Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Hay River (Oct 14/02) - Movie buffs in the NWT are more and more turning to DVDs to get their fill of action, drama and comedy.

And that's bad news for VHS, the 'video home system' cassette tape.

Bruce Biggin, the manager of Video Stop in Hay River, displays the choice for movie rental -- DVD or VHS. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"They'll be like vinyl records and they'll be like Beta tapes. Eventually, they'll go the way of the dodo bird," says Bruce Biggin, the manager of Video Stop in Hay River.

However, that won't happen overnight. Right now, about 85 per cent of the movies at Video Stop are VHS, compared to 15 per cent DVD (digital versatile disc).

Biggin says most people still have VHS players and there is not as wide a selection of DVDs available.

Beside better clarity, DVDs have more extra features than VHS, such as interviews with actors and directors, and extra scenes. Plus there is no need to rewind. And they are smaller and easier to store.

Peter Salahub, the manager of the Radio Shack store in Yellowknife, says there has been a definite move to DVD players over the last three years. Right now, his store sells 15 DVD players for each VHS system.

Salahub expects that trend to increase as more people become aware of DVD quality.

"The best analogy is when you bought your first CD and compared it to a cassette tape."

While DVDs are widely available in larger towns, that is not always the case in smaller communities.

The Trapper's Store in Tsiigehtchic rents videos, but not DVDs. Co-manager Carol Norwegian says the store is considering selling DVDs, but not renting because of concerns children might damage the disks.

Even so, she says DVDs would probably rent well in Tsiigehtchic, noting about 12 of the 56 homes in the community already have DVD players.

Some other movie enthusiasts have also made a wholesale switch to DVD.

Nelson Gilroy of Hay River used to own 250 VHS movies, but gave them all away to his father when he started buying DVDs about two years ago. He now owns well over 250.

There is no comparison between the quality of VHS and DVD, he says. In fact, he rents some DVD movies, even if he has already seen them on VHS. "I just wish there were more DVDs available."