The Pros & Cons of Keeping VHS Alive In Your Home Theater

Building a state-of-the-art home theater, or at least a fun one for you, your family and friends, is a serious undertaking. There's nothing quite like watching a great movie on a large screen television with an awesome picture and surround sound from the comfort of your own home.

Bringing the movie theater experience into living rooms, the home theater has gone from a luxury to a commonality in homes across America.

For those wanting to build the best, DVDs tend to become a staple for their picture quality, ease of storage and extras available on most disks.  But what about VHS?  Should that old tape collection be chucked to make way for better quality DVDs?

The answer is yes and no. It really depends on personal preference, but there are some compelling reasons for keeping the old tapes around.

Here are some cons and pros:

Cons:

• Storage - it's a simple fact that it is a lot easier to store DVDs rather than VHS tapes. The bulkier tapes take up more room, plus they create a need for different types of storage when DVDs are in the mix as well.
• Durability - VHS tapes aren't known for their ability to maintain high quality after extreme usage.
• Some newer television/receivers may require specialized adapters to work with old VHS players.
• Inability to access favorite scenes right away. The speed of a DVD player's search capabilities make them a favorite over VHS for a lot of reasons.

Pros:

• Versatility - While old VHS tapes can be replaced with newer release DVDs, this can be costly. By keeping old titles around that you already own, you can create a more diverse collection.
• Money savings - If the tapes work well, there's really no need to replace old VHS with newer DVD versions of the same movie - unless you really want the DVD extras.
• Cheaper way to record - DVD burners are awesome, but not everyone can afford them. The old VHS players allow for easy, affordable recording of television shows, movies and so on.

Keeping VHS tapes around can create a storage issue and it's a simple fact the DVDs are pretty neat when it comes to extras, but running out and replacing every title isn't always practical.

Most home theater systems will work just fine with a VHS player added into the mix, plus the decision to keep the old technology around, even for just a little while, can add versatility to a home theater.

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