The Misconception About VHS vs DVD Quality

Sharif Sourour
5 min readMay 12, 2024
Photo Credit: ARS Video - https://arsvideo.com/blog/should-i-convert-my-vhs-to-digital-or-dvd-the-best-choice-for-your-collection/

Although it today has a reputation as a far worse medium, it’s a misconception that VHS is worse than DVD. Depending on the quality of that specific tape grade, the recording source and recording setting you can get quality about as high potentially even higher resolution than DVD (with caveats). Normally you can get about the same quality when it’s done right.

You can see this for yourself if you look at a mainstream movie release for mass consumption for example where they cheaped out on the tape quality to prevent loss on mass manufacturing of tapes for one big movie release. Then you compare that to a niche special interest tape a “high quality” release like the Disney animated films with the soft clam shells, or anime tapes made just for that niche, they are all a much higher quality standard, closer to the original JVC specification from Japan.

Source: CBS News — https://cbs4indy.com/news/your-old-vhs-tapes-might-be-worth-a-small-fortune/

You can be sure Made in Japan VHS tapes have a crisper image and last longer if properly stored (upright in a cool dry place) especially if you play them back from time to time and keep them rewinded otherwise.

Especially when viewed from a projector or CRT TV, tape artifacts and noise when from a high…

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Sharif Sourour
Sharif Sourour

Written by Sharif Sourour

Bboy Shogi (将技) Breaker (since ‘99), Media & Software 日本語でも会話できます。Shogi’s IG: http://instagram.com/bboyshogi/ Battle Series On YT: https://youtube.com/c/SharifS

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