Do you still use a VCR and VHS tapes?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by PaulKTF, Aug 27, 2016.

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  1. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI

    Yeah, those "Shindig!" tapes were pretty cool... Currently, I only own the Jerry Lee Lewis tape, but still think about picking up the rest, even though they're VHS...
     
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  2. izgoblin

    izgoblin Forum Resident

    With the exception that my current VCR recently died on me, I still have several hundred pre-recorded VHS tapes with many containing films not on DVD or Blu-ray, so I do intend to hook up another VCR eventually to be able to play them.
     
  3. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Absolutely and unequivocally no. Awful medium for video. Glad it's dead.

    Ed
     
  4. appledan

    appledan Resident Rockist

    Location:
    Ohio
    I sure do. I've mentioned in another thread that I don't own a DVR. I use my VCR all the time to record programs. I actually have a small stockpile of VCRs in case my main one breaks. What I don't like about DVRs is that I can't easily watch what I recorded on another TV. A VHS tape is easy to transport and will play back on any VHS player.
     
  5. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Honestly curious. Do you mean you don't own a blu-Ray player as well and if so, why?

    Ed
     
  6. appledan

    appledan Resident Rockist

    Location:
    Ohio
    No, I don't own a Blu-ray player. I have a DVD player. The video quality of DVDs are all I would ever need. I still have CRT TVs in wide use throughout my house. I don't see the need for 4K or whatever other 'K' technology the future may hold. I mean where does it end?
     
  7. Remington Steele

    Remington Steele Forum Resident

    Location:
    Saint George, Utah
    Used some for target practice with a 44 magnum.
     
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  8. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I think HD will be enough for most people for the next 10 years. After that... I dunno.
     
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  9. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Good ?. I dropped out at the DVD stage. Only lack of DVDs or players would make me move on.
     
  10. ajax25

    ajax25 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I have both VHS and Beta, mostly audio recorded with a PCM encoder (Sony F1) on the video portion. Currently in the process of xfering all the audio to the computer. Also some old prerecorded VHS tapes of concerts that have not been released on DVD Bluray.
     
  11. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    I have things like the complete run of Monty Python or old Dr. Who episodes that are so lo-fi to begin with, I don't mind that they're on VHS. Certainly not enough to pay to upgrade. Plus I've got some music ones. But I do hate pan and scan movies.

    I also have tons of Beavis and Butt-head episodes I recorded back in college, complete with videos.
     
  12. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    I have to have a working stereo VCR if only to play the Filth & the Fury tape from before it was re-edited. Also Don't Look Back and the Beatles Anthology box set, plus a few foreign Kino movie videos that either haven't been on DVD or only on expensive deluxe set DVD, not to mention all the crap I recorded off tv or traded by mail to get (oops, just mentioned it, darn).

    There is a sort of underground 'found art' movement of buying used recordable VHS tapes cheap at thrift stores to see what's on them. I've tried it a couple of times, one tape was just shots of various valuable items as an insurance document followed by some video of a person's cat looking at hail and sleeping on a bed and stuff like that. Circa late 1980s.
     
  13. Trashman

    Trashman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    I felt the same way about my Doctor Who collection... right up until the moment I saw them on DVD. Then I realized how much better they could look. The broadcast tapes sent to PBS stations in the 80s were pretty awful. The more recent restorations of this material are top notch, done with love by people who were fans first and foremost. (They often did the restoration work for very little compensation in return.) Plus, the DVDs are full of great bonus material... documentaries, commentaries, photos, "info text" subtitles with interesting trivia, etc.

    The Region 1 (USA) DVDs are disappearing from shelves, but Region 2 (UK) discs are readily available on Amazon UK for those with multi-region players. The Region 2 versions are actually preferred, since they have less edits, plus the materials is presented at a higher resolution (576 vs. 480 resolution).
     
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  14. dance_hall_keeper

    dance_hall_keeper Forum Resident

    Have: Y
    Use: N.
     
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  15. the sands

    the sands Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oslo, Norway
    Yes because I have one. I 've got a box set of James Bond complete (up to the 90s) on VHS. But I rarely use it. I rarely use my DVD either. I loved movies once but it just bore me these days.
     
  16. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    Yes, but the VHS has The Beatles.

    Seriously, I don't have anywhere close to a complete run, so there's plenty to buy before updating what I already have. Unfortunately, I don't think my OPPO is region free.
     
  17. Trashman

    Trashman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    I bought a region-free OPPO Blu Ray a few years back, but it was a modified unit. However, there are region-free DVD players available that are cheap enough (many around the $50 mark) that it's worth it to own one for those circumstances when you really want to watch DVDs from other regions: Region Free DVD Players | Code Free and Multi-region DVD Players

    Funny that you should mention The Beatles appearance on Doctor Who. That scene was edited out of the Region 1 DVD, but was left intact on the Region 2 DVD. That was one of main factors that convinced me to start buying the series on Region 2. The higher resolution was also a big factor. But just as importantly, the price for the Region 2 discs was quite a bit lower, even when you factored in shipping from Amazon UK. Now with the Region 1 discs apparently out-of-print (and many going out-of-stock), the difficulty and expense of building a Region 1 collection is much greater. Some of the hard-to-find discs are selling for over $100. You can buy the episodes online for download, but they don't offer any of the bonus material that made the DVDs so great. Sometimes it feels like we are moving backwards for the sake of convenience.
     
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  18. Rocker

    Rocker Senior Member

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    This one is FINALLY getting a Blu-ray release on June 20th, courtesy of Shout Factory! It's about time! :goodie:
     
  19. Bill Larson

    Bill Larson Forum Resident

    I've heard about VHS having a limited lifespan. But I'm watching a 30-year-old copy of "Help" right now through the yellow composite wire on a 43" 4K, and it looks nearly as good as a DVD. Colors are great, and the image is absolutely stable. It looks about as good as somewhere between a 480 and 720p broadcast. There's no appearance of lines at all. Go figure.
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2017
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  20. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I've finally got the the point in the last year that the last few VHS movies I had are finally out on DVD or blu ray so the VHS player can finally go now.
     
  21. dustybooks

    dustybooks rabbit advocate

    Location:
    Wilmington, NC
    This thread's right up my alley. When I was a teenager I taped everything, from TV shows I liked to just weird random extracts of things, and I still have about a third of the tapes. (My sister did the same thing a decade earlier, so she has a ton of '80s MTV and the like and I have a few of her tapes too.) It's pretty fun to have a few drinks and take a trip into the past, though a lot of the commercials and such are so obnoxious that the novelty quickly wears off on that front.

    Recently I wanted my own copy of Victor Sjostrom's The Wind, which was only ever commercially available on VHS and laserdisc (and I never got an LD player unfortunately), and so I also had the experience of buying a movie on the format for the first time since about 2000. There was a crimp in the tape and I had to rewind it by hand, then I had to repair my VCR myself. So the format is still a pain, but also still unique in a few scattered cases.

    Oh, and I have a Betamax copy of Let It Be that a friend of my dad's taped off HBO, so that's nice... though I don't actually like the movie much so it's more just the novelty of having a copy that's appealing.
     
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  22. tkl7

    tkl7 Agent Provocateur

    Location:
    Lewis Center, OH
    I just hooked my VCR up to my TV after about 5 years. I can't remember when I last played a video tape, maybe about 10 years ago? I have it because I have several Doctor Who reconstructions, but I think I have picked up about everything else I owned on VHS on DVD or Bluray.
     
  23. Dude111

    Dude111 An Awesome Dude

    Location:
    US
    Im glad all of you still like your players!!!!

    VHS is gorgeous......
     
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  24. andrewskyDE

    andrewskyDE Island Owner

    Location:
    Europe
    I have hundreds of VHSs in a few boxes but I didn't use them for a while. Had two VCRs but one survived over the years...
    The day will come when I transfer my video tapes to a digital archive (not so soon though).

    [Edit:] I remember having The Compleat Beatles and Magical Mystery Tour on one of those E-240 tapes, they were tape-to-tape copies but still looked good picture-wise.
     
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  25. Bingo Bongo

    Bingo Bongo Music gives me Eargasms

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    Nor do I still own an 8-track player!
     
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