The problem is the packaging wasn't different from the VHS releases except for a Super VHS logo added with a sticker, IIRC. I only saw them in two places back in the early 90's. A now long gone electronics store in Studio City, CA. where I bought my first Panasonic editing decks, (AG-1970's) and a local video store that buried them on an endcap near the back where it was guaranteed most people would ever see them.

I kind of kick myself for never picking one up, but at a $30-40 price point, Laserdisc made a lot more sense at the time. S-VHS was what I shot videos with and hoarded MST3K episodes on. I'm really curious how a prerecorded tape would compare to LD now.

I've never even seen a picture of one of these Star Trek S-VHS releases but it would seem that they were fairly limited and even harder to obtain even when there were out, LOL.

Trek movies on Video 8 are probably easier to find.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/18-8mm-8-mm-vide...1752111209

What's unique about Video 8 is all the movies released had PCM audio. I don't know how long Sony tried to market the 8mm format beyond the camcorder market, but there was a lot more studio support of it. Even Disney got on board for a few titles.

I don't know if Sony made any 8mm decks with digital audio outputs though.

I just bought these ....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/301853662660

Jetrell Fo, is it possible that we could make this a generic thread for the pre-Abrams Trek movies? We've already discussed non-VHS releases. If not, I'm happy to open another thread.

Sure .... we can blame it on Silverwook, he'll be okay with that, LOL.  Didn't mean for it to become a bother.

Done and done.

Let's get back on topic.

I will be taking my Panasonic AG1980 in for it's customary cleaning/servicing before I start any of these VHS captures. I just want them to be as good as I can get them considering.

Don't forget Trek on video CD:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/star-trek-phil...1888162476
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STAR-TREK-II-T...1240359319
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Video-CD-Star-...1823976512
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Star-Trek-VI-T...1277568698
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Star-Trek-GENE...1087172294

Happy to buy and (attempt to) rip those cheap ones if there's interest.

I used to have a bunch of those in the 90's, all issued by Phillips. TMP had really nice disc art of the Enterprise's saucer section. VCD's are blocky as hell though.

Keep in a mind a couple early titles are not the true Video CD standard, (TUC and possibly Generations) and will only play back on a Phillips CDI player with the Digital Video cartridge installed. The disc will have a Digital Video logo instead of Video CD.

I don't know if there's a CDI emulator out there.

This seller has a bunch of Chinese VCD's with widescreen markings I've not seen before, but could just be good looking bootlegs?
http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odkw=&_s...d&_sacat=0

I have already ripped the PAL VCD of Khan and have been toying with the idea of making a preservation.  Blocking is indeed an issue.

Rumor has it that some of the Trek films have been shown on VUDU and they have less/no DNR.  Can anyone confirm this?

Moreover, UK iTunes supposedly has both the theatrical and director's cuts of Khan.  I should imagine that the former is based on the BD and the latter on the same master as the DVDs.  Has anyone seen these?

EDIT: Thanks for changing the thread heading! I wasn't bothered about the thread's going off the topic of VHS preservations; in fact, I wanted to see if people would mind my taking it even further away from them by asking the above questions. :-)

(2016-02-10, 09:40 PM)jonno Wrote: Don't forget Trek on video CD:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/star-trek-phil...1888162476
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STAR-TREK-II-T...1240359319
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Video-CD-Star-...1823976512
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Star-Trek-VI-T...1277568698
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Star-Trek-GENE...1087172294

Happy to buy and (attempt to) rip those cheap ones if there's interest.

I'd bet they don't look much better than the Star Wars VCD's but I'd still be interested to see them. I've been quite curious about these versions.