The answer to the first question is certainly yes. Blank VHS tapes are still being made (at least, an Amazon search brings up plenty for sale), so there must be some market for them. As anecdotal evidence, I have a VCR which I still use to record the occasional program, just because I’ve never bothered to upgrade to anything more technologically advanced (although since TV went digital it no longer has the ability to tune in specific channels).
The answer to the second question is: Not that I know of. As far as I know, people who use VHS do so out of inertia rather than any technical advantage.
Magnavox sells the most popular non-subscription DVRs. E.g., this one. Note that is for OTA.
You can build one yourself, using Windows Media Center or for Linux and other OSes with a package such as MythTV. Need a tuner card for OTA broadcasts. For cable TV the signal is usually encrypted and there’s a whole 'nother world of hurt involving cable box IR control or CableCards.
There is a glut of lifetime used Series 3 and 4 TiVos hitting the market right now. No monthly fees (except to your cable company if you go that way). Much better boxes than the Magnavoxes for a little more money. OTOH, they are used.
the magnavox machines are listed as DVD recorders, which they are, but they also have a hard drive inside which can be recorded to and played from. so they are DVRs.
If a hard drive dies, the data is pretty much cooked. With tape, even if part of it become tangled or ripped, the rest can be easily (and cheaply) spliced into a new reel to recover the data.
I own VHS bought at thrift stores for $1 or less for movies that I plan on watching only once or twice. Also, I have VHS for movies that aren’t available at a reasonable price on DVD. I don’t watch movies online because my computer monitor’s picture quality is terrible, and there’s already someone else in the computer room that watches movies on their computer. Also, I think the Star Wars movies are preferred in VHS by some due to being unedited, though I think they have the unedited version available as an alternate on DVD now.
Yes, there are still uses for VHS tapes. People can make money off hipsters. They still use and buy VCRs. There’s a shop in Wicker Park, Chicago that sells non-flat screen TVs and VCRs.
I would never have imagined that there would still be people fighting the Betamax/VHS war in 2014. That bird has flown, landed, died of old age, and had its species go extinct.
I think there actually is something to CRTs having higher quality images than LCD and Plasma (for one, they can show true black which LCDs and plasma can’t), and are shown to cause less eye strain. However, I think you have to get to the really expensive stuff to really do that, and high-end projectors are still better than CRTs anyway.
To play devil’s advocate, there’s VHS enthusiasts out there who would say the same kind of things about VHS you say about vinyl, whether it’s VHS having analog ecstatic, no skipping/buffering, no ads/trailers/menus to skip, no subscription price, having hard to find movies, better durability, etc.
I still have a VCR, but I am trying desperately to phase it out of my house - there are just one or two movies that I have that are not available on DVD in this country, so… eh.
Up until this week, I was using VHS to archive stuff I had recorded to my DVR but didn’t want to have on there permanently taking up space.
However, I’ve just now found a good deal on a combination VHS-DVD recorder, which should enable me to not only transfer homemade VHS tapes to DVD, but also hopefully archive the DVR stuff.
Tried it out last night for the first time on the former, and it worked fine. Will give the latter a shot tonight.
