16 replies to this topic

[Xion44]

iam curious. even though i do use a DVD player. i still own my old vhs player, silently gathering some dust in the closet. i find that movies played on DVDs have better sound and clarity. while VHS tapes have poor playback fx.

[YoKenny]

My TV has a built in VHS player that I purchased back in 2002 because I moved into Townhouse where I had a small bedroom that was so small that I had to also get a wall mount to put the TV on because there was no other place I could put the TV so that I could watch it.

I have a collection of tapes like The Party, Brasil, The Meaning of Life, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and movies of that type.

It is still working right now with an all evening PBS special about a travelogue of a rail journey from Canada's most eastern shores to its west. It is just about to go through the Rockies but it is one of their fund raiser drives so I'm typing here during one of the fund drive breaks.

[1984]

We have one. The kids use it all the time to watch cartoons that we have purchased.

[Andavari]

I still have one which I rarely record on unless my DVD recorder is tied up recording something else (I record everything I want to watch so I can skip through all those damned commercials).

I'll keep the VCR until it stops working, but I have no plans of ever buying another one. I'd like to get a recorder with a built in hard drive though that could record everything in HD so when we upgrade to HD I could have all my recordings in the best possible quality. And no not Tivo, I'm too cheep to pay $200 for a unit then be expected to pay for a monthly membership fee.

[Corona]

I still have a turntable.

[spelbynder]

how about Betamax?

[Robbie]

I still have a VHS player, I never record on it these days as I use a DVD recorder but I have dozens of TV programmes on VHS that I occasionally watch, mainly old Doctor Who episodes (I have about 100 of them) and Newcastle United (a football team, well they used to be a football team...) matches. I probably use my VHS player about once a fortnight.

[CTskifreak]

My parents bought a DVD/VHS combo playerso we could start watching DVD's. Now we bought an up converting DVD player, and that second unit does not even get used. I used the VHS half one day when I wanted to watch Days of Thunder, and then eventually the Indiana Jones' movies.

AJ

[LuLu]

I have a DVD/VCR combo. I have so many tapes of TV shows and old movies so I kinda need the VHS part. lol

[Andavari]

Robbie, on Jan 19 2009, 04:05 PM, said:

I use a DVD recorder but I have dozens of TV programmes on VHS that I occasionally watch

You should really record your favourite stuff from those VHS tapes onto DVDs with your DVD recorder. With VHS tapes you never really know if it will be playable for much longer as degradation can happen out of nowhere, or the dreaded tape gets eaten by the VHS player dilemma.

A wise tip that I only found out after the fact:
Don't try to save DVD disc space by putting 4 hours worth of stuff onto one, it only reduces the picture size which you'd find out if you went to encode those shows to Xvid or DivX. Try not to exceed the 2 hour mode to 2 1/2 hour mode.

[DennisD]

We've got two, and we use them both. Probably because I don't have a DVD recorder.

Years ago, a lost opportunity was not exploiting "video" tape as a "sound only" recording/playback medium. The tape width and speed made it a pretty good candidate for high quality sound. And then we entered the digital age.

A good use for old tape. Keep it for when you need something (or someone ), tied/fastened up. It's extremely strong, and you have miles of the stuff in one cassette.

The D-man's one and only "tip of the day".

[Andavari]

DennisD, on Jan 21 2009, 11:58 AM, said:

Years ago, a lost opportunity was not exploiting "video" tape as a "sound only" recording/playback medium. The tape width and speed made it a pretty good candidate for high quality sound. And then we entered the digital age.

I used to use it for that purpose too of making some "best of" albums, and my friends thought I was crazy doing that until they heard the audio quality going through the home theater speakers. That's so uber late 80's-90's inventive, imagine handing someone an album on VHS.

DennisD, on Jan 21 2009, 11:58 AM, said:

A good use for old tape. Keep it for when you need something (or someone ), tied/fastened up. It's extremely strong, and you have miles of the stuff in one cassette.

Good one! So how would that go in a very threatening way: Remain still while I hit Fast Forward.

[DennisD]

Andavari, on Jan 21 2009, 06:14 PM, said:

I used to use it for that purpose too of making some "best of" albums, and my friends thought I was crazy doing that until they heard the audio quality going through the home theater speakers. That's so uber late 80's-90's inventive, imagine handing someone an album on VHS.

They'd be even more impressed when you told them the track they want to hear is "somewhere in the middle" of a 4 hour tape.

[Winapp2.ini]

I personally only use Betamax for my video needs.

8-tracks for my music of course.

[LuLu]

DennisD, on Jan 21 2009, 12:58 PM, said:

We've got two, and we use them both. Probably because I don't have a DVD recorder....

A good use for old tape. Keep it for when you need something (or someone ), tied/fastened up. It's extremely strong, and you have miles of the stuff in one cassette.

The D-man's one and only "tip of the day".

Now we know what Dennis does in his spare time.

[DennisD]

I've just spotted this one.

I learned all about using tape from Dexter.

[LuLu]

LOL suuuure you did. It's ok Dennis. We all know you have a wild side. This just confirms it. Muahahaha