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Old 11-09-2010, 08:54 PM
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When Did Everyone Get Their First VHS/Betamax Player?

I'm not sure if anyone has asked this. Everyone has been talking about what they have "now," but I'd like to know where it all started for them.

My father and uncle bought my grandparents their first VHS player in 1984, but my parents didn't get their first VHS player until 1988 (Neither ever had Betamax or Sony U-Matic or anything other video recording device). When our family moved in 1995, we bought a VCR for our Sony Projection TV that is still in use today (When I'm there I like to play some of my dad's old VHS tapes on that player). We also have a couple other players such as one from about 1998, 2000, and a DVD/VHS combo from some recent year.
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Old 11-09-2010, 09:28 PM
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1st VHS-a Panasonic Omnivision IV in fall '79. Also got the movie version of "M*A*S*H*" w/it. It was only a 2-4 hr machine, they came out w/the 6 hr ones about a month or 2 later. Click tuner, piano-key-press HARD !-to operate, wired remote. Cassette popped up of the top in this big cradle affair. Whole machine was built like a battleship, there looked to be a good 2 Hyundai-engine blocks' worth of aluminum castings in it. I gave it to my church in '84 or '85, they still have it, but I doubt they use it anymore. Oughta go rescue it....
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Old 11-09-2010, 09:45 PM
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A good friend got a Betamax around 1981. We never had beta but did get a VHS around 84/85. I used the heck out of it
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Old 11-09-2010, 09:45 PM
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I think it was Christmas '86, an Omnivision. (I still remember their commercials, "ReggieVision!") Dad had stopped in the little video store in town and picked up 3 or 4 movies. The first one we watched was "Challenge to be Free" which is still a favorite of mine. We started watching the second movie and it wasn't very good so I think we watched "Challenge" again! I wish I could have afforded a few extra blank tapes of mine back then; as it was I just had to record over and over again. Wish I had some of that stuff I recorded now.

Having a VCR was a big deal. Around '91 I ended up with a half-worn-out top loader which was the first VCR of my "own" and I thought I was hot stuff!
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Old 11-09-2010, 10:29 PM
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the first....

well my first domestic VCR was a Philips VCR N1500... not a Beta or VHS machine ..it predated them ..I bought it in 1976.

My first VHS machine was a JVC unit in 1978 and Beta .. a Sanyo, in 1980.

I still have tapes of the 1976 Olympics! My earliest videos...
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Old 11-10-2010, 01:58 AM
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My first VCR was a Sony SL-7200, the table-top one hour Betamax. I bought it used in September 1979 for $320 from an ad in Tradin' Times (a local Chicago classified newspaper of the time).

I still have several of my original tapes and recordings from that machine, but I have not tried to play any of them for many years. I added an audio/video input to the machine and connected a black-and-white camera later.

Later VCRs I owned include a Sony SL-5600 in 1981, an SL-2700 in 1983, SL-HF900 in 1985, and an ED Beta EDV-9500 in 1990. I also owned one VHS machine, a cheap Emerson VHS Hi-Fi so I could rent movies.
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Old 11-10-2010, 12:38 PM
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My first VCR was a Panasonic (PVC-1000?) purchased in the fall of 1977... I think that it was one of the first 2-4 hour models. Top loader, piano keys for operation, the only remote was a "pause " switch on a long cord. It weighed about 35-40 pounds...massive castings inside. Very solid unit!
It was almost a "bait and switch" deal...there were no "video stores" at the time, but a large department store in the area advertised a RCA 4 hour unit for $999 in the Sunday paper... When I got there, the RCA units were all gone, but they had a few of the almost identical Panasonic units left for $1095.
Many of my early tapes are still playable today, including a recording of "the Nutcracker" with Baryshnikov and Kirkland that aired just before Christmas.
On a side note, the first T-120 tapes (4 hour in LP mode) were very expensive and in very short supply, averaging about $25 per tape... Ouch!
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Old 11-10-2010, 04:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ceebee23 View Post
well my first domestic VCR was a Philips VCR N1500... not a Beta or VHS machine ..it predated them ..I bought it in 1976.

My first VHS machine was a JVC unit in 1978 and Beta .. a Sanyo, in 1980.

I still have tapes of the 1976 Olympics! My earliest videos...
Sometimes it's just good to watch those for the commercials. My dad videotaped the first Chicago Cubs Night Game in August 1988. I skipped through most of the pre-game commentary and just watched the commercials until the actual game started. They sure made the Toyota Camry of that year look very luxurious.
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Old 11-10-2010, 07:31 PM
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My Dad bought a Panasonic-built J.C. Penny VCR in 1985 (after the divorce.) We didn't have a VCR until Dad gave me one for Christmas 1991, a 2-head Magnavox that was still working when I gave it away around 2002/2003.
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Old 11-10-2010, 10:32 PM
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Let me think. We got our first VCR, a lower end Magnavox that was actually built by Panasonic, in late '85. It was my birthday and when I came home from school, my Mother told me to go turn off the TV before doing my homework. When I went in the den to turn off the set, I noticed a VCR sitting on the bottom shelf of the TV cart. The sight of that VCR excited me to the point that I couldn't speak. For several months prior to that, I had been dropping hints on my Dad; but, they appeared to be going in one ear and out the other. My Dad was not the type to go out and buy something expensive just because his kids wanted one. I taped my fair share of "MacGyver", various Saturday morning cartoons, and various other programs and my Dad also recorded a bunch of stuff. We also rented a great deal of movies. After several years, that VCR developed a problem in that anything recorded on it had a great deal of static and popping in the audio. My Dad tried to have it fixed; but, kept getting the runaround. He finally got PO'ed and bought a Thomson era GE and that one didn't hold up nearly as long as the Magnavox. Around '94, I bought a Magnavox (built by Funai) two head VCR for around $150. That VCR lasted for about 10 years and I've gone through many BPC models since then. My current model is a late '90's Sharp. I also have an '84 Panasonic top loader and an early '80's Hitachi top loader (both need new rubber), an '86 GE (rebadged Panasonic), and a few BPC models in various stages of condition. The last VCR I bought was one of those $39 Silver Emerson Junk-Mart specials. After about a month, it started stopping on it's own and eating tapes. It's hard to believe that something that cost $1000+ when it first hit the market ended up costing less than $40 by the end of the VCR era.

In the summer of '86, we went to visit some relatives in Ohio and it seems that Beta was popular up there at the time. Down here in MS, VHS seemed to be the most popular format.
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Old 11-12-2010, 02:34 PM
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My first VCR was a Sony U-Matic VO-1600. 1974. Still running it, too.

1980, got an MGA top loader.

1984, got my first Hi-Fi machine,

1985, got my first Beta Hi-Fi machine, and still have this one!
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Old 11-12-2010, 09:52 PM
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The first VCR I ever had was a Panasonic-built GE top-loader. Bought it new in 1984 for $400. Lasted six years, then the heads wore out. It was replaced in 1990 by an Emerson machine with electronic tuning that worked very well; don't know what finally caused me to get rid of it, but in the mid-'90s I bought a Magnavox (Philips?) VCR with full auto setup, automatic tracking, very automatic for a '90s VCR selling for about half or less of what I paid for the GE. The Magnavox machine worked very well for me until about 2000 or so, when the heads wore out or something went wrong with the transport -- I'm not sure anymore why I had to trash that one.

I replaced it with a new Panasonic VCR which had VCR Plus+ and honestly, that one worked so well I'd probably still have it today, if it hadn't eaten a cassette after about two years. The tape I lost was a movie I had just taped from cable about two hours earlier -- I never even had a chance to see the film.


That machine was replaced very shortly thereafter by a Panasonic PV-4022, which I still have and which still works amazingly well for being eight years old. To give an idea of how much the prices on these machines had come down by the time I bought this one, I only paid something on the order of $120 for the PV-4022 (2002) compared to $400 for my GE (1984). I haven't had one bit of trouble with my PV-4022 to date, and it gets used quite a bit since I still have a large number of VHS cassettes, mostly 1960s-'80s TV series, travelogues, and movies.

The only thing I don't like about my present VCR is that it makes a loud screeching noise in fast forward and rewind, but it doesn't seem to affect the overall performance of the machine so I just ignore the noise. I think it makes so much noise because there are probably few if any belts in it; I read somewhere that the last VCRs made had done away for the most part with belts (except perhaps for one very thick, toothed belt between the motor and the head drum), now using almost full gear drive. I don't know, however, what the current crop of VHS/DVD combo players use in this position, although if I had to guess, I'd have to say they too have done away with drive belts and now are 99.9-percent gear-driven.
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Old 11-12-2010, 09:54 PM
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The first VCR I ever had was a Panasonic-built GE top-loader. Bought it new in 1984 for $400. Lasted six years, then the heads wore out. It was replaced in 1990 by an Emerson machine with electronic tuning that worked very well; don't know what finally caused me to get rid of it, but in the mid-'90s I bought a Magnavox (Philips?) VCR with full auto setup, automatic tracking, very automatic for a '90s VCR selling for about half or less of what I paid for the GE. The Magnavox machine worked very well for me until about 2000 or so, when the heads wore out or something went wrong with the transport -- I'm not sure anymore why I had to trash that one.

I replaced it with a new Panasonic VCR which had VCR Plus+. Honestly, that one worked so well I'd probably still have it today, if it hadn't eaten a cassette after about two years. The tape I lost was a movie I had just taped from cable about two hours earlier -- I never even had a chance to see the film.


That machine was replaced very shortly thereafter by a Panasonic PV-4022, which I still have and which still works amazingly well for being eight years old. To give an idea of how much the prices on these machines had come down by the time I bought this one, I only paid something on the order of $120 for the PV-4022 (2002) compared to $400 for my GE (1984). I haven't had one bit of trouble with my PV-4022 to date, and it gets used quite a bit since I still have a large number of VHS cassettes, mostly 1960s-'80s TV series, travelogues, and movies.

The only thing I don't like about my present VCR is that it makes a loud screeching noise in fast forward and rewind, but it doesn't seem to affect the overall performance of the machine so I just ignore the noise. I think it makes so much noise because there are probably few if any belts in it; I read somewhere that the last VCRs made had done away for the most part with belts (except perhaps for one very thick, toothed belt between the motor and the head drum), now using almost full gear drive. I don't know, however, what the current crop of VHS/DVD combo players use in this position, although if I had to guess, I'd have to say they too have done away with drive belts and now are 99.9-percent gear-driven.
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  #14  
Old 11-15-2010, 10:29 AM
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sampson159 sampson159 is offline
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1981.got a zenith beta machine.used,heads were filthy!tremendous machine.picture was flawless and very high quality.my first vhs was a sharp.it was a bargain model from sun tv.this was a nice machine and we used it for years.i currently have a jvc umatic that weighs a ton and two sony vhs machines.they are okay,but not the quality i expected.have an old emerson that really blows the sonys away.i actually like beta format better than vhs.i still have the old zenith.rarely used,but still works well.
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Old 11-21-2010, 07:58 PM
1993ctc175 1993ctc175 is offline
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My First VCR

Well, I have remenbered that I have got myself my first VCR back in August 1986. The VCR was an RCA Model # VMT 390. We have alot of fun with it.
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