Hey guys I was wondering if anyone had comparitive pictures of any title thats on either HD format,DVD, and VHS. This is mainly because I always hear friends talk about how the jump from DVD to HD is nowhere near as big as VHS to DVD was. meanwhile I'm finding it harder and harder to watch DVD images when HD looks so much better. I would do it myself but being 26 I was a little to young for the VHS era, thanks in advance!

I only have one movie in all formats, but I'm not pulling out the VCR from the closet to just get a crappy screen shot....sorry.

Plus to be fair, you would need to watch the VHS tape on a 20-27" tube TV as that was the standard size in a late 80's early 90's. Watching a VHS tape on a 1080p display that is 50" just isn't fair to the format.

Hey guys I was wondering if anyone had comparitive pictures of any title thats on either HD format,DVD, and VHS. This is mainly because I always hear friends talk about how the jump from DVD to HD is nowhere near as big as VHS to DVD was. meanwhile I'm finding it harder and harder to watch DVD images when HD looks so much better. I would do it myself but being 26 I was a little to young for the VHS era, thanks in advance!

How were you too young for the VHS format? 10 years ago DVD came out. You were almost able to drive but never saw something on VHS? What were you watching movies on when you were 10?

How were you too young for the VHS format? 10 years ago DVD came out. You were almost able to drive but never saw something on VHS? What were you watching movies on when you were 10?

+1



On topic though...I am 100% on board with the scenario that the jump from VHS to DVD was light years bigger than DVD to HDM.

What is this VHS you speak of? It sounds vaguely familiar...

PQ/AQ aside (which is major of course), the big leap was jumping from a big clunky tape that would invariably get "eaten" to a small disc that you didn't have to rewind, could jump to any scene, have bonus features, etc. All those things combined was a huge leap over VHS. The leap from DVD to HD isn't as big IMO, although still noteworthy. It's just not the huge leap that VHS to DVD was.

I think I might have a VCR up in a closet in my house somewhere, but I'm not going to dig it out. I'm sure someone has one hooked up still.

What is this VHS you speak of? It sounds vaguely familiar...

It's kinda like an 8-track that shows pictures.;)

Hey guys I was wondering if anyone had comparitive pictures of any title thats on either HD format,DVD, and VHS. This is mainly because I always hear friends talk about how the jump from DVD to HD is nowhere near as big as VHS to DVD was. meanwhile I'm finding it harder and harder to watch DVD images when HD looks so much better. I would do it myself but being 26 I was a little to young for the VHS era, thanks in advance!

I pulled this from the VHS wiki:

Comparison to Other Media
Here's a list of modern-day, digital-type measurements (and traditional, analog horizontal resolutions) for various media. The list only includes popular formats, not rare formats, and all values are approximate (rounded to the nearest 10), since the actual quality can vary machine-to-machine or tape-to-tape. For ease-of-comparison, all values are for the NTSC system.

ANALOG:
350x240 (260 lines) - Video CD
330x480 (250 lines) - Umatic, Betamax, VHS, Video8
400x480 (300 lines) - Super Betamax, Betacam (pro)
440x480 (330 lines) - analog broadcast
560x480 (420 lines) - LaserDisc, Super VHS, Hi8
670x480 (500 lines) - Enhanced Definition Betamax

DIGITAL:
720x480 (520 lines) - D-VHS, DVD, miniDV, Digital8, Digital Betacam (pro)
720x480 (400 lines) - Widescreen DVD (anamorphic)
1280x720 (720 lines) - D-VHS, HD DVD, Blu-ray Disc, HDV (miniDV)
1440x1080 (810 lines) - HDV (miniDV)
1920x1080 (1080 lines) - D-VHS, HD DVD, Blu-ray Disc, HDCAM SR (pro)

Id say the jump from VHS to DVD is much higher. Id say more so beacase VHS starts to fail so soon. To many veiwings and its over.

Notice in the chart above they they are only comparing Hort. Res.

The problem with VHS was the Color Res. - There was none. If you could somehow remove the B & W info and just leave the color info - all you would see are blobs of color.

27" is about the limit for VHS before the image takes a nose dive.

DVD is 3X the color res. of VHS and almost 2X the Hort. Res. Going to a 54" display (4X greater than 27") maintains the PQ with no problems while VHS is a total mess. It was never intended to be shown at that size.

With a good PJ and a good Line Doubler - I went to 144" 16x9 using DVD with no problems whatsoever.

But today - I could exceed that PQ with a simple PJ and a $200 HDM player. But it will not be as startling a change as the one from VHS to DVD.

What serious movie buff was watching movies on crummy VHS tapes when Laserdisc was around?

What serious movie buff was watching movies on crummy VHS tapes when Laserdisc was around?


Me....I hated LD.

My friend had it and it was a total pain...he'd invite me over to watch a movie and every 30 or so minutes it seemed he had to stop, turn on the lights, delicately remove the disc, flip (or return to sleeve) start movie again...totally ruined the viewing experience....I was plenty happy watching VHS back then (pre-dvd) especially since the biggest TV most of us had were around 27" in size.

I pulled this from the VHS wiki:

Comparison to Other Media
Here's a list of modern-day, digital-type measurements (and traditional, analog horizontal resolutions) for various media. The list only includes popular formats, not rare formats, and all values are approximate (rounded to the nearest 10), since the actual quality can vary machine-to-machine or tape-to-tape. For ease-of-comparison, all values are for the NTSC system.

ANALOG:
350x240 (260 lines) - Video CD
330x480 (250 lines) - Umatic, Betamax, VHS, Video8
400x480 (300 lines) - Super Betamax, Betacam (pro)
440x480 (330 lines) - analog broadcast
560x480 (420 lines) - LaserDisc, Super VHS, Hi8
670x480 (500 lines) - Enhanced Definition Betamax

DIGITAL:
720x480 (520 lines) - D-VHS, DVD, miniDV, Digital8, Digital Betacam (pro)
720x480 (400 lines) - Widescreen DVD (anamorphic)
1280x720 (720 lines) - D-VHS, HD DVD, Blu-ray Disc, HDV (miniDV)
1440x1080 (810 lines) - HDV (miniDV)
1920x1080 (1080 lines) - D-VHS, HD DVD, Blu-ray Disc, HDCAM SR (pro)

The amount of chroma noise in VHS is a major factor in why people saw DVD as a upgrade to VHS. Color resolution in VHS is very poor. Forget the fact that j6p hooks up his trusty ole' VHS using a crummy RF cable, recording at ELP speed using a cheap deck with lousy tracking. Even using composite cables DVD picture generally crushes VHS. I used a Umatic VTR deck in the past and can tell you that it puts out a better picture than VHS. Betamax also has less chroma noise VHS. Super Betamax and ED Betamax are rare formats while Laserdisk found a niche. Super VHS is more common than the betamax updates but still not used much. Video CD can range from poor to terrible in my book depending on a bunch of factors.

Hey guys I was wondering if anyone had comparitive pictures of any title thats on either HD format,DVD, and VHS. This is mainly because I always hear friends talk about how the jump from DVD to HD is nowhere near as big as VHS to DVD was. meanwhile I'm finding it harder and harder to watch DVD images when HD looks so much better. I would do it myself but being 26 I was a little to young for the VHS era, thanks in advance!

If I got off the sidelines I would snag the original Dawn Of The Dead which is out on Blu-Ray. I still have my VHS copy as well as my box set DVD (with the 3 different versions). I still have a VHS player hooked up to my TV for some of the professional videos my wife still needs to access from time to time (I really should get one of those devices to be able to convert my remaining VHS to DVD).

It would be interesting to snag a used VHS copy of something like Aliens and compare it to DVD and HDM when it comes out on HDM.

VHS is downright nasty on my 50" screen.

How were you too young for the VHS format? 10 years ago DVD came out. You were almost able to drive but never saw something on VHS? What were you watching movies on when you were 10?


Ofcourse I saw movies on VHS, but as you pointed out thats 10 years ago, I dont own any VHS equipment so I have no method of doing this. I thought it was an interesting concept, and I thought there would be some like minded people who would be curious about how the three would stack up.

Ofcourse I saw movies on VHS, but as you pointed out thats 10 years ago, I dont own any VHS equipment so I have no method of doing this. I thought it was an interesting concept, and I thought there would be some like minded people who would be curious about how the three would stack up.

Please don't take offense, that was not my intention. I was genuinely curious. As far as I'm concerned, and not having any pictures to compare, VHS to DVD was a bigger jump in quality than DVD is to HDM. I'm not much older than you (31) and I can remember quite a bit about VHS. As a matter of fact, I just stopped using VHS 2 years ago. I was more into the audio side of things until I got into high definition.

SVHS back in the day used to be stunning!

SVHS back in the day used to be stunning!

On what? A 27" TV?

It had they same color res of VHS - none.

28" 4:3 Crt.

I don't think there is any doubt the PQ jump from VHS to DVD was dramatically bigger than the jump from DVD to HDM.

I have Christmas Vacation on DVD and HD-DVD, and I used to have the VHS. Problem is, I tossed / sold all of my VHS stuff years ago. I haven't used a VCR in >6 years, DVD made VHS utterly unwatchable to me. So unfortunately I can't do a picture comparison of the 3 formats.

I don't think there is any doubt the PQ jump from VHS to DVD was dramatically bigger than the jump from DVD to HDM.

I have Christmas Vacation on DVD and HD-DVD, and I used to have the VHS. Problem is, I tossed / sold all of my VHS stuff years ago. I haven't used a VCR in >6 years, DVD made VHS utterly unwatchable to me. So unfortunately I can't do a picture comparison of the 3 formats.
I plugged in my old VCR a while back... you think going from a night of HD watching to SD is bad?? Try checking out a VHS tape sometime.. then the difference is once again apparent. :)

What serious movie buff was watching movies on crummy VHS tapes when Laserdisc was around?

Me. I was too young and we didn't have one at home. But I did love movies back then and I had my own collection. Even today, I still have them (and probably won't be watching any of those tapes anytime soon). But I completely "bypassed" the LD era.

Try checking out a VHS tape sometime.. then the difference is once again apparent.

I guess we should all try that for one weekend and then we'd stop worrying about the differences between 1080i and 1080p !:)

I have a large collection of New Zealand made movies on VHS and play them on my JVC HM-DR40000U D-VHS Digital Recorder via component cables and digital coax. Since most of them are rare and out of print I keep the in a closet. They just plain hurt the eyes to watch but they still bring tears to my heart...

Me....I hated LD.

My friend had it and it was a total pain...he'd invite me over to watch a movie and every 30 or so minutes it seemed he had to stop, turn on the lights, delicately remove the disc, flip (or return to sleeve) start movie again...totally ruined the viewing experience....I was plenty happy watching VHS back then (pre-dvd) especially since the biggest TV most of us had were around 27" in size.

Dual-side players pretty much eliminated this problem from the mid/late 1980s on. There was a delay of a few seconds as the side changed, but it was pretty painless. The much better picture and sound quality was worth it to me (digital audio, Dolby Digital and DTS all before DVD). For most of the 80s and 90s, Laserdisc was also the only way that you could see most films in the original aspect ratio. And at least you didn't have to rewind after every viewing.

It's true that most people before DVD's introduction had 27-inch or smaller TVs so the differences wouldn't have been as apparent. But what a lot of people seem to forget now in the age of LCD and plasma displays is that 32-inch and bigger CRT and rear projection TVs weren't all that uncommon even back in the 80s and early 90s. I used to sell AV gear when I was in college back in those days, and at our store these bigger sizes did pretty good business. I would imagine that if AVS Forum had existed that far back, most of its members would have owned bigger than 27-inch TVs, just as most of us own 32-inch or larger HDTVs now.