# VHS anyone?



## BookStop (May 28, 2009)

Does anyone still own any VHS? We are finally starting to clear out all our old videotapes and I am shocked at how many actually made this last move with us. I blame the children, mostly. 

Of course, we have videos from getting married, children as babies, and children as toddlers. We quit filming them shortly after that, although I think we've got my eldest's blackbelt test on one of the tapes somewhere. I guess we should convert them to digital, but I'm unsure how to go about htat, and it sounds expensive.

It kind of stinks that not everything I would consider replacing is available on dvd for little money.

Anyway, Flight of Dragons http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083951/ is apparently rare and I've got it in the donate pile. Anyone want it? It's American vhs. I'd be willing to pay the shipping to the states to make sure this rare vhs ends up in the hands of someone who wants it

So, anyone got a beloved film that is only available on vhs that keeps them in vcrs?


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## Dozmonic (May 28, 2009)

One of my sisters is currently going through all my Gran's vhs footage of us when we were kids and transferring it to the computer, encoding it as divx and sending it to everyone. Or, worse yet, finding the most embarrassing moments of us and putting it onto facebook for all our friends to see! It's worth pursuing if you have things you want to keep ;-)


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## AE35Unit (May 28, 2009)

VHS-whats that? Some 20th century technology isn't it? 
No we got rid of all our video tapes ages ago,plus the VCR, as my other half works at blockbuster which is DVD only(now BluRay too) 
Also got rid of most of our audio tapes.


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## chrispenycate (May 28, 2009)

I do regular work copying people's old VHS tapes onto DVDs, so they can liberate cupboard space. You can still buy brand-new VHS recorders here, which suggests there are still those who prefer the format and the possibility of erasing and reutilising media to the more modern alternatives. 
Or perhaps they've just understood how to use them, and don't want to go back through the learning process.


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## Rodders (May 28, 2009)

VHS, now you're talking nostalgia trip. I got rid of most of mine a few years ago. (isn't it just amazing how many really awful films we all seem to accumulate?) I still have about 50 Star Trek videos that i can't bear to get rid of.


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## Lioness (May 28, 2009)

We still have VHS, and we manly use it for recording TV programs to watch them back. We aren't on to DVR yet...

We also have old family movies of me and my sisters as babies, and a few movies taped off of TV. My first Star Wars exposure was thanks to VHS...


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## Happy Joe (May 28, 2009)

VHS... gave the last of them away about a year ago after transferring the irreplaceable ones to DVD.

I still have a couple of recorders in long term storage though.

Enjoy!


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## Lady of Winterfell (May 28, 2009)

We have one VHS tape left, Down Periscope, but no VCR to play it on.  I suppose that means its time to get rid of it.


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## Duchessprozac (May 28, 2009)

I still have a small collection of VHS tapes buried beneath a load of junk in the bedroom, I also still have a recorder too but it's been collecting dust for the past 5 years.

I miss my old collection of movies I used to have, it was stuff my dad had taped off tv when satellite tv first took off in the UK in the late 80s and there were some obscure films on them. He also used to tape music videos with what was left of the tape. It was a joy going back over this stuff and seeing all the 80s tv ads and long forgotten music videos.


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## AE35Unit (May 28, 2009)

The only thing i miss is the ability to fast forward past the anti piracy bit at the start of each film. Really annoys me that the Next or Scan button doesn't work on the DVD player  at that point!


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## Contrary Mary (May 29, 2009)

I kept some Vhs: as I replace them with DVD's I then get rid of the tape.  When I get rid of enough tapes, I ditch the VHS player.

Really does not take up that much room; the player I mean, though I have two shelves of tapes.


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## Dozmonic (May 29, 2009)

AE35Unit said:


> The only thing i miss is the ability to fast forward past the anti piracy bit at the start of each film. Really annoys me that the Next or Scan button doesn't work on the DVD player  at that point!



That's nearly as annoying as the odeon cinemas. You sit through 20mins of trailers and adverts and then they go "by the way guys, there's food and drink available, just in case anybody wants to go get some!!!!!1one. I've never, ever, even once seen anybody go get food or drink in that pointless 5 minute delay" ;-)


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## AE35Unit (May 29, 2009)

Dozmonic said:


> That's nearly as annoying as the odeon cinemas. You sit through 20mins of trailers and adverts and then they go "by the way guys, there's food and drink available, just in case anybody wants to go get some!!!!!1one. I've never, ever, even once seen anybody go get food or drink in that pointless 5 minute delay" ;-)


 
Yea we tend to bring our own food in a rucksack. The prices in those places are ridiculous! Its bad enough that we pay thru the nose for a cinema that has THE worst sound system in the galaxy! They renovated the building lately with a so~called face lift. Looks different on the outside but inside its the same old creaky seats and dodgy sound system. I so want to visit a decent cinema, our Odeon sucks!


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## katiafish (May 29, 2009)

There is a film called Urga or American title is Close to Eden, it was out on VHS and then out on DVD with *no* English subtitles! If anyone has it, I am prepared to pay a good price for it, it is one of my favorite films..


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## Dozmonic (May 29, 2009)

AE35Unit said:


> Yea we tend to bring our own food in a rucksack. The prices in those places are ridiculous! Its bad enough that we pay thru the nose for a cinema that has THE worst sound system in the galaxy! They renovated the building lately with a so~called face lift. Looks different on the outside but inside its the same old creaky seats and dodgy sound system. I so want to visit a decent cinema, our Odeon sucks!



Down in Redruth, Cornwall, where my folks live they have a nice little cinema, an old converted theatre. One of their screens is a luxury one with leather seats and tables for your drink, can order food etc, it's not massive but it's great and, being Cornwall, it's only about 50p more expensive than a standard cinema seat in Odeon and cheaper than Showcase standards ;-)


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## j d worthington (May 29, 2009)

I still own a considerable amount of VHS -- a darned sight more than I do of DVDs. Some things have never been released on DVD yet (several of the Doctor Who stories I own, for example); others are things I recorded for watching and decided to keep; some are obscure things which were special programs; a few are family recordings; and there are lectures and the like I recorded, as well. I simply don't have the time, money, or other resources to transfer them at this point (doubt I ever will have enough to do the bulk of them, as my VHS collection numbers well into the hundreds), but may transfer some at a later point.

While it certainly isn't nearly as durable, for most purposes, VHS is fine for watching such things; only the really special items would likely get transferred; and for those which are professionally done, I'll pick those up later on DVD, as well....


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## AE35Unit (May 29, 2009)

Dozmonic said:


> Down in Redruth, Cornwall, where my folks live they have a nice little cinema, an old converted theatre. One of their screens is a luxury one with leather seats and tables for your drink, can order food etc, it's not massive but it's great and, being Cornwall, it's only about 50p more expensive than a standard cinema seat in Odeon and cheaper than Showcase standards ;-)



Another reason for me to want to visit Cornwall! In fact I'd probably live there if I were single


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## Omphalos (May 29, 2009)

I switched all my SF to DVD, but we have a bunch of kids videos that occasionally get watched on the VHS.  

Wanna hear the kicker though?  Ive got a working BetaMax in my garage.  No kidding.  The "remote" plugs into the device itself and its only a pause switch that has a spring switch in it.  It still provides a cleaner image than my VHS.


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## AE35Unit (May 29, 2009)

Omphalos said:


> Ive got a working BetaMax in my garage.  No kidding.  The "remote" plugs into the device itself and its only a pause switch that has a spring switch in it.  It still provides a cleaner image than my VHS.



Yea probably cos it hardly got used- the heads will be a lot cleaner I'd imagine


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## HoopyFrood (May 30, 2009)

The tv that we have in the lounge (the only tv in the house, actually) has a video slot, and we still use VHS a lot -- we've got an assortment of videos that we've all brought to the house, and you can find some great old films on video at charity shops for next to nothing. Perhaps it's a studenty thing; my friends' house has about three shelves of eclectic videos. They're always really awesome retro ones.

Video has a bit more life in it yet!


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## Happy Joe (May 30, 2009)

Well in terms of remotes at least the vhs sometimes had an advantage;


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## Rodders (May 30, 2009)

Omphalos said:


> I switched all my SF to DVD, but we have a bunch of kids videos that occasionally get watched on the VHS.
> 
> Wanna hear the kicker though? Ive got a working BetaMax in my garage. No kidding. The "remote" plugs into the device itself and its only a pause switch that has a spring switch in it. It still provides a cleaner image than my VHS.


 
I bet it's one of those top loading ones. Take it to cash in the Attic.


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## AE35Unit (May 30, 2009)

Rodders said:


> I bet it's one of those top loading ones. Take it to cash in the Attic.



And probably get a fiver for it


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## dask (May 31, 2009)

Still have one, and still use it to tape the news and a show now and then like LIFE ON MARS. Oddly enough its evolved into our house clock. When the last one gave out we figured why buy a new one when we got a reliable, albeit hard to read at a distance, digital clock staring right at us.


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## steve12553 (May 31, 2009)

I found that many of my recordings were getting very dark when I tried to play them back. I had been told that a VHS tape had a functional life of about nine years and then the magnetic coating would start degrading so it not only didn't look as good but it would damage the playback heads in the machine. I punted and went to DVD and a couple years ago my wife bought me a DVD recorder which I adore. The other side of the coin as to sitting through the advertisements and warnings onDVD is when you have recorded things yourself you don't have to spend ten minutes fast forwarding to the third movie on the DVD. You just select it.


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## Omphalos (Jun 3, 2009)

Rodders said:


> I bet it's one of those top loading ones. Take it to cash in the Attic.



It is a top loader.  And it got used plenty.  My dad brought it home after a party used it as an exhibit in a case he heard as a judge.  I remember the first movie we watched on it was _Xanadu_.  My dad got _The Butterfly_ that time from a now defunct video store in Washington DC too, and I had to stealth-watch that one after they went to sleep.  I remember being very disappointed that Pia Zadora was not nakeder.  

It still works fine, but my brother and I disassembled and then reassembled it years ago, and we lost the cover.  Nobody wants it without the top cover.


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