DVD offers a great deal of features that make it superior to VHS. All these things put together have all but allowed DVD to replace VHS as the officicial home video format.
Non-Linear Format
Unlike video tape that you have to fast forward or rewind to get to your favorite scenes, DVD allows you to jump to just about any spot in a video. With TV season sets, you can jump to any episode instantly. In addition, you don't need to rewind them when you finish watching. Just eject the disc and put it away. In addition, many players allow a program to play a program multiple times in an instant loop - a useful feature for demos and entertaining a group of kids who have to watch a video "one more time".
Longer Lifespan
Though some early DVDs had problems with delamination and oxidation (known as "DVD Rot") newer discs a all but free of this issue. There are no moving parts to break and DVDs aren't as fragile as the tape inside a video cassette. In addition, images on video tape tend to fade within several years, unlike DVDs that can last decades. In general, taking proper care of your DVDs will allow you to enjoy them for years to come. Store them in their cases, avoid bending them by releasing the center button in cases when removing the discs and handle discs by their edges to avoid fingerprints and scratches.
More features
DVDs, with their large storage space and compatability with computers, can offer more extra features than video tape. Bonus scenes, featurettes and Internet features are quite common with many DVDs. Some DVDs even offer games and other activities.
Better image quality
DVDs offer much greater resolution than VHS. This means images look much better on your screen, especially when you use better connections like S-Video, component or DVI.
Less storage space required
DVDs tend to take up less space than VHS tapes. This means you won't need as much room for your movie collection. In fact, an entire season of a television show on DVD can take up less space than one VHS tape. Even at lowest quality, that same amount of video would take a several tapes - the higher quality used by commercially produced videos would require more than a dozen.
Greater portability
It's much easier to take DVD movies on the road since the discs take up less space and players are much smaller. Some hand-held units are as small as a single video tape. In addition, hand-held players often run on batteries, so you don't need electrical power or a vehicle power adapter. In addition, you can play DVDs on your laptop computer.
Price and availability
DVDs have just about taken over retail shelves, pushing VHS into a small section. In fact, some stores only sell or rent DVDs. In addition, many older titles cost no more than their VHS counterparts. Newer titles often sell for not much more than those on tape. When you consider the features of DVD, it's well worth a few extra dollars. As far as players, some DVD players cost less than VHS units. In addition, there are many models of combination VHS/DVD players.
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