View Full Version : Anyone collecting V.H.S. cassettes?


Telecolor 3007
09-30-2007, 07:44 AM
Anyone collecting V.H.S. cassettes?

Sandy G
09-30-2007, 08:33 AM
Well, I have a BUNCH of 'em...I'm not actively collecting them, per se...

OvenMaster
09-30-2007, 08:48 AM
I have maybe 100 or so, all with TV shows on them. "One of these days" my family will watch them... probably when HDTV is the only game in town and we haven't bought converter boxes and analog broadcasts get shut down in 2009.
Tom

tankdonovan
09-30-2007, 09:30 AM
Not collecting...but I still buy them for my grandson. Cheap prices on kid movies. I have yet to buy a bad one.

TankDonovan

retrokeeper
09-30-2007, 10:51 AM
I've started collecting all the Disney animated titles after picking up a cool poster at Disneyland that shows all their movie marque's/posters made from the beginning up to the Lion King...plan to get them all on VHS tape,not DVD,since the tapes are just about everywhere. Rob

kx250rider
09-30-2007, 11:49 AM
I have plenty, but no collector interest in them. Slowly but surely, I'm copying all the ones I want to keep onto DVD, and tossing the 20-plus-year-old decaying VHS tapes. Many of them load the heads as soon as I go to play them, so it's now or never to save the contents!

Charles

Telecolor 3007
09-30-2007, 12:28 PM
I think I have about 110-120 V.H.S. video cassettes :surprise: + 1 Betacam S.P. cassette (the big type) :D
Most of them are with stuff that I recorded from tv. Some of them are original. But I want cassettes with good old '90's music and '90's shows from tv. The mayor of the 2nd Sector (District) - (sector is an administrativ division in Bucharest) closed the flea market and I must go to an one in the other end of the city, but I never get up early - shees, is one of the moments when I want to own a car!

fdrennen
09-30-2007, 12:42 PM
For several years in the 1990's I bought about two tapes every week as I got paid. I worked in downtown mahattan around the corner from J&R music world. I have tapes in the attic, tapes in the shed tapes in the basement and tapes in the bedroom. I have 4 VCR's one Sony beta. Besides the tapes I bought CD's & LP's (When J&R were still selling them!). I guess I need help!

P.S. I used to spend my lunch hour in J&R's Jazz record store.

matt_s78mn
09-30-2007, 02:51 PM
I have a bunch of S-VHS tapes that i've used to record movies and shows on, as I've been using a Panasonic AG-1970 as my main VCR. I also have some 3/4" uMatic tapes, but havent' used any of them in a while

Elfasto
09-30-2007, 04:20 PM
Have a bunch of them, but i'm phasing them out for either DVD or Laserdisc.

dr.ido
10-01-2007, 12:18 AM
I have around 200+ VHS tapes boxed up in storage somewhere, mainly stuff I recorded from TV or copied from other tapes years ago. Back when everyone was still using VHS my VCRs were immune to Macrovision so friends and relatives were always asking me to make copies.

Recently I've picked up a couple of nice SVHS VCRs and was pleasanly surprised by the picture quality, even from tapes I recorded back then on a basic 2 head mono VCR. It's obviously never going to be DVD or LD quality, but it still very watchable.

I've started picking up more tapes when I see stuff that missed when it came out. VHS is very cheap now. Large boxes of tapes can often be bought for $10 or less regardless of whether they are original prerecorded or home recorded.

I like the fact the VHS tapes will almost always play. Among my small collection of DVDs I have a couple are incompatible with one of my DVD players. They aren't scratched or damaged, they just get to a certain spot in the menu and freeze. It was very frustrating to pull the system apart to change the DVD player so I could play one of those discs only to find the transfer was no better than the older VHS copy I already had. DVDs of recent mainstream stuff are fine, but I've found the rereleases of some old/obscure titles can be very dodgy. I've seen at least one that was obviously made from a VHS source.

I've got a box of uMatic tapes and a deck somewhere, but I don't think I've ever played them.

Telecolor 3007
10-01-2007, 01:33 AM
Guys, from where the heck do you get those nice S.-V.H.S./U-Matic decks?
I guess in U.S.A. are quyte cheap comparing to the incomes.

Captain Video
10-01-2007, 02:52 AM
I have a load of VHS tapes, they were been sold really so cheap around here that in fact no one wants to sell then anymore, because they were really getting no profit at all. Even used book stores and thrift shops now prefer to sell used DVD discs than VHS tapes.

It's quite impressive to see that, in a relatively short period of time, DVD players became extremely popular. There are players from good brands for sale at ridiculous low prices. In fact, in the 1990's It was normal to meet people who didn't had a VCR; now I even get shocked when I meet someone who still don't have a DVD player. It's just so cheap that even the poorest of the poorest can have one.

There are millions and millions of VHS tapes out there, to a point I doubt that anytime in the future they will became a special collectable like, say, 78 RPM records. Anyway, I collect them, because, valuable or not, they will represent a special moment in the History of home entertainment technology, specially for me, who was a kid in the 1980's and thought it was the greatest thing ever, to be able to watch movies of my choice at home, and to record movies and programs from television.

I still have our first VCR, a 1986 Panasonic. It's not working, and looks a little beat up, but I keep it for nostalgic reasons. Had I not took possesion of it, It could possible be in the dumpster by now.

I still want to put my hands on one of the VERY OLD models, one of those VCRs from the late 70's or early 80's - one of those with top loading and rotary tuners.

I think that probably the most valuable VHS tapes will be those of the first releases of famous movies. The oldest I have is a 1984 American VHS of "Diamonds are Forever" ( 1971 ).

It would also be good to put my hands on Beta tapes and on a Betamax player, I think it will became more valuable than VHS, because it is a rarer format.

dr.ido
10-01-2007, 05:20 AM
Guys, from where the heck do you get those nice S.-V.H.S./U-Matic decks?
I guess in U.S.A. are quyte cheap comparing to the incomes.

I'm in Australia, but the situation in the USA is probably similar. Most people have no interest in VHS anymore and have dumped or are dumping their VHS gear and tapes.

Like almost all of my stuff all but one of my VCRs was bought at a local junk auction. Working (ones that play, their isn't enough time to test all functions) VCRs typically sell for $5-$20, if it doesn't work it's usually $2 (the minimum bid) if it sells at all. It all depends on who is there on the night of the auction. To most of the people there one VCR is the same as another. They don't usually recognise SVHS and pay more for it. The only thing the usually makes a difference in the price is the brand name. A low end Sony or Panasonic will often sell for more than a high end deck from any other manufacturer.

The high end and professional decks don't show up every week, usually it's just stacks of basic mono VHS decks.

http://65c02.org/images/ak/loewesvhs.jpg

This Loewe OC3820H (actually built by Hitachi from memory) is my most recent SVHS purchase. It has a power supply fault that I haven't looked into yet. It cost $2. On the same night a working Panasonic SVHS deck sold for $8. I passed on the Panasonic. I already have more VCRs than I need and I'm trying to cut down on the amount of gear I buy. I just couldn't resist that Loewe deck because it matches my Loewe TVs.

I still have the one and only VCR I bought new many years ago. A basic 2 head mono Akai VHS deck. I spent the night waiting in the car park with 29 other people to get it for $99 at one of those doorbuster gimmick sales. This was before DVD when the regular price was $299 and it wasn't possible to get good VCRs for almost nothing. It's still working, but it doesn't get much use anymore.

Kiwick
10-01-2007, 06:39 AM
I still have a cupboard full of VHS tapes from my childhood, along with our first VCR we bought in 1985, a Hitachi VT-8 "dockable" top loader, this VCR had non-standard stereo sound recorded on the tape's analog sound track... sadly, it quit working in about 2003 due to a slackened loading motor belt that's nearly impossible to replace...

Now i'm playing them on a late 80s JVC...

Telecolor 3007
10-01-2007, 11:15 AM
Off-topic: I'm dreaming to get me S.-V.H.S. professional (like "Panasonic" AG), U-Matic (Low-Band, High Band and S.P.) and Betacam S.P. (both small and big tape) V.C.R.'s. But this will not happen soon... :tears:

bgadow
10-01-2007, 12:58 PM
I have a ton of VHS tapes-I like finding TV shows from the 80s. As much fun for the commercials as anything. A friend of mine gave me a box of Umatic tapes, then he found me a deck to play them on. I think he had the deck given to him. I now need to find a betacam deck-I might be going to a hamfest this weekend, and that's a good place to find them. Lots of weird commercial/military equipment ends up there and can be cheap.

radotvguy
10-01-2007, 02:17 PM
I still have vhs tapes . I tend to come across them either free or dirt cheap at the flea market , like 25 or 50 cents each . At that price , its worth buying a movie and if you dont like it , you can throw it it . I expecially like finding older tapes which have old commercials on them .

By the way , do any of you guys collect beta machines . I have a really nice beta unit and its in great shape and its heavy . Dont have a nead for it .

ChrisW6ATV
10-02-2007, 04:35 AM
I have a few VHS tapes, but mostly I have Beta tapes. VHS to me was for movie renting, but Beta machines in various versions up through ED Beta were what I used for my recording and archiving. I probably have nearly every tape I ever bought since late 1979 when I got a used one-hour Sony SL-7200 for "only" US$320 when I was 19 years old. The one thing I regret is erasing some early recordings in the mid-1980's, like the original U.S. TV broadcast of the movie "Jaws". It took me almost a whole day's salary (typical teen-ager's job) to pay for the two L-500 tapes I needed for that movie. Still in my collection are a Chicago Cubs game from 1979, and many other recordings from throughout the 80's and early 90's. (Anyone remember "Friday Night Videos" starting in 1982 on NBC? I still have lots of those early videos, including the simulcast stereo sound from a local FM radio station. The show started not long after Beta Hi-Fi stereo sound was introduced.) Some day, I will go through all of my tapes to see what is on them, but I see no reason to get rid of them at this point.

I have a Sony LV-1901 with its internal SL-6200 Betamax VCR, and an EDV-9500 ED Beta VCR.

bgadow
10-02-2007, 11:48 AM
"Friday Night Videos" is a good period show to have! I actually didn't appreciate the show or the music much back then, but do now. I'd love to find some Saturday Night Live shows from the early 80s. Just last night I was playing around with the newer of my 2 beta machines. I couldn't remember if I'd ever tried it out. Works pretty good. I was watching part of an ABC News documentary called "45-85" about all the history that took place between those years. Peter Jennings sure looked young. Later on the tape is a Bush-Dukakis debate. Great stuff, and couldn't have looked better if I recorded it last week. (this tape is one I bought-I could never afford to buy blank tapes back then when I was a kid so what little I recorded got taped over again and again)

NowhereMan 1966
10-03-2007, 08:44 PM
I have a few VHS tapes, but mostly I have Beta tapes. VHS to me was for movie renting, but Beta machines in various versions up through ED Beta were what I used for my recording and archiving. I probably have nearly every tape I ever bought since late 1979 when I got a used one-hour Sony SL-7200 for "only" US$320 when I was 19 years old. The one thing I regret is erasing some early recordings in the mid-1980's, like the original U.S. TV broadcast of the movie "Jaws". It took me almost a whole day's salary (typical teen-ager's job) to pay for the two L-500 tapes I needed for that movie. Still in my collection are a Chicago Cubs game from 1979, and many other recordings from throughout the 80's and early 90's. (Anyone remember "Friday Night Videos" starting in 1982 on NBC? I still have lots of those early videos, including the simulcast stereo sound from a local FM radio station. The show started not long after Beta Hi-Fi stereo sound was introduced.) Some day, I will go through all of my tapes to see what is on them, but I see no reason to get rid of them at this point.

I have a Sony LV-1901 with its internal SL-6200 Betamax VCR, and an EDV-9500 ED Beta VCR.

I remember "Friday Night Videos." I also watched "Night Flight" on USA Network back then too and I think I might have it on tape somewhere.

Telecolor 3007
10-05-2007, 04:50 PM
My dad took all the cassettes that where at my grandmother and he keeps 'em in God knows what conditions. Shees, I know that I shouldn't criticize my father, but his V.C.R. is broken since May and still he hadn't repair it in order to see what is on those tapes and give them to me.
On those cassette are 2 animation films that I loved when I was young and want to see them again:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_of_NIMH
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Dogs_Go_To_Heaven

Nakdoc
10-05-2007, 05:01 PM
If you are patient you can find the big professional S VHS machines when schools or sports teams go digital. These pro decks are shockingly better! Signal to noise was never an issue with crummy old crts, but todats displays are good enough that the difference is obvious. I consider old 300 or 330 line VHS unwatchable, but Beta, SVHS, and Super Beta are all pretty good looking.
As a service shop that repaired vcrs, we have saved a few of the high quality stereo VCRs, and we save every Beta we encounter. If you lust after a good vcr, try checking with a shop. You may be able to have them repair an excellent machine that they just can't throw away 'cause it was so good in the day.

waltchan
10-15-2007, 08:10 PM
I still have our first VCR, a 1986 Panasonic. It's not working, and looks a little beat up, but I keep it for nostalgic reasons. Had I not took possesion of it, It could possible be in the dumpster by now.

I still want to put my hands on one of the VERY OLD models, one of those VCRs from the late 70's or early 80's - one of those with top loading and rotary tuners.
Check caps at the power supply.

eBay has plenty of these.

site123a
10-17-2007, 09:56 PM
Anyone collecting V.H.S. cassettes?I'm collecting VHS cassettes.

I've always wanted to have to library of video cassettes since I got my first VCR (in 2000), but because I was 13, movies were to expencive for me. But the mean reason I'm collecting tape is because I like them better then DVDs, if only I was born 10 years earlier..:(

I'm now at 45 video cassettes, but I would like to get more...

goraman
10-17-2007, 10:27 PM
I bought a massive lot of T180 VHS tapes 1000 per case they record up to 9 hours and will do 3 hours on fast speed.I have about 60 T240 tapes that will record up to 12 hours and more T120's than I can count.My wife and I can't always be home for Indian movies and dramas so we set the VCR timer and watch at our leasure and unlike DVD's they always play.most Indian movies are 3 hours long and Line of Controle was more than 4 hours.We record over the same tape alot and have found the JVC T profesinal tapes out last everything and can be recorded over and over while maintaining a great deal of claritey but a good vcr is as important as your tapes Tosheba makes a good one and the sony SCV-N88 makes a very detailed recording as well.I got such a great deal on these tapes I will be able to watch VCR recordings till the last VCR dies.

vinyldavid
10-17-2007, 10:33 PM
I still buy them a lot from the Goodwill....
I have about 300.

My Sony SLV-N71 is GREAT!

sampson159
10-17-2007, 10:48 PM
i have all the "mystery science theater" episodes and some western tv show-gunsmoke,bonanza,cheyenne,. i also have the monkees and the fugitive series. still like vhs on a roundie!

SpeakerLabFan
10-17-2007, 11:22 PM
I scored a box of about 50 free VHS titles last summer from a craigslist free pile - all relatively newer titles like Meet the Parents, Saving Private Ryan, Pitch Black, Schindlers List, The Exorcist reissue. I have the space so I figured what the hell, they're nice to have around in case I ever turn on the boob tube. I also recently picked up a box of recorded VHS tapes that my father had made of movies on TV back in the 80's. Some of the gems include It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, How the West Was Won, and Never Give an Inch (film adaptation of Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion)

... and videotape of my brother's wedding from the mid-80's which ought to be good for ALOT of laughs watching with my kids this weekend... :D

radiotvnut
10-18-2007, 12:01 AM
I have a bunch of old VHS tapes of TV shows I recorded as a kid back in the '80's and '90's. Most of them are about worn out because I've watched them over and over. I also have a bunch of tapes of family events. I also still record (once in a blue moon) on VHS. Since I don't have cable; there's not much worth recording anymore. I have thought about buying DVD issues of some of the programs I used to watch when I was a kid.

ChrisW6ATV
10-18-2007, 02:50 AM
Many of the TV shows I recorded, I have now replaced with DVDs. I will probably keep the tapes (all Beta, in BI or BII speeds) to look at the commercials some day. (I only ever used BIII in emergencies.)

gobies
10-30-2007, 06:49 AM
I've probably a 1000 VHS tapes, 95% purchased for 99¢ at GWs (just like my TDK MA90s), many letter-boxed, some still factory shrink wrapped. 95% are movies worth watching again. Roger Ebert's probably "two thumbs"ed up nearly all of them. I've purchased duplicates sometimes, just to make sure I've got a good copy around.

I've a teenager who naturally knows everything, but who trusts me enough to watch an "old, stupid black and white movie", if I tell her she'll enjoy it. "Arsenic and Old Lace" may be her favorite movie. She loves Lillian Gish rocking with the shotgun in "Night of the Hunter". She went nuts for "Cars", and because of the VW bus (she thought it was Tommy Chong), has now listened to some early George Carlin. She liked Paul Newman in "Hombre" too.

If you actually want to watch a film, as opposed to listening to explosions and gunfire, VHS is a bargain. Except for "Open Range" most movies don't accurately reproduce gunfire anyway (about as "real" as John Wayne fistfights). I've noticed instructions on RTR sites about baking tapes. I think, well cared for, VHS tapes will last as long enough for most folks, and certainly until several more generations of "state of the art formats" have arrived and gone. I buy DVDs of movies I really love, especially if I haven't found letterboxed VHSs.

As with books, imagination is what makes the movie experience "real". Truman was president when I was born, so my eyes and ears and the rest of me are past prime, damaged by common experiences of the 60s and 70s (Somewhere I have the 13th Floor Elevators first album and Rolling Stones prerecorded RTR) The tapes and I will probably expire about the same time, by which time all movies ever made will fit on a NanuNano Ipod the size of a quarter.

I listen to movies with some Klipsch home theatre speakers (GW) and an older Onkyo Pro-Logic receiver. I listen to music on a Fisher 500-TX (and other older SS receivers) and Bozaks ($20), or Wharfedales, or Kenwood 777s (four for $45 @GW), Norman Labs,etc. Loud music from the next room doesn't cut it. I've got a little Rotel receiver and MB Quarts on top of the refrigerator. A system in every room should be your goal. I've even have some Boses, the little outdoor speakers. They play in the garage.

I recently picked up two Nakamichi 480 decks, and started looking for cassette tapes again. Prerecorded Dolby HX Pro chrome tapes can sound pretty good. Especially for 99¢ or less.

My rant ends some questions: I noticed TDK doesn't give SA tape thickness specs on their website? Does anyone know when they thinned the tape, and how to tell based on packaging?

AudioKarma is a great community.

gobies
10-30-2007, 07:04 AM
On the topic of obsolete formats, I should've added:

Does anyone else remember listening (for several minutes) to the the inside grooves of a classical LP on mono FM, because the "DJ" hadn't come back from his "break"? Or "Alice's Restaurant" or any Dylan cut being played on AM in the early hours right before the farm report, because there were no commercials then? Or handing a bottle up to Willie Nelson on stage.... Reminds me of a professor (circa 1974) asking the class if anyone remembered when Allen Ginsberg was on campus...then pausing..."Never mind it was 1959."

RaymondLeggs
10-30-2007, 03:24 PM
I have a 1980-s Zenith Semi-Professional stereo VCR with remote It has microphone inputs! and LCD VU meters! I only payed $3.00 for it at the Salvation army. It's heavy too and it is an great machine! :D

I have yet to find A laserdisc player and laserdiscs though... :tears:

fujifrontier
10-30-2007, 11:12 PM
Raymond, i have a sony laserdisc player with a weak door motor belt, you can have it for the cost of shipping. LDP-1011 or something... it only has a power and eject button on the front.

RaymondLeggs
10-31-2007, 08:43 AM
Does it have the remote? :headscrat

Jeffhs
11-06-2007, 04:57 PM
I have a collection of about 70 VHS videocassettes, mostly 1960s-'80s TV series and movies, with two cassettes of the Grand Canyon in Arizona as well (the latter from Reader's Digest/Rand McNally video). About the only use my Panasonic VCR gets these days is viewing these old tapes. Don't record much off the air anymore since finding out that so many TV shows are being streamed over the Internet and are on DVD, with more being added almost every time I turn around. I intend to keep these cassettes long after VHS is obsolete, as most of the shows are one-of-a-kind and irreplaceable.

VCRs are coming down in price, though--I saw one at a Big Lots store for $28 about a year ago, more or less, although when the time comes to replace my VCR, I'll probably get a VHS/DVD deck--they ought to have come down in price quite a bit by that time (whenever my VCR gives out; with its cheap plastic gears in the drive mechanism, that could be any day now). A friend of mine has a VHS/DVD dubbing deck and has transferred most, if not all, of his old VHS tapes to DVD; it's the way to go in the digital age.

Findm-Keepm
11-06-2007, 05:19 PM
On the topic of obsolete formats, I should've added:

Does anyone else remember listening (for several minutes) to the the inside grooves of a classical LP on mono FM, because the "DJ" hadn't come back from his "break"? Or "Alice's Restaurant" or any Dylan cut being played on AM in the early hours right before the farm report, because there were no commercials then?

I do remember one of our stations playing either "American Pie" or "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" because the DJ (a lady!) had to have a restroom break.....Alice's Restaurant was a treat one of our classic rock DJ's used to play - sad to say, I've not heard it aired in the last several years.

Cheers,

Jeffhs
11-07-2007, 12:40 AM
I do remember one of our stations playing either "American Pie" or "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" because the DJ (a lady!) had to have a restroom break.....Alice's Restaurant was a treat one of our classic rock DJ's used to play - sad to say, I've not heard it aired in the last several years.

Cheers,

Speaking of weird goings-on at radio stations, I remember back in the late sixties-early '70s (1968-'71 or thereabouts, IIRC) when a local FM station (a big 70kW ERP bruiser that could be heard for perhaps 50+ miles in all directions) was about to change formats. They played one record, only one (Jim Reed's "When You're Hot, You're Hot") over and over again for two or three days in a row (over a weekend, I think), using every gimmick they could think of: forward, backward, two copies of the same record simultaneously, at 78 RPM . . . I never heard anything like that in my life, before or since. But you have to remember (no joshin', now--I wouldn't kid about this) that that was the only record they had in the studio. When they started their new format the following Monday morning, things were back to normal, but believe me, I will never forget that weekend stunt of theirs.

mr_fixer
11-07-2007, 12:52 AM
we had a station in nashville do that, when they changed format, i think the song was "hit the road jack" played for 3 days. the new format sucked and was never listened to by me again.

radiotvnut
11-07-2007, 01:23 AM
It seems like radio stations are changing formats every time the wind changes direction. We've got an FM station that's been on the air since the early '90's and I wouldn't even begin to guess how many times they've changed their format. I do wish someone would start a decent oldies station around here. About all that's left now is rap, teenage "rock", country, gospel (all kinds), and (puke) talk radio. I do listen to a classic country station on FM and a Southern Gospel station on AM when I fire up a tube radio. I HATE talk radio!

I do remember one local classic rock FM station screwing up one night. They kept palying "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC over and over. Their automation system must have been screwed up or it was someone's idea of a joke.

blownsi
11-07-2007, 02:48 AM
Collecting -- I can't find anyone who'll take them at all. I have about 400 store bought pre-recorded movies that I have been trying to give away for the last couple of years. I see them all the time for free at yard sales also.
Sad thing about all this is that I bet a few years ago vinyl was like this and now it's nearly impossible to find here locally at thrifts and yard sales.

ChrisW6ATV
11-07-2007, 01:17 PM
Radio stations usually play something over and over when they change formats because they intentionally want to chase all of their old audience away. Playing "Hit The Road, Jack" is a rather direct way of telling them...

Regarding collecting old formats, I used to see a box of 78 RPM records in every thrift store I went to in the 1970's. Now I'd like to have a few for when I restore my two old combo consoles, but I bet they're hard to find too. I think my brother still has my mother's collection of them, though.

Lady Ayeka
03-27-2008, 06:29 PM
I have a load of VHS tapes, they were been sold really so cheap around here that in fact no one wants to sell then anymore, because they were really getting no profit at all. Even used book stores and thrift shops now prefer to sell used DVD discs than VHS tapes.

It's quite impressive to see that, in a relatively short period of time, DVD players became extremely popular. There are players from good brands for sale at ridiculous low prices. In fact, in the 1990's It was normal to meet people who didn't had a VCR; now I even get shocked when I meet someone who still don't have a DVD player. It's just so cheap that even the poorest of the poorest can have one.

There are millions and millions of VHS tapes out there, to a point I doubt that anytime in the future they will became a special collectable like, say, 78 RPM records. Anyway, I collect them, because, valuable or not, they will represent a special moment in the History of home entertainment technology, specially for me, who was a kid in the 1980's and thought it was the greatest thing ever, to be able to watch movies of my choice at home, and to record movies and programs from television.

I still have our first VCR, a 1986 Panasonic. It's not working, and looks a little beat up, but I keep it for nostalgic reasons. Had I not took possesion of it, It could possible be in the dumpster by now.

I still want to put my hands on one of the VERY OLD models, one of those VCRs from the late 70's or early 80's - one of those with top loading and rotary tuners.

I think that probably the most valuable VHS tapes will be those of the first releases of famous movies. The oldest I have is a 1984 American VHS of "Diamonds are Forever" ( 1971 ).

It would also be good to put my hands on Beta tapes and on a Betamax player, I think it will became more valuable than VHS, because it is a rarer format.

AMEN, BROTHER:thmbsp:

Lady Ayeka
03-27-2008, 07:03 PM
Radio stations usually play something over and over when they change formats because they intentionally want to chase all of their old audience away. Playing "Hit The Road, Jack" is a rather direct way of telling them...

:lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:

mr_fixer
03-27-2008, 09:44 PM
I have found quite a few Laserdiscs over the years. This is the obsolete format that I collect. I started looking for them about 10 years ago. I though they would be more durable than tape. I guessed that since reel to reel audio tape degrades that vhs would go the same way.

AnalogDigit
03-27-2008, 10:10 PM
I still have some VHS tapes. Between my brother and I, we have five video formats in the house! VHS, Beta, Laserdisk, DVD and 8mm! We still have analog TV, no cable, use an antenna to pick up our TV stations. Don't really have a need for it. In Chicago we pick up two classic TV stations. During the weekday, I only watch Craig Ferguson on the Late Late Show along with the Dick Van Dyke Show and the Honeymooners on the classic TV station.

I'm kind of leery of going into the Blue-Ray format. The way computers are changing everything, the next format might be a chip.

wa2ise
03-27-2008, 10:57 PM
I had a bunch of RCA CED videodiscs and players, but I sold it all to a collector back in 1996. I used to work for RCA Sarnoff Labs back in the early to mid 80's, when videodisc was a current format.

Fisher-Dave
03-27-2008, 11:15 PM
Don't go out of the way to collect them,but still use them and the RCA camcorder from 1994.:thmbsp:

vintagecollect
03-29-2008, 12:57 AM
...

ChrisW6ATV
03-30-2008, 01:50 AM
I have a pretty good-sized collection of the newest obsolete format: HD DVD. I bought my first player three days before the official debut of the format, and now it is dead, less than two years later. The discs will still play and look stunning for many years, though. I am still buying HD DVDs, at closeout prices now.

ChrisW6ATV
03-30-2008, 01:55 AM
AMEN, BROTHER:thmbsp:

Pioneer VSX-D1S A/V Receiver (1990) 33lbs, 130w/ch.@ 8 ohms, 0.005 THD, BASS,TRE, AND MID TONE CONTROL
That Pioneer VSX-D1S is a great receiver. I still have mine in basically new condition, original box and all.