When Did Everyone Get Their First VHS/Betamax Player?

[Olorin67]

My first was acquired second hand when I was a college student about 1990. It was a NEC front loader that had a mirror inside the tape compartment so you could watch the tape movement as it played and see how much tape was left. Lent it to a friend for a bit, and he wrecked the heads because he would re-wind tapes without pressing stop first.