Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

[oldschooler]

> I think it would have been neat (and showing a lot of
> foresight) if some early VCR adopters had taped for
> posterity a few random examples of a complete prime-time
> evening, complete with IDs and promos, bumpers, local and
> network ads, etc. Would be a fascinating bit of nostalgia
> -- what an evening of TV looked like in 1976 or whatever. I
> know some Brits did that with the early Philips VCRs over
> there in the early 70's, so they have some nice "complete
> evening" examples of their TV back then.
>
I have that same sort of thing with the NBC 60th anniversary special, which took up an entire evening when it ran (don't know the date). It's from WSTM in Syracuse. Everything looks so....Eighties-ish.

 

[oldschooler]

> > > I'd bet someone taped it with a U-Matic machine, which
> by
> > > 1975 were pretty common at TV stations and institutional
>
> > > settings (schools, etc.), then later transferred it to
> > VHS.
> > >
> >
> > Ah, I remember those...reel-to-reel, right? There was one
> at
> > my high school, 20+ years ago.
>
>
> No, U-Matic was (and is) a 3/4" videocassette system
> developed by Sony in circa 1971. It was the first practical
> videocassette format, and the Betamaz was more or less a
> scaled-down version of the same technology. It produced
> good video that, run through a time-base corrector, was
> acceotable even for broadcast, and the earliest ENG
> (Electronic News Gathering) systems were U-Matic. At one
> time, most TV stations had such equipment, and thousands of
> schools as well.
>
> The reel-to-reel system (EIAJ) predated U-Matic by many
> years.
>
Are you referring to the 1/2" reel to reels, made by everyone and his brother back in the ealry 70's, and which you can't find ANYWHERE anymore?! It was such a trashy system -- used by schools and institutions for record/playback on in-house systems for educational shows. We had a full-blown Tv studio in our HS in the mid-seventies, and we had 4-5 of those machines just in the control room, and 7-8 of them upstairs in the video distribution room where they'd record daytime educaitonal shows and stuff for playback on the high school routing system.
That's how I got a copy of NBC's 50th anniversary -- on 1/2" reel to reel. I ripped it off from my HS, knowing no one cared ( they didn't). It was in B & W, though. I carted those tapes around for years, throwing them out before I knew how rare and important they could be.

 

[Stanislav]

> Are you referring to the 1/2" reel to reels, made by
> everyone and his brother back in the ealry 70's, and which
> you can't find ANYWHERE anymore?!


Yes. And you can find them, but not necessarily in working order (they turn up on eBay now and then).

> That's how I got a copy of NBC's 50th anniversary -- on 1/2"
> reel to reel. I ripped it off from my HS, knowing no one
> cared ( they didn't). It was in B & W, though. I carted
> those tapes around for years, throwing them out before I
> knew how rare and important they could be.


The main problem with those old 1/2" r-t-r systems is not the equipment -- the tape stock was putrid, most especially in the earlier years. Unless you stored those tapes at a perfect combo of humidity and temperature, they quickly deteriorated, with the tape either sticking to itself on the reel or, if it was able to be threaded through a machine, shedding hunks of (iron oxide, I think?) as it passes over the heads. Even properly stored tapes can fail some years on, just because the tape quality was so bad to begin with.

If you ever find anything of potential rarity or value on one of those old tapes, DO NOT try to play it yourself, even if you find a working machine. Hand it over to a professional restoration company that can assess its condition and has ways to "resurrect" reel tapes that are salvageable.

 

[KMRichards]

> > Betamax was released in the U.S. in 1976, but was
> available
> > in 1975 in Japan. Even if someone bought one there
> > (military, traveler) and brought it over, the channel
> scheme
> > for the built-in tuner wouldn't have been the same as U.S.
>
> > (For example, Japan has TV channels in what is our FM
> band).
>
> VHF channels, to be more precise. Japan's UHF channels are
> the same as the US, except that they're one channel lower --
> for example: their channel 13 is our channel 14.

Which is the reason why the first VHS machine our family got (a Sharp, with a <u>wired!</u> remote) had a flip-down panel which allowed the user to tune every preset channel anywhere in the VHF and UHF bands, all the way through cable channel "W".

I do remember that, since our cable company did provide FM radio service as well, it was possible to tune in radio on the VCR ...<P ID="signature">______________


</P>

 

[FreddyE1977]

> > Yeah, we had a top-loading JVC, which I still have
> upstairs
> > in a closet, only for capturing audio files as it does not
>
> > work properly for use with a television anymore. It was
> > designed for use with an early video camera, as the actual
>
> > recorder could be detached from the tuner/timer section.
> > All our home videos were made with that machine.
> >
>
> Sounds like a Curtis Mathes VCR/Camera combo my grandfather
> had between 1984 to about 1989. The top-loading VCR used to
> detach from a base you left on or near your TV and went into
> a bag with connections for your video camera. Kind of
> cumbersome, but it worked.
>

This thread is making me nostalgic. I used to sell VCR's and Video Equipment in a catalog showroom in the mid-80's. I remember trying to sell cusomers up a model or two to get a remote WITHOUT A CORD attached to it....or for CABLE READY TUNING! We also sold the camera-bag recorder combo. The camera was about 30 lux, you needed some pretty decent lumination for it. The recorder came with a detachable tuner unit, basically just a radio analog dial tuner, that could detach from the base recorder. The whole thing retailed for about $850. But it was a piece of junk, made by Emerson. Best sellers were those early Matsushita machines from Magnavox or Panasonic.

 

[ccmfan]

> > > I'd bet someone taped it with a U-Matic machine, which
> by
> > > 1975 were pretty common at TV stations and institutional
>
> > > settings (schools, etc.), then later transferred it to
> > VHS.
> > >
> >
> > Ah, I remember those...reel-to-reel, right? There was one
> at
> > my high school, 20+ years ago.
> >
>
> I can remember my high school having some sort of video
> cassette based VCR in 1975. What type qould that have been?
>

I realized that Stanislav probably answered my question above. Thanks!

 

[ssetta]

Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

I have been a fan of thrift stores for quite awhile, and it seems as if the content of thrift stores has changed quite a bit within the last 10 years or so. A lot of thrift stores are selling less and less vintage electronics. I think most still carry records, CDs, and tapes. Many have VHS tapes, but one thing that you used to see a lot of that you hardly see anymore: Do you ever remember seeing self-made VHS tapes? That is, recordable VHS tapes with TV-recorded material. Just today I found a tape of programs from WSBK-TV 38 in Boston. And on another tape I found a few minutes of something recorded from WWSB Channel 40 ABC from Florida, both are from 1988. This was at my local Goodwill. So they had some, but not very many. I remember back when sometimes they would have an entire section of homemade VHS tapes. But many thrift stores are not carrying them at all. I think it may be because of copyright issues, but amazingly enough, to most people, shows recorded off TV seem worthless, but definitely not to us classic TV fans.

So, are there still a lot of thrift stores out there that carry self-made VHS tapes?

 

[azumanga]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

I remember back when sometimes they would have an entire section of homemade VHS tapes. But many thrift stores are not carrying them at all. I think it may be because of copyright issues...

Though I think it's more because of changing times -- less and less people are using videotape and more and more are using DVRs to record their shows, while some record onto DVDs.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

I see them at local thrift stores and flea markets all the time.

 

[1st of 5]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

My local thrift store has them for sale all of the time, but I am afraid what that tape would do to my VCR. Most homebrew VHS tapes are w/o any protective cover, some have pet hair, greasey gunk, stratified dust-dirt-filth, or melted tape. At my source, 99 cents is not worth damaging my equipment.

 

[Ultimajock]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

...when I was with KXCI Tucson last year, a lot of folks gave us home-recorded VHSs for the station's fund-raising "yard sale." The station tossed them out, but I salvaged the ones with the 1986-1991 MLB All-Star Games on them ;-) ...

 

[knicksfan89]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

...when I was with KXCI Tucson last year, a lot of folks gave us home-recorded VHSs for the station's fund-raising "yard sale." The station tossed them out, but I salvaged the ones with the 1986-1991 MLB All-Star Games on them ;-) ...

do you still have them and do you have any more sporting events on vhs or dvd?

 

[Stanislav]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Used to be one could find tapes of this nature in most thrift stores. Now, you're only likely to find them in smaller, crappier stores that just throw anything out on the shelves without sorting or checking; the bigger chains like Goodwill, Salvation Army, et. al., will not stock home-recorded tapes.

Part of the issue may be copyright, but also consider that you can't always judge a home-recorded tape by it's crudely hand-lettered label. They can easily be taped over, and I'll bet some customers found home-grown porn or worse on some of those innocently-labeled tapes. Could be a major liability issue there if someone buys a home copy of The Smurfs for their kid, and it turns out to have been taped over by some couple's intimate shenanigans.

You're probably more likely to find old home-taped VHS at estate sales and the like.

 

[mbayus]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

It has nothing to do with copyright issues, thrift stores don't care if what they have is legal or not. I see more than a few cable boxes on the shellvs nowadays.

 

[Ultimajock]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

...when I was with KXCI Tucson last year, a lot of folks gave us home-recorded VHSs for the station's fund-raising "yard sale." The station tossed them out, but I salvaged the ones with the 1986-1991 MLB All-Star Games on them ;-) ...

do you still have them and do you have any more sporting events on vhs or dvd?

...still got both of what you ask about ;-) ...

 

[mjlarochelle]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Another good place to look at is garage sales. I picked up a stack of VHS tapes last year, don't think they were very old though. The one I've gotten around to looking at had some stuff from WGN-TV from about 1989.

 

[crainbebo]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

I saw a 20/20 home recorded tape at a Yakima thrift store, never bought it. I probably think it's from KAPP 35 Yakima, but you never know.

-crainbebo

 

[Mendoza Line]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

I agree that home-made VHS tapes are getting harder to find at SA or Goodwill. They must have changed their policy regarding them, because i used to see a lot of them, and the most likely reason is that they just didn't sell. I think I may have been the only one buying them ;D

Occasionally, you'll come across some. The problem is sometimes they're labelled, and sometimes they're not. Another problem is their price.....$1 for an old used tape is too much...no wonder they didn't sell ( I don't know if those setting prices at thrifts are the brightest bulbs in the bunch). However, if a tape looks old enough, I'll pick it up just out of curiosity....kind of like a lottery ticket. I did that last month and found an old Braves-Orioles game from the mid-90's with the late Skip Carey at the mike....a great find. I've also come across some great old 80's stuff and put it up on YouTube (unfortunately my YT account gets disabled every few years for "copyright" reasons.....but that's another discussion). The most frustrating thing is finding a tape with something really interesting written on it, like "MTV 1985", then playing it and it has a soap opera from 2006. Or worse, a movie I really hate, and with commercials cut out

 

[searadiofreak]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

If anyone is interested, I have a pretty nice selection of 1980's VHS, with a lot of syndicated programming and local news, plus quite be bit of NBC Letterman. I recorded quite a bit. I'm not sure the PM function is still working on this site. If interested, please let me know either via PM or as a response here. My market at the time was Seattle.

 

[WPPCProductions]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

I see them at local thrift stores and flea markets all the time.

I agree.At my local fleamarket ,the venders have truckloads of them.I have not picked any up yet.I have over 3,000 tapes that I recorded from 1985 to present in my archives.