When Did Everyone Get Their First VHS/Betamax Player?

[sampson159]

1981.got a zenith beta machine.used,heads were filthy!tremendous machine.picture was flawless and very high quality.my first vhs was a sharp.it was a bargain model from sun tv.this was a nice machine and we used it for years.i currently have a jvc umatic that weighs a ton and two sony vhs machines.they are okay,but not the quality i expected.have an old emerson that really blows the sonys away.i actually like beta format better than vhs.i still have the old zenith.rarely used,but still works well.

[1993ctc175]

Well, I have remenbered that I have got myself my first VCR back in August 1986. The VCR was an RCA Model # VMT 390. We have alot of fun with it.

[zenith2134]

Well, my parents first got VHS in 1986, when they were first married. My dad bought a Hitachi home video camera that also played back VHS. Then, in 1993 I remember him buying a Sony VHS out of a catalog which was hi-fi stereo and 4 head with flying erase head....I remember my mother and him having an argument because he paid a LOT for it (might have been near the top of the line for its time).

As for me, the first VHS recorder of my own was in 1996, a 2-head Sears "LXI"...I was extremely happy to have it.

Then, in '98 I got a Panasonic TV/VCR of my own and gave the Sears to my grandparents.

Now, I use a circa 2002 Sony "19 micron head" whatever that means, that my mother bought new...of course, no one else has any use for "tape" anymore except me.

[AllenR]

I was aware of the VCR as early as 1979-ish. I was 15 in 1979. There was one kid who's parents were loaded and they had one. I was fascinated by the concept and was always dreaming about recording music off TV.

I started pestering my parents to get one but they weren't interested. Once I started working I saved and saved and in 1983 I bought the JVC HR-7100 with the big color buttons. One of the first things I recorded and saved was Journey Live at the Summit Houston TX 1981. I still have that tape.

During the 80's I was a hardcore tape trader. Got into the whole multi-system TV/VCR thing to trade with overseas traders and bought a Minolta camcorder to film concerts with. That JVC HR-7100 had a LOT of mileage put on it.

By the time I relocated to the Czech Republic in 1998 the JVC had only required one major repair of the chassis. I believe that was in the early 90's. The JVC was still a workhorse when I shipped it to the Czech Republic in 1998.

Sadly, the JVC HR-7100 was destroyed in Europe when a careless fork-lift driver pierced the shipping box. What a sad, sad delivery that was.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by AllenR

I was aware of the VCR as early as 1979-ish. I was 15 in 1979. There was one kid who's parents were loaded and they had one. I was fascinated by the concept and was always dreaming about recording music off TV.

I started pestering my parents to get one but they weren't interested. Once I started working I saved and saved and in 1983 I bought the JVC HR-7100 with the big color buttons. One of the first things I recorded and saved was Journey Live at the Summit Houston TX 1981. I still have that tape.

During the 80's I was a hardcore tape trader. Got into the whole multi-system TV/VCR thing to trade with overseas traders and bought a Minolta camcorder to film concerts with. That JVC HR-7100 had a LOT of mileage put on it.

By the time I relocated to the Czech Republic in 1998 the JVC had only required one major repair of the chassis. I believe that was in the early 90's. The JVC was still a workhorse when I shipped it to the Czech Republic in 1998.

Sadly, the JVC HR-7100 was destroyed in Europe when a careless fork-lift driver pierced the shipping box. What a sad, sad delivery that was.

JVC VHS VCRs were once rated #1 in reliability by Consumer Reports from 1979-1985 model years only.