Stock up on VHS VCRs when can

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by 67Zenith

I think that the way the Obama administration wants everything old to be trashed (such as their program to scrap refrigerators built before 1995 and the "cash for clunkers" program, which means cars made before 1998 - well...they want us to trash everything vintage. Maybe this is their way to make consumers spend money to buy newly made junk. It's scary to wipe out our history but we live in these times. Maybe next they will say that VCRs are unsafe (LOL) and everyone has to scrap them and only use DVDs! In any case, I'd keep a few of ANYTHING vintage you can afford to keep now and hang onto them.

Where did you hear or read this? It's flat-out ridiculous. If this administration even tries to have legislation passed that would prevent anyone from keeping anything more than X number of years old, there would probably be a huge outcry from antique dealers and collectors the likes of which you wouldn't believe. I am specifically referring to antique radio and television collectors, such as those here at AK (Doug, drh4683, for one, myself, for another, et al.--I'm sure Doug won't give up his collection of Zenith TVs and I have about seven vintage Zenith radios here that I will not give up without a fight).

However, I don't think we have anything to worry about. Because there are so many antique dealers and collectors here in the US and Canada, such legislation as I mentioned above, if anyone in Washington is bold enough to introduce it, may not and probably will not even come close to becoming law.

I do not believe for a second, either, that VCRs will ever be declared unsafe by this administration. Why would or should they be? A law was passed in 1975 that gave the public the right to tape television shows off the air for their own use; people have been using VCRs for this purpose ever since. The DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), enacted eight years ago, only outlaws recording television and radio programming onto digital media, then reselling the copies; it says nothing about people copying DVDs for their own use, although since most if not all commercial DVDs are copy-protected, such copying is all but impossible. I say "all but impossible" because there will always be some technically sharp and dishonest people out there who will figure out ways to circumvent the copyright law and defeat the copy protection schemes used.

The VHS/DVD players available for dirt-cheap prices at Big Lots, Best Buy, et al. are just that, playback devices only that do not have the capability to record off the air, as the dirt-cheap ones do not have ATSC tuners. DVD recorders with such tuners almost certainly carry warnings on their shipping boxes (and likely in their instruction manuals as well) against using the decks to copy commercial DVDs, either to a second DVD or to VHS; as a matter of fact, the ads for these devices in the Sunday newspaper flyers always carry a disclaimer that states "Does not duplicate copyrighted material." This probably (I would think almost certainly) means the recorder has at least one sensor and control circuitry that will detect Macrovision (and other copy-guard schemes) on commercial DVDs, will display a warning on the user's TV screen if copying is attempted, and will not allow the operation to continue.

Needless to say, the copying operation will fail, turning the blank DVD in the machine into a round piece of plastic unusable for anything except, perhaps, a coaster. If anything at all gets on the disc before the copying procedure is thwarted, it will almost certainly be an unwatchable mishmash of lines and distortion. The same basic system was used to prevent illicit copying of VHS videos in the '70s and '80s, when video rentals were just beginning. The Macrovision copy-guard system also makes it nearly impossible to use a VCR as an RF modulator for a DVD player; I am sure of this because I tried to use my Panasonic PV-4022 VCR as a modulator with my DVD player when the modulator I had been using went belly-up. The Macrovision copyguard signals caused the video to flash on and off on my TV screen after the disc had been playing about five minutes; eventually the screen went completely blank.

[jeyurkon]

I thought I'd be clever and use my digital Sony handicam to record the analog signal from a DVD player. It does an excellent job digitizing analog.

Well, the DVD player output a Macrovision copy guard and the Handicam displayed a message on the screen saying that the source was copy protected and can't be copied. I was surprised that they bothered to make it recognize the Macrovision rather than just fail.

Well, they do want us to get rid of the old stuff to help the economy and the environment. But it's through incentives rather than bans. There would be big trouble if people had to give up their vintage cars, planes, TV, etc.

John

[devoid]

Getting rid of old stuff screws the environment twice. And collectors are a minority. The consumer is the majority with the desired resource. We're screwed. And if "they" try to impose a culture of forced disposal well then they can dispose of me. It is wise to preserve and foolish to destroy.

[DragonMaster]

I thought I'd be clever and use my digital Sony handicam to record the analog signal from a DVD player. It does an excellent job digitizing analog.

I'm surprised you didn't seem to have problems with Macrovision on VHS. Anyways, there are cheap boxes to defeat that.

[Cadillac Kid]

Some DVD players have a menu option to ignore the Macrovision instruction on the DVD.

[Jeffhs]

I saw a report on NBC-TV news last night (I'm writing this on July 10) that mentioned the Obama administration's "cash for clunkers" program. This is supposed to try to get older automobiles (more than five or ten years old) off the road; the program works (at least it is supposed to work) by offering owners of older cars a certain amount of money towards the purchase of a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle, in exchange for their old gas guzzler. However, the news report did say that the program had certain flaws which had to be worked out before it could be implemented. The news story is important enough that it will probably be in this morning's newspapers, as most of what is on any given evening's TV news will be repeated in the papers the next day.

The "cash for clunkers" program is aimed at getting old cars (only) off the nation's roads; it has nothing to do with anything else, so I think collectors of other types of antique or vintage devices are in the clear--at least for now. I'd keep an eye on the TV news and the papers for reports of new developments on this, however, as things have a way of changing literally at the drop of a hat--especially where our lawmakers in Washington are concerned.

[radiotvnut]

Speaking of "cash for clunkers", I know an older lady who still drives either a '68 or '69 Dodge Dart. She bought it brand new and I can almost promise you that she'll keep it until she passes away. Her son tried to get her in a newer car and she asked him "why do I need a new car when the one I've got runs just fine and gets me where I want to go". Most everything else that she owns is 40+ years old, as well. The only thing she hasn't got (unfortunately) is old electronics.

[AUdubon5425]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

Speaking of "cash for clunkers", I know an older lady who still drives either a '68 or '69 Dodge Dart. She bought it brand new and I can almost promise you that she'll keep it until she passes away. Her son tried to get her in a newer car and she asked him "why do I need a new car when the one I've got runs just fine and gets me where I want to go". Most everything else that she owns is 40+ years old, as well. The only thing she hasn't got (unfortunately) is old electronics.

Haa! Sounds like me (except for the electronics part.)

I'll admit this - after Katrina I truly wanted to rebuild my house exactly like it was new in 1964. I would have had the only period-correct house within miles. Unfortunately, prices were way up at the time and materials were scarce. Plus, my wife insisted on a new stainless kitchen. Cest la vie - I did manage colored porcelain in the bathrooms and original-type Armstrong floors among some smaller details.

[AnalogDigit]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

Speaking of "cash for clunkers", I know an older lady who still drives either a '68 or '69 Dodge Dart. She bought it brand new and I can almost promise you that she'll keep it until she passes away. Her son tried to get her in a newer car and she asked him "why do I need a new car when the one I've got runs just fine and gets me where I want to go". Most everything else that she owns is 40+ years old, as well. The only thing she hasn't got (unfortunately) is old electronics.

Good for her! The 68 or 69 Dodge Dart is a classic!

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by AnalogDigit

Good for her! The 68 or 69 Dodge Dart is a classic!

That vehicle probably has a Slant 6 engine in it, which is known to run forever.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Eric H

Say what you want about BPC VCRs but they do have one advantage over the old stuff, fewer rubber parts and fewer moving parts to gum up.

Most of them have cheap plastic parts that don't have any grease to get gummy, I expect they might survive ten or fifteen years stashed away in a closet better than one from the 70-80s, provided the caps don't all dry up of course.

I have a Panasonic PV-4022 VCR that has plastic parts (like all VCRs from about the late 1980s to the end of the VHS era) and probably no grease to be found, except perhaps on the drive motor bearings. I bought it around 2003 or so; still works. Not using it much for recording (I have basic cable, local channels only--nothing much worth taping on the networks, IMHO, and I have no blank VHS cassettes anymore), but I do use it to watch my old VHS tapes of TV series and movies, etc. from the mid-1980s. The VCR still works very well for its age. I had a Panny VCR with VCR Plus+ for several years before this one, but a tape jammed in it (as [bad] luck would have it, just an hour or so after I had taped a movie on it--never had the chance to see the tape ) and I had to practically wreck the machine to get the cassette out.

BTW, are there any discount stores left that still stock blank VHS videocassettes? I read somewhere (don't remember where, although I think it may have been here) that in this age of DVDs and DVRs, these cassettes are becoming very difficult to find, if they can be found at all. If they are still available, I think I'm going to get busy and stock up on them before they become extinct. I remember seeing VHS cassettes recently at a Big Lots store for 98 cents apiece; however, at that price, I'll bet local shoppers (the store is in the Cleveland suburb where I grew up) snapped them up like crazy--there may be few if any cassettes to be found these days, not unlike blank audio cassettes, which are nearly impossible to find as well.

[radiotvnut]

The last time I looked at walmart, all they had were Sony brand VHS cassettes in a six pack; and, there was not very many left. A couple months before that, they had Durabrand and Sony tapes. It's been about a year since I tried to find a blank audio cassette at walmart. All they had were 120 minute Maxell's, IIRC. I left them there because they were 120 minute tapes and I thought they were too expensive.

I too need to stock up on blank VHS cassettes if I plan to keep recording stuff.

[AUdubon5425]

I know blank VHS tapes are still sold by Radio Shack and Walgreen Drugs. I'm pretty sure I've seen them in Family Dollar and Dollar General too.

[Eric H]

I came across a Radio Shack VCR from the late 80's or early 90's today, very well built, it was unusual in that it had an audio amp built into it, you could hook speakers up directly to it and it had bass, treble and balance controls.

I was tempted to get it for $5 but once again I don't have space for unneeded things, also it ate the tape I tried in it and the remote was missing.

[DragonMaster]

VHS tapes are easy to find online, as are audio tapes.

http://www.tapes.com/
http://www.tape.com/
http://www.tapeonline.com/
http://www.crutchfield.com/
etc.