Do you still use a VCR and VHS tapes?

I'm just wondering how many forum members still use a VCR and VHS tapes in some capacity (for recording, or playback)?

I don't, and haven't in about 17 years.

 

When my daughter was little, I'd buy Disney tapes from the thrift store. Our old RV has a VCR so I have a cupboard full of VHS tapes to play on rainy days. You can find some good stuff on VHS. I picked up Tape Heads and Yellow Submarine.

Chad

 

I still have a VCR (not hooked up) and a few VHS tapes... I'm only holding onto them because there have never been DVD releases of those few movies (inexplicably).

 

Nope.

 

There are some things I refuse to get sentimental about. This is one of them. I think I'd rather stab myself in the face than start using VHS again.

 

Have been using my VHS (and Beta) decks to transfer all the stuff I started recording since 1980. Most of it ended up on my YouTube channel. Still trying to keep some decks running for tape transfer jobs I get from time to time.

 

Geez, did a VCR attack your mother or something?!

 

Have boxes of my kids VHS disney movies packed away but no VCR.

 

Yes.

 

I love those white clamshell cases (yes, I know that's an odd thing to get nostalgic about).

 

Yep. First class.

 

I have one Sony VHS Hi-Fi machine and one Panasonic VHS/DVD dubber for playback and copying if the need arises.

 

I own a VCR. I used it about 2 years ago to play a TV series that is not
available on DVD.

 

For playback and transfer.

 

I have to vote no, but I did recently until I got a Blu-ray player.

 

I don't record anymore, but I have some things on VHS tape that I cannot find in a current medium. I need to transfer those things to digital.

 

I have one VHS tape that I hadn't watched in 25 or so years so recently went to Goodwill and bought one for $7.50 . It worked jusy fine only no remote came with it.

 

I still have a VCR and VHS tapes, but I don't use them.

 

BTW, if anybody here has a high-end Beta deck they want to get rid of, PM me.

 

There are some modern TV shows I wanted to put on videotape for a laugh. We have a VCR but haven't used it in several years. And a BluRay player. But unfortunately the converter box to convert HDMI to composite is $130 and I'm not spending that much money "for a laugh". If I can ever do it for cheap, I probably will still.

 

You have a very.... unique sense of humor.

 

Yeah, those are pretty cool, though I'm more nostalgic about the spiffy looking black ones for these titles:

Robin Hood
Pinocchio
Dumbo
The Sword in the Stone
Fantasia
Beauty and the Beast

While part of the reason I've held on to these Disney "black diamonds" is of course for nostalgia, including some now classic artwork (remember The Little Mermaid? ), there are at least a few cases where I actually do prefer the VHS presentation over its DVD counterpart. Cinderella comes to mind here (colors seemed wrong on the DVD), as does Pinocchio to an extent (Jiminy Cricket must say "Right!"), and even Bambi (somehow felt more "real" on tape) though I do appreciate the effort that went into that particular digital restoration, as well as the bonus features offered in the DVD format.

As for the rest of my VHS collection, I made quite a lot of tapes that would be difficult to replace from TV broadcasts over the years, which oddly enough I can't seem to do anymore with the X1 cable box, so I've kept my VCR running in order to have something to watch them on (mine is a Mitsubishi U52 which IIRC cost ~$400 in 1992). Last, but not least, I've certainly got to be able to see the original Star Wars trilogy without all those obtrusive edits, even though I know there was a somewhat lame "bonus" DVD issue of these movies a few years back, which I expect is now prohibitively expensive.

Call me "old school" if you will, but I similarly still have a cassette deck in my car for my great old mix tapes (not 8-tracks, though!). That said, I never got into laserdiscs (too expensive), let alone Betamax which may have been the "better" videotape, but VHS won that battle years ago even if it too is now technically obsolete, as perhaps am I.

 

There are many tapes I purchased back in the day that I'll be damned if I'm going to buy them all over again on DVD or Blu-ray, not to mention things I recorded that I consider "priceless" and don't have the time to transfer them.

 

God no. And don't miss them one bit.

 

I'm gonna play golf tonight and TCM is showing "The Great Escape" at 8pm. I'll tape it and watch it tomorrow night when its supposed to rain.