The UK has been releasing films on VHS again

Non.

It's the worst format for films. They degrade within months and are total garbage after a decade. The machines are also easy to break and impossible to maintain long term.

VHS isn't vinyl. This is stupid Gen Z shit, nothing more. They'll flitter off to "discover" the new obsession that the rest of us rejected 20 years ago in about 6 months.

Many VHS movies from 40 years ago still work fine

its about an "authentic" vintage experience and seems harmless and possibly fun.

That's extremely rare, R3, and only if kept in pristine archival conditions. I would not say "many," I would say "Very few if any."

Why VHS? They get those static lines. Rewinding them takes a bit. They also aren’t going to provide great resolution on modern televisions. It would be better to just buy Blu-rays again.

What's next, new music released on wax cylinders?

I get the nostalgia in some ways.

Digital can be too perfect and sterile looking many times with shitty color schemes. A lot of what I like in recent years has been in spite of how it looks. But it’s been a HUGE step up from the teal and orange obsession movies had in the 2000s.

The US is releasing them to. They sell new movies in VHS is Target.

I have tapes from 40 years ago. They still play fine, even the ones that weren’t in cases and were thrown into a box.

R6 The old tech is the point, dear. If this must be explained to you yet remains inscrutable, it's not a fad for you.

R10 same. We have some and they play perfectly fine. Some are from the 80s and still no issue

Lot of haters in here but some movies are undeniably better/more fun on VHS. The Blair Witch Project just hits different on shitty quality tape, same as many others like Halloween and Hocus Pocus.

They're still playing fine

BE KIND. REWIND.

The nostalgia factor is real but it's also why the VHS revival won't last long. Outside of a few boutique releases, it's not aimed at those of us who have fond memories of staying up late and watching our favorite horror movie for the 87th time. It's more for kids whose parents once watched videocassettes, and even then it's less about being a film lover than posting photos of their collection on social media.

I can understand liking the retro box art, but the quality of VHS is poor. I don't see how anyone could sit through watching a 2-hour movie on VHS when almost everything has now been remastered from original negatives in 4K.

"My VHS tapes play just FINE!"

R17, remastered doesn’t mean better. It’s subjective. They put blue tint on old film now.

Some of you are not very good at putting yourself in other people's shoes. 🤡

"I simply can't understand how anyone could....."

What are you supposed to play them on? Try finding a new VCR anywhere that doesn't cost a fortune, if you don't already happen to still have one.

[quote]I can understand liking the retro box art, but the quality of VHS is poor.

And some Blu-ray releases use retro VHS box art for slipcovers (Mill Creek Entertainment, some "Alien" and "E.T." releases, etc.), which gives you the best of both worlds. Or the second-best in cases where superior 4K transfers are now available.

Not all movies look better in HD

My brother puts a crt television on his rickety farm house porch in autumn and plays classic thriller fare on it around halloween. it's spooky. it's his decor. He's not often sitting there watching it.

PS, this is not my brother.

[quote]Not all movies look better in HD

Do most movies look better in 4:3 than in their original aspect ratios?

Alien: Romulus was released on VHS

lol

[quote]The UK has been releasing films on VHS again

I'm pretty sure they're not being released BY the UK.

I love the idea for movies like the ones featured in the article. Wouldn't want to watch anything post-1995 on VHS though.

What are we supposed to play them on?

You can buy a player on eBay. If you look it up you will actually see they’re in demand again. I remember looking up VHS player in 2020 and people were selling them for like $40 but now they’re mostly $100 up.

If you click on any of them it shows you how many people viewed the item in the last 24 hours and all of them have people viewing them. So people are looking at VHS players.

Next craze: Pixelvision*

No thanks.

Super 8 movies and movie cameras?

Are they using cathode-ray tube (CRT) TVs as well? If not, what's the point?

I think it’s people confused about the resurgence of vinyl for music. The original impetus for that is that many audiophiles think vinyl sounds better than digital music, but it’s been picked up by nonaudiophiles as some kind of retro-chic statement. I think that is transferring to VHS which is inferior in every way to digital media. Silly trend.

magic lantern show

cave wall storytelling

Some of you are miraculously both obtuse and condescending. 1) the low resolution is the point, along with the glitchy old school tech. No savvy young person is confused this is best quality. 2) This is for one off gag viewing. The 25yo lo-res scenster is watching his TAP 5on1 porn in 2160p .

I thought we would discuss the film here. Kurt Russell? Yeah. Adrienne Barbeau? Yeah. Dystopia? Yeah!!

Snake 🐍 🐍

Great arms!!!

[quote] the low resolution is the point, along with the glitchy old school tech

That makes no sense. It’s just a fad so people can feel cool.

Why not read books by candlelight and travel by horse?

Why not laserdiscs! They were such a massive success at the time.

Some movies look cooler but on VHS

Makes sense to me, I still keep a CRT in storage. I should get it out.

VHS looks smoother than today 30fps on 4K OLEDs. Higher frame rates that are slowly becoming more popular or so sharp that they have a cheap soap opera quality to them. Of course they could just record in 24fps to solves this problem but my point is none of the VHS tapes back then look hyper clear and therefore kind of fake.

R42. It makes sense to people. They will get a kick out of the low resolution and the glitchy old school tech. It's interesting or cool or ironic. You seem to understand it is a fad. Yes. So why does the substance of the fad make "no sense"?

Have you ever gone summing in your life? Purposely visit a sketchy or outdated resort, for shits and giggles?

Ever gone to an old timey bar that isn't modern and sanitised to 2025 banal hotel bar standards?

Have you ever winked at a carny on the midway, at the state fair?

Ever toured a backwater museum of curiosities?

I suppose it is possible you are quite autistic and straightforward and there is no enjoyment from irony, or adventure in your life.

Why do you come to DL? For the Trump threads?

[quote]Some of you are not very good at putting yourself in other people's shoes.

...tha fuq?

We're talking about twee weirdos collecting VHS tapes in 2025, not someone getting a cancer diagnosis, Queen Mary.

Oooh Gen Z Jayden is very bothered we don't all love "gag-viewing" old videotapes. "The graininess is the point gramps 💀"

Maybe we have better things do with our time and money, hon?

If it brings back video stores, I am all for it.

There was nothing more fun when I was a kid than a bunch of us loading up in a car and heading to Blockbuster to scour around for weird movies to watch. And if there was nothing at Blockbuster, we would move on to Hollywood Video. And then on and on. Back in the day, every drug store and gas station had a VHS rental place. I had an impressive stack of rental membership cards in my glove compartment.

And that's how we all learned to love movies. The thrill of discovery. No algorithm was telling us what to watch. Not when the Shell station down the street had a copy of "Juliet of the Spirits" to rent for 99 cents. (True story)

R49 no, you maroon. The point is your feigned, or poorly expressed, "incomprehension" of someone getting a kick out of it. Nobody says YOU must "love" it, or even do it. But even a maroon knows: different strokes for different folks.

some titles were only released on the VHS format

[quote] Higher frame rates that are slowly becoming more popular or so sharp that they have a cheap soap opera quality to them

That is an effect of motion-smoothing technology on TVs. It goes by different names for different TV brands. It’s often turned on by default. You should figure out how to disable it to get rid of the “soap opera” effect.

R52 and some films never even made it to VHS yet alone DVD and so on.

But yes, some films never made it past VHS

R53 sometimes even when off it still has that effect

[quote] You seem to understand it is a fad. Yes. So why does the substance of the fad make "no sense"?

The word “fad’ suggest a passing fancy adopted to fit in

Think about both words “passing” and “fancy” and maybe the answer will occur to you.

Here’s some help:

Passing: having a brief duration; superficial

Fancy: a liking formed by caprice rather than reason

No, they looked like shit.

Goodwill usually has a few VCR on their shelves. Amazon also sells reconditioned VCR. I have a few lying around that I have not gotten around to getting rid of.

A “few”? How many VCRs did you need?

A lot of the players on EBay are $50.

LOL, R59. I live in 2 different states and probably have 2 in each house. None of them are hooked up and have not been used in years.

^Hoarder! Hoarder!

Hook up those VHS players now R61

You can watch Mama's Family and the Carol Burnett Show simultaneously on two different sets!

R2 has no idea what he’s talking about, I’ve lost many digital files since 2016; and I have dvds that barely work after being in a drawer for too long, but I have VHS tapes bought in years like 1996/1997/1999 and things that I’ve recorded in VHS 📼 back in 2000/2001/2002 that still work just fine, images that are crystal clear.

Analogue technology does have its advantages.

[quote] The UK has been releasing films on VHS again

Great! Now, I can finally get a job using the skills in TV/VCR repair I learned from International Correspondence Schools. Thank you, Sally Struthers!