Kusoyaro wrote:Considering that most people nowadays rip DVDs, make their videos completely digitally, and have no means of outputting to VHS, I don't see how this makes them "professional" creators who "think they are too good" for VHS.
Not only that- but if you think about it, the 'professional' creators are more likely to have the knowledge and the means to output their digitally created videos onto VHS if they so desire. I think I've seen nearly as many questions in the help forums asking, "How do I get my video onto a video tape?" as ask how to encode a video for digital submission.
That said, I can see if the people running the contest for whatever reason lack either the skill, knowledge, or equipment to accept digital submissions that keeping it simpler would be a good idea. Having a contest that perhaps doesn't look as clear as the original DVDs is, in the end, secondary to having a contest that actually works and doesn't break down. I would however echo the earlier comment about looking into accepting DVD and SVCD submissions (hell, maybe even VCDs- they're probably as good in some cases as people's output to VHS) using a DVD player. A $50 or less Apex player will play all of them, and the submissions could be dubbed off to a master tape for the contest from the DVD player- which will likely need to be done anyway. Swapping tapes in and out of the VCR constantly during the contest is just a bad idea. Take it from a tech guy who has had to do it- make a tape ahead of time!