VHS finally RIP?

The Washington Post laments the death of VHS, claiming that the final clod on the coffin is the announcement that Star Wars: Episode III -  Revenge of the Sith will be released only in DVD format. It will be the only movie in the series to have no VHS release. Some of us thought VHS was dead after Wal-Mart's decision in June to no longer stock videotapes after the December holiday season.

But for film geeks, VHS is still alive and kicking, albeit rather weakly. It's a treat to be able to watch a high-quality transfer DVD like The Philadelphia Story on a big-screen TV in your living room, instead of relying on the inferior quality of videotape. However, my movie bookshelf is still half-full of videotapes and I have no intention of packing away my VCR. How else can I watch the hundreds of movies that are not currently available on DVD, like Midnight and Delicatessen? Not to mention TV shows that I recorded myself and can't see any other way, such as The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and Austin City Limits. My parents have years of home movies on VHS, so they're not dumping their VCR anytime soon.

Besides, it's really tough to replace all your good VHS tapes of movies when the DVDs become available unless you have money to burn. I don't like An American Werewolf in London enough to buy the DVD, but it's nice to have the videotape around. (On the other hand, I have a good half-dozen videotapes I want to give away since I bought the movies on DVD, but I have too much sentimental value for them to dump them at Goodwill.)

Finally, I've noticed that kids' movies are still doing pretty well on videotape. This is because a lot of parents give their old VCRs to their kids when they replace videotape with DVD. Kids' videotapes are usually pretty cheap, too.

So I don't think VHS is dead quite yet. It's still tottering along and will be for some time, even if it's in kids' bedrooms, film buffs' bookshelves, and low-budget filmmakers' submissions to competitions and festivals.