VHS - Please Explain

[Ferox13]

Weird I just stumbled upon this photo:



90% of my collection are exrental from old video shops. Infact the public couldn't buy this tapes from retailers at the time. A lot of them have wear and tear to the boxes as expected as well as stickers that the shop owners put on...

I have a few 100 of these I'd imagine.

[Bizarre]

Originally Posted by cheebacheeba

ell to me.
I like the feeling of a VHS cover opening up...there is a tactile memory held there for me, and it's nice to revisit.

:D

Uh...ten characters?

I think the smiley said it all, I totally agree with that point!!

[Elvis_Christ]

Like a few of you have mentioned nostalgia plays a big part in why I still like VHS. Cover art and the specific cuts of films in some cases too. Also how stuff like the soundtrack gets changed for some DVD releases. Sometimes the film is cut on DVD like in the case of A Nightmare On Elm Street 5 and VHS is the only uncut version of the film available locally. Weirdly enough the VHS edition is sometimes a lot superior to the DVD releases of some titles. The Roadshow Home Video tape of Mother's Day for instance looks much better than the washed out DVD release.

There's just a lot of history behind them for me. I hate how bland video stores are these days. All of them have the exact same shit. It used to be cool hitting a few different ones and discovering something from their back catalogue that only they had.

Digital has it's faults particularly in how easily damaged the format is. It would take a lot to totally fuck up a tape (like all the idiots that played tapes through their piece of shit player) but slight damage on a disc makes it Un-watchable where as a tape would just have a jump or some static.

Been awhile since I watched a tape (I mainly watch avi and divx because the price is right :D) but I picked up a really nice player recently and have been meaning to dig out some stuff and do a solely VHS review site.


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Originally Posted by Ferox13

Weird I just stumbled upon this photo:

The Cannibal Apocalypse and Nightmares In A Damaged Brain tapes are pretty cool Ferox! I've always preferred that cover of Cannibal Apocalypse over the one we got over here:



Schizo is the heavily edited version of Nightmares in a Damaged Brain. Video Classics brought out an uncut version too titled Nightmare which has slightly longer dialogue scenes than most uncut prints. I've never come across it in the flesh and it fetches quite high prices.

Just cleared out a good third of my tapes and tidied up my shelf a bit... was going to take a pic but my camera just ran out of battery after taking the above pic. Will post one at some point.

[The Ugly Duchess]

When tapes first came I chose the Beta format over VHS for the simple reason the picture quality was better.

I recorded a lot of movies off of TV from AMC ( when they had no commercials) and then TCM.

As Beta format faded I was able to transfer my Beta films that I had recorded off TV to DVD.

I still have some VHS tapes but as soon as I can record a film off of TV or get it fairly inexpensive on DVD I generally swap out the VHS for the DVD and donate the DVD.

The picture quality on DVD is much better on pre recorded movies( if the film is being reissued by a major studio) and there is less storage space for DVD's ( since they are smaller) than for VHS.

I still have a lot of VHS tapes simply because the films on them have not been released on DVD.

I currently have a combination DVD/VHS player and recorder. I can do both on this machine however, I never record anything on VHS anymore. I just use the VHS part as a player.

Technology keeps moving on. I was afraid for awhile that Blu Ray would knock out DVD but I found out that DVD & Blu Ray are compatible. Your DVD's will play on Blu Ray and even look better.

You no sooner build up a nice collection and then it becomes obsolete! That's the pitts!

[Ferox13]

Yeah - I t has the camera shot thru John Morgans Stomach. Arty stuff..


I remember back in the day getting offers of £100 (sterling) for some of the tape off the Nasties list..I shoulda sold :-)

[Fearonsarms]

Originally Posted by Ferox13

Yeah - I t has the camera shot thru John Morgans Stomach. Arty stuff..


I remember back in the day getting offers of £100 (sterling) for some of the tape off the Nasties list..I shoulda sold :-)

Just watched Video Nasties The definitive guide and according to that documentary some of the video retailers would sell copies of the banned VHS's like Love Cap 7 for over £300-seems it's always been expensive to get them especially copies of now defunct labels.

[Ferox13]

Originally Posted by Fearonsarms

Just watched Video Nasties The definitive guide and according to that documentary some of the video retailers would sell copies of the banned VHS's like Love Cap 7 for over £300-seems it's always been expensive to get them especially copies of now defunct labels.

I have a mint copy of Lovecamp 7 :-)

Some collectors just buy labels regardless of the films too.

[fortunato]

Originally Posted by Elvis_Christ

I hate how bland video stores are these days. All of them have the exact same shit. It used to be cool hitting a few different ones and discovering something from their back catalogue that only they had.

Yeah, same here. I really miss that. When I was a kid, there were three mom-and-pop video stores around town that all had dusty old horror sections, and they each had such different selections. I remember seeing stuff like Microwave Massacre, Don't Go Into the Woods, My Bloody Valentine, etc. that you'd never find at a regular DVD rental place now.

[Elvis_Christ]

Originally Posted by fortunato

Yeah, same here. I really miss that. When I was a kid, there were three mom-and-pop video stores around town that all had dusty old horror sections, and they each had such different selections. I remember seeing stuff like Microwave Massacre, Don't Go Into the Woods, My Bloody Valentine, etc. that you'd never find at a regular DVD rental place now.

It's terrible how 99% of the stores are franchises like Blockbuster now. There used to be a couple of great stores in my city but they just got brought out by the big guys.

[fortunato]

Originally Posted by Elvis_Christ

It's terrible how 99% of the stores are franchises like Blockbuster now. There used to be a couple of great stores in my city but they just got brought out by the big guys.

Yeah, there was nothing around growing up after those shut down. In Chicago, there are a couple of places, but generally not worth the effort of going all the way down to visit them all that often. Especially with my DVD collection and Netflix at my disposal. But I definitely miss perusing those dusty shelves for new discoveries.