The VHS Thread

GonzoLeaper

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Yeah- I didn't really agree with everything in that article too. Just because some things are older doesn't mean they need to be thrown out for the newest technological marvel to come along. Some older things still work fine and work better. I'm just glad they at least said to keep books.:smile:
 

Sgt Floyd

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Yeah, I'm surprised they didnt say books can get wet or something. I'm suprised they didnt mention getting rid of CDs or DVDs either
 

Drtooth

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I hate techheads. Seriously... I hate them SOOOO much. I swear, they all band together and make things obsolete so us poor people who barely can catch up get even further behind.

Oooh... you can do EVERYTHING on a Smartphone... yeah, then as soon as you get one, it's obsolete. There is NO CALL for there to be 2 or 3 iPads and iPhones in a single year. Now we can't have desktops because laptops are supposedly better because they're shiny and new? They also cost 3 times as much and offer slightly less...plus... ever try to use one of those finger trackers or whatever instead of a mouse? They're terrible.

This report basically says, "Dude! GEt rid of everything and buy the next expensive gadget." Yeah, it also implies "File sharing over the internet is better than carrying something around." yeah.... like the internet can't go down, sites can't get lost, and someone's not going to hack into your account and steal it.

Seriously... tech geeks? Thanks for nothing. We don't all make a fortune off of telling people to buy stuff or have rich parents or fall butt backwards into tech jobs.
 

minor muppetz

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I was recently watching an episode of Everybody Hates Chris, in which Chris and Greg skip school to see Ghostbusters. When they realise that the next/last showing of the movie in theaters is during school hours, before they consider skipping Chris says if they miss out they'll have to wait to see it on video in four years... But in 1984 was it really normal for movies to come out on video a year after the theatrical releases? I know that all of the Muppet movies had their first VHS releases only one year after the theatrical release. Or could it have depended on the company? Because aside from certain theatrical Disney releases I'm pretty sure we didn't have to wait more than a year to get a new movie on video back then.

And in that same episode, following the line about waiting four years for a video release, the narrarator says "Back then that was considered fast"... What did he mean by that? After all, today's movies tend to be released on DVD faster than they did during the VHS era.
 

Drtooth

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VHS when it came out in the 80's, it was revolutionary.... so revolutionary that the things cost upwards of 80 dollars or more. Don't forget that movies also stayed in theaters much longer than they did today, be they successful or failures. As such, movies on VHS were considered a luxury until they slowly started producing more and more and VCR's were more common place.

I can't remember how long it took for movies to hit video (bringing Snow White to VHS was so revolutionary, it took them well into the 90's due to different studio politics). I remember Disney movies took almost a year and a half to get to VHS, but that was, again, well into the 90's.

Now? They basically make movies FOR DVD. So, there's no wonder why even top rated movies come out 3 months after it leaves theaters. I know some places that still have certain movies when they're in smaller theaters.
 

Sgt Floyd

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I live near a tiny one room movie theater that will get movies a month after they hit theaters...
 

minor muppetz

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VHS when it came out in the 80's, it was revolutionary.... so revolutionary that the things cost upwards of 80 dollars or more. Don't forget that movies also stayed in theaters much longer than they did today, be they successful or failures. As such, movies on VHS were considered a luxury until they slowly started producing more and more and VCR's were more common place.
But still, I'm pretty sure they didn't stay in theaters for more than a year. An episode of Everybody Hates Chris made a mention of Ghostbusters coming out on video four years later... Still confused by that line, depending on if it was true.

Considering the high price, I wonder if that's the reason many 1980s releases of television shows had only one episode each (Fraggle Rock is the only example I can think of off-hand, but I feel there are others). I also wonder if the higher retail price explains how they were able to clear the music rights for "All of Me" and "You've Got a Friend" on the Gonzo Presents Muppet Weird Stuff video but not for The Muppet Show: Season One.

Drtooth said:
I can't remember how long it took for movies to hit video (bringing Snow White to VHS was so revolutionary, it took them well into the 90's due to different studio politics). I remember Disney movies took almost a year and a half to get to VHS, but that was, again, well into the 90's.
I only remember '90s Disney films coming out a year after the release (I know Pinnochio was rereleased in summer 1992, and I recall that video rerelease coming by the end of the year... Maybe I'm remembering that wrong). I'm pretty sure that Oliver and Company was the last Disney animated feature to get a theatrical rerelease without any in-between video release. I'm pretty sure The Little Mermaid came out on video in 1990, The Jungle Book in 1991 (after the rerelease), The Rescuers Down Under in '91 or '92 (can't remember if it came out in '90 or '91), and so on.

About a year ago I read on wikipedia that in the early 1980s when Disney began releasing its titles on video and started its own cable channel, they made a list of animated films to not release on The Disney Channel or home video, due to the fact that Disney was still releasing its animated features in theaters every few years. I think only two animated films were allowed for video release then, but the list of what not to release on video kept getting shorter and shorter. The few films rereleased in the 1990s (Jungle Book, Great Mouse Detective, Snow White, Oliver and Company... I guess I should also list Pinocchio though it already had a VHS release before being rereleased in theaters in 1992) got video releases a year later.

And speaking of the fact that Disney wouldn't release certain films on TV or video back then, I recently learned that until a few months ago Snow White had never been broadcast on television. I'd never realised that before.
 

Drtooth

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But still, I'm pretty sure they didn't stay in theaters for more than a year. An episode of Everybody Hates Chris made a mention of Ghostbusters coming out on video four years later... Still confused by that line, depending on if it was true.
They definitely stayed for longer than a month and a half. Now, even the best movies that make a fortune and a half at the box office are out the door within 2 months. Though, it depends. I've seen theaters cling to certain family films for a while longer... Tangled was playing up until I'm guessing this week (when it came out on DVD)... I've seen some movies last even 3 months in cases... but they're usually out of the theaters, hit or miss, within 2-3 months at the most.

I swear a small independent theater near me had Jurassic Park for almost a year, though... but indie theaters don't count.

Now all the theatrical release is is the awkward period between making the film and releasing it on X-Box for gamers to watch in-between Halo sessions. It's like they make bad comic book and 198-'s cartoon franchise movies specifically for them to download and complain about.

That said, I can't seem to find anything about the first Ghostbusters VHS release... but since the movie came out 1984, again, VCR's weren't that common place back then, plus there was that whole issue of cropping the scenes for TV aspect ratio... so that could have played a part in why it took a while to get it out there, that is if it did indeed take that long.
 

Redsonga

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Most of my favorite VHS tapes when I was little were made under 'Hi-Top Video' with the huge red shoe logo and the laces tieing...
Hmmm that make me wonder if they will ever put out more than the movie on DVD of the 80's Pound Puppies series *sigh*
 

mr3urious

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Most of my favorite VHS tapes when I was little were made under 'Hi-Top Video' with the huge red shoe logo and the laces tieing...
Two words: Baby Songs. That's the one video series I remember most from Hi-Tops.
 
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