D-Theater

[MovieMinded]

Did anyone else here buy JVC's D-Theater machine a few years ago? It was a nice format while it lasted, even if it was expensive and was still on tape. I still managed to buy over 30 tapes before the format died a quiet death last year. I remember True Lies being a great movie on the format.

[DeSade]

Originally Posted by MovieMinded

Did anyone else here buy JVC's D-Theater machine a few years ago? It was a nice format while it lasted, even if it was expensive and was still on tape. I still managed to buy over 30 tapes before the format died a quiet death last year. I remember True Lies being a great movie on the format.

No, I didn't.

Have you looked into capturing that stuff from your D-Theater and putting it on HD for your HD-DVD player yet?

[MovieMinded]

It'd be possible, but right now I don't have the time to work on moving it to HD-DVD.

[kyosuke75]

Would be nice to get the D-VHS deck to backup the movies to watch on a more easier to access format to watch on a HTPC.

Are D-VHS decks still expensive? I heard independence day is one of the more expensive tapes to get...

[jporter]

Originally Posted by kyosuke75

Would be nice to get the D-VHS deck to backup the movies to watch on a more easier to access format to watch on a HTPC.

Are D-VHS decks still expensive? I heard independence day is one of the more expensive tapes to get...

Some D-VHS decks have gotten quite reasonable, but it's because they're being dumped, I believe. I recently picked up a Mits HS-HD2000 online for $150, their original list price was around $1K. I think those kind of deals will disappear fairly quickly, the format has little future. I figured at that price it was an easy way to get some basic HD recording capability, especially since the Mits D-VHS deck works so well with my Mits DLP set - the firewire connection allows the TV to control the deck very well.

You may realize this, but in case you don't, a heads up.... D-VHS decks do not necessarily play D-Theater tapes. The Mits deck I bought, for example, does not play D-Theater since they have copy protection. I didn't care about that, since I wanted it for recording off cable. For HD movies, I'll use my Tosh HD-DVD player. If you want a player that plays D-Theater, look at the JVC units. I don't know if they're available at such good prices.

[digitalBT]

I owned a JVC HM-DH40000U. I just sold the player for $225 and 9 movies between $15 and $28 each on ebay. I will only miss the X-Men movies, but they should be on disc soon (I hope). Drop outs are a big issue, or can be after many plays of a tape. The sale of the player and tapes went toward the purchase of my Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD player. I also sold my Sony Laserdisc player and RCA CED player.

[movie15]

Sounds like an interesting technology but I never really got into it.

[MovieMinded]

Originally Posted by movie15

Sounds like an interesting technology but I never really got into it.

It was good for the time, but rewinding and the lack of special features really hurt it in the end. Especially since the tapes cost around $40 a tape. The lack of studio support other than Fox & Universal didn't help things either. Artisan promised alot of titles but once they were bought by LionsGate their D-VHS support completely dried up.

[thebat68]

I just could not see myself buying VHS again, even if it is digital.

[WiFi-Spy]

*looks over at his trusty JVC 30k*

[chris gerhard]

I still use D-VHS for recording/playback from cable and playback of tapes recorded from DirecTV/169time. I rarely got a recording from DirecTV without a couple of glitches although usually I found the quality acceptable. I get more glitch free recordings using a Comcast Motorolla DCT6412III DVR, but still see some glitches. I have a fleet of D-VHS VCR's and a ton of SVHS/D-VHS tape and will continue to use the format. I sure never recommended the format and from the start could easily see it was going to be a very short lived format. I owned a few DTheater tapes but have sold them all.

I do watch D-VHS or DVD far more than both Blu-ray and HD DVD combined, but that is only because I have the software to play. Blu-ray and HD DVD are so much better than D-VHS it isn't even close. Picture quality can look the same to me, but tape is obviously not attractive to anybody these days. I am confident I can keep my VCR's running for many years and plan to do just that. It is weird, but when we watch D-VHS I always get a feeling of awe that videotape can look that good. I also own W-VHS, an analog 1080i tape format and it is solid but picture quality isn't on a par with D-VHS. Still I will keep my W-VHS VCR for recording component 1080i when needed and I can watch it without complaint.

Chris

[ccphilly1984]

do d-vs players upconvert standard vhs tapes? u think they will make an upconverting vhs player? it'd be nice seeing all my old movies in near hd quality.

[MovieMinded]

Originally Posted by ccphilly1984

do d-vs players upconvert standard vhs tapes? u think they will make an upconverting vhs player? it'd be nice seeing all my old movies in near hd quality.

I never watched a normal VHS in my D-VHS player so I can't tell you for sure, but I don't think even if it did it would compared to the upconversion of a DVD on a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player. D-VHS was a cool format for a year but HD-DVD & Blu-Ray really killed it fast. If D-VHS was good for anything it was that Fox's D-VHS titles were cheaper than Universal's, which is the opposite of what is happening on the new high def formats.

[damonous]

Holy Moly! A D-VHS thread on the HD Digest Forum!

Originally Posted by MovieMinded

It'd be possible, but right now I don't have the time to work on moving it to HD-DVD.

I don't think this is possible with D-Theater -encrypted movies. Something recorded digitally from over-the-air or the now-rare cable boxes that had firewire output should be transferable with the assist of a special freeware software. http://kgbird.com/DVHSTool/

However, an MPEG transport stream still needs conversion to be usable on a set-top BD or HD-DVD player.

Originally Posted by chris gerhard

...Blu-ray and HD DVD are so much better than D-VHS it isn't even close. ... It is weird, but when we watch D-VHS I always get a feeling of awe that videotape can look that good. I also own W-VHS, an analog 1080i tape format and it is solid but picture quality isn't on a par with D-VHS. ...

Wow. I never heard of "W-VHS". You learn something new every day. I beg to differ that BD & HD are inherently better. D-VHS D-Theater had recordings that went up to 28mbps MPEG2. I had League of Extraordinary Gentlemen on D-VHS at one time. It's hard to say now (going from memory), but I think the BD (with an 18mbps MPEG2 encoding) is not as vibrant.

Originally Posted by ccphilly1984

do d-vs players upconvert standard vhs tapes? u think they will make an upconverting vhs player? it'd be nice seeing all my old movies in near hd quality.

My JVC HM-DH4000U has a feature called "Digital R3", which is that "edge correction to the luminance signal is performed to enhance details." There are also "Soft" or "Sharp" picture settings, and a Video Stabilizer setting. In a nutshell, although not upscaling, a D-VHS D-Theater player is also the BEST VHS player you could ever own. So, VHS tapes look as good as they're ever going to get on one of these, along with your upscaling digital HDTV/panel.

The newer JVC D-VHS D-Theater decks now include HDMI (the super-expensive HM-DT100U also with an ATSC digital tuner):
http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?produ...3000&pathId=50

Originally Posted by MovieMinded

...D-VHS was a cool format for a year but HD-DVD & Blu-Ray really killed it fast. ....

However, there are still movies available new direct through JVC. Some of these are unlikely to be seen on BD or HD-DVD anytime soon (such as "21 Grams", "Truth About Charlie", "Biker Boyz", "Don't Say A Word", "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "Glengarry Glenn Ross", "Gosford Park", "K-Pax", "High Crimes", "Man on Fire")
http://www.dvhsmovie.com/movies/trailerpark.asp

This is not to mention the rare titles you can sometimes find on eBay like "X-Men", "X2", "Moulin Rouge", "Alien: Director's Cut", "Daredevil", "The Time Machine", "Passion of the Christ".

[chris gerhard]

I don't know what we are going to be able to do with recordable Blu-ray or HD DVD. I am already committed to using D-VHS but if rewritable disc recorders will have firewire, one of the new formats would certainly be much better. So far, I haven't seen any evidence that is coming but I may have missed the announcement. For recording from a cable DVR or firewire STB, D-VHS has been worthwhile for 8 years for me.

Chris