VHS you dare?

[shopgirl61]

I refuse to give up my VHS collection of old movies, albeit, its not that big and besides, my bedroom tv has vhs built in it. anyone else staying
faithful to their tapes?

 

[Tomasso]

When my last VCR broke down I had my collection converted to DVD. What once filled a whole wall now can fit in a shoebox.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I have six crates full of VHS tapes of things I taped off the air, some of them over 25 years old. I've yet to come across one that wouldn't play back. My wastebasket is full of DVD-Rs recorded in the last five years that won't.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

One of my old TV's (it's analog, never bothered to get a converter box) has a built-in VHS player and DVD player -- guess which one still works?

 

[shopgirl61]

I have six crates full of VHS tapes of things I taped off the air, some of them over 25 years old. I've yet to come across one that wouldn't play back. My wastebasket is full of DVD-Rs recorded in the last five years that won't.

Lizzie :eusa_clap MY POINT EXACTLY! DVD's are fragile even to dust scratching them! I personally enjoy the quintessential joys I get from watching my tapes. I really do not care for the plasma tv's either

 

[Tomasso]

My eight-track player just conked out as well.......

 

[The Wolf]

I still have a lot of VHS tapes. Some I taped off of tv and I some bought but aren't on DVD (and are copy protected )
However, it does look like they are starting to deteriorate.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[Lily Powers]

I do like the ease and clarity of watching movies on DVDs and that they take up less space in the house, but I have a box of VHS tapes with programs I recorded years ago on TCM, which I haven't seen since and aren't on DVD, so I'm hanging on to them. "Matrimonial Bed" (1930) with Frank Fay is one I want to keep unless it comes out on DVD..

 

[davidraphael]

I still have about 100-150 VHS tapes. I had a lot more but gave them away as I replaced them with DVDs.
Most of what I have left was not released on dvd.

It's also nice to go back and watch the old TV advertisements and continuity from the early 80s.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I have plenty of tapes, including quite a few pre-recorded features that folks have been giving me recently as they get rid of their VCRs. Most of my own tapes are home-taped feature films from TCM, PBS and AMC (back in their old pre-commercial days when they did cool stuff like run Buster Keaton films all day on his birthday.) And I still record on VHS all the time. Besides the DVD/VHS combo player I'm using, I have two lightly-used VCRs carefully stockpiled.

Of course, I also still have and use 16mm and Super 8 films, LPs, audio cassettes and reel-to-reel tapes, 35mm slides (including stereo slides from the 50s)... Yeah, I'm the king of "obsolete" media!

 

[scottyrocks]

I have boxes of VHS, most of them either taped from the TV or dubbed onto from video cameras. I will have a VHS player until those tapes are no more.

 

[Yeps]

I don't have any VHS tapes. Then again, I don't really have many DVDs either. I watch almost everything I want streaming. I also don't have any cassette tapes, and virtually no CDs (If I get one, it is uploaded and never seen again).

However, I do have an ever increasing collection of LPs.

 

[Travis Lee Johnston]

I still have a few dozen VHS tapes. I had to sell off a bunch of my stuff recently for cash, and that included some VHS tapes like the original "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers."
The tapes took up A LOT of room, and the quality doesn't compare to dvd of course. I have more shelf room now though. They'll have to pry my vinyl collection from my cold dead hands...

Remember the days of recording movies onto VHS tapes that were on cable :eusa_doh:
Never tried recording with dvd's personally.

 

[Retro_GI_Jane]

Yup, we still have a VCR and all the movies and shows we have. My parents still have theirs too. I'm hoping one day to raid their stash of all the shows on VHS we watched as kids so I can take them home for my daughter. We received from Santa one year some tapes that had collections of cute shorts about Christmas and carols that were filmed in the 50s and I would love to sit down and relive them again. My mother also has a huge collection of stuff she taped when we were kids...Elvis movies, stuff that was on Showtime for kids before it got smutty and seasonal cartoons that they don't show anymore that we used to get all excited about when it was on.

 

[shopgirl61]

There is far too much that will never make it to DVD because certain entities will not release their rights. I find gold in old VHS tapes and am quite fond of the clickity clack sound they make when rewinding, such nostalgia

 

[LizzieMaine]

I have a 17-inch black-and-white television set from 1954, so Blu Ray resolution is never going to be much of an advantage for me. VHS looks perfectly fine on my screen, so why give it up? Plus the VCR itself has a tuner/modulator, which saves me the expense of a set-top cable box. All I need from the swine at Time Warner is a little digital-to-analog dingus about the size of a deck of cards hooked into the VCR, and from there to the TV, and away I go.

 

[DesertDan]

Still have tapes and a player. There are things that aren't on DVD like my tape from the day the Challenger exploded or the sporting event I was recording when the Northridge quake happened.

 

[shopgirl61]

Still have tapes and a player. There are things that aren't on DVD like my tape from the day the Challenger exploded or the sporting event I was recording when the Northridge quake happened.

What a coincidence! I had made a tape the day Challenger exploded as well, my father had told me back then that one day I'd be glad I did, well, I ended up taping over it I should have broken the little tab off first :eeek:

 

[Atomic Age]

I started collecting blu-ray almost 4 years ago, so I find it VERY hard to go back to FUZZY VHS. About the only thing I have left that is VHS resolution, are some Republic serials that I transferred to DVD-R.

As for the life span of VHS vs DVD-R, it really depends on the quality of the media you buy. Even with the best quality magnetic tape, the oxide is going to start losing the information recorded on it with in 5 to 8 years. This doesn't mean that you will notice it, but the process has started by that time. With in 15 years the "tape" on which the oxide is adhered starts to stretch, causing wow and flutter. By 20 years they are pretty much garbage. Yes they might play, but the more often you play and old tape, the more you destroy the signal recorded on it.

If you buy cheap Chinese DVD-R blanks, you will end up with lots of them in the garbage. However if you buy quality media made in Japan, a properly handled DVD-R should have a life exceeding 100 years.

Of course that is irrelevant because all physical media is on its way out. I read a thing last week that stated that most retail stores are planning to stop carrying music CDs with in the next year. I suspect that DVD will be gone with in 5 to 8 years.

Doug

 

[Dan Rodemsky]

Back when my 17 year old son was in pre-school, he came home very excited. His teacher had this disc player that "plays these big black discs!" I told him that I had one of those players too. It needed a new drive belt. We found one at a VCR repair place. He was thrilled. I wonder where I would find that part today?