The Saddest thing that reminds you that you're old...

[fuzzygobo]

If VHS is coming back in vogue, then Goodwill and Salvation Army stores are sitting on a gold mine.
Go into any one, you're guaranteed to find at least a dozen copies of Titanic (2 VHS tapes in the box), Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, etc.

I still have a few working VHS tapes from 1984, when I copied stuff off TV. It still blows my mind how well they held up.

 

[D'Snowth]

I think the less you watch a tape over and over again, the better it holds up, because to add to my previous post, a lot of my older tapes that still play well aren't ones that I particularly watched a lot growing up, whereas some of the more recent tapes that don't play well are ones that I've watched numerous times.

I think it also depends on what the individual VCRs do to the tapes: some of those aforementioned recent tapes were taped on a VCR that was kind of dying at that point, so I think it not only didn't record very well by that point, but replaying those tapes in it caused some unwanted wear.

Luckily, my mom still has her same VCR that she's had for I don't know how long, and it doesn't seem picky at all about what kinds of tapes you play in it . . . but then again, she uses her VCR considerably less than I've used any of mine, so that may play a factor too . . . but the irony is her VCR and mine are the same brand, so go fig.

 

[ErinAardvark]

I know I mentioned this in an earlier post, but who out here remembers the Betamax?

 

[D'Snowth]

Before my time.

I do, however, remember Laserdiscs . . . for those of you who don't know, they were giant DVDs before DVDs were ever invented . . . and like records, you had to watch the flipside to finish a movie since an entire movie couldn't fit on one side.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

I remember watching something in Science class back in 7th grade on a LaserDisc.

 

[D'Snowth]

I had some Muppety goodness on Laserdisc: GMC (the version where "Night Life" has no vocals, and all you hear as Piggy wanders down the dark alley is Big Ben tolling instead of Joe Raposo's scoring), and the rarity that is THE MUPPET MUSICIANS OF BREMEN.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Never once used a laserdisc in my life.

 

[D'Snowth]

Like I said, they looked like giant DVDs, but you sort of played them like you would a music CD in a CD player: you open the lid to the player, place the disc in, close the lid, and play it . . . and if you're watching a movie, like a record, you had to flip it over to finish the movie since an entire movie couldn't fit on one side.

In the case of GMC, the A side had the movie from the beginning up till Piggy wander the alley after giving Kermit the slip, then the flip side started with Gonzo developing his photos and went till the end of the movie.

 

[fuzzygobo]

I know I mentioned this in an earlier post, but who out here remembers the Betamax?

I remember when video stores had two sections: Betamax (Sony product) and VHS (rival product developed by RCA), the modern equivalent would be DVD and Blu-Ray.

Videodiscs(RCA was the big manufacturer) were marketed as part of a program called "Selectavision". The ad copy was, " There might not always be something on television, but there's always something happening on Selectavision! "

And VCR's and VHS tapes were incredibly expensive to own, initially. A 1979-80 model would easily set you back a thousand bucks. Tapes were easily $80. And the titles to choose from were limited to the biggest Hollywood blockbusters at the time.
So back then, it was feasible to rent a VCR for a weekend, along with a copy of "The Towering Inferno" or "The Godfather". Big doings.

 

[D'Snowth]

And weren't VCRs initially like the size of a piano or something?

You know, it's amazing how as technology continues to advance, the products continue to get smaller and smaller, yet despite their shrinking size, can hold more and more information.

Cellphones, on the other hand, seem to be doing something of an about face: they're getting bigger again, and I guess that's one reason we've got tablets.