Why VHS tapes are better than DVDs and Blu-Ray

Authors Jason Self

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Why VHS tapes are better than DVDs and Blu-Ray Home

Sun, 24 Apr 2022 Linux-libre
Following up on Why Dial-Up Internet Is Better it seemed appropriate for some satire
on DVD and Blu-ray DRM, UOP, etc. GitWeb

Anyone alive in the 1980 and even in the 1990s is most likely familiar with VHS, the How To
archaic video format involving plastic cassette tapes and the big, clunky bricks that
were used to play them. These days, you'll really only find VHS tapes in thrift stores, Articles
many of them with rental store stickers still on them. Say what you will about these
obsolete things, but there are actually a few ways in which they're better than their
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disc successors.

• More resistant to damage. If you scratch a DVD or Blu-Ray disc, you risk About Me
damaging it to the point where the disc may become unusable. You might
experience screen freezes or a skippy soundtrack, or the disc might not read Contact Me
at all. If you scratch a VHS tape, it still works just fine, assuming you don't
scratch the film inside, which is rather difficult to do accidentally. Even if you GPL enforced
do damage the film, you might just have a little static and a jumpy screen
here and there.
• Because of their durability, VHS cassettes can be the perfect video choice for If you appreciate any of the things I
very young children. Little kids aren't exactly known for handling things with am doing you can make a donation.
care and it would be very easy for them to damage a disc. Meanwhile, they
can throw a VHS tape down the stairs and it'll still work, and it's much easier
for them to put a tape in a VCR than try to place a disc onto a disc tray.
• Keeping your place mid-movie. When you completely turn off your DVD/Blu-
Ray player and/or take the disc out, you have to go to the scene selection
screen and find which scene was closest to the one you left off on. Compare
to a VHS tape, which you can stop, take out of the VCR, not pick up again for
ten years and it still remembers where you left off.
• Price. When VHS tapes were still being actively made and sold, they were
about as expensive (if not more so) as many DVDs and Blu-Ray discs are
now. But, since they're an outdated format, you can easily find them at yard
sales and thrift stores for less than a dollar each. You can get VCRs pretty
cheap at thrift stores as well.
• Not too high-definition. Some more modern forms of media are so sharp and
defined that you can actually see the actors' pores. Do you ever notice that?
It's kind of weird to look at. Apparently, too much of a good thing exists even
in movies. VHS, on the other hand, has just the right touch of lesser quality to
allow you to focus on the film itself and not the texture of the characters'
faces.
• Easier for some folks to use. For many grandparents and parents, discs are
a little too new-fangled. It can be tough for some folks to navigate menus and
press tiny buttons to get where they need to go, especially if the disc in
question is one of the kinds with several movies on the same disc. With VHS
tapes, you just pop them in and let them run.
• You can fast-forward through anything. With most disc-based films, there are
certain moments before the film begins that you absolutely cannot skip: the
anti-sharing warning, the previews or the intro for whatever studio made the
film. It's annoying that you can't just pass on these features and get right to
the movie. With VHS, you can start fast-forwarding the second the tape starts
running.
• You don't have to deal with region codes. Some DVD and Blu-Ray discs
have region codes, enforced by the player, which just means that certain
movies won't play in certain regions. There are no worries about this with
VHS; if you have a tape that's all in German and you don't live in Germany, it
will still work in your American VCR.
• Some things are only available on VHS. Certain films and shows never got a
DVD release, so if you've got your heart set on adding one of these titles to
your collection, you'll have no choice but to get it on tape. Unfortunately, such
treasures often cost a pretty penny; something that wasn't re-released on
disc is almost always something that wasn't very popular, meaning it's going
to be on the rarer side and might be somewhat of a collector's item.
• VHS-exclusive original versions. Certain movies may have had bits and
pieces tweaked or edited out for their future DVD releases, and the only way
to see that original version (legally) would be to obtain a VHS copy of the
film.
• Nostalgic value. Just about everyone who grew up in the last quarter of the
twentieth century watched their favorite films on tape, and VHS is a big part
of many folks' childhoods. Sometimes, it just feels more right to watch your
beloved cel-animated Disney movies with a VCR.