By Peter Cochrane, 3 January 2006 12:05
COMMENT
Written and edited on the A12, M25, M4 and M5 heading to Plymouth and dispatched to silicon.com from Taunton Deane motorway services via wi-fi.
This Christmas we had to say goodbye to an ageing friend - the VHS player! After many years of sterling service, from which the entire family derived much pleasure and enjoyment, it had to go. It was taking up a lot of space and just gathering dust - I can't remember the last time it was used in earnest.
I never did manage to learn how to set the clock, or programme it, but - hey - who cares? It was mostly used to play movies, and only very occasionally to record off air. Over what seems to have been a very short time period the cupboard full of VHS tapes has been replaced by DVDs, which in turn are systematically being transferred to a domestic server.
How could we live without the higher definition video and the surround sound offered by DVD? Inconceivable! So the old VHS now resides in the garage - just in case there is an unexpected need - and family entertainment has been upgraded again. So what, besides the DVD player, has replaced the VHS box? Digital TV!
Because of my travel schedule and the activities of my family, I never did get around to satellite TV, and cable is not available where I live. So entirely by chance I have skipped a generation (or two) of technology and have leapt to the leading edge. Frankly I had contemplated closing down the TV system altogether throughout my home and office but boxes are now so cheap and so easy to install, who cares? But it is a pity they cannot improve the content which seems to head further south year-on-year.
I was an early VHS adopter, and in its 30-year history I purchased one machine after another and watched the technology get less clunky and more sophisticated. At the same time VHS performance improved, as did reliability, whilst the use of raw materials, and price, reduced dramatically. But in the end a newer more powerful technology took over - the DVD.
Will DVD last 30 years? I think not! I reckon the industry has 10 years (or so) to make a killing before high definition server/DVD-based systems take over. The good news is - absolutely everything (technology wise) improves - and the price will still continue to fall.
Now, back to setting that damn clock and programming! I'm still not sure I'll be able to do it. Of course I could if I really wanted to but I'm always too busy... think I'd better delegate to my son!
Comments
There are 8 comments. Join the discussion
1. David Rayner
Goodbye and good riddance!!
2. Mark SPLINTER
I expect if Apple had made a VHS player you would still be using it, and you would find it very easy to program the clock.
DVDs suck because the picture quality is crap (being digitally compressed rather than lovely smooth fuzzy analog), the sound sync always goes in and out (because the sound is a separate digital file not physically tied to the picture), the menu systems are totally rubbish and must have been designed by the same guy that did the VHS clocks you are on about, and worst, when you finish watching a film, you are dumped back to the menu screen, probably with an annoying music loop, totally killing that armstretching vibe at the end of a good movie.
DVDs just plain suck.
Have you ever tried scratching a VHS cassette?
3. Simon
Here's one for Peter to mull over - why aren't people making any fuss about the BACKWARDS step forced on us by digital telly ?
My old analogue VHS machine could record the program I wanted when it was actually transmitted - even if it was broadcast late. The system wasn't perfect (especially on Channel 4 who screwed around with the codes to make sure you got all the ads !) but it generally worked.
You'd think that with digital telly they could find a few spare bits in the stream to do the same, only more reliably - but oh no, we are back to recording by time and relying on the program going out at the right time or we miss the ends again :-(
And is there ANY digital PVR that doesn't have serious bugs in the software ?
4. anonymous
For a so-called technologist I find Peter to be woefully out of touch with technology. I got rid of my VCR about 5 years ago when I bought a PVR, it's sad that Sky and the others still haven't caught up with Tivo. Peter is only blogging about the death of VHS now, when he could be enthusing about VOD or even how Xbox 360 is going to change the landscape of home entertainment. But no, Peter bins his video - what news!
A technologist who can't set the clock on their VCR should rethink their career, in my opinion.
5. Ian Upton
Sony's built-in obsolescence: we're a bit behind Peter in chucking out VHS and still use what 15 years' ago was Sony's top-of-the-range recorder (SLV-777) for time shifting the occasional episode of a series we're hooked into - only we can no longer programme a timed recording as Sony did not expect it to continue working after 31 December 2005 and the built-in calendar has run out of dates!
6. Richard
How about creating content?
This is all about consuming (mostly imported) programmes and films.
Even cheap consumer-grade miniDV camcorders can produce near broadcast quality video and sound: Digital editing software is cheap and readily available.
The equipment costs just a few hundred pounds and the only other "cost" is time.
The UK has plenty of talented aspiring producers.
Why can't some space be provided for broadcasting such UK produced output?
(My Freeview box now receives 85 channels, but most are cheap imported junk, phoney auctions or other rubbish.)
Modern technology now allows us to end the dominance of "media barons."
7. Peter Cochrane
The death of VHS and analogue broadcasting is just the start. After a jerky start with digital TV and DVD - check out IPTV. An infinity of facilities, channels, and most importantly -CREATIVITY - will be released.
The really big deal will be finding the good stuff, and then participating instaed of just watching.
8. Peter Cochrane
For decades my screen time has been dominated by the PC and not the TV. And it is now getting even more extreme as conventional TV content get worse and IP streams become more available.
I guess time is the real issue - and wasting my life watching crap on TV isn't on my agenda. But when I do find something worth watching, then it gets my full attention.
Travelling the world as I do I have learned not to turn on the hotel room TV, but just get on the net to access what I reall need/want.
The big issue for the UK is - no broadband. Until that is fixed the old paradigm of analogue/digital TV will continue to dominate.