The official "I still use VHS" thread

[classictv80s]

Does anyone here still use the VHS format? What kind of VHS VCRs do you all have or want to have? How many VHS tapes do you have in your library? Anyone still use VHS to record?

[radiotvnut]

I still use VHS to record older shown on RTN that I may want to watch again. My Mother fails to see why I want to record those older shows; but, I know there will come a time when they will no longer be on regular TV. I will continue to use VHS as long as I have a working VCR and can get tapes.

My main VCR is nothing special - a late '90's BPC Sharp four head hi-fi stereo that I bought from a neighbor. It seems to do fine for what I need.

I do have an '86 entry level GE (Panasonic built) and an '83'ish Panasonic top loader. Both work; but, could stand a head cleaning and some new rubber parts. I also have an early '80's Hitachi top loader with the old style mechanical function keys. That one is non functional due to, I suspect, stretched/broken belts.

I'm always on the lookout for QUALITY VCR'S; but, all I've been finding here lately is modern Funai crap that weighs all of 1/2 lb.

[Electrohome]

Yes, I still use my good ol' VHS to watch my older VHS tapes from my collection of older TV broadcasts w/commercials and when transferring these tapes to DVD as well for trades. I'm really beginning to miss VHS a lot as I grew up with VHS. It's just finding those good qaulity blank VHS tapes I can use to record my programs when I do see something good which is not very often anymore. Also, that Funai stuff is "Made In China" thus explaining the such poor qaulity of Funai products.

[radiotvnut]

I can remember when we got our first VCR, an '86 Magnavox rebadged Panasonic. It was a basic two head model with the thumbwheel varactor tuning presets. I was on cloud nine b/c I could finally record "MacGyver" and the Saturday morning cartoons that I liked at the time. Back then, VCR's were the cool thing to have. Now, my flea market friend is lucky to get $10 for a good used one.

Besides tapes of programs recorded off of regular TV, I have a ton of home videos that were made when we got a camcorder in '89. Also a Magnavox and I still have it. My Mother thought we couldn't go anywhere without taking the camcorder.

Many of those tapes are 20-25 years old and still play fine. I wonder if DVD's will hold up that long.

[Dude111]

I love VHS!!

I prefer watching GOOD MOVIES in ANALOGUE on my VHS tapes

[colortrakker]

Just watched some VHS a few nights ago. My Sony monitor has 2 decks on it now: a Panasonic AG-1950 pro-fesh VHS machine and a 1995 JVC HR-S5200U Super VHS deck. I may swap the JVC for my Sony SuperBeta eventually, but no rush since good VHS is so much easier to find. 'Fact, I just got a Crash Test Dummies video today: Symptomology Of A Rock Band. Lots of good musical finds on VHS.

[jedo1507r]

I still use a portable Sharp VC-363, as it moved with me to the dorm for watching educational/documentary videos from the school's library that aren't on DVD, and that's hooked up to a TV to VGA tuner/AV box connected to a 19-inch ViewSonic monitor (curb find). The machine's form factor does not take up much space and unlike my attention span of the videos, the 363 never gives up.

Sadly, a friend on campus has a 19-inch Funai VHS combo with well-known mecha problems, but surprisingly has not held his TV viewing hostage. I cringe when I see those, as I've worked on a few before.

At home though, I have a few machines (NV-SJ200, VT-33, VT-3, SLV-M11HF, HR-783U) and 30+ tapes of mostly show recordings from the early-2000s.

[Username1]

I started recording tons of stuff on vhs. Get the used tapes off ebay for about 50 to 60 cents a tape. And I got a buncha used S-VHS machines and use them. Since now we got digital tv the picture on the fewer channels we now get are nice and clear. I tape Nature on pbs, and other stuff. S-VHS in great for editing too. I think now I got about 300 tapes. And original movie tapes from garage sales can be had for one of two dollars. I know people who have said they got rid of all their vhs and got all their movied in DVD. And the same people got rid of their records and tapes to get CD's. I can't see it. Why rebuy stuff like that? I have some vhs movies I watch 100 times or more and they still look like the first watching......

[AUdubon5425]

I regularly taped old movies off of AMC and Columbo from 1992-97 on a two-head Magnavox. Never did much recording after that - only historical programs of local interest. Sadly, many of my tapes have white powdery mold (I guess) and have degraded from two years of storage in a dry but non-climate controlled shed. I bought a DVD recorder to save what I couldn't replace off of the VHS tapes.

But we still record a program on tape once in a while, usually something my wife wants to watch but won't be home for. We may buy 2-4 blanks a year. My wife also has an extensive collection of Disney movies and such on VHS.

Our "daily driver" is a Philips stereo 4-head from around '99. It makes some noise rewinding, so we picked up a couple of old rewinders from a thrift store. I have a Canon VCR that needs belts as a back-up, along with a mid-80's top-loading Quasar.

Interestingly, I never have recorded an on-air program to DVD, although I'm pretty sure there ought to be a timer on the thing (no tuner though!)

[Username1]

I got a box of older tapes off ebay with the white mold, no smell just powder looking stuff. I put the tape into the machine rewind it once at fast speed and the stuff is gone, no effect on the tape, and the mold was only on the tape edge. Here PBS channel 13 from NYC has a program on Sat evenings called Reel13 its on the internet too, they run classic movies a short, and then an indie. Makes for a great evening and I tape them all.

[electroking]

Originally Posted by Username1

I got a box of older tapes off ebay with the white mold, no smell just powder looking stuff. I put the tape into the machine rewind it once at fast speed and the stuff is gone, no effect on the tape, and the mold was only on the tape edge. Here PBS channel 13 from NYC has a program on Sat evenings called Reel13 its on the internet too, they run classic movies a short, and then an indie. Makes for a great evening and I tape them all.

Aren't you worried the machine will now be contaminated, and will transfer
the mold to other tapes you might be playing? Just an idea.

I tape shows off my analog cable feed for later viewing, several hours
a week, using a JVC model HR-A591U.

[Dude111]

Yes but doing that isnt any better nowadays! (Recording off ANALOGUE cable feed) because the stuff THEY ARE SENDING IS SENT IN DIGI (Just converted to ANALOGUE for the ANA tier so its not much better unfortunetly)

An in the 80s and before,IT WAS MUCH MORE "ANALOGUE" RECORDING OFF TV! (Cable,etc)

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

I can remember when we got our first VCR, an '86 Magnavox rebadged Panasonic. It was a basic two head model with the thumbwheel varactor tuning presets. I was on cloud nine b/c I could finally record "MacGyver" and the Saturday morning cartoons that I liked at the time. Back then, VCR's were the cool thing to have. Now, my flea market friend is lucky to get $10 for a good used one.

Besides tapes of programs recorded off of regular TV, I have a ton of home videos that were made when we got a camcorder in '89. Also a Magnavox and I still have it. My Mother thought we couldn't go anywhere without taking the camcorder.

Many of those tapes are 20-25 years old and still play fine. I wonder if DVD's will hold up that long.

I have a rack full of 25-year-old VHS tapes as well; mostly old TV series, a few movies, and several commercially-recorded tapes. All still play as well as when they were new, with no white mold. I never had that problem with any VHS tape I have ever owned or currently own, either here in my apartment or at my previous residence. Some of you who have had the problem must have stored your tapes in a high-humidity environment. However, it's a good thing that the mold does not affect the tapes. Most of my VHS tapes are irreplaceable, as they have old TV series that didn't last long enough to be released on DVD. If I can find or borrow a DVD recorder some day, I'd like to transfer those old tapes to DVD.

My current VCR is a Panasonic PV-4022 from 2002. It replaced another Panny that ate a tape; I had just taped a movie and was never able to watch it, as the tape jammed in the mechanism. I literally had to wreck the VCR to get it out. Hated to lose that VCR, as it had VCR Plus+ and a beautiful picture; however, I saved the remote, which I found out will work with my PV-4022. I think my VCR has the thick toothed drive belt between the motor and the transport mechanism, which probably explains why this machine has lasted as long as it has without problems. I had a GE-branded Panasonic VCR, my first VCR, in 1984; it lasted six years and worked well, until the heads wore out. When I found out, at a local TV repair shop, that a new head drum would cost $250, I forgot about having the recorder repaired and bought an Emerson VCR shortly afterward. That machine lasted a few years (don't quite remember how many) and was eventually replaced, IIRC, by a Magnavox VCR. I got the latter in the early nineties, so I don't know if it was actually a rebadged Funai (!) VCR or if it was made by some other offshore entity. The Maggie VCR lasted quite a while (probably as long as my Panny has so far), but then, shortly after I moved here in the late 1990s (1999), the machine first stopped recording, then the playback got flaky and eventually stopped. At this point, knowing that the Maggie VCR wasn't worth repairing (I don't remember how much I paid for it when I bought it, but it couldn't have been more than $120), I threw in the towel and bought my first Panasonic. That machine lasted about two or three years (! ! ! -- see above for the story), then was replaced by my present Panny PV4022. That machine is now seven years old and still works as well as it worked the day I bought it.

I also have several DVDs and box sets, now at least three years old, that still play well in my Memorex DVD player. Unless one stores DVDs in an excessively humid or dusty environment, however, I cannot see how DVDs can wear out if they are not played often, since they are not magnetic media. After all, this is why many folks transfer VHS video tapes to DVDs--so as to preserve the programs on the tapes, since VHS videocassettes can and do jam and wear out over time, whereas DVDs have no moving parts whatsoever. Moreover, DVD players have error-detection systems that will compensate for slight scratches on the surfaces of DVDs, so these discs should last quite a while -- a lot longer than VHS tapes.

It will be interesting to find out, however, how many DVDs bought new this year are still playing well, say five or ten years from now. Of course, if anyone needs to replace DVDs these days or are in the market for new discs, most programs, movies and so on are now on Blu-ray discs -- which will not play in standard DVD players; however, ironically, the reverse is absolutely true -- standard DVDs will play in Blu-ray players. Is this a marketing ploy to get people to buy new Blu-ray players, even if their old standard DVD player is working well?

[radiotvnut]

The tapes that remained in the house look as good as they did when new. There were a few tapes that, somehow or another, made their way to the basement and they developed that white mold. I didn't even try to save them as I was afraid they might gunk up my machine.

[jstout66]

I still do, and joke that the show "Hoarders" will come when it comes to the point I'm buried under VHS tapes. I still have VCR's hooked to all my main TV's. A Sony SLV-690HF is in L/R. A Sony SLV-N71 is in B/R, and I have a Toshiba VHS/DVD Combo in my "office" room. The Sony's are fine. The Toshiba will play and record ANY tape, but if I take a tape over to a friends, the tapes recorded on it, does NOT play well in other machines. Also, if it's run over 3 hours, the motor starts getting weird.

I have machines horded in the basement in case my main ones go out. I'll still pick some up at thrift stores as long as they are Stereo and come with the original remote. I have some higer end Panasonics and I noticed that they do not play ANY tapes well recorded on other machines. Doesn't matter what model, they all do that, so I don't use them. I keep my eye out for Sony or RCA decks, as they seem to be the best. I still have the first VCR I bought. A 2 head mono RCA purchased in 92 for $249.00. It still works, but you always had to insert the tape "just right" from day 1.
I'll have to admit I tape less and less now. I just got DVR, and man.... MUCH easier.
Blank tapes are getting more expensive, and seem to be of an inferior quality.
I have hundreds of movies and series recorded, so will probably never be without a VCR.