Repair-It

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiu0LPeLQPE

D-VHS came out in 1998. It was an S-VHS format tape, but better quality (and the tapes were basically indistinguishable from VHS). The long play ones could fit 50GB (yeah, like a Bluray but in 1998) and could also play 1080i video with Dolby Digital or DTS surround. Think of it. At the time DVD landed, this was available. There were drawbacks but that is impressive. Just shows that you can't just develop a product with high specification - it has to be in demand by consumers. And with the music CD being pretty solid in the late 90s, consumers weren't about to go back to tape. Plus, HD TVs were really expensive then. Most people didn't get their first HD TV until probably 2005 or possibly even later. So DVD was just fine for movies until then.

I agree with your sentiment, but it wasn't only:

Just shows that you can't just develop a product with high specification - it has to be in demand by consumers.

Sometimes specs are not just technical. "Be Kind Rewind" was dated at this point. It is kind of like, if you had a higher def record right after tapes were taking over music. The higher def record sound quality would have likely been better than tape, but, good luck listening to a record in a car. Tapes had transportation convenience (including 8 track).

I believe for consumer/high volume production, having better technical specs like sound quality aren't enough to outsell convienience and "good enough" quality sound. I know this is about video, but I have better examples for audio, and don't think they are irrelevant. It is all about having more than 1 requirement. Best quality is one requirement of many, and depending on what you are doing could have very different weighting associated with it.

It also said that the TVs to play these videos would start at $8,000. That didn't help.

bill25 wrote:It is kind of like, if you had a higher def record right after tapes were taking over music. The higher def record sound quality would have likely been better than tape, but, good luck listening to a record in a car. Tapes had transportation convenience (including 8 track).

Right. Although it is worth noting that the best of cassettes (chrome or metal tapes played back on a halfway decent machine) with Dolby C or S encoding was already pretty much as good as a CD (although it was most common to buy a cassette encoded to Dolby B which was acceptable). I have learned this over the past few months watching these videos. I had no idea the cassette had improved that much. Fun fact: Philips invented the compact cassette in 1962! It was a dictation format as the sound quality was awful for music. That changed in the decades to follow.

I believe for consumer/high volume production, having better technical specs like sound quality aren't enough to outsell convienience and "good enough" quality sound. I know this is about video, but I have better examples for audio, and don't think they are irrelevant. It is all about having more than 1 requirement. Best quality is one requirement of many, and depending on what you are doing could have very different weighting associated with it.

I think MP3s proved that over and over again. The extra cost and inconvenience of doing better is not worth it for most consumers. And like with the tape, the MP3 has improved a lot from the crappy encoders of the 90s as well as the ease of storing higher bitrate songs. 20 years later the MP3 is actually pretty good for all but the most critical of listening, kind of like the compact cassette.

Another audio fun fact about VHS:

Around 1984, JVC added Hi-Fi audio to VHS (model HR-D725U, in response to Betamax's introduction of Beta Hi-Fi.) Both VHS Hi-Fi and Betamax Hi-Fi delivered flat full-range frequency response (20 Hz to 20 kHz), excellent 70 dB signal-to-noise ratio (in consumer space, second only to the compact disc), dynamic range of 90 dB, and professional audio-grade channel separation (more than 70 dB).

Imagine 6 hours of CD quality audio on one VHS tape in the mid to late 80s. This would have been a vastly cheaper alternative to DAT if you were a home recording type on a budget.

Home recording enthusiasts occasionally recorded high quality stereo mixdowns and master recordings from multitrack audio tape onto consumer-level Hi-Fi VCRs.

I've been experiencing an increased interest in magnetic tape audio lately....