Lessee...

Sony originally bought the rights to all of RK and 
was planning on releasing to the US as "Samurai X" 
(stupid marketing gimmick for "stupid Americans" 
^_-). Fans were INCENSED. Sony suspended the SamX 
project and sold the rights separately to 
MedaBlasters (TV) and ADV (OAV). I don't remember 
who got the movies. Rurouni Kenshin TV is now 
available on DVD (didn't check the VHS market), 
sub and dub together. The OAV is going to be 
released soon. I'm pretty sure the title "Samurai 
X" is dead and gone....

The TV series covers the Tokyo and Kyoto Arcs of 
the manga, while the OAVs cover the Revenge Arc. 
(That's chronological, though with lots of filler 
in between.) Not sure about the movies.

Subs are going DVD only for economic reasons. Subs 
have a smaller market share, are more expensive 
(lower demand), and the VHS market is moving to 
DVD anyway. DVD's are more economical for this 
kind of foreign material since all language tracks 
are (or should be) included and never burned into 
the actual feature. As a sub purist I love DVDs. 
^_^

If you can't afford/don't have enough space for a 
dvd-player, consider a dvd-rom with decoder card 
for your computer. I know some people are even 
going to gaming consoles (e.g. playstation) that 
can play DVDs, but this makes sense only if you're 
also a gamer.