Columbia House VHS

Discussion in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' started by TenLubak, Aug 25, 2012.

  1. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ^ DVD is one thing, but we were talking about the old VHS tapes.
     
  2. trekker670

    trekker670 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    It kind of does, TNG-R is the new standard. It's virtually identical to the original, except higher quality and more vibrant, as it was intended. It's not a perfect analogy, but it's like refusing to wear glasses even though you're virtually blind without them.
     
  3. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    ^ Y'know, I'm not sure they could have "intended", in 1987, for it to look this good.

    I see that term a lot on remasters "as originally intended". TNG-R might look better on BD than if you were actually standing on the set in 1987 :rofl:
     
  4. Savage Dragon

    Savage Dragon Not really all that savage Moderator

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    There is an obvious difference in picture quality.

    http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/142758
     
  5. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    The problem isn't "needing a new TV" it's having too new of a TV! Watching a DVD intended for a 480-screen using a videotape source intended for even less resolution on a TV screen with a 1080 picture brings out a LOT of flaws.

    "Upconverting" can only do so much but at the end of the day it's still adding in pixels that are not much more than the system "guessing" what is supposed to be there. Producing a pretty damn rough picture.

    Sure I can still watch and enjoy it but especially after seeing the BDs the grainy picture, the washed out colors, and the "greenish tint" of everything is just that much more obvious.
     
  6. Savage Dragon

    Savage Dragon Not really all that savage Moderator

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    Exactly. If they were to take the remastered Blu-Rays and produce DVDs from them they would look far superior to the DVDs that were produced in the past even without the extra lines of resolution.
     
  7. trekker670

    trekker670 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Except for the fact that the original production team have loudly stated how disappointed they were how much was lost during the initial broadcast and how happy they are that it's being restored to the quality they had originally hoped.
     
  8. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    Indeed. The resolution on the DVDs isn't that much higher than what videotape is. It's something higher because the videotape the edited episodes are on is high-quality tape for broadcast (higher quality than home-video VHS) but it's still tape, an analog format and not DVD quality.

    I can watch other DVD shows/movies just fine. But the flaws of videotape are just that much more obvious watching a DVD on an HDTV and, again, this is a lot to do with how "upconversion" works and the TNG-DVDs aren't giving the system much to work with.

    The TNG DVDs just are not as viable in our HD world as other DVDs are. Converting/compressing the BD versions of the episodes into a DVD format would still produce a very high quality picture much closer to what DVD is capable of.
     
  9. TenLubak

    TenLubak Commander Red Shirt

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    So i guess I should open them up because Star Trek people dont like VHS anymore so if i needed money they wouldnt want to buy them anyway.

    OK. I like analog. its cheaper and i save money on movies because they are 50c instead of 15 dollars or so.
     
  10. The Castellan

    The Castellan Commodore Commodore

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    It looks fine to me, I'm not an HD snob or anything like that. I'll take whatever I can find, be it a VHS or a DVD, etc.
     
  11. TenLubak

    TenLubak Commander Red Shirt

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    Yea, I pretty much wanted to know if they were still valuable or not, I see a couple un opened ones on EBAY for 8 dollars so times that by the 18 i bought and I could not open them op and perhaps makes some money i very much need since i got laid off. I went back to college, so my unemployment stops as well. That was what I wanted to know, to open or not to open?
     
  12. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    In reality, they're worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. I doubt there's many out there willing to lay out $8 (plus S&H) for a decades old VHS tape of an old TV series. I think $8 is high, personally.
     
  13. TenLubak

    TenLubak Commander Red Shirt

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    Yeah thats what I thought. I think i am gonna open them up and view em. I wish i got all over em but i didnt!
     
  14. TenLubak

    TenLubak Commander Red Shirt

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    Still haven't opened them up. I think i might today if i study really good. I wish some body would say open them up and enjoy them because you wouldnt get anything for them anyway. Then I could watch them!
     
  15. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    "open them up and enjoy them because you wouldnt get anything for them anyway" :biggrin:
     
  16. The Squire of Gothos

    The Squire of Gothos Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Someone bought a tape or two from a collection of The Prisoner VHS tapes in a charity shop I spotted a while back. I had intended to pop by when I had time to buy the lot, when I saw someone buying them piecemeal, I thought about buying the last one in case they were buying the entire run, just out of spite :devil:
     
  17. ALF

    ALF Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Ah, cloudy old VHS. I have TNG recorded off television in its entirety... most of it from original broadcast which is kind of cool. However I only very recently scored a functioning VCR. It's one of those formerly ubiquitous things that when you actually find an old tape with something good on it (especially a series that has/will never see DVD/BluRay release) it can be difficult to track one down.

    I take the poor quality and local channel commercials as part of the nostalgia. But agreed with the poster the DVDs are so muddy and grainy it's kind of sad and pathetic watching them knowing what the 1080 quality is like!

    I will likely have to hold onto those tapes forever for sentimental reasons but as a retro nerd having an entire Columbia House collection would be excellent. The space to store it is another matter entirely!
     
  18. Ssosmcin

    Ssosmcin Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Someone is selling the whole Columbia House set on eBay for $80. And some tapes are going individually for over $10 apiece. I've seen TOS unopened CH VHS going for over $20 per. There's still a market for them, apparently.
     
  19. The Castellan

    The Castellan Commodore Commodore

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    Just because something's old does not mean you need to wash your hands of it. Hell, if people were put into that rule, everyone would be put to death ala Logan's Run, except for the ones who would make that rule, of course.

    Anyhow, I picked up about 25-30 VHS tapes of All in the Family last year at a resale shop for about 20 dollars, several of them still sealed, and with 4 episodes a tape, so I got at least 100 episodes for about $1.50 a tape so that's like 38 cents an episode. And like I said, I'm not an HD snob, so it's all good. Still got an NES that works perfectly, most new game consoles won't even work after a few years. And some stuff so far has not gone onto DVD, so one has to make do, especially if it's difficult to get in any format.