The end for VHS???

An interesting about DVD recorders. Sounds like the end for VHS recorders is finally near. I don't own a DVD player at the moment:( (if you don't include the PS2) but was planning on getting one soon. Might wait a while as there are plans from Mitsubishi to "start making DVD recorders with built-in hard-disk drives by the end of this year, at a rate of about 1,000 machines a month." Maybe the HDD will act at a buffer or as the storge until the disc is burned. "By the end of next year, manufacturers are expected to begin offering next-generation recorders using blue lasers and packing several times more data into a single disc than the current red-laser variety." Hmmm.....sound nice. "A format war is also looming in the blue-laser arena, with Toshiba, one of the pioneers of DVD technology, squaring off against a consortium that includes most other major DVD manufacturers." Hmmm.....not so nice!!! I know there are already DVD recorders to buy at the moment but I like the idea of this blu-ray technology. Do you think I should wait for one of these or am I just dreaming? Edge

you missed the end of VHS..... About 5 years ago was the last time I recorded anything on VHS.... I don't give a stuff about the new DVD formats until they are cheap enough... for now I'm A-OK with DivX/Xviding all my media.

I like the idea to record stuff digitally and to be able to edit it on the PC later. I have a TV Tuner but the quality is lost with that. Yeap, I have not used VHS in years.

The (standalone) DVD recorders I know of are made for capturing analogue TV to MPEG-2. Some of them store the data on an internal HDD, others write on DVD+-R/RW. I believe that as soon as they are cheap enough most people will watch digital TV. For that you'd need a DVB recorder - no MPEG-2 encoding necessary, because the transmitted format is MPEG-2 already. Just a transport stream -> program stream conversion is necessary, and you're ready to burn your DVD... Should be possible to produce such boxes somewhat cheaper. Anybody heard if such DVB recorders exist? For the time being you can simply use your PC (capture analog with a TV card or digital with a DVB card). bb

Thanks for replys. I like the idea of that DVB recorder. Anybody know more about these? Edge

VHS dead ? Did you know Sony just announced it's going to stop making BETAMAX machines at the end of THIS year ? Read this

JVS is pushing its D-VHS format as well as the D-Teather pre-recorded, encrypted variant. It has superior quality than DVD since it supports HDTV and can hold more capacity, so I guess tapes are still going to stay here a while.