Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

[crainbebo]

How could the picture freeze on a VHS tape? It's not like a DVD where a damaged disk usually has a freezing picture.
You also need to remember that if the person who originally recorded SNL lived in Brownwood, KCEN would have been 110 miles away via antenna.

I found a 60-tape lot from Brownwood. The crazy guy I am, I may pick it up based off of your finds. Abilene, Lubbock, Dallas AND Waco? Count me in! The former two markets are harder to find on video tape, especially newscasts. I have loads of Dallas material and a few tapes from Waco-Killeen.
Mostly random stuff.

A 57-tape lot also listed from Brownwood has mostly Vietnam War documentaries, oil painting shows (PBS), old movies, and unfortunately, one marked "XXX #3". Ouch.

 

[Scott2013]

How could the picture freeze on a VHS tape? It's not like a DVD where a damaged disk usually has a freezing picture.
You also need to remember that if the person who originally recorded SNL lived in Brownwood, KCEN would have been 110 miles away via antenna.

I found a 60-tape lot from Brownwood. The crazy guy I am, I may pick it up based off of your finds. Abilene, Lubbock, Dallas AND Waco? Count me in! The former two markets are harder to find on video tape, especially newscasts. I have loads of Dallas material and a few tapes from Waco-Killeen.
Mostly random stuff.

A 57-tape lot also listed from Brownwood has mostly Vietnam War documentaries, oil painting shows (PBS), old movies, and unfortunately, one marked "XXX #3". Ouch.

I don't know how that happened. I just hit the play button and nothing on the screen moved at all. There was another tape in that lot labeled "Country Music Videos" that did the same thing when I put it in, so I ended up throwing that away too. I played a few other tapes in the VCR earlier today to check on its condition after finding that flaw, and thankfully, none of the other tapes I played did that. Must have just been a problem with those two particular tapes, or at least that's what I'm inclined to assume based on how my other tapes played back.

Overall, the content I found on these tapes on eBay was pretty random. The years of the recordings ranged from 1985 (A Disney Halloween on the Disney Channel) to 2011 (The Backyardigans on Nick Jr.)

Thankfully, I was able to salvage some of the KCEN footage found on that SNL tape onto my computer, as the picture quality didn't really change until about ten minutes or so before the show's end.

 

[Darth_vader]

Your VCR might have a frame buffer. Is it a more recent one made within the last ~12-15 years or so?

I've also seen some newer VCRs that seem to "freeze" like that when they get to a corrupted or damaged segment of tape, or the quality of the recorded signal degrades to a certain point. Rather than drop to garbage they display the last good NTSC frame. That might be to appease the DVD-Video crowd that expects there to be an image on the screen at all times.

[/theory]

 

[Scott2013]

Your VCR might have a frame buffer. Is it a more recent one made within the last ~12-15 years or so?

I've also seen some newer VCRs that seem to "freeze" like that when they get to a corrupted or damaged segment of tape, or the quality of the recorded signal degrades to a certain point. Rather than drop to garbage they display the last good NTSC frame. That might be to appease the DVD-Video crowd that expects there to be an image on the screen at all times.

[/theory]

It's a Magnavox VCR/DVD recorder combo. I've never seen that happen until Sunday when I played back the "Sound of Music" tape and the country music video tape. Thankfully, I had played a few more tapes in my VCR later that day after that happened, and they all played back fine without any problems.

I've seen this unit play back damaged or wrinkled tapes before in the same way an older VCR would, so I don't know if that was a problem with the machine or those two old tapes I mentioned, but I'm inclined to assume the latter based on the playback of other tapes played after the fact.

I used to have an Insignia VCR/DVD recorder combo. I got it for my 18th birthday in 2006, but I ended up ditching it in 2012 after the Hi-Fi audio stopped working. Despite that, I honestly thought it was better than what I have now overall because generally it seemed to play back the more roughed-up tapes better than this new one does. I never had a problem with the picture freezing on that one.

 

[crainbebo]

My equipment is a lot older compared to Scott's.
Primary is a 1992 or 1993 Mitsubishi HS-U36. It works very well, have auto tracking, and were actually used at my old middle school back in the Seattle area years ago.
Secondary is a JVC HR-A55U, released around 1999. Works well, a little bit faster rewinding than the U36.

None of my tapes have been ate up by these VCRs...yet! And hopefully not!

 

[Scott2013]

My equipment is a lot older compared to Scott's.
Primary is a 1992 or 1993 Mitsubishi HS-U36. It works very well, have auto tracking, and were actually used at my old middle school back in the Seattle area years ago.
Secondary is a JVC HR-A55U, released around 1999. Works well, a little bit faster rewinding than the U36.

None of my tapes have been ate up by these VCRs...yet! And hopefully not!

I've seen several Mitsubishi VCRs being sold and reviewed online, and from what I've read, it seems like a very reliable brand. My only qualm about buying a used VCR would be not knowing what kind of condition it's in. Sad to say, but it's very easy for a seller on eBay or Craigslist to lie to you on the computer. But from what I've seen other people say online, when they do work properly, the older VCRs do seem to play back these tapes better than the newer ones.

Knock on wood, my Magnavox has never had a problem that couldn't be fixed. The worst thing it's done is play back older tapes with audio and no video (snow), and I'd have to play a new blank tape to clean the heads and get the picture back to normal, but that's only happened a couple of times in comparison to how many tapes I have (several of them dating back to the '80s), and that's been more than a year ago already when that happened. The oldest tape I currently have was recorded in 1983 (two movies and an episode of The Jack Benny Program, all in SLP speed) and that tape played back very well.

I gave my machine another test run earlier today, and everything seems to be normal in terms of all the basic operations of playback, rewinding, fast-forwarding, even recording. I still think those two tapes from my eBay lot, rather than the VCR itself, may have been the culprit in terms of the playback freezing.

 

[crainbebo]

Would you recommend the Brownwood lot to me? Or would I be more disappointed throwing away $59.72 to find 30 tapes minus ads? I have been watching that 60-tape lot for a few days now. 2 are new anyways, so down to 58. The seller said the tapes were random stuff like your lot.

 

[Scott2013]

Would you recommend the Brownwood lot to me? Or would I be more disappointed throwing away $59.72 to find 30 tapes minus ads? I have been watching that 60-tape lot for a few days now. 2 are new anyways, so down to 58. The seller said the tapes were random stuff like your lot.

I'd go for it. For the most part I was pretty pleased with what I found in the lot I ordered. One of the tapes in mine was new as well.

 

[crainbebo]

Just bought the 60-tape lot. In the over 4 years I have collected these tapes, I have never received a lot this large. Better have a gigantic box with me to throw out the minus ads, junky ones, but I'm hoping that I will find rare content from Abilene, Dallas, Lubbock, etc.

 

[Scott2013]

My equipment is a lot older compared to Scott's.
Primary is a 1992 or 1993 Mitsubishi HS-U36. It works very well, have auto tracking, and were actually used at my old middle school back in the Seattle area years ago.
Secondary is a JVC HR-A55U, released around 1999. Works well, a little bit faster rewinding than the U36.

None of my tapes have been ate up by these VCRs...yet! And hopefully not!

And on the topic of Mitsubishi VCRs, they also seem to be known for rewinding and fast-forwarding tapes pretty quickly. Found this demonstration video on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBsbq71JJw8

 

[crainbebo]

Just got the new Brownwood VHS lot. I noticed that a LOT of tapes were in retail boxes...confused me at first, as I thought I had 30 retail tapes and 28 home-recorded. 2 were new in the box - a Walmart 6 hour, and an RCA 6 hour.

Now to the tapes. I found a tape with no label, the tape guard snapped off and the tape showing...that is an absolute dud, whatever it was.

Tape 1 - Two episodes (at least) of "The Eyes of Texas," a travel magazine produced by KPRC Houston, taped in 1987 with commercials. Great find - it was hosted by longtime KPRC news director Ray Miller (1919-2008).
Tape 2 - The season 5 finale of American Idol, taped off KDFW-4 Dallas on 5/24/2006 with commercials.
Tape 3 - 101 Dalmatians copied from Walt Disney Classics/WDHV rental tape. Haven't looked after the movie to see if there was a blue VCR screen, or something else recorded. If nothing else was on it, this tape will be a dud and it will go into the "to-the-garbage box".
Tape 4 - The Sound of Music copied from a rental tape, as it was uncut, taped in the 80s, and no commercials. NBC aired a cut version every year (about 140 minutes minus ads). This goes into the "to-the-garbage box."
Tape 5 - ERASED cassette...was supposed to have a John Hagee sermon (TBN?) and Marty Stouffer's Wild America on it.
Tape 6 - "Bulworth" (1998) taped off unknown pay-TV channel, tape goes blank after the credits start rolling. Another dud.
Tape 7 - Starts with a short aircheck of Sirius/XM's "Elvis Radio," taped off of the Dish Network channel 6019 simulcast on 2/7/2010, then a partial America's News HQ broadcast taped off Fox News on 2/7/2010 with commercials; "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" taped off ABC Family in late April 2009 with commercials; partial episode and one full episode of Everybody Loves Raymond taped off TBS in April 2009 with commercials; part of an MSNBC Candidates Forum on Service aired on 9/11/2008, followed by a bunch of channel surfing on the DirecTV box before ending up on a partial Regis primetime episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire taped off GSN; partial episode of I Was Bitten taped off Discovery Channel 9/11/08; more channel surfing before ending up on a partial ESPN2 High School Football broadcast; partial Glenn Beck/Headline News broadcast from 9/11/08; tape ends with a little bit of Anderson Cooper 360 with a story on preparations for Hurricane Ike, taped around the same time
Tape 10 - Home video of a family's trip to Galveston, TX - odd. May keep to figure out who the people in the video are, but definitely taped on a VHS camcorder in the 1990s sometime. Also includes a home video of a family member doing some bowling.
Tape 11 - Various Days of Our Lives and Young & The Restless episodes taped off KRBC/KTAB Abilene in 1997/1998 with commercials. Great find!
Tape 12 - Erased tape...dud
Tape 13 - Mesquite Championship Rodeo taped off TNN in January 1991 with commercials; another broadcast of the same rodeo taped off TNN on another date in January 1991 with commercials (most likely taped because the first part was a little incomplete)
Tape 14 - "Enemy Mine" (1985), "Rocky IV" (1985) and "Moving Violations" (1985) taped off an unknown source, uncut with no commercials - a dud.
Tape 15 - Several episodes of the New Yankee Workshop with Norm Abram taped off PBS in the early 1990s

Still have more to go through.

-crainbebo

 

[Scott2013]

Just got the new Brownwood VHS lot. I noticed that a LOT of tapes were in retail boxes...confused me at first, as I thought I had 30 retail tapes and 28 home-recorded. 2 were new in the box - a Walmart 6 hour, and an RCA 6 hour.

Now to the tapes. I found a tape with no label, the tape guard snapped off and the tape showing...that is an absolute dud, whatever it was.

Tape 1 - Two episodes (at least) of "The Eyes of Texas," a travel magazine produced by KPRC Houston, taped in 1987 with commercials. Great find - it was hosted by longtime KPRC news director Ray Miller (1919-2008).
Tape 2 - The season 5 finale of American Idol, taped off KDFW-4 Dallas on 5/24/2006 with commercials.
Tape 3 - 101 Dalmatians copied from Walt Disney Classics/WDHV rental tape. Haven't looked after the movie to see if there was a blue VCR screen, or something else recorded. If nothing else was on it, this tape will be a dud and it will go into the "to-the-garbage box".
Tape 4 - The Sound of Music copied from a rental tape, as it was uncut, taped in the 80s, and no commercials. NBC aired a cut version every year (about 140 minutes minus ads). This goes into the "to-the-garbage box."
Tape 5 - ERASED cassette...was supposed to have a John Hagee sermon (TBN?) and Marty Stouffer's Wild America on it.
Tape 6 - "Bulworth" (1998) taped off unknown pay-TV channel, tape goes blank after the credits start rolling. Another dud.
Tape 7 - Starts with a short aircheck of Sirius/XM's "Elvis Radio," taped off of the Dish Network channel 6019 simulcast on 2/7/2010, then a partial America's News HQ broadcast taped off Fox News on 2/7/2010 with commercials; "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" taped off ABC Family in late April 2009 with commercials; partial episode and one full episode of Everybody Loves Raymond taped off TBS in April 2009 with commercials; part of an MSNBC Candidates Forum on Service aired on 9/11/2008, followed by a bunch of channel surfing on the DirecTV box before ending up on a partial Regis primetime episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire taped off GSN; partial episode of I Was Bitten taped off Discovery Channel 9/11/08; more channel surfing before ending up on a partial ESPN2 High School Football broadcast; partial Glenn Beck/Headline News broadcast from 9/11/08; tape ends with a little bit of Anderson Cooper 360 with a story on preparations for Hurricane Ike, taped around the same time
Tape 10 - Home video of a family's trip to Galveston, TX - odd. May keep to figure out who the people in the video are, but definitely taped on a VHS camcorder in the 1990s sometime. Also includes a home video of a family member doing some bowling.
Tape 11 - Various Days of Our Lives and Young & The Restless episodes taped off KRBC/KTAB Abilene in 1997/1998 with commercials. Great find!
Tape 12 - Erased tape...dud
Tape 13 - Mesquite Championship Rodeo taped off TNN in January 1991 with commercials; another broadcast of the same rodeo taped off TNN on another date in January 1991 with commercials (most likely taped because the first part was a little incomplete)
Tape 14 - "Enemy Mine" (1985), "Rocky IV" (1985) and "Moving Violations" (1985) taped off an unknown source, uncut with no commercials - a dud.
Tape 15 - Several episodes of the New Yankee Workshop with Norm Abram taped off PBS in the early 1990s

Still have more to go through.

-crainbebo

Several of the tapes in my Brownwood lot were placed in retail tape cases as well. One of them was the six-hour aircheck of KDFW from 5/19/2002, which included the season 13 finale of The Simpsons and the final episode of The X-Files, among other programs. That tape didn't have a label either. There were a few other tapes in that lot that also didn't have labels, such as the SNL tape from KXAS and KCEN in 1990 and another tape that mainly consisted of programming from KCBD and KJTV in 1994. Also a couple of home video tapes. One contained footage of a family vacation before cutting to partially taped over programs previously recorded on the tape beforehand, mainly episodes of Days of Our Lives and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson on KRBC in 1990. Didn't find any footage from the Houston market in my lot.

 

[crainbebo]

Have checked most of the 58 VHS tapes. Some more goodies found.
- PBR Tuff Hedeman Challenge taped off TNN in March 1996 with commercials, Dukes of Hazzard follows it
- A tape chock full of March 2005 KTAB/KRBC programming - 2 episodes of The Price is Right, an episode of Wheel of Fortune (off KTAB), episode of Still Standing, episode of Listen Up (short-lived sitcom with Jason Alexander), two episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, 2 episodes of Two and a Half Men, and partial episodes of Days of Our Lives. All with commercials.
- "In Search of Noah's Ark" copied from retail tape; after it ends, there's about 20-25 minutes of Washington Journal off C-SPAN circa 1996
- A few episodes of SuperNews! taped off Current TV in 2009; followed by brief snippets of Obama Inauguration coverage from 1/20/2009; episode of Trick My Truck taped off CMT in 2007 or 2008 with ads; 2 episodes of The Price is Right (from Drew Carey's first season, season 36) and 2 episodes of Wheel of Fortune taped off KTAB-TV Abilene in December 2007 with ads
- "Miracle Worker" (2000) taped off KTXS-12 Abilene on November 12th, 2000 with ads; also includes an episode of General Hospital also off KTXS
- "My Dog Skip" taped off Direct Cinema PPV (DirecTV) in 2000 or 2001 with ratings bumper at beginning; last hour + of "The Last Dance" (2000) taped off KBTX-3 Bryan/College Station, TX on October 29th, 2000 with ads. My Dog Skip was complete in EP mode, but The Last Dance is incomplete and taped over in SP (Hi-Fi as well!)
- "Annie" (1982) taped off KPRC-2 Houston on 2/24/1986 with ads (NBC Monday Night at the Movies...was the network television premiere); also includes a broadcast of KHOU 11 News at Ten from around the same time, M*A*S*H rerun and CBS Late Night showing of Remington Steele taped off KHOU with ads in Feb. 1986; tape ends with KTRK-13 (ABC)'s Eyewitness News from 2/26/1986 with ads
- Kelly, Fantasia & Ruben: Home for Christmas taped off Fox/KDFW-TV Dallas on 11/24/2004 with ads (SP mode), One Life to Live taped off KTXS in November 2004 with ads (EP mode)
- My first ever home-recorded T-60 tape! (T-60 means 1 hour in SP, 3 hours in EP) This was a short, but fantastic tape...chock full of goodies. Full episode of The Little Mermaid: The Series taped off KTAB-32 Abilene in August 1993 with commercials (CBS Saturday Morning cartoon); A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Garfield Christmas taped off KTAB on 12/03/1997 with ads; part of The Best of Disney Music: A Legacy in Song II taped off KTAB in May 1993 with a few ads; partial coverage of President Bill Clinton's Inauguration taped off KRBC-9 Abilene on 1/20/1993 with ads (mostly just the parade part).
- A tape chock full of The Backyardigans episodes off Nick Jr. in 2011 (most likely, like Scott's Brownwood lot, probably DVRed episodes); but also includes about 15 minutes of an episode of To the Contrary taped off KERA Dallas in April 2011 at the end.
- Episode of Country Comedy taped off CMT in 2007 with ads; rest of the tape is a mismash of 2/9/2007 and 2/8/2007 satellite programming, including about 3 Lifetime reruns of Reba and a bunch of channel surfing on the DirecTV satellite box. They all have commercials.

Several erased tapes, and several duds...consisting of movies without commercials, or copied from rentals with nothing after the movie.

-crainbebo

 

[Scott2013]

Have checked most of the 58 VHS tapes. Some more goodies found.
- PBR Tuff Hedeman Challenge taped off TNN in March 1996 with commercials, Dukes of Hazzard follows it
- A tape chock full of March 2005 KTAB/KRBC programming - 2 episodes of The Price is Right, an episode of Wheel of Fortune (off KTAB), episode of Still Standing, episode of Listen Up (short-lived sitcom with Jason Alexander), two episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, 2 episodes of Two and a Half Men, and partial episodes of Days of Our Lives. All with commercials.
- "In Search of Noah's Ark" copied from retail tape; after it ends, there's about 20-25 minutes of Washington Journal off C-SPAN circa 1996
- A few episodes of SuperNews! taped off Current TV in 2009; followed by brief snippets of Obama Inauguration coverage from 1/20/2009; episode of Trick My Truck taped off CMT in 2007 or 2008 with ads; 2 episodes of The Price is Right (from Drew Carey's first season, season 36) and 2 episodes of Wheel of Fortune taped off KTAB-TV Abilene in December 2007 with ads
- "Miracle Worker" (2000) taped off KTXS-12 Abilene on November 12th, 2000 with ads; also includes an episode of General Hospital also off KTXS
- "My Dog Skip" taped off Direct Cinema PPV (DirecTV) in 2000 or 2001 with ratings bumper at beginning; last hour + of "The Last Dance" (2000) taped off KBTX-3 Bryan/College Station, TX on October 29th, 2000 with ads. My Dog Skip was complete in EP mode, but The Last Dance is incomplete and taped over in SP (Hi-Fi as well!)
- "Annie" (1982) taped off KPRC-2 Houston on 2/24/1986 with ads (NBC Monday Night at the Movies...was the network television premiere); also includes a broadcast of KHOU 11 News at Ten from around the same time, M*A*S*H rerun and CBS Late Night showing of Remington Steele taped off KHOU with ads in Feb. 1986; tape ends with KTRK-13 (ABC)'s Eyewitness News from 2/26/1986 with ads
- Kelly, Fantasia & Ruben: Home for Christmas taped off Fox/KDFW-TV Dallas on 11/24/2004 with ads (SP mode), One Life to Live taped off KTXS in November 2004 with ads (EP mode)
- My first ever home-recorded T-60 tape! (T-60 means 1 hour in SP, 3 hours in EP) This was a short, but fantastic tape...chock full of goodies. Full episode of The Little Mermaid: The Series taped off KTAB-32 Abilene in August 1993 with commercials (CBS Saturday Morning cartoon); A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Garfield Christmas taped off KTAB on 12/03/1997 with ads; part of The Best of Disney Music: A Legacy in Song II taped off KTAB in May 1993 with a few ads; partial coverage of President Bill Clinton's Inauguration taped off KRBC-9 Abilene on 1/20/1993 with ads (mostly just the parade part).
- A tape chock full of The Backyardigans episodes off Nick Jr. in 2011 (most likely, like Scott's Brownwood lot, probably DVRed episodes); but also includes about 15 minutes of an episode of To the Contrary taped off KERA Dallas in April 2011 at the end.
- Episode of Country Comedy taped off CMT in 2007 with ads; rest of the tape is a mismash of 2/9/2007 and 2/8/2007 satellite programming, including about 3 Lifetime reruns of Reba and a bunch of channel surfing on the DirecTV satellite box. They all have commercials.

Several erased tapes, and several duds...consisting of movies without commercials, or copied from rentals with nothing after the movie.

-crainbebo

I remember recording The Miracle Worker on ABC (WEWS) when it originally aired on The Wonderful World of Disney in 2000, but later on our old VCR ate the tape. It was a Philips Magnavox TV/VCR combo. It ended up biting the dust completely in 2003.

I have recordings of A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Garfield Christmas on separate tapes. My copy of Charlie Brown was recorded from WOIO on 12/19/1996 and my copy of Garfield was recorded from WOIO on 12/14/1994. Both have commercials from their respective broadcasts.

The only presidential inauguration I have on tape right now is George W. Bush's 2001 inauguration. The tape I have of it has coverage from ABC (WEWS), NBC (WKYC) and CNN.

Believe it or not, I never even watched Obama's first inauguration. I was a sophomore in college at the time and the inauguration happened when I was in my classes. Living in a dorm room, I didn't have access to a VCR or DVD recorder to record it. Bush's '01 inauguration was on a Saturday, so I remember watching that.

 

[crainbebo]

Well, the Miracle Worker has commercials...so it will give you some old memories back! My copy was likely taped over the air, as the picture is brighter than normal and fuzzy. Remember, Abilene is about 60 miles from Brownwood, where the tapes came from.
I also have George HW Bush's 1989 Inauguration on VHS, recorded from NBC (KARE-11 Minneapolis). Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel and John Chancellor hosted that footage. Would love to find Reagan 1985, or even Reagan 1981 (I will even take a Beta copy).
Another treat found: A tape that had a uncut copied-from-rental showing of "Ben Hur." After the tape ends, there's the last few minutes of Paint Your Wagon, and about a half-hour of Jacques Cousteau's Riders of the Wind taped off WTBS on 1/14/1986 with two commercial breaks in LP mode.

 

[Scott2013]

Well, the Miracle Worker has commercials...so it will give you some old memories back! My copy was likely taped over the air, as the picture is brighter than normal and fuzzy. Remember, Abilene is about 60 miles from Brownwood, where the tapes came from.
I also have George HW Bush's 1989 Inauguration on VHS, recorded from NBC (KARE-11 Minneapolis). Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel and John Chancellor hosted that footage. Would love to find Reagan 1985, or even Reagan 1981 (I will even take a Beta copy).
Another treat found: A tape that had a uncut copied-from-rental showing of "Ben Hur." After the tape ends, there's the last few minutes of Paint Your Wagon, and about a half-hour of Jacques Cousteau's Riders of the Wind taped off WTBS on 1/14/1986 with two commercial breaks in LP mode.

Many of my recordings from KTXS have a pretty fuzzy signal, so the quality of some recordings of the station's programs are worse than others. One of the T-160s in my Brownwood lot included, among other things, an ABC presentation of Tin Cup (1996) taped from KTXS sometime in 2000 and the picture was all black and white throughout. Only one partial commercial break was found on that recording. Several on-screen severe weather alerts from News 12 also popped up throughout the movie.

 

[Scott2013]

This afternoon I found three recorded VHS tapes at what's generally an unlikely place--a local Salvation Army Family Store.

TAPE 1: Several episodes of Murphy Brown (summer reruns from the first season) taped from WJW in June and July 1989 minus most commercials; episode of Married with Children (summer rerun) taped from WOIO on 7/2/1989 with commercials

TAPE 2: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus 119th Edition (CBS special) taped from WJW sometime in May 1989 minus commercials; episode of Murphy Brown taped from WJW in May 1989 minus commercials; episode of China Beach (second season finale) taped from WEWS on 5/3/1989 with commercials; Emmylou Harris performance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson taped from WKYC sometime in 1989; Late Night with David Letterman interview with Courteney Cox taped from WKYC sometime in 1989; Good Morning America segment on cheap fashions with Kim Alexis taped from WEWS sometime in 1989; GMA interview with Paula Abdul taped from WEWS sometime in 1989

TAPE 3: Miss Universe 1997 taped from WOIO on 5/16/1997 with commercials, along with first three minutes of CBS 19 News at 11 (with later Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson and Eric Greene filling in for Denise Dufala)

 

[Scott2013]

This past weekend, I bought 20 tapes from a Craigslist seller in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville, Ohio. Unfortunately, four of them were duds. One tape was erased (six hours of blank signal, even though the memory counter was still running), two tapes were defective and would not go into my VCR all the way, and one tape was covered in dirt. Other than that, not the greatest haul, but not a total bust either.

TAPE 1: Varsity Blues (1999) taped from DirecTV Direct Ticket Pay-Per-View in July 1999

TAPE 2: Broadcasts of Cavuto on Business and Special Report with Brit Hume (Tony Snow filling in for Brit) taped from Fox News Channel on 6/13/1999 with commercials; partial broadcast of WCW Monday Nitro from CSU Convocation Center in Cleveland taped from TNT on 6/7/1999 with commercials; episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (summer rerun) taped from WBNX on 6/8/1999 with commercials

TAPE 3: Ernest Saves Christmas (1988) taped from WEWS (ABC Saturday Night Movie) on 12/11/1993 with commercials

TAPE 4: Partial episode of Sanford & Son and Nabisco Spotlight presentation of A Christmas Story (1983) taped from TBS on 11/23/1989 with commercials; most of Miracle on 34th Street (1973) taped from USA in December 1989 with commercials. I already have a retail copy of A Christmas Story and have passed by the house from that movie in the downtown area of Cleveland before.

TAPE 5: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode taped from WKYC on 3/30/2011 with commercials; another SVU episode taped from WKYC on 4/6/2011 with commercials and first couple minutes of Channel 3 News at 11 with Romona Robinson; episode of General Hospital and partial episode of Oprah taped from WEWS in December 2010 with commercials, winter weather advisory message pops up on screen a couple times in this recording. Both SVU episodes are original broadcasts.

TAPE 6: Partial broadcast of the uncut showing of The Abyss (1989) taped from Sci-Fi Channel in May 1996 with commercials; tape ends with a few minutes of an episode of Days of Our Lives taped from WKYC in April 1995 with a few commercials before the tape runs out

TAPE 7: Simply Irresistible (1999) taped from Direct Ticket in August 1999

TAPE 8: Demolition Man (1993) taped from Cinemax Free Preview Weekend in January 1995 with promos afterward; tape ends with a few minutes of a Savage Dragon episode taped from USA

TAPE 9: Cruel Intentions (1999) taped from Direct Ticket in August 1999 with promos afterward, mostly for the showing of the next movie, The Corruptor (1999)

TAPE 10: G.I. Joe episode taped from USA (Cartoon Express block) in November 1995 with commercials; The World's Greatest Magic 2 (NBC special) taped from WKYC on 11/22/1995 with commercials; Savage Dragon episode taped from USA (Action Extreme Team block) in November 1995 with commercials

TAPE 11: Pleasantville (1998) and partial showing of Dark City (1998) taped from Starz in September 1999 with promos between the two movies

TAPE 12: America Undercover episode "Shock Video 6: Turn-On TV" taped from HBO on 9/21/1999 with promos before and after the show; partially taped over episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (summer rerun) taped from WGN in August 1999 with commercials; episode of Ren and Stimpy taped from Nickelodeon (Snick programming block on Saturday nights) in December 1992 with commercials; two more Ren and Stimpy episodes taped from Nickelodeon in February 1993 with commercials. Throwing this one out after I digitize the ads and promos from it.

TAPE 13: Clueless (1995) taped from HBO in August 1999 with promos afterward. I already have a recording of this movie from the satellite Pay-Per-View network TVN in 1996, so this one will be thrown out as well after digitizing the HBO promos.

TAPE 14: The Faculty (1998) taped from Direct Ticket in June 1999

TAPE 15: WWF Summerslam taped from Direct Ticket on 8/30/1999, a couple of WWF promos are shown during the event, including one for the premiere of WWF Smackdown on UPN, recording ends with a promo loop for the replay of Summerslam

TAPE 16: WWF Unforgiven taped from Direct Ticket on 9/26/1999; partially taped over showing of Hard Rain (1998) taped from unknown pay TV channel

 

[crainbebo]

Was the America Undercover/Ren & Stimpy/Buffy tape the one that was covered in dirt? Still some good finds...especially the Savage Dragon episode. I still have a 6-hour RCA tape with Savage Dragon episodes taped off USA Action Extreme Team from 12/1995-3/1996, all with commercials (lots of kids ads, PSAs and direct-response ads).

 

[Scott2013]

Was the America Undercover/Ren & Stimpy/Buffy tape the one that was covered in dirt? Still some good finds...especially the Savage Dragon episode. I still have a 6-hour RCA tape with Savage Dragon episodes taped off USA Action Extreme Team from 12/1995-3/1996, all with commercials (lots of kids ads, PSAs and direct-response ads).

No, the one that was covered in dirt I didn't even bother playing. Don't want to take chances with my VCR. I'm throwing out the America Undercover tape because of the nature of that program since it was all about sexually explicit TV shows and commercials, shock videos, etc. Wouldn't be the first time I've found such material on one of these tapes though, in which case I would always throw it away.