VHS, DVD, and LD: Making Sense of the Letters
Following is a list of some points of comparison between the three video formats. While some of these questions may seem nitpicky or of little importance, it should be noted that many anime fans consider such details when purchasing a product.

As with a DVD, you don't have to flip with VHS, but the venerable magnetic medium is showing its age.

VHS
This aging magnetic format offers the weakest video clarity. Also, because of it's magnetic properties, it is susceptible to degradation over time. It offers multiple play speeds to get longer play times, but sacrifices clarity for the added time. Most anime is recorded on VHS in SP Hi-Fi offering 2 hours per tape. The format was never really intended to support freeze frame or frame-by-frame viewing, although most all VHS players offer this in a limited fashion.

Laserdisc
Laserdiscs can be recorded in one of two formats. CAV format offers 30 minutes per side and crystal clear freeze frame and frame-by-frame viewing as well as track skipping. CLV format offering 1 hour per side (an additional 30 minutes) but loses the ability to do frame-by-frame viewing and rock solid freeze frame. While it's easy to assume that laserdisc video is digital, it is in fact only analog and suffers from the same degredation inherent in any NTSC video signal. But make no mistake, laserdisc offers a much clearer, longer lasting clarity than VHS.

DVD
DVD is digital and uses MPEG2 compression which only slightly alters the original video. This form of compression offers excellent quality and remains almost completely unchanged from the studio master. A single layer disc can fit up to 2 hours of video and up to eight audio tracks on one side. Developers can lower the data rate (compression quality) slightly and achieve up to 3 hours on a single side. DVD also offers a dual-layered compression that can accommodate over 4 hours of video on one side with no extra compression needed. DVD offers all of the features that a CAV laserdisc does and adds branching, multiple camera angles, and parental control.

Winner = DVD
DVD can do everything that laserdisc can but holds more video and offers a crisper digital image. Unfortuantly, it's hard to tell on today's televisions just how much crisper. While both offer a great picture, DVD offers extras such as branching and camera angles which may prove to be useful in the future. Laserdisc offers a nifty ability to record each frame of animation to a frame of video in CAV format. While DVD cannot do this due to it's MPEG compression, a noted animation expert pointed out that the motion estimation feature of MPEG2 can simulate it, and remove the posible "jitter" between frames. As far as VHS is concerned it cannot even provide frame-by-frame viewing effectively.

VHS
VHS offers only simple HI-Fi Dolby Stereo sound and one audio track.

Laserdisc
Laserdisc audio can be recorded in Dolby Digital AC3 surround sound, the best available. It does require a newer player to take advantage of this though. It offers two tracks of audio; a digital and an analog track, which you can switch between during viewing. Perfect for anime due to its multilingual aspects. It also offers the best Dolby Surround soundtracks that are fully digital and CD quality.

DVD
All DVD players offer full Dolby Digital (AC3) compatibility. Discs can have up to eight fully digital audio tracks. These tracks can be changed on the fly during viewing. It's Dolby Surround capabilities are not quite as good as laserdisc. It is fully digital and is considered better than CD quality.

Winner = DVD
Unlike laserdiscs, which can only offer one digital track of audio and one analog track, DVD can offer up to eight fully digital tracks. This means that with DVD, you can have both the Japanese track and the English track both in full AC3 Dolby Digital surround sound. When it comes to sound, DVD simply offers the best available features.

No need to switch sides with DVD discs.

VHS
More people own VHS equipment than both Laserdisc and DVD combined. VHS tapes are relatively small in size and easy to store, although they must be kept away from magnets. Unfortunately, video tapes have moving parts which can break, as well as the tape itself which if touched or torn, can permanently be ruined. VHS's does have a long play time per tape, which means that you won't have to change tapes halfway through the movie.

Laserdisc
Laserdiscs are big and bulky and can warp easily if not stored correctly. Fingerprints can cause poor playback, but can easily be cleaned off. Also, since laserdiscs offer the least amount of playtime per side, that means that you'll find yourself flipping discs a lot. Unlike VHS, Laserdiscs are broken down into chapters, so you no longer need to fast forward or rewind.

DVD
DVDs are only 5 inches in diameter. Small and compact, they can fit anywhere you store normal music CDs. Fingerprints can cause poor playback, but like laserdiscs, they can easily be cleaned. Most DVDs don't need to be flipped to watch a single movie, but longer movies that are recorded using single layer may require you to flip the disc to access any additional features such as trailers and character information. Full chapter skipping is available, and some discs have menus with full motion video chapter previews.

Winner = DVD
While VHS is still the most widely accepted format, DVD is on the rise. And because DVD is digital and not magnetic, it lasts longer and is easier to maintain. Laserdiscs also last longer than VHS but can be clumsy to handle and store. DVDs are smaller, last longer than VHS, and rarely require the viewer to flip or change discs.