um, all of my dvd's still look brand spanking new. DVD"s usually cost about $20 to 25 Canadian here when they come out which is normal, but I never pay more then $7 as Wal-Mart always gets clearence Wrestling DVD's in. Brand new, for a lot less money.
That's CANADA.
I could get somewhat cheaper DVD options online, but they'd be region 1.
Benoit isn't edited out of this stuff. Yes anything new they release might be, but anything they've already realeased he's still in it. For example I just picked up the entire Wrestlemania Anthology for $60. (reg. price is $260) and guess what, Benoit is still in it. None of the DVD's in North America are edited and if they are now its new releases anyways....
Once again, I'm in the UK. The country's/continents respective populations and supply & demand dictates that not nearly as many Region 2 DVDs would have been distributed through our stores and thus WWE would be producing smaller runs of R2... Tthe newer editions prob hit our shelves before they did yours. This is also the reason you're less likely to see a WWE DVD in a bargain bin cos for a mainstream retailer they're a semi-specialist product so they aren't generally risking the overstocks which 'feed' the bargain bin.
Check your first Survivor Series on VHS, its edited. (but of course your collection started in 1990 so you don't have it...oh wait I do
) As were many of the original VHS releases by the WWE(F or whatever) My collection does include VHS obviously and goes back a long long way.
I started buying them in '90. Aleady said above my collection goes back to '85 (well the first SNMEs predate that but in terms of PPVs). ;o]
...Second SSeries is edited too, but aside from getting a home taping of the orig. broadcasts there's not a lot you can do about that.
(Btw, did you know they differ between the broadcast and retail versions in other ways too.... WM5 has almost a completely different lot of inteviews save for the ME ones... There's examples but I can't recall.)
If DVD's days are numbered (which is still a long way from happening btw) VHS days are long over as no store has sold VHS in almost 5 years (except maybe in old clearence dump bins) DVD's can be scratched yes and damaged yes, but if you take care of them and put them back in the case they will look as good as they day you bought them like mine do. And corrupted? I've yet to ever have a DVD get corrupted on me. On the other hand VHS tape gets worn and the picture quality degrades over time. VHS heads get dirty and tapes become un watchable. Truth is VHS is more likely to get damaged even if taken care of, then a DVD that isn't. When the head wears out on your VCR, it can stretch the tape as well. When the laser burns out on your DVD Player, the DVD is fine.
Trust me, it has nothing to do with Convenience or the Norm. Bottom line is there not that expensive....I barely pay over $10 for any DVD unless its a box set or something I really want right aways. The picture quality is point blank better then VHS could ever be, and DVD's always have extras that you just never got on VHS.
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DVDs will decay slowly over time (as audio CDs, CDRs or whatever have proven dispite industry claims all those years ago when they were 'the latest thing') and once a 'track' developes a glitch it's unplayable. You may have had them a good while, you may have been lucky enough not to suffer their damage or deterioration, but eventually it is innevitable. Admittedly we are talking an undetermined amount of time here - DVD tech (or our discs more specifcally) is too young for this to materialise yet), but considering it costs virtually nothing to mass produce, for a £20-£30 DVD I wanna know that that shit is gonna survive nuclear attack! LOL
On the flipside, I'm not looking to champion VHS as a superior format here, in terms of my revisiting and catching up on past wrestling it simply works.
We're talking about a few hundred tapes here and at 2-3hrs each. I think it's safe to say, now in the trappings of adulthood, I'm really not likely to watch each repeatedly in order to wear them out (as said above I'll grab the odd fave on DVD anyway). If anything getting a 2nd hand VHS tape for £2 serves me no different to if I was to spend the same amount on renting one (Our rental stores don't stock much if any wrestling).
My talk of downloads etc.... The technology is certainly not a problem (although availability and cost still play a part at this stage). Like with the sale of digital music the hold up revolves around the industry getting their heads around distibuting and in some cases marketing their product in a completely different way... Large companies have a proven track record of being resistant to change.
I guarantee if you looked about the web you could find places selling video files in the manner I mentioned already, it's just hasn't hit the agenda of the previously existing mainstream DVD retail market yet.
@ Markz... Thanks dude!