DVD? VCR? -- LBJ, IRT, MMPI, Buy 'Em All
Dec 05 '00
There are probably few people in America who own a TV and don't also own a VCR, so this is something of a hypothetical question. To make this query more consistent with reality, it would be better to ask, "Should you add a DVD player to your current TV/VCR setup?"
However, in the interests of staying on topic, I'll play along with the question as originally posed by Epinions.
To come to a decision on the DVD vs. VCR issue, you'd have to ask yourself a couple of questions. To cut to the chase, the main issue would be this: which is more important to you, being able to record video or having the highest-quality playback possible for video display of movies?
If you need to record broadcast TV programs, then you'd have to go with the VCR. DVD players, as the name implies, don't record. If video playback quality of movies is paramount for you, then you'd want to go with the DVD player, since, on a standard color TV, video output from a DVD player will give you twice the horizontal resolution of the output from a VHS VCR.
If you get one of the S-VHS VCR's, some of which now sell for as little as $200, you'll get screen resolution that's almost as good as that from a DVD player. This might be an attractive option for somebody who did a lot of taping off the air and wanted a high-quality image. An S-VHS VCR is also nice if you do a lot of home videography and want a deck you can use for dubbing and editing from your camcorder tapes (whether it's an analog or digital camcorder).
What would be really nice is if you could use an S-VHS VCR to make high quality tapes from rented (or borrowed) DVD's. Unfortunately, the movie industry knows how nice this would be too and they have made sure that you can't do this. The Macrovision copy protection scheme will prevent you from making a video tape from any DVD disc that's encoded with this technology.
When it comes to playing back movies on video, the DVD player has some advantages over the VCR in the audio department as well as in image quality. The best you'll get on a VCR is a set of L/R analog stereo audio outputs. By the way, this isn't a low-quality sound source. In fact, the stereo audio recording capability on a VHS (or S-VHS, which is identical to VHS in terms of the stereo audio track recording performance) deck, with its 90-dB signal-to-noise ratio and excellent frequency response, rivals the quality of a CD player.
Also, if you're playing a movie VHS tape on a stereo VCR, as long as the movie has used the proper audio recording scheme, you can get Dolby Pro Logic audio from the audio output (L/R) of the VHS deck. Most entry-level and above A/V receivers now include the Dolby Pro Logic surround capability. The predecessor of Dolby Digital/DTS, Dolby Pro Logic is a surround-sound configuration with four channels -- full-range front left/front center/front right speakers and a pair of limited-audio-range rear speakers fed by a single amplifier channel.
If you invest in a receiver (such as the Kenwood 407) with Dolby Pro Logic, you won't have to buy a new receiver when you move up from a VHS deck to a DVD player since almost all of these receivers (except the very least-expensive) also support Dolby Digital/DTS surround sound.
DVD players also have the standard L/R analog stereo audio output jacks and, like VHS decks, they can output a Dolby Pro Logic feed from the analog outputs. However, almost all DVD players now also include digital surround-sound output, supporting the Dolby Digital surround-sound scheme and, often, also working with the DTS surround sound scheme. Dolby Digital and DTS, by the way, are essentially similar surround-sound setups which have five full-range surround-sound speakers (front left, front center, front right, rear right, and rear left) plus a sixth channel known as LFE (low-frequency energy) which feeds the appropriate lower-frequency output to a powered subwoofer. The two types of jacks used on DVD players to output the digital surround-sound datastream are optical and coaxial. The two are of equal quality -- they put out identical digital information. Generally, it's best to get a DVD player with both kinds of digital-surround output, but as long as a player has an output type that matches the input type on you're A/V receiver, you'll be fine.
Fortunately, both VHS decks (and even S-VHS decks) and DVD players have dropped to very reasonable price levels. For most people, as I said previously, it's a decision of whether or not to add a DVD player to a current TV/VCR setup. If you really enjoy movies, and quality screen images, I'd suggest you go for a DVD player. Prices on these start at around $140 and they'll eventually drop below $100 (but no so fast that it's worth waiting for the price to decrease).
One caveat for movie lovers: there are many fewer titles available on DVD, currently about 6,000. On VHS, there are probably at least 50,000 titles. Whatever the exact numbers, the bottom line is that, if you're a lover of obscure movies, you'll find much more of what you're looking for on VHS. On the other hand, if, like most people, you mainly watch new releases and classic blockbusters, so to speak, you'll find everything you're looking for on DVD.
If you don't yet own a VHS deck, and you're on a tight budget, I'd strongly suggest you at least get a stereo model. The stereo VHS decks usually only cost a few dollars more than an equivalent mono model in a manufacturer's line. Typically, you'll find mono VHS decks starting at around $90 while the stereo models begin at about the $100 level. As long as you've got a stereo TV (and these require an equally minimal initial investment as compared to their mono brethren) or can play your audio over a stereo or A/V receiver, you'll get a huge increase in the quality of both the broadcast television and video movie viewing experience.
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