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Do you still own a VCR?

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Do you own a VCR? Well, do ya... punk?

  • Yes, I love rewinding tapes and the quality is good enough.

  • Hell no... it is a worthless appliance.

  • I don't watch movies, too busy riding literbikes.


Results are only viewable after voting.
I have one, shelved in the basement. I figure maybe I'll use it someday to digitize my parent's old home videos. But then that task seems super tedious so I'll probably go through a service instead.
 
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Your poll is bullshit, of course the quality sucks (mine are SVHS too). But I do have a couple of VCR's (and one of them works fine, the other, maybe if I use my rewinder). For one thing, I have some tapes I intend to convert to DVDs one day. A friend of mine brought over a tape that was fantastic, a rarity that's almost impossible to find, a documentary on John Cippolina of Quicksilver Messenger Service called "Guitarslinger." For that alone, I was glad I still had my working VCR.
 
I have one as when I was in high school I was a lot into video editing and everything was on tape back then. The thought of taking something I made on the computer and putting it on a VHS to play on the "big screen TV" (like 32" at the time) was pretty awesome. 😛 Now, it's so much easier to do that it's taken for granted. Most TVs will even play a file directly now days. I don't actually have it hooked up anymore but I keep it just in case I ever need it for something.

My dad has a whole bunch of hockey games on VHS such as most Stanley Cup games. I need to get him to convert those to actual files as VHS will degrade over time. He might even have a game where Toronto made the playoffs.

Downside these days it's it's very hard for the average user to take something from TV and put it on a medium that can be replayed. You can PVR it, but it's in the PVR and that's it, you can't store it on a hard drive or DVD or anything. I'm sure there are ways to do it, but not something the average "VCR operator" would know how to do.

A file on a hard drive is the only worthwhile way to keep stuff now days though. Formats go obsolete too fast, and still suffer from the potential degradation over time. I think DVD suffers from that and so does Bluray. At least a file kept on several hard drives or other mediums is digital and wont degrade. I guess there is still the danger of bit rot.
 
I still have a JVC VHS and a Sony Beta player with a collection of recorded documentaries/TV shows stored in my garage. Some blank tapes too IIRC. :\
 
I remember my grandparents had a Betamax. I remember watching Time Bandits (1981) on it. But Betamax turned out like HDDVD did.
 
Still have working

JVC Super VHS Hi Fi
jvc190.jpg.w560h420.jpg


Sony Super Beta Hi-Fi
318806-sony_super_beta_hifi_slhfr70_and_hfp100_beta_hifi.jpg
 
I have one, but haven't used it in years. If nothing else, I need it to watch my Betty Boop collection. The complete surviving works were only released on vhs. I /may/ be able to compile a digital set, but that's a lot of work, and the quality too variable. Ripping them myself isn't a job I look forward to...
 
There's 3 VCRs in my basement. All work. The two VHS ones (Sony and Hitachi) have a habit of chewing tapes though, so I'm afraid to use them. The Betamax is still going strong. None of them are hooked up.

I remember my grandparents had a Betamax. I remember watching Time Bandits (1981) on it. But Betamax turned out like HDDVD did.

Beta was a huge success in the professional market due to it's higher resolution. Don't need long play time to package TV shows and news pieces.

Which is more than can be said about HD-DVD. Sony was always going to win that fight because they owned a movie studio and Toshiba did not. Easy in.
 
Just remembered, there's a French movie that my late wife Jessie and I absolutely adored, entitled Baxter. Imagine yourself saying that with a French accent, emphasis on the last syllable. 😛

baxter-1989-poster.png


^^^ Beware of a dog who thinks!

The first review on imdb (7/10):

First of all, let me say this is one of the most original films I have ever seen. The camera work and techniques are very nice. Also, the story of a dog's life and the thoughts that run through his mind about his masters is amazing.

It moves slowly at times but once Baxter (the dog) meets up with his dream master, the pace really picks up.

This movie is a must see for some of the amusing things Baxter thinks about and for the ending that leaves you somewhat sad, but very satisfied and/or disturbed.

So . . . why am I nattering on about an obscure French film my wife and I liked? For the same reason Baxter licks his balls . . . because I can! But also because this thread reminded me that when I went to get a keeper copy of it, I could only find it on VHS. So, ummmm, I guess that's one reason to still have a VCR somewhere, even if it's not hooked up. <shrug>
 
I don't even own a DVD or Blu-Ray Player. Discs get ripped to the server when they get home.

Then how do you rip them without a DVD or BR drive? If you're ripping discs then obviously you own an optical drive capable of playing them.
 
I have two fancy video editing VCRs from some TV studio or something. They donated a bunch of old equipment to Goodwill and I got them because they actually have S-VHS. I've never seen any others in the US with S-Video except combination DVD players, which are usually pretty crappy VCRs.

I have a LaserDisc player too but I have to flip discs since the fancy feature that's supposed to let me continue without flipping doesn't work.
 
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