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Time has not been kind to VHS: As tech turns 50, preservationists race to save material stored on vanishing format. Methods include … baking? (news.harvard.edu)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 4 points 7 months ago (2 children)

The biggest problem with DVD in the early days was just price. Early DVD players were ridiculously expensive compared to VHS, and the DVDs themselves were also significantly more expensive than VHS tapes. That of course changed over time, as DVD adoption drove the unit prices down across the board. By the time Bluray came around and began to drive out DVD the players had gotten so cheap you could sometimes find them for as little as $25, and DVD movies would regularly show up in discount bins for $5 to $10.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago

    I ripped my DVD collection a couple years ago, and I watched that change over time happen.

    The earlier DVDs in my collection came in bespoke packaging designed specifically for the film, they had properly interactive menus complete with easter eggs, commentary tracks, alternate angles, remember when DVD player remotes had an "Angle" button? DVD was a prestige format, it was actually as cool as LaserDisc was supposed to be.

    There was the early mass market phase when older movies, or lower budget current releases were put out on double sided discs that had widescreen on one side and "fullscreen" 4:3 on the other, in those half plastic half cardboard cases, remember those? Higher end stuff would be released in what I think of as the standard plastic DVD case. How much plastic was wasted selling them in packaging other than CD jewel cases?

    Later on, you got the cases that had the recycling logo cut out of them, the discs got cheaper, features started disappearing, because it was now the budget option. "It's just on DVD." DVDs were cheap to make, everybody had a player for them, Blu-Ray now had the prestige releases. The Direct To Bargain Bin releases weren't exactly the high point of the format but there's still fun to be had there.

    DVD still staggers on, they're not dead the way VHS is, but it didn't make it as long. DVDs could do things VHS couldn't, like TV shows. The advent of binge watching happened on DVD; complete TV series on VHS wasn't feasible but it works great on DVD. On the other hand, because VHS was the only widely adopted vdieo format for most of its run, you can find weird stuff on VHS that never got pressed onto DVD.

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