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

[LittleJerry92]

The only laserdisc I once thought of getting was the one for Mystery Science Theater 3000: the movie. Then I thought ".....is it worth it?"

 

[mr3urious]

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.

With Selectavision, you're talking about CEDs, right? They were essentially records in plastic cases you inserted right into the player, and read by a stylus. They were even less reliable than the competition, and after only a few hundred plays the discs became completely unwatchable. The only advantage of the CED was cost for both discs and players, as it was even lower than VHS.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Yes, indeed. For about a nanosecond, Selectavision seemed to be the wave of the future. And VHS tapes were about the size of a dictionary. Thirty minutes of memory. Let the good times roll.

 

[D'Snowth]

Ah, the days of yore. . . .

With VHS, you had two options: you could either tape something in distorted quality that would give you only two hours of material, or you could tape something in even more distorted quality and fill up to six hours of material.

I usually chose the latter, but once again, the VCR played a factor in how well the quality was. From 2003 to 2009, I had an Emerson TV with built-in VCR and DVD player - the VCR could record audio in Hi-Fi, and the quality was pretty darn good too, so much of what I taped in the early days of that VCR are actually really decent, and have pretty incredible sound quality for VHS.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Ah, the days of yore. . . .

With VHS, you had two options: you could either tape something in distorted quality that would give you only two hours of material, or you could tape something in even more distorted quality and fill up to six hours of material.

I usually chose the latter, but once again, the VCR played a factor in how well the quality was. From 2003 to 2009, I had an Emerson TV with built-in VCR and DVD player - the VCR could record audio in Hi-Fi, and the quality was pretty darn good too, so much of what I taped in the early days of that VCR are actually really decent, and have pretty incredible sound quality for VHS.

I had the same model!!!!8)
But yes, recording videos from TV, your choices were record
SP speed, better resolution, eats up more memory or
SLP speed, poorer resolution, but stretches the memory.

Somehow we figured out for playback, hook up the TV and VCR to an FM stereo receiver, the sound (especially for music videos) was phenomenal.

The very first VHS tape I made, I recorded the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine", on SLP speed because I was worried whether a 90 minute movie would fit on the tape (little did I know I had a ton of space left). 33 years later, more plays than I can count, living in storage for two years, the tape still works long after newer ones got chewed up.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Is it just me, or does it sometimes feel like the older you get, the less social you feel?

 

[D'Snowth]

I can actually think of someone here who may fit that bill, but I won't say who that is, because that wouldn't be cool, and it's not really that big a deal anyway.

But as of today, the saddest thing that reminds me that I'm old is . . . I can remember a time . . . eons ago . . . when Comic Sans MS was a popular font for websites, print material, text, typeface, and what have you. Now, it's treated like the original NES was as the 90s progresses and SNES and N64 came out.

I'll agree that today, Comic Sans MS looks dated and maybe a tad "unprofessional" when you consider the thousands and thousands of other different fonts that are available, but man. . . .

 

[fuzzygobo]

Is it just me, or does it sometimes feel like the older you get, the less social you feel?

Not necessarily. There are plenty of young people who are complete loners. For me, socializing is just my wife and myself, or with a few people from church.
But I never hung around with a huge entourage. Even playing in bands, it's usually just the four (or five) of us.

No man is an island, though. As frustrating as people can be we still need that human contact. And that entails putting down the *****ing phone and having a conversation with somebody, mandatory eye contact, and the occasional reassuring hug. Does wonders for morale.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

I can actually think of someone here who may fit that bill, but I won't say who that is, because that wouldn't be cool, and it's not really that big a deal anyway.

But as of today, the saddest thing that reminds me that I'm old is . . . I can remember a time . . . eons ago . . . when Comic Sans MS was a popular font for websites, print material, text, typeface, and what have you. Now, it's treated like the original NES was as the 90s progresses and SNES and N64 came out.

I'll agree that today, Comic Sans MS looks dated and maybe a tad "unprofessional" when you consider the thousands and thousands of other different fonts that are available, but man. . . .

Me?

 

[mr3urious]

I'll agree that today, Comic Sans MS looks dated and maybe a tad "unprofessional" when you consider the thousands and thousands of other different fonts that are available, but man. . . .

There's always Comic Neue, which is what Comic Sans should have been.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Neue