VHS release for Alien: Romulus

[Scott Norwood]

Well, this is stupid:

https://comicbook.com/horror/news/al...se-yes-really/

I wonder who is even doing VHS duplication in 2024.

I totally understand the desire for physical media, but there are much better choices than VHS now, and they have existed for quite some time.

[Leo Enticknap]

I can understand the value to collectors of original tapes from the '80s and '90s, especially rental tapes that include contemporary ads and trailers: they provide information and context about the movie's reception at the time of its initial release. You wouldn't want one for its technical qualities, though there are other good reasons why you might.

But who in their right mind would want to see a newly released (I'm guessing) scope movie, either panned and scanned or letterboxed into 4x3, at a resolution of something like 0.15K, a color space that is a fraction of Rec.709, and most likely with mono audio?! This is like a modern band releasing their songs on 10" shellac 78s.

[Scott Norwood]

This is like a modern band releasing their songs on 10" shellac 78s.

Don't give them any ideas. Someone will probably try it.

I totally get the vinyl release trend (LPs, not 78s), since it sounds good (under the right circumstances) and people also enjoy the cover art. I don't get the current fad for cassette releases of music, and I really don't get the VHS thing at all. VHS is pretty much the worst video format that ever existed (with the possible exception of EIAJ and Pixelvision). Why would we want that back, especially since most of us have larger telelvision sets than we did in the VHS era, and the format's flaws will be all that much more visible now?

[Leo Enticknap]

Actually, people out there are releasing new 78s! But they're on vinyl, not shellac, and in fact appear to have been mastered in the same way as a microgroove LP (including, I'd guess, the RIAA curve applied) apart from the speed.

[Randy Stankey]

I think it's a collector's item, rarely played, if ever. Collectibles like this only have imaginary value, defined by a community of interested collectors. As such, opening the package, removing the cellophane and actually playing the tape would greatly decrease its value. People who collect things like this would rather display an item on their mantle piece, so to speak, in order to show their friends rather than to actually play the movie.

I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of those who buy this tape don't even have a VHS player in the first place.

[Mike Blakesley]

In 2009, Cheap Trick (my favorite band) released an album called "The Latest" on CD, vinyl....and 8-track. I always wondered how many of the 8-tracks they sold. I almost bought one just for fun.

[Leo Enticknap]

I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of those who buy this tape don't even have a VHS player in the first place

It would be an interesting experiment to sell a "limited edition" VHS release in very elaborate packaging, but with a blank tape inside, and discover what proportion of the buyers ever realized this and tried to return them.

[Scott Norwood]

Or put something at the end of the tape that says "if you watched the entire tape, call 1-800-xxx-xxxx for a special prize." I somehow doubt that they would be giving out many prizes.

[Ryan Gallagher]

The cassette tapes trend is easy to explain... small boutique labels and self-published bands/artists wanted to re-join the physical bandwagon too... but pressing a vinyl is prohibitively expensive unless you intend to sell quite a few, and often the presses are quite backed up with orders these days. Cassettes you can self-duplicate in small batches, most of the covers I've seen are relatively hand generated too. The cassettes are often not even printed with what is on them, just the sleeve.

A cassette and a download code is more "appealing" at a merch table than just a business card looking thing with a DL code on it. Even though they are technically playable... they are often more a bespoke art object. I can't see big bands/labels getting into it... but on the small production scales it makes sense.

As for a major studio releasing a VHS in 2024. I'm stumped. Must just be the collectors market "for fun/because we can" aspect as others speculated. Plus now people can complete their ALIENS set, those 3 people that held on to their ALIENS franchise vhs tapes that is.

[Mark Ogden]

It's just a stunt. Last year, the singer Nancy Sinatra issued a greatest hits album on an 8-track tape. I'm very curious where she found the blanks and the duplicator, but it got people talking, as has this.

https://bootique.nancysinatra.com/pr...rack-cartridge

[Ryan Gallagher]

It's just a stunt. Last year, the singer Nancy Sinatra issued a greatest hits album on an 8-track tape. I'm very curious where she found the blanks and the duplicator, but it got people talking, as has this.

https://bootique.nancysinatra.com/pr...rack-cartridge

If it was reel to reel, even I'd be tempted.

[Scott Norwood]

There are a few companies that are doing reel-to-reel releases now, most notably this one:

https://tapeproject.com/

This actually makes some sense to me, as the format sounds good, especially 2-track 15ips, and has its own unique properties. They also make a point of ensuring that the copies are as close to the master tape as possible. The pricing is absolutely eye-watering, however.

For me, at least, VHS is totally different. It was a compromised format from day one. We used it because it was all we had. I admit to having some nostalgia for the idea of a "video store" as a physical place to rent physical objects, but not for the medium itself.

[Ryan Gallagher]

There are a few companies that are doing reel-to-reel releases now, most notably this one:

https://tapeproject.com/

This actually makes some sense to me, as the format sounds good, especially 2-track 15ips, and has its own unique properties. They also make a point of ensuring that the copies are as close to the master tape as possible. The pricing is absolutely eye-watering, however.

For me, at least, VHS is totally different. It was a compromised format from day one. We used it because it was all we had. I admit to having some nostalgia for the idea of a "video store" as a physical place to rent physical objects, but not for the medium itself.

Interesting on the R2R front. I don't have a player, thankfully!

Perhaps for purely nostalgia reasons, but I am fairly proud of the Austin community for rallying to resurrect our best and last independent video store library as a new non-profit cultural and media preservation space. The name change was clever too. "I (Heart symbol) Video" to "We (Heart symbol) Video".

And shockingly, yes, VHS is something you can check out there again, something that was not on the shelves in the final days of the original brick and mortar.

https://www.weluvvideo.org/

[Leo Enticknap]

$500 for a tape? Bugger me!

I actually have an original release LP pressing of the Oistrakh/Bruch album, acquired for $5 from Amoeba Records on Sunset, before it closed down. Like most Decca classical pressings from the '60s and '70s, it sounds better than RIAA-EQed vinyl has any right to (though the actual performance is a bit slow and tedious: compared to Tasmin Little playing the same piece, it really drags): a bargain for 1% of what the 1/4" tape reissue goes for!

[Steve Guttag]

Getting one of those tapes is just part of the challenge. You have to have an R2R that will play it back properly. It has to be 2-track (half-track) with 10.5" reel capacity. It has to play at 15ips. It has to have CIRR (IEC) EQ (not NAB or selectable). Those parameters right there take you out of the lower cost decks that are out there. You are into semi-pro, high-end home and studio grade. ReVox just brought back the B77, now called the MkIII for $16,000. Excuse me. $15,950.00

https://revox.com/us/tape-recorder/2...-tape-recorder

There are decks out there that meet the specs for considerably less but they aren't going to be econo-boxes. Price out what a Technics RS1500US is going for, USED (with heads that have some degree of life gone).

[Edited to correct the ReVox Mark number]