[QuadList] OT: is S-VHS "obsolete" in copyright law's eyes?

[Walter Forsberg]

Thanks Ted.

I've gotten a bunch of off-list responses, so I'll go ahead and clarify my
line of inquiry.

It's not copyright infringement, under Section 108(c), for a library or
archive to make reproductions (up to 3) of a work in a library or archive's
collection, provided that: i) a replacement copy of that work isn't
available in the marketplace at a fair price; and, ii) the resultant copy
isn't used/shown/etc. off-premises of that library and archive. The kicker
is that the work has to be "damaged, deteriorating, lost or stolen," or it
has to be on a format that's become "obsolete."

The 1998 DMCA amendment to Section 108 added text that defined "obsolete"
as being for any format where the machine or device for rendering
perceptible that format was “no longer manufactured or [...] no longer
reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.”

Thus, my line of inquiry: VHS can't legally be said to be obsolete (I
know...kind of, bonkers), but can S-VHS? Surely, there are technical
qualities of the superior S-VHS signal that can't be rendered "perceptible"
if they are not demoded and processed by any of the new (and, still
in-production) combo DVD/VHS decks.

My question, essentially, was to see if it is indeed true that there are no
new DVD/VHS combo decks that demod and process the full characteristics of
the S-VHS signal.

Apologies for the uber-obscurity! But, thanks if you can name a combo deck
that doesn't jilt S-VHS!

W
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