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Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

I found a top loader Panasonic on eBay manufactured in 1984, but there's no way I am paying $100+ for that. My PV-9662 has only shut off a couple times in the past 2 days, but some days it's a disaster.

Most likely, I will get that Mitsubishi (a 1992-93 HS-U36) or a Quasar VH6400 (cheap price on eBay, and manufactured in 1990) soon. Both Quasar and Mitsubishi made some great VCRs that worked very well. I would never go for a new VCR-DVD unit at a department store, as they are usually very crappy and cheaply made. And I have a home-recorded VHS that will be 32 years old this month; as well as retail tapes that are reaching 35/36 (a 1980 Magnetic Video copy of "Alien," and a 1979 Paramount HV copy of "The Longest Yard" with Burt Reynolds, with the old flip top box). Don't want to play those oldies in a cheaply made VCR.
 
Just purchased a used Mitsubishi HS-U36 on sale over at eBay. We'll see how good it works when I receive it. First things first, it goes right into head cleaning mode! My PV-9662 is still on life support and may be done with very soon.
I'm also on hiatus for my YouTube channel, and there may be more tapes coming to my door soon from the same Bakersfield, CA seller. Stay tuned for details.

-crainbebo
 
A couple of tapes I've found here and there recently, at a thrift store and a garage sale, respectively:

TAPE 1: Mary, Mother of Jesus (NBC made-for-TV movie) taped from WTOV in Steubenville on 11/14/1999 with commercials

TAPE 2: Fox NFL Sunday broadcast of San Francisco 49ers at Cleveland Browns, taped from WJW in Cleveland on 12/30/2007 with commercials--like many of the tapes I find, this tape started with a short jumble of clips from previous recordings, which in this case included a pledge drive break from KUHT, the PBS station in Houston, and a broadcast of Channel 3 News (WKYC in Cleveland)--also, after the football game is a brief clip from a broadcast of WWE's Saturday Night Main Event on NBC (presumably WKYC)

Also found some radio airchecks on an audiocassette at another garage sale. On Super Bowl Sunday 1997, 101 WIXX in Green Bay (top 40 format) devoted its entire playlist to songs about the Green Bay Packers, as the team would play against the New England Patriots that night. Radio station jingles and disc jockey dialogue is present throughout the tape. Found the start of a commercial break as well, but it ended up being clipped out.
 
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i used to have a tape (since junked) of "On Scene" with a helicopter rescue a roof-top fire and two kids caught by a river from a repeat taped off my NBC station WYFF on December 29,1990 i had some store bought stuff like the "China Beach" pilot movie and some religious stuff but "On Scene" was the first show i ever recorded i also recorded one with swimmers caught in riptides and rescuers going through the rubble of earthquake in the Philippines
 
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This is a nitpick, so please skip if you don't want your nit picked. :p

crainbebo said:
- The History of Meatloaf (a concert, not a documentary!!) taped from VH1 in June 1995 minus ads. Obviously, the band is well known for "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)".
Click to expand...

Meat Loaf is not the band name, it is the stage name of Marvin Lee Aday, the singer.

He also appeared as the delivery guy on the motorcycle in the cult classic movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show, billed under the same stage name.
 
what was the best method to record tv shows? i used a SP when taping "On Scene" but i used a SLP when taping football games which is better?
 
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The one guy who posted the eBay listing link had a boatload of great TV programming. Can't believe some tapes only had 10-20 mins of material on them, but I suppose most of the previous material got erased and only bits and pieces remained.
I noticed one of the tapes has the whole "Scarlett" miniseries on it. Wish I picked up the other 4 Scarlett tapes at that estate sale a couple months ago, I only got part 2 - with commercials off KIMA-29 Yakima.
14 more tapes are coming to my door soon from Bakersfield, again, so watch my YouTube channel for more 1990s-early 00s Bakersfield material soon. Been enjoying the last lot as well! The 14 tapes include episodes of Grace Under Fire from the mid 90s, Step by Step, Pretender, Profiler, some more ET + Access Hollywood from early 00s, some more Buffy episodes (including the Nov 2001 "musical" episode), Crossing Jordan, etc etc. Basically, more TV fun from the Generation Y/Millennial days.
 
I noticed most people just used SLP to fit more on the tape, as the amount of time would go from 120 min to 360 min on a T-120 cassette.
For movies, SP was likely the way to go, as that was most retail tapes were as well. That would get you the best quality. Some people liked to have 2-3 movies on a tape, so that's where LP/SLP come into play.
When people taped family memories (like Christmas, birthdays, weddings etc) it was usually in SP mode as well.

BTW..."On Scene" in my old hometown of Seattle was aired on KOMO 4 on Saturday nights, circa 1990-91. Just pulled out an old microfilm TV listing I had from that time and found the listing for the show.

-crainbebo
 
i used slp for NFL and NBA games it was not good in terms of tracking so i switched to SP only good for 2 hours per tape offered the best picture and sound used two tapes for football and one tape for other shows
 
its too bad i junked so many of my tapes but so many great memories...
my oldest tape was a Week 16 1981 CIN-ATL telecast pushing back a lineup of childrens' holiday specials on NBC that my parents taped
olympics feeds from calgary in 88
many football games taped off dish
 
Received a second lot from Bakersfield, CA! Have gone through several tapes and have found:
- The 1938 movie "Boystown" taped from KQED-9 San Francisco in 1996 with a promo break at the end
- A PBS program on the making of the Wizard of Oz (1939), also taped from KQED
- episode of Star Trek: Voyager (rerun of Dreadnought) taped from KUZZ-45 (now KUVI) on 10/16/1996 with ads
- episode of Star Trek: The Original Series taped from KBHK-44 San Francisco in March 1995 with ads
- episode of Grace Under Fire taped from KGO-7 in 1995 minus ads except for an incomplete promo for Oprah Winfrey
- another episode of Star Trek: TOS (Spock's Brain) taped from KBHK-44 SF in 1995 minus ads
- Two Entertainment Tonight episodes (found so far), one from 11/19/01 and another from 7/1/2002 taped from KGET-17 w/ ads
- episodes of The Pretender, Profiler and the series premiere of The Others, taped from KGET-17 Bakersfield 2/5/2000 with ads
- Weakest Link episode (US primetime w/ Anne Robinson) featuring several celebrity comedians playing, taped from KGET-17 11/19/01 with ads
- episode of Seven Days taped off KUVI-45 Bakersfield 3/8/2000 with ads, also includes Star Trek: Voyager from same night
- more Angel and Buffy reruns from TNT/FX around 2002-2003
- "Ghost Story" (1981) taped from USA Network during their Late Night Movie, at 3AM PT 3/24/1995 with ads
- "Feds" (1988) taped from the KBHK UPN 44 Late Night Movie around March or April 1995 with ads
- A&E original movie "Thicker Than Water" taped from A&E around 1996, haven't checked for ads yet
- episode of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda taped from KUVI-45 Bakersfield in June 2002 with ads
- episode of Disney's House of Mouse taped from KERO-23 Bakersfield in June 2002 with ads (One Saturday Morning)
- sneak preview of the movie "Lilo & Stitch" taped from KERO-23 and One Saturday Morning around mid June 2002
- episodes of The Jeffersons + Benson taped from KUVI-45 (syndicated Screen Gems Network block) around August or early Sep 2001 (before 9/11) with ads
- episode of Darn Angel taped from KBFX-LP 58 Bakersfield (FOX) 3/13/2001 with ads

There's more to get through, including more Voyager, 7 Days, Level 9 (also a UPN show), some more cartoons, Buffy, VH1 stuff, etc. Lot 2 might be better than the first lot.
Also received another VCR...a Mitsubishi HS-U36. Works quite well and retailed for $300+ back in 1992 when they were on the market. I do need to get a Y-connector because the audio only plays in one speaker on my video capture box that I use to post videos to YouTube.
 
my oldest tape is
the Bengals Falcons game from 1981 A Family Circus Christmas and Little Rascals Christmas Special in SLP off NBC station WYFF
 
The Beatles cartoons (32 of the 39 half hours) as broadcast in the summer of 1985 on WGNX/channel 46 (then independent--now CBS affiliate WGCL). With opening titles, bumpers, scenes from next week's show and local commercials.
 
Well, now that the self-made VHS thread has been combined into this one, I can contribute my oldest.
Oldest off-air tape I have is a tape with "On the Town" (Gene Kelly) taped off WFLD-32 Chicago in April 1983 with commercials. Also has "Here's Television Entertainment," which was an NBC special/salute to 50s and 60s stars, taped off WMAQ-5 Chicago in early December 1983 with commercials.
I also have some 1984 material...a few HBO movies and the pilot of Highway to Heaven taped off WESH-2 Daytona Beach with ads, as well as episode 3 (To Touch the Moon). I also have some vintage material from WMOD-TV 43 Melbourne, which was a second-tier indie rimshot. The Avengers TV show, Night Gallery, Kojak, Twilight Zone, etc. All with local ads.

-crainbebo
 
Right now, the oldest VHS tape I have was recorded in 1983. It contains a presentation of Wings and the Woman (1942) on WUAB in Cleveland with commercials, an episode of The Jack Benny Program on WCLQ (now WQHS) in Cleveland with commercials, and a presentation of The Benny Goodman Story (1956) on WCLQ with the commercials cut out.
 
"Elvis in Concert", original airing from October 1977. Beta tape, with a few of the original commercials. (I was afraid that I'd run short on tape, so after the first couple, I started pausing when they came on!)
 
here is one VHS tape from 1992 all taped off satellite dish
college football game between USC and San deigo State with Steve Zabriskie and Lynn Swann on the call
a rerun of China Beach from Lifetime "With a Little Help From My Friends"
a movie(cant remember name of movie)
the football game was a backhaul feed so no commercials on that but the China Beach episode and the movie have commercials was SLP
 
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