4 ms·
Maybe no region lock, but the fragmentation between NTSC, PAL and SECAM means the situation was the same. It was worse actually because it's easy to find a DVD
by eloisant 10y ago
Maybe no region lock, but the fragmentation between NTSC, PAL and SECAM means the situation was the same.
It was worse actually because it's easy to find a DVD reader that ignore zones, but if you had a NTSC tape in a PAL country the only solution was to import a NTSC VCR from abroad.
And sorry but I completely disagree on quality; maybe VHS is more kid-proof (as long as they don't figure out how to open it and pull the tape), but a DVD correctly handled will last forever while a VHS degrade over time, especially when you play it often. And if you pause the VCR for too long it's even worse.
- nibnib 10y ago>DVD correctly handled will last forever while a VHS degrade over time, especially when you play it often True, but a mangled VHS can be still be recovered. The analog nature of the degradation means that VHS is still somewhat usuable, whereas damaged DVDs are often useless. For many people there is also a huge nostalgia factor at play.
- neurotech1 10y agoThere are ways to repair minor damage to a DVD, with a "polish" that fills in the scratches. Sometimes vaseline works as a polish.
- nibnib 10y agoYeah sure, there is probably specialized equipment for recovery too. It just doesn't really compare to pulling the tape out of a shattered VHS cassette, taping it together, respooling on another cassette and getting something playable. As I mentioned in another comment, some of my thoughts on these kind of advantages are probably rooted in nostalgia :)
- neurotech1 10y agoMost higher end VCRs could handle PAL/NTSC/SECAM formats just fine. I was sent some US (NTSC) tapes when I was in Australia. Most newer (from around 1990) Australian PAL TVs could handle NTSC 60Hz 525 line video signal too.