I miss VHS tapes for several reasons
1. they could be recorded on many times-DVD-Rs can
only be
recorded once.
2. there were almost no compatibility issues between
machines,
unlike DVD-RWs, which some DVD players play poorly or
not at all.
3. they stayed in the same position as they
were when
you left off.
Although I will admit trying to get it exactly where you
want it
can
be a pain, as well as waiting for it to rewind. I once
attempted to
play a DVD on what is probably the worst excuse for a
DVD player
in
history. There was no way to stop the movie without
starting all
over
again. There were no fast-forward or rewind keys
(!!!!!!!). There
was no pause button!!!! There wasn't even a menu key!
What this
meant is that if I stopped the movie or interrupted it in
any way,
shape or form, there was NO way to get back to where I
left off! I
couldn't even skip past the previews!
4. The tapes seemed more durable.
Most movie studios no longer release newer movies on
tape, and
have shifted solely to DVD and Blue-ray.
A better alternative to using DVDs and blue-ray disks
would be to
use
a plastic cartridge of reasonable size (say, the size of the
average
game cartridge from an old-school game console) with
flash
memory
inside, with the movie stored on it, and connectors at
one end
where
you insert it into the player.
Since the cartridge is larger, less effort needs to be given
with
miniaturizing the memory circuits than would be needed
for a
smaller form factor. Thus, more capacity can be
achieved at a
lower
cost.
The player will have an appropriate slot on the front and
all the
necessary stuff in it to put the movie onto a screen. The
player
will
also have recording capabilities, and possibly even a built
in tuner
and scheduling capabilites. Blank cartridges could be sold
anywhere
blank DVDs and tapes are sold. Movies could also be
released pre-
recorded on these cartridges. The blank ones will have a
write-
protect switch on them, which prevents things from
being
recorded
over. The player will either have the cartridge stick out
slightly to
allow you to grab it and just pull it out, or have a
MECHANICAL
eject
button that kicks the movie out without any power.
There will be
a
light right above the cartridge slot stating that the
cartridge
should
not be removed when lit, and the light will come on
when
recording
or any other situation where the cartridge should not be
removed.
When there's no movie inserted, the play, skip search and
FF/REW
keys do nothing.
The cartridge has a small bit of memory inside set aside
for
"cueing"
abilities. In other words, when you stop playing it holds
the
position
where you stopped so it will pick back up where you left
off. You
can
rapid screen search, but the player allows you to "index
skip" like a
DVD as well. You use the cueing capabilities to indicate
where you
want to start recording. While it records, it goes along a
fixed
"timeline" on the cartridge from where you last stopped
playing. If
anything is already recorded ahead of where you cued,
and it gets
to
there, it will erase that and record right over it, just like
a VCR.
For
DVD-like convenience, every time you start recording, it
makes a
"chapter flag" at that area so that you can skip forward
If there are any totally blank areas or areas that can't be
read, the
player will keep moving forward in real time, but the
screen will
go
black or show static until playable video is found or you
turn it off,
or it reaches the end. If just a few bits of the video are
missing or
messed up, the player will ignore it and move on, and
those little
messed up bits will show up on the screen.
If the cartridge has any extra features on it, they will be
accessed
by
pressing a clearly labeled "EXTRAS" button on the player
or remote
control. This will retain the cued position in the main
movie, so
when you're done you can go right back to where you left
off. The
extras are navigated using the FF, REW, and other front
panel
buttons (with the exceptions of the power button and
stop button)
or
by the traditional arrow pad on the remote. This way,
you won't
lose
the ability to view the extras if the remote is lost or
broken.
When it reached the end, it just stops, and the front
display says
"End" but it does not reset the cue position so that when
you press
play or record, it stops shortly thereafter. To go back to
the
beginning, you simply press play, and then keep pressing
the "skip
search back" button until you're at the beginning. If these
things
caught on and rental companies started stocking them, it
could
cause
a return of the "please rewind" stickers you used to find
in rental
boxes or on the tapes themselves back in the good old
days.
Speaking
of which these would be perfect for rental movies
because the
disks would be more durable than DVDs.
Any type of new format/technology is most likely going
to be
rather expensive when it first comes out, but it would
come down
in price due to all the supply/demand crap. the main
advantage
here is this-since both the recordable form and the pre-
recorded
form of this format are pretty much the same thing,
there's no
need to worry about disks you recorded playing badly or
not
playing at all on certain machines. Any player made for
this
format will be able to play either home recorded disks or
pre-
recorded movies. If any significant changes are made to
this
format that would render certain players incompatible,
rather
than just "slicing and dicing" an existing disk format,
ideally an
entire new type of disk would be made, different form
factor,
different players, the works.