Panasonic intruduces a VHS / Blu Ray combo player?
Comments
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agree, curt, price for the hardware/software has lotsa room to come down before I'm interested.
don't need to replace any dvds as blu-ray supports the format as well. -
comfortablycurt wrote: »I didn't say they used their VCR's for recording, they use them for watching movies. DVR would fall into the "have to spend money to get it" category. That's not really an option for a lot of people. You can go get a VCR at a garage sale for 50 cents. What's the cheapest DVR out there?
How is this a step back in any way? As I said before...it's not as if integrating a VCR into it made the Blu-ray any worse. It's a Blu-ray player that just happens to have a VCR built into it. That's not a step back at all. No one is "comparing" the two. Blu-ray is obviously superior to VHS...but that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with VHS.
Also...as I said before, there are hundreds upon hundreds of movies that will never even be released on DVD, let alone Blu-ray. They'll be able to market the thing...otherwise they wouldn't have made it. There are still plenty of people with old VHS tapes that are going to keep wanting to watch them. My parents for example. They have somewhere in the neighborhood of 700ish VHS tapes that they've accumulated over the years. Are they supposed to go out and replace every single one of these movies with the DVD? That would cost over 8000 dollars...figuring 12 bucks a DVD...which is a low estimate.
There are still plenty of reasons to buy an HDTV even if you don't have Blu-ray. A lot of people get HDTV's because they can hang them on the wall...or put them on a little stand. They don't take up nearly as much room, and to a lot of people that's a big issue.
Not everyone out there has to be on the cutting edge of technology...some people really don't even care. I've had friends over before, and I'll be talking about my stereo equipment, and talking about the speakers I want to get. Some of them can't understand why anyone would ever spend more than like 100 dollars for their stereo. "Why do you need all that? I got this boom box at Walmart for 50 bucks...and it sounds great!" What they don't realize is that it sounds like complete crap. Like I said though...to some people, it's just not a big deal. Same with VHS.
One of the great things about VHS now too is that you can get movies brand new for like a dollar. I just picked up all three of the Austin Powers movies the other day on VHS...for like 2 dollars altogether. how much would that cost on DVD? Probably more like 40-50 dollars. It's not better by any means...but makes more sense for some people.
and what you just did in the long winded response lol is differentiate two different buying groups. People who dont want/could care less about new technology and those that are all about it. i gurantee 75% of the people that still watch VHS tapes wont be buying a blu-ray player any time soon. Perhaps they may see it as an advantage to consolidate units, but i doubt they will be buying blu-ray.
And seriously you still buy VHS??? Almost everyone i know has a VCR. I would say 95% of them never use them. 4% only use them to record. The other 1%actually end up watching what they recorded. lol.
If the main defense to it is because TONS of movies wont come out on DVD, then do yourself a favor, invest in a DVD recorder...copy them to a DVD and be done with it. Because if a large library of old VHS movies actually means something to you then you would take the proper steps to ensure they actually last. VHS does deteriorate over time.Pro-ject RM-9.1 w/ Grado Sonata 1 -> USP-1 -> RPA-1 -> Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grands -
agree, curt, price for the hardware/software has lotsa room to come down before I'm interested.
don't need to replace any dvds as blu-ray supports the format as well.
I realize that you wouldn't "have" to replace your DVD's. A lot of people would anyway because they'd feel like it was necessary to get the most out of it.
I guess that's how the market works. Sell us something because it's "the best" and then 10 years from now tell us that our product, which used to be "the best" is now a piece of junk, so you have to replace it with what is now "the best". It's a good strategy from a business point of view.The nirvana inducer-
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But your right they have obviously done the research and there has to be a market.Pro-ject RM-9.1 w/ Grado Sonata 1 -> USP-1 -> RPA-1 -> Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grands
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bigred7078 wrote: »and what you just did in the long winded response lol is differentiate two different buying groups. People who dont want/could care less about new technology and those that are all about it. i gurantee 75% of the people that still watch VHS tapes wont be buying a blu-ray player any time soon. Perhaps they may see it as an advantage to consolidate units, but i doubt they will be buying blu-ray.
And seriously you still buy VHS??? Almost everyone i know has a VCR. I would say 95% of them never use them. 4% only use them to record. The other 1%actually end up watching what they recorded. lol.
If the main defense to it is because TONS of movies wont come out on DVD, then do yourself a favor, invest in a DVD recorder...copy them to a DVD and be done with it. Because if a large library of old VHS movies actually means something to you then you would take the proper steps to ensure they actually last. VHS does deteriorate over time.
I'd be interested in seeing where you got the statistic that 95% of people that own VCR's never use them.
I explained my reasoning for still buying VHS. I got three movies for roughly two dollars...where as for the same movies on DVD it would have cost more like 40. 2...40...a bit of a difference there.
Also...why would I spend the money on a DVD recorder, spend the money on blank DVD's, and go through the trouble of copying them all to DVD when I could just watch the VHS? Sure, VHS does deteriorate over time...but I rather doubt it's going to be in my lifetime.
I think there is more than just one dedicated buying group for this too...this would appeal to many different people. To someone who was looking to replace their combo DVD/VCR due to it not working or something like that, this would be a great option. It gives them the room to expand...without giving up what they already have.
75% of people that still watch VHS tapes won't be buying a Blu-ray player anytime soon? Again...I'd like to know where you got that statistic.
I think that every single person I know still watches VHS tapes. A few of them even have Blu-ray players...and still watch their VHS more often than their Blu-ray. They already have a huge collection of VHS tapes to watch whenever they want. Where as they would have to go spend 30-40 bucks on a blu-ray.The nirvana inducer-
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I still agree with curt on some points and don't think the market is totally devided between those that do and don't care about new technology. I got a blu-ray player early on- but at the same time, I still have tons of old vhs tapes of shows I watched when I was a kid, videos I recorded with my friends, etc. I would probably end up buying some of those shows on dvd or blu-ray if they ever come out in the future- but there's still a nostalgic part of me that loves having that old stuff- homemade movies for obvious reasons, and old tv shows because seeing the old commercials and stuff puts those old recordings in a historical context that's fun to remember.
I only say that to make the point that people who love new technology can still have use for the old- but would I buy a blu-ray player with a VHS player in it for upconversion- probably not unless the blu-ray player was the best quality player you could get or something, which probably won't ever be the case:D -
I still agree with curt on some points and don't think the market is totally devided between those that do and don't care about new technology. I got a blu-ray player early on- but at the same time, I still have tons of old vhs tapes of shows I watched when I was a kid, videos I recorded with my friends, etc. I would probably end up buying some of those shows on dvd or blu-ray if they ever come out in the future- but there's still a nostalgic part of me that loves having that old stuff- homemade movies for obvious reasons, and old tv shows because seeing the old commercials and stuff puts those old recordings in a historical context that's fun to remember.
I only say that to make the point that people who love new technology can still have use for the old- but would I buy a blu-ray player with a VHS player in it for upconversion- probably not unless the blu-ray player was the best quality player you could get or something which probably won't ever be the case:D
Agreed. I'm not going to buy one of these. But I already have a nice VCR. Plus I don't really like the idea of combo players personally.
I have a bunch of the same stuff...old TV shows that I recorded when I was a kid. A lot of them still have the commercials in them and stuff. It wouldn't be the same watching it on a DVD. I seriously don't think I'd enjoy it as much...lol I've got a tape with like 6 hours of old Beavis and Butthead episodes on it...from like 1994. It's funny seeing the commercials for the new 1994 Pontiac GrandAm..."Now with the new Anti-lock Braking System!!" It's funny watching old commercials...The nirvana inducer-
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comfortablycurt wrote: »I'd be interested in seeing where you got the statistic that 95% of people that own VCR's never use them.
I explained my reasoning for still buying VHS. I got three movies for roughly two dollars...where as for the same movies on DVD it would have cost more like 40. 2...40...a bit of a difference there.
Also...why would I spend the money on a DVD recorder, spend the money on blank DVD's, and go through the trouble of copying them all to DVD when I could just watch the VHS? Sure, VHS does deteriorate over time...but I rather doubt it's going to be in my lifetime.
I think there is more than just one dedicated buying group for this too...this would appeal to many different people. To someone who was looking to replace their combo DVD/VCR due to it not working or something like that, this would be a great option. It gives them the room to expand...without giving up what they already have.
75% of people that still watch VHS tapes won't be buying a Blu-ray player anytime soon? Again...I'd like to know where you got that statistic.
I think that every single person I know still watches VHS tapes. A few of them even have Blu-ray players...and still watch their VHS more often than their Blu-ray. They already have a huge collection of VHS tapes to watch whenever they want. Where as they would have to go spend 30-40 bucks on a blu-ray.
the 95% number is just a number i guestimated in my head for the people i know with VCR's that just dont even use them.
Im not actually claiming these numbers to be correct lol, so dont get heated over it.
I've worked in a local eletronics shop for some time now, and im basing all my comments on customers i've talked to. Panasonic came up with an earlier proto-type of this but scraped it. Now they re-introduced it. But after several converstations with customers on this the vast majority just laugh at it. A few seemed intrigued. But then thought about how they never even watch VHS tapes anymore so they thought it was silly. Not to mention the high failure rates of integrated products like this... its sickening.
So my comments aren't based necessarily on my own ideas but also feedback from alot of customers.Pro-ject RM-9.1 w/ Grado Sonata 1 -> USP-1 -> RPA-1 -> Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grands -
Totally agreed on this product being laughable for most of the reasons you mentioned. I was just trying to make the point that not everyone who still uses VHS are old people or people who aren't into new technology/early adopting ect. Also- I do really want to convert all those old VHS tapes to DVD just to avoid deterioration and make them easier to use, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. So I guess even though I use it preiodically, I am still interested in leaving it behind, haha.
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how much is this thing supposed to cost anyway. That might have a bigger impact than anything else lol.Pro-ject RM-9.1 w/ Grado Sonata 1 -> USP-1 -> RPA-1 -> Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grands
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Well...I don't know about the people that you know...but probably damn near every single person I know still watches VHS tapes. It might not be a daily thing...but they still have them, and use them.
This isn't going to appeal to every single person out there. But to the person that it does appeal to...they'll buy it. As I said...I'm not buying one, but I know quite a few people who probably would.The nirvana inducer-
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bigred7078 wrote: »how much is this thing supposed to cost anyway. That might have a bigger impact than anything else lol.
Good point...depending on the price I may end up agreeing with you...lolThe nirvana inducer-
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Totally agreed on this product being laughable for most of the reasons you mentioned. I was just trying to make the point that not everyone who still uses VHS are old people or people who aren't into new technology/early adopting ect. Also- I do really want to convert all those old VHS tapes to DVD just to avoid deterioration and make them easier to use, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. So I guess even though I use it preiodically, I am still interested in leaving it behind, haha.
i totally understand that. And i know not everyone using VCR's are "old people".
And i sell LOTS of combo players, and out of curiosity i like to ask people if they still watch VHS tapes, and its pretty funny because the majority of them give me a puzzled face and laugh with the realization that they just dont watch them anymore.
The ones that do respond always say for watching home movies. Again if thats your purpose i highly recommend you get them converted to DVD (not necessarily by purchasing a DVD recorder, but lots of local places will do this for you at a pretty low price).Pro-ject RM-9.1 w/ Grado Sonata 1 -> USP-1 -> RPA-1 -> Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grands -
Yeah- actually I have a capture card in one of my PCs I could use to do that too. I guess I've just been too lazy, and it's too much work, haha. I'll get around to it one of these days... Depending on how much those services are, I might just go with that since it's the least amount of work.
