caiman

I bet those numbers would be radically different if instead of "Households WITH VCR/DVD players" the statistic was "Households that USE a VCR/DVD Player." I bet the majority of households with VCRs rarely use them and also have a DVD player.

ResIpsa

What's a VCR?

Mike Adams

Vintage Consumer Relic?

Peep

From what I hear, VHS is still popular in the kidvid market. I bet a lot of people only use their VCR's to play videos for their kids.

Mike Adams

My take on that is that the kiddie market is the thread VHS is hanging by, and even so, you're still gonna be really hard-pressed to find a lot of kiddie titles on VHS. Everything but everything is focused on DVD now -- if kids are responsible for any VCR use, it's watching videos they already have, not that there's still any kind of market for kids' titles on VHS.

nateman

i guess i should have stated my comment better. vhs has just started to decline in the way of people recording on the tapes even then alot of people still tape on vhs. a lot of the older population uses vhs and still people dont own dvd players or they own one but dont have many dvds. i still see vhs recordable tapes in wal-mart through you right they have mostly disapeared over the last few years.
now your comment on vhs sliding down a day after dvd came out is not true watsoever.

in regards to the hd feedback i did not say i hate hd i just said that or what i ment was that the mass majority of people still will use normal sd-dvds, i dont know were you got the idea i dont like hd i just dont think its right to have 2 new formats and price them so high, thats why i think they will both fail.
its amazing how people who like hd defend it like crazy and people who don't have hd just don't care as much.
so read the hole thing before making a comment cause i didn't say i hate hd cause thats not the case i just dont think we should be forced into it so fast.

Mike Adams

Okay, yes, VHS didn't die as soon as DVD was introduced, but what I said was that it started to die, in the same way that as soon as you're born, you begin to die. Just a bad metaphor, I guess.

I get your point about recording on VHS -- I didn't realize that's what you meant. It's definitely fair to say that not everybody's got a TiVo or other DVR, so if VCRs are used for anything these days, it's recording off TV.

I don't really take issue with your opinions of HD, except that I hope you mean hardware prices when you say it's a high-priced format. The discs seem right in line with standard-def DVDs, and I think the combo discs are a great way for those of us who can't play the HD side yet to actually buy the new format and still get some use out of the disc.

gutwrencher

Trailer parks too. However, some of the best trailer-homes in Iowa will be getting into dvds this Christmas with so many good deals going on. Congrats, Stuart!(your head is by the snowcone machine)

Altimus Prime

Only thing I use my VCR for is to record TV shows I don't want to miss when I'm not home, but there's only a few TV shows I really watch. Or - specific to my situation - to tape a show for a coworker who doesn't have the channel.

There's other ways to record TV, but for me it's simple with a VCR, and I have it.

Also, and most importantly, I use my VCR for its inputs. My TV is low in input lines, and I need the additional ones on the VCR.

I still have some movies only on tape. Can't recall last time I watched one.

TheBang

No, no, it's an old DVD Talk in-joke, because Geoff doesn't know how to spell... sigh, nevermind...

Ginwen

That's what I think. I haven't used mine since I got a DVR about a year ago, but I do still own one.

nateman

i %100 argree with everything you say this time. i personally use a dvd recorder but some people i know still use vhs cause they just have a dvd player and not a recorder.
and i also %100 argree with your opinions on hd the mass market i just dont think will buy it for awhile.

Mike Adams

Oh, sorry... haven't been around that long.

Mike Adams

Be careful, depending on the VCR and what you plug into it, you could end up seeing Macrovision side effects like darkening and brightening picture, etc. when you run something like a DVD player through your VCR. For stuff like videogame consoles it should be fine, though.

EDIT: Woohoo! 600 posts!

king slug

Still alive and kicking, but might be fighting for it's life in a little over 10 years. If it took this long for DVD's to take over VCR's, I'd imagine the same for HDTV's. Of course with HDTV's come HD-DVD's (or Blu-Rays.) The high def dvd's are definitely going to take over DVD's, it's just a matter of time when they will.

bloopbleep

kinda reminds me of that old aol messageboard vcr or dvds? I remember people violently defending vcrs on that forum like 7 years ago. ah the memories when the internet and dvds were new.

DavidH

It be many, many years IF HD discs ever surpass DVD.

murphy_wmm

There's still some people out there who are VHS obsessives and won't even go near DVD... check this thread out on the IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000009/...72161#59272161

Al_Tahoe

Me too. I'm an old fart who doesn't have Tivo or a DVR, so I tape Law and Order off of TNT almost every day.

king slug

Are you kidding? If? Have you ever seen a HD-DVD compared to a DVD? I didn't think there was that much difference before I myself got an HDTV. The difference is so obvious that I've decided not to even buy a DVD again. HD-DVD all the way for me, once people start to get their HDTV's, they'll be looking for a high def dvd player as well. Remember how expensive DVD players were when they first came out, then steadily dropped in price? Same thing here.

eedoon

The same thing goes with VCR compared to DVD, DVD is vastly superior to VCR, but people still buys them.
A lot of people think that HD will be a niche market for years to come, and I tend to agree with them.

mrpayroll

Just like 12" vinyl LPs continue to sell well here and in Europe.

Chris

Alan Smithee

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king slug

Wasn't DVD also supposed to be a "niche" market when it first came out? No one with a VCR wanted to update their hundreds (or thousands) of VHS tapes to DVD's. Same for DVD's. I think it's a little bit different here though, high def players have backwards compatibility, you couldn't jam a DVD into a VCR and make it play. I think high def players might be taking over DVD's sooner than you think. With the $200 price point for the HD-DVD add on for the 360, and with Blu-Ray being bundled in the PS3, Millions of homes will have a high def player inside of it.

Mike Adams

Yes, but not necessarily an HD TV to watch the discs on. Another factor besides the dueling formats that probably helped kill SACD and DVD-Audio was the fact that they didn't sound any different if you didn't have the proper speaker setup. A DVD-Audio through stereo speakers is practically indiscernible from a CD, and an HD-DVD or Blu-ray disc isn't going to look much different from a DVD if you're just watching through S-Video outputs on a standard analog TV.

Because of this, it won't matter that both formats are miles ahead of DVD -- only the people who have the equipment required to fully appreciate the potential of these formats will see their true value. That means that people who buy an Xbox 360 or PS3 for gaming purposes won't see much of a point in buying high-def movies if they have the consoles hooked up to standard TVs, which could really put a dent in the perceived value of both formats, and consumer motivation would take a really big hit.

I almost think it would be better if HD-DVD and Blu-ray players would only connect to HD displays, so while that more than doubles the initial investment required, it would ensure that people who try the format out won't go "eh, looks the same to me" if they don't have a display capable of showing them much of a difference. When DVD was introduced, you had the added convenience of the durable disc medium with random-access capability and bonus material, but HD-DVD and Blu-ray offer little more than better picture quality, huge though the improvement may be. For that reason, the chances of either format edging out DVD the way DVD killed VHS, or even surviving at all, are pretty slim.

...in my opinion.