would put their previews as a menu option instead of forcing me to sit through them.

I really enjoy the DVDs that start the movie immediately though. The Directors Cut of Star Trek: The Motion Picture is one of those. You put the disk in and it immediately runs the movie. No FBI warnings, menus or previews.

[Crolis]

Remember, now that Daylight Saving Time is over, your VCR should blink 11:00. :)

[durasell]

Most of the students I taught in 6th grade didn't even know what a RECORD was .




Older kids know what records are...they're something a DJ scatches to get a particular sound at a dance club.

[BallyBill]

Jeez, I still haven't gotten over the demise of 8-Tracks. Glad I never got one of them newfangled video cassette machines.

The Luddite.

[Crolis]

True. The CSS encryption has been cracked a while ago, and there are software packages which will allow you to re-author the DVD. Some are good enough to allow you to keep the movie itself but strip out all the extras and things that just take up space.

A lot of people are setting up large hard disks with all their movies on it. Basically, a large movie jukebox.

But it's true, the RIAA/MPAA/TV industry are rabidly fighting this trend and I don't have a lot of confidence in our representatives resisting them.

[Dallas59]

Duct tape!

[bikerman]

Black electrical tape over the display works.