VHS at CES 2009: Still alive

(Credit: Panasonic)

VHS movies may be disappearing from store shelves, but we saw some evidence at CES 2009 that the VCR just isn't ready to die. In addition to Panasonic's surprising DMP-BD70V--a combo VCR/Blu-ray player--JVC and Toshiba also have new VHS/DVD combos lined up for 2009. Check out the slide show below for a complete comparison.

VHS at CES 2009: Still alive (and photos to prove it)

[iamwho]

The display "2000" is perfect for this thing. I'm just surprised Panasonic couldn't squeeze it a little more. The engineers probably spent just enough brain cells to replace the DVD mechanism with a Blu-Ray drive. Can't say I blame them.

[i8246i]

Guess its cool that my old VHS movies won't be going in the trash anytime soon...but I have to know:

When will we be able to get a VHS - to - Blu-Ray recorder on the markets? I know there are ways to do this with a PC with a capture card and Blu-Ray recorder, but what about the regular family who just wants to back up their old (and now obsolete) home movies onto a higher-density media?

I'm also wondering when we Missourians will see a bigger shipment of Blu-ray recorders, and if we'll see any of them with significantly increased recording speeds?

[Weeji]

"When will we be able to get a VHS - to - Blu-Ray recorder on the markets?"

Answer: You don't need one. VHS is already lower quality and resolution than DVD, so even the up-conversion there isn't really doing anything, just making it digital. The final product is only as good as the source. Converting a VHS tape to Blu-ray would be like putting a McDonalds burger on fine china. The china won't magically turn it into Fillet Mignon.

[BlackPenguin]

Weeji or maybe he has a ton of old videos and he wants to get them moved from vhs before he can't find a vhs player... or maybe the tapes are getting old and he wants to just move the videos to blu-ray and be done with it.

[C433Z]

why blu-ray and not dvd? vhs is already lower than dvd quality any way.

[BlackPenguin]

this is only a guess. but maybe because there is more room on a blu-ray. but that is only a guess.

[awild1]

Even though I agree with Weeji, trying to up-convert VHS video to Blu-ray will do nothing to improve it's quality. I believe i8246i is probably looking more for portability and archiving benefits. VHS is an analog format and we all know what happends to well used VHS tapes over time, they wear out. To capture that video and put on an digital media will give that content durability. 10 years from now, assuming the file is properly backed up and not lost, there would be no reason that playback would be even an iota worse than tomorrow when he captures it.
Now, you also wonder why Blu-ray instead of DVD? Well it is inevitable the format known as DVD WILL fade away before Blu-ray. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with DVD, it's just moving forward. i8246i is probably thinking (which I would agree with) that if he outputs to Blu-ray, he's going to buy himself more time before having to up-convert again to a newer format in the future.

[Pauliex]

As some of the comments below point out, VHS->DVD is a much more sensible option. VHS resolution is about 200 lines... blu ray will do nothing for you. And regarding the poster who said 'DVD will fade away before Blu-ray'... I'm not so sure. Sales of blu-ray machines and discs have been very poor - there's simply not a compelling enough reason for people to upgrade. VHS->DVD was huge. DVD->Bluray is not the giant leap in quality or convenience. It's entirely possible that blu-ray may not survive, especially given the economic situation.

[moon_brain]

I'm a high school video production teacher who has moved to all digital - miniDV, DVD & flash even. However, there are shelves upon shelves of what we call 1/2" tape. There's the VHS and the SVHS variety. Kudos to Panasonic for making dual decks that also have SQPB so we can view student work from the past and preserve it to DVD at the same time. I hope they include SQPB when the recordable Blu-Ray version comes out. I find the copies superior to having to connect two machines with cables.

[Rick Cavaretti]

And tell Disney and other studios to release older movies on DVD. I have a collection of classic cartoons (and others) from the 80's, saved by the father in law, for the day he would have grandchildren. If it wasn't for these copies, and the studios refusal to reissue these classics on DVD, the kids would never have had the chance to view these classics.

[BarbieBrenda]

Call me retro, but I like this it's pretty cool because the videos last way more that DVD's.

[AlanHub]

it can play DVDs and DVDs are long from dead. I dont know why anyone would purchase a VHS, the video quality is laughable.

[Someone-else]

It does have its uses, but won't go further than a niche product.

[bjb7293]

Hey I'm glad to see this product hit the shelves... haha I've been waiting for them to come out with one of these (many, many VHS on my shelves, and I don't feel like converting)

[dodgemom]

These things have been around for a while now. It's the only way you can get the VHS player/recorder. I've been looking at them for months now and I might just get one and not have 2 players. Both combined into one, less hookup, less wires to deal with and one less thing to plug in.

[AVPro]

I've already gotten several inquiries from college AV directors about this unit. Anyone with a large VHS collection knows that most of the content has never been released on standard DVD and never will be released in any HiDef format. Coupled with the cost and copyright issues of transferring their huge VHS libraries to DVD this fits in the classroom rather well. Now if someone could only come up with a reliable cost effective way to get HDMI up to a ceiling mounted projector I'd be happy.