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VCRs

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VHS machines hit their peak of quality nearly ten years ago and it has dropped again.

I bought a few from the peak period and apart from the resolution you can actually get a superior picture to DVD with the right tape and deck.

My family first got ours in 1987 and recorded almost anything. Those Amstrads always were very good and we were hooked right away.

Lately I have been using my VCRs to back up old tapes to DVD. And the machines are still very useful at playing back old tapes bought from second-hand shops which are crammed with never-repeated old favourites.

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Do You Remember VCRs?

Do You Remember VCRs?

  • Anonymous user
    on
    I still remember the first VCR my family bought in December 1982. It was one of those bulky toploader Ferguson Videostar. It performed admirably for many years before it started to go a little wonky - tapes were chewed and eventually it stopped working altogether. Still it was a good solid VCR unit and it did it's duty in taping many an episode of Star Fleet for myself!!
  • Aura
    on
    Anyone remember the silver VCR's? The first video recorders to ciome out, sometimes they chewed the video tapes up while in the middle of watching a film. The top used to eject up and down when you pressed a button.
  • aaronwarrior
    on
    I still use VCR's today. I have 2 hooked up to my DVD recorder as i write this, one is a Panasonic NV-SJ220 and the other is a Sanyo VHR-M290. I am in the process of transferring old video's to DVD and catching up on old programmes and family moments that i haven't seen in years. Some of the programmes that i watch are not avaiable on DVD yet so it's nice to kick back and watch some old favourites once in a while.
  • AndyGranda
    on
    My big sister had a betamax around '83. Still teenagers then, me and my wife thought it was great getting to stay with my sister on Fridays and Saturdays, we'd go into town and get a couple of videos for the weekend. It was fun getting to choose what you wanted to watch instead of waiting for something decent to come on at the pictures. This obviously affescted the price of going to cinemas etc. All was fun, until my four-year-old nephew fed his toast to the video-player.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    My First VCR was a Panasonic GV40B(I think) it had a bar code scanner for programming and a card of different bar codes for date and time etc.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I actually still have one of these. A Sanyo Betacord circa 1980(?). It still works, although it isn't in use much nowadays! Weighs about 5 tons and has destroyed two TV corner units because of the weight. Is very useful for rediscovering old TV shows hidden away on beta videos that pop up occasionally. The biggest problem is getting tapes for it- obviously. The machine itself is so well built it'll probably last for another 200 years... As mentioned, the timer has only 3 options- but was very useful when you wanted to go to bed but still tape the last hour of a film. Flick a switch, press a button, job done! Now why can't it be like that now???
  • Anonymous user
    on
    Our first VCR was a betamax (can't remember the manufacturer). It was the size of a suitcase & the timer record was a 3-way switch. You could only record for 30 minutes, 60 minutes or to the end of the tape.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    Philips Video 2000 was the beast. You could record on both sides of the tape and it had a brilliant feature - the 'Go to' button. Make a note of the number on the counter at the end of each programme and you could go back to it without having to keep rewinding or forwarding. Class!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I cant remember our first VCR, it was a top loading machine from JVC and run Betamax Cassettes. We had before I was even born. Our next VCR was a Panasonic J200 (I have doubt about that model number too). It was a front loading machine with a very good result. Had a remote too. We bought it in 1992 sadly I opened it up after a few months and tried to clean the head, was never the same again.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    video nasties were the coolest thing ever. I remember seeing the evil dead, texas chainsaw, the exorcist all on pirate video. Nothing add to the excitement more than knowing a film had been banned, it kind of made it all the more scarier. I wet my pants to many a good video nasty.

Do you remember these?