''Alien'' 1979 on VHS and on Computer

[Necronom IV]

As my mother wanted to use the television to watch a programme about Yorkshire farmers, to-day is the first time I have watched ''Alien'' using anything other than VHS. It is, beyond doubt, the finest film I know, but I miss the bulky cartridge, the flickering, the spools winding away and the noise of the tape, all of which suggest, and complement, the 'MS-DOS' systems of the Nostromo.

''Alien'' (1979) in a blackened room on an old cathode ray television (I'm lucky -- my grandfather left us a very handsome one in a wooden case), flickering, whirring and occasionally dimming is, to my mind, the better way to see it.

Does anyone else have the same feeling?

[whiterabbit]

Never had noise or flicker problems with my crt's/vcrs... just good old degraded tape. However thanks to the low 360p resolution you don't notice the rubber and mirrors. Watching it in HD kind of does suck in a way.

[SM]

Old VHS is for nostalgia purposes only.  I'd prefer to watch a movie a bit closer to how the makers intended, where you can see the whole frame in good quality.

[Huggs]

Old VHS is for nostalgia purposes only.  I'd prefer to watch a movie a bit closer to how the makers intended, where you can see the whole frame in good quality.

This. I want the best picture quality and sound we can possibly get..

[Local Trouble]

Does anyone else have the same feeling?

Only about porn.

[Corporal Hicks]

I can't remember the last time I watched a VHS. I've been really enjoying the actual increase in visual quality with all the new formats. Alien on Blu-ray looks like it was filmed yesterday.

[HuDaFuK]

I keep wanting to do a retro trilogy marathon using the Facehugger VHS set I got a couple of years back, but I sold my VCR years ago.

[whiterabbit]

Truth be told I keep both an old VHS player and betamax player for just in case purposes.

[Elmazalman]

I still have my VHS recorder but nothing to play on it.

Growing up with fullscreen ALIEN on Betamax and VHS, I would often imagine what a widescreen version would look like and just how much image I was missing out on.

No way would I go back to a fullscreen / pan & scanned version. ALIEN's production design needs to be seen in the correct aspect ratio.

I finally got to see ALIEN for the first time in widescreen with the 1998 Australian trilogy VHS box-set.

I remember it being colour-coded, much like the STAR WARS OT box-set. Blue = widescreen. Green = fullscreen.

Thank God for DVD and now Blu-ray. Perhaps next year, a 4K 40th anniversary Blu-ray release?   

[Necronom IV]

I keep wanting to do a retro trilogy marathon using the Facehugger VHS set I got a couple of years back, but I sold my VCR years ago.

Good man!

Truth be told I keep both an old VHS player and betamax player for just in case purposes.

You'll not regret it, in my opinion.

My many thanks for so many replies. Evidently it's a private eccentricity of mine -- I quite openly admit to being slightly dottled -- but I personally rate atmosphere above image-quality. Yours is certainly a logical and consistent opinion with a great deal of weight and you are right to express it so persuasively.

I confess that were I free to do so, both financially and at liberty to, I would fit out an entire room in black velvet, prints and furniture as a ''Gigerium'' devoted to Alien and to his artistic work, lit and furnished appropriately.

[Wweyland]

There's something special about the old Aliens VHS my dad recorded from TV with commercials (only in the 3rd act) and all back in 1999. Wasn't even the Special Edition.

[Local Trouble]

I imagine that watching Alien on VHS gives it a bit of a "found footage" look that makes it even creepier.  Am I right?

[Vermillion]

My TV doesn't support the old cable connections for the VCR. 
Dammit.
I bet even if it worked, it would need its heads cleaned.

[Corporal Hicks]

I would imagine there's some converters you could get if you were determined.

[Vermillion]

I'd have to go look.  I guess s-video to hdmi exists somewhere.