Do you still own a VCR?

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

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.

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
857
126
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.

It takes more than a drive to play a BD.
 

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
46,879
10,690
147
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.

TV studios generally used/use 3/4 inch U-Matic tape., not S-VHS.
 

stargazr

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2010
4,179
3,720
136
Yes. I converted several tapes to digital a few years ago. I have a lot of expensive music videos by top drummers, and still have a few more to copy. Some day.
 

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
857
126
TV studios generally used/use 3/4 inch U-Matic tape., not S-VHS.

They had racks and racks of that kind of stuff too, I just didn't buy that. I'm pretty sure it was a TV or some other video production studio. Not all TV studios only play tapes. A news studio needs to have a way to receive and play submitted content so they have fancy VCRs too. Some produce content too: AFV obviously needed a way to get content off VHS. ;)
 
Last edited:

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,741
456
126
All you peeps who throw out your VCRs are killing the environment. :colbert:

Everything that has ever been produced has been produced with the knowledge that it can't possibly last forever and will be thrown out eventually.

every
single
thing
ever

If you're the sensitive type it's best not to think about it.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,353
1,862
126
I never owned a VCR. Bought a dvd-rom drive and used the TVout on my voodoo card ages ago (back when dvd players were expensive, but dvd roms were under $100)

that said, my fiancee has a VCR. I have tried 100 times to make her get rid of it, but she has like 10 old vhs tapes that she wont part with.

I have never seen her hook up or use the VCR. Its not been plugged in any of the years I have known her. But she is attached to it.

Women ....
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
yes I own one

it however is not hooked up, it has not been hooked up in over a decade. it exists in a box just because of what ifs
 

cbrunny

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 2007
6,791
406
126
VCR? I no longer even have a blu-ray player. lol

No DVD player, no CD player, not even a DVD Rom in any of my PCs, except my work laptop, and they paid for the thing. It's a great cupholder.
 

nageov3t

Lifer
Feb 18, 2004
42,808
83
91
Nope... Wouldn't even own a dvd player if not for video game consoles.

Never had a dedicated vcr, but I did have one of those crt tvs with one built-in.... It made the move from my college dorm to my first apartment, but I gave it away when I moved out of that place (that was my move when I said "fuck it" and gave away / threw out everything except what I could fit in my car)
 
Last edited:

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,951
10,241
136
All you peeps who throw out your VCRs are killing the environment. :colbert:
I have a broken one sitting on the front porch. When I see a notice for free recycling of electronics, I'll make that run. I'm keeping my working one, though.
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,951
10,241
136
Nope... Wouldn't even own a dvd player if not for video game consoles.

Never had a dedicated vcr, but I did have one of those crt tvs with one built-in.... It made the move from my college dorm to my first apartment, but I gave it away when I moved out of that place (that was my move when I said "fuck it" and gave away / threw out everything except what I could fit in my car)
When I went to college, for the first 3 years or so I could fit everything I had in my car (VW bug). Things changed. Now, I wonder how I can get rid of stuff, have to get the mojo to streamline my lifestyle.
 

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
857
126
I never owned a VCR. Bought a dvd-rom drive and used the TVout on my voodoo card ages ago (back when dvd players were expensive, but dvd roms were under $100)

that said, my fiancee has a VCR. I have tried 100 times to make her get rid of it, but she has like 10 old vhs tapes that she wont part with.

I have never seen her hook up or use the VCR. Its not been plugged in any of the years I have known her. But she is attached to it.

Women ....
Did something similar back when the Pentium III launched in early 1999. I had a Sigma Designs RealMagic Hollywood Plus MPEG2 decoder with much better TV output than any VGA card (paired it with a Voodoo Banshee until the Voodoo 3 3000 launched). I recall having to update the playback software several times every time I got a new movie because each update fixed some and broke others, but it was awesome. Made me roll my eyes at all the people balking at Blu-Ray because "my DVD player never needed an update!" That's because you weren't really an early adopter. :)

I was still enjoying it in 2001 when the PS2 was selling for $300 and people justified their purchase with "I was going to buy a DVD player anyway" (stand-alone DVD players were about $200 then). I spent my $300 on a GeForce 3 at launch to replace my Voodoo. By 2004 I had a $20 progressive scan DVD player from a Radio Shack Black Friday deal, so it had lost its luster.
 

WilliamM2

Platinum Member
Jun 14, 2012
2,981
876
136
I haven't used one in 15 years, and threw all mine away. That said, I now have two of them, brand new, unopened in the box. JVC 4-head Hi-Fi models.

My wife's grandparents bought spares, and after they passed away, they ended up at my house. Wife won't let me part with them.
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,951
10,241
136
Still have working

JVC Super VHS Hi Fi
jvc190.jpg.w560h420.jpg
I still have the first Super VHS VCR ever sold to the public (not the first actual piece, but it's the first model), the JVC HRS1000U. JVC developed the format, the quality of recordings it made was quite substantially superior to VHS, it made VHS look like shit. I bought it in 1989, paying $1000 for it, brought it home on my bike. Bought at a local independent electronics shop, a bargain at the price. It still works, but it doesn't rewind, have to use my rewinder. Right now its only function is as a digital clock in my bedroom! I did get a lot of use out of it. Mostly I recorded in SVHS off antenna, usually at the slow speed. I still have those tapes.
 
Last edited: