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I thought I would do a post on the pros and cons of both video tapes and Digital Video Disks

Tell me what you think and if you have any other ideas.

I travel a lot so being smaller and lighter is a big advantage for me. I can get about 70 DVDs into the same space as 2-3 videotapes!

Digital Video Discs versus Video Tapes

DVDs,Pros:
Smaller
Lighter
Often have special features or extras
Many have subtitles
Better picture
Don’t go mouldy
Have chapters
Have more rewind /fast forward speeds
Many have several languages
No tape to get pulled out
Longer lasting?


Cons:
More expensive
Can get scratched
Don’t always stop a the place where you left them (depends on both the DVD and the player I think)
Need to be handled more carefully.
Not so loud (I have to turn my sound up several points when I watch a DVD), it has been the same with all I have tried (which is quite a few)
Recording is more complicated, it may not be possible to play the reording on other players

Video TapesPros:
Cheaper
Less likely to get scratched
Stop where you left them
Recording is easier, can be played on other players

Cons:
No chapters
No extras
Less fast forward/rewind speeds
May go mouldy
Tape can be pulled out, damaged, broken


Conclusion, DVDs do have their disadvantages but are better than tapes

Sheba

you already said all the things i could think of. which means i agree with you.

Actually, nowadays it's cheaper to make DVDs than videos. Also, DVD players are cheaper than VHS players.
Most videos are in fullscreen pan and scan format. (widescreen videos are rare.) This means that up to a third of the original picture is cut. With DVD, the best thing about it is that you get to view the entire picture as it was in cinemas. (although you can get fullscreen DVDs - like the Region 1 Balto DVD.)

I dont think so tiburon_husky-but im not certian, they dont make players as far as I know.

Sheba

VHSes have that nostalgic factor too. I refused to get Balto on DVD because I first saw it on VHS. I didn't want some "mastered" version (though unfortunately my VHS is the mastered version...)

You also didn't mention that DVD's have upscale - you can see them in near-HD quality now.

DVDs can get scratched yes,but the scratch can be rubbed away.

VHS all the way baby.

Sure they crinkle, jam, and have lower quality, but they don't have loads of DRM stacked onto them. If you want to skip FBI notices, you can. If you want to skip the previews, you can. If you lost the remote to your VCR, you can still watch movies. People are finding new ways to make DVDs suck. They're adding more and more protection, ads, previews, and stuff you don't need.

Basically, if you put two guys in a ring, one armed with a VHS and the other with a DVD, VHS would win.

What's DRM? Droning Random Madness? I'd use those words to describe forced previews on DVDs. I agree with you there - for example some of my Simpsons DVDs have forced view copyright warnings on them. Whilst I believe it is wrong to make pirated DVDs, it really gets on my nerves having to watch those previews EVERY TIME I want to watch The Simpsons.

I agree with what both of you said mostly, always having to go through those ads, logos, copyright warnings is annoying. I mute it and read or something until they are over.
However still prefer DVDs, mainly because of the special features and size.

Close enough.

It actually stands for Digital Rights Management, and it's a very technical term for crippling the use of software or media by over copy-protecting it.

Have you heard of the new Teradisc in development? It holds 200 times more data than a standard DVD (An entire Terabyte, or 1,000 Gigabytes) and is supposed to blow both Blu-Ray and HD DVD out of the water.

Blu-Ray and HD DVD are both a working scam. Nothing but Microsoft and Sony duking it out. Neither are a major step up from DVD.

Cassettes to CDs was huge.
VHS to DVD was huge.
DVD to "DVD which has a little better quality" is not a change worth paying for.

Sony's already paying big time for their dumb mistake.
Microsoft makes dumb mistakes everyday, so nothing new there...