Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

[crainbebo]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Great finds! I haven't been out to get VHS tapes in a while now.

-crainbebo

 

[crainbebo]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Well I decided to look at one of my tapes - and found a 1995 episode of Roseanne (The Last Thursday in November) and an episode of Home Improvement also from 1995 taped over the ALCS with the Mariners and Indians. The Mariners were down 6-nil in the top of the 6th so I guess the guy recording it said "to heck with it, no more!" Both Roseanne/Home Improvement have commercials (KOMO-taped) in SP mode.

Found some good lots on eBay I may pick up if I can figure out about shipping prices (confusing! Listed $4.98 and then listed over $23!) Another lot from Colorado is part of 2400 tapes which if they are good and have commercials, I will pick up.

-crainbebo

 

[crainbebo]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Just got another lot of tapes from the usual Everett treasure hunt site.
n/c = no commercials
s/c = some commercials
w/c = with commercials (or w/p with promos, for premium channels)

Tape 1 - The 1987 Sugar Ray vs Hagler boxing match, taped off pay-per-view n/c, but does have a promo for "Gill Cable" in San Jose, CA so the tape made it more than 700 miles!
Tape 2 - An A&E special, "Meth: A Country in Crisis" taped off the Biography Channel (bio) in April 2011 w/c, plus a California police special also off Bio in 2011 w/c. SP mode tape
Tape 3 - "The Truman Show" with Jim Carrey, taped off Showtime's free preview weekend around 1999 w/p. SP mode.
Tape 4 - "The Naked Gun" with Leslie Nielsen copied from rental tape n/c. SP mode again
Tape 5 - "The Trouble with Harry" (1955) with Edmund Gwenn, taped off unknown source (rental? premium channel?) n/c. Taped over "Tribute to Country's Greatness" (a PBS special from 1986)
Tape 6 - "This Property Is Condemned" from 1966 with Natalie Wood, taped off AMC in the early-mid 90s n/c but includes host Bob Dorian's intro before the movie; episode of "The Practice" taped off KOMO/ABC in February of 2002 w/c, Seinfeld episode "The Sniffing Accountant" taped off KING/NBC on 10/7/1993 w/c; episode of "Murder, She Wrote" taped off KIRO/CBS in 1994 w/c.
Tape 7 - "Twice in a Lifetime" (1985) taped off KSTW around 1999 w/c LP mode; "Sin and Redemption" (1994 TV movie) taped off CBS/KIRO in March 1994 w/c
Tape 8 - Matlock rerun taped off KCPQ in 1994 w/c, end of a Murder She Wrote episode taped off KIRO in 1994 w/c, James Garner in a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, "Breathing Lessons", taped off CBS/KIRO in 1994 w/c, also episodes of Home Improvement and Grace Under Fire
Tape 9 - Begins with last few minutes of a Twilight Zone (1980s) episode off KSTW w/c, followed by an episode of Now It Can Be Told from December 1991 (w/ Geraldo Rivera) taped off KSTW-TV w/c, 1991 Hair Club for Men infomercial, KSTW's Nightcap Theater presentation of "One Touch of Venus" (1948) w/c, "Zelig" with Woody Allen (1983) and an episode of Grace Under Fire w/c.

-crainbebo

 

[Scott2011]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Picked up three more tapes within the past couple of weeks, two from a flea market, one from a garage sale.

TAPE 1: Thank God It's Friday (1978) copied from rental tape; half of an episode of the Cosby Show and half of an episode of Blossom taped from WUAB in February 1999 with ads

TAPE 2: Pretty Woman (1990) and Stephanie Hodge: Straight Up (stand-up comedy special) taped from Showtime in March 1991 with promos between the two programs

TAPE 3: Last 90 minutes of Mr. Rock N Roll: The Alan Freed Story (NBC movie), Channel 3 News at 11 with Steve Miles and Monica Robins, Browns Tonight with Jim Donovan and Chuck Galeti, syndicated ER episode, Baywatch Hawaii episode, Your Big Break episode, and start of late night replay of Meet the Press with Tim Russert, taped from WKYC on October 31-November 1, 1999, all with ads; after Meet the Press starts, the cable box flips to CNN for 40 minutes of that night's CNN World Report with ads

 

[searadiofreak]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

I'm ready to get rid of all my VHS tapes. I will do an inventory of what I have in the next couple of days. Stay tuned, there is likely some interesting stuff in my collection. While I realize this is not a barter site, I will consider all options. Expect an update by Thursday July 25.

 

[WPPCProductions]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

I got probably over 5000 VHS tapes and I will never dump them .They will outlast these cheap self recorded DVD copies.

I trust the tapes more then todays digital medium for long term storage.


I enjoy this thread crainbebo.

There is alot of YouTube gold on those tapes.

 

[crainbebo]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

What I enjoy about tapes is seeing stuff that is not even listed on the labels. For example, my tape that had the South Central movie (earlier) later on had Leeza, Rosie O'Donnell and an Oprah episode, not even listed on the labels.

I'm still a bit skeptical on tapes that have no labels, but many of these no-label tapes I see have the tape either partially through or at the end, so SOMETHING was recorded on it... Tapes I've been finding have no nasty stuff at all. Only once have I found a tape that had some soft-core porn special and I took that tape to the trash. I'm sure many of the no-label tapes were probably time-shifted TV shows that someone didn't label. Probably shows that were recorded while they were out, for later viewing the next day (example).

-crainbebo

 

[Scott2011]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Did some more garage sale shopping yesterday and picked up a few more tapes.

TAPE 1: Kenny Chesney: Somewhere in the Sun (ABC special concert) taped from WEWS on 11/23/2005 with ads; Faith Hill: Fireflies (NBC special concert) taped from WKYC on 11/23/2005 with ads and start of that night's Law and Order

TAPE 2: Silver Bells (CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame movie) taped from WOIO on 11/27/2005 with ads (mostly holiday-themed Hallmark ads, but some local ads in the middle of the movie); last few minutes of an episode of Medium taped from WKYC on 5/9/2005 with a few ads; full episode of Medium taped from WKYC on 5/23/2005 with ads

TAPE 3: Garth Brooks Live from Central Park taped from HBO on 8/7/1997, tape starts with an introductory segment that includes an interview with Garth, some behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with fans before the concert

TAPE 4: (Most of) Logan's War: Bound By Honor (CBS movie) taped from WOIO on 11/1/1998 minus ads, a small part of the movie is missing because it was taped over with a short clip from an ABC World News Tonight with Charles Gibson broadcast taped sometime in June 2005 (coverage on the arrests of Hamid and Umer Hayat)

TAPE 5: Lost Souls (1998) taped from Fox Family Channel in May 2001 with ads; episode of Scariest Places on Earth taped from Fox Family Channel in August 2001, two ad breaks were cut out, the others were included

For you radio aircheck aficionados, I also picked up four home-recorded audiocassettes all supposedly containing songs taped from radio. I'm actually listening to one of them now as we speak, checking to hear if there are any airchecks, station jingles, or commercials. As of right now, the only thing I've heard in the way of that is a short song introduction from a broadcast of American Christian Music Review with Linda O'Brian (likely taped from Real Country 97.5 KFTX in Kingsville, Texas, as one of the tape labels reads "Texas country radio" and I found this is the only station in Texas that airs this show). The rest of what I've been hearing is just the music thus far, but I still have two more tapes to listen to.

 

[branda1979]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

So Scott2011, we also have a homemade VHS tape from Little Rock, Arkansas, and it has KKLE Channel 5's final morning as a PBS Kids Sprout affiliate, and its first afternoon as a CBeebies affiliate taped in 2009, including the Sprout Diner, which is the last Sprout program to air on KKLE, along with the Fimbles, the first CBeebies show to air also on KKLE, along with other Sprout and CBeebies shows, all with promos after each show.

 

[crainbebo]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Found a darn shame on one of my tapes - the one with Naked Gun. It's going to the trash, because not only is the movie in terrible quality (brightness varies from bright to dark-unwatchable), but after the movie, there's a crude early 1970s SOFT CORE PORN movie with a black man and woman kissing and doing "stuff" in the bed with this horrible music soundtrack underneath. I hate when this happens to home-recorded VHS tapes but you never know what is on there anyways (hopefully no one's found any nasty porn stuff lately!)

-crainbeo

 

[Scott2011]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Picked up a pretty good sized haul of VHS tapes from a couple of flea markets last weekend.

TAPE 1: The Mysterious Bible Codes (TBN special hosted by Grant Jeffrey based on his book) taped from WDLI in Canton circa 1998 (not 100% sure of that year though)

TAPE 2: Episodes of The Simpsons (with guest voices Bob Denver and Rod Steiger), Damon, and The X-Files, taped from WJW on 3/29/1998 with ads; episode of Home Improvement and first few minutes of an episode of That's Life (short-lived ABC sitcom), taped from WEWS on 3/31/1998 with ads; episodes of The Drew Carey Show (April Fools Day episode with a contest for viewers), Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, broadcasts of Prime Time Live, News Channel 5 at 11:00, Nightline, and half of an episode of Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, taped from WEWS on April 1-2, 1998 all with ads

TAPE 3: Last 20 minutes or so of an old Elvis Presley movie, couldn't identify it, but it was all footage from one of his concerts, taped from TCM circa 2005; episode of The O.C. taped from WJW on 1/13/2005 with ads and start of that night's North Shore

TAPE 4: Cheyenne Autumn (1964) taped from SuperStation TBS in April 1988, two partial ad breaks were found, the rest were scooped; The Undefeated (1969) taped from WUAB in April 1988 minus ads; Jeremiah Johnson (1972) taped from unknown pay TV channel circa 1988

TAPE 5: A League of Their Own (1992) taped from HBO sometime in 1993 with promos after the movie and also including part of The Making of A League of Their Own, which aired right after the movie itself

TAPE 6: Coogan's Bluff (1968), Hang 'Em High (1968), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and first 30 minutes of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), taped from the Movie Channel circa 1992 (not sure though) with promos shown before each movie

TAPE 7: King of Kings (1961) and The Singing Nun (1966) taped from TCM in November 2003 with promos between the two movies

TAPE 8: Big Business (1988) taped from the Movie Channel circa 1991

TAPE 9: Paradise (1982) taped from the Movie Channel on 10/18/1992; episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation taped from WUAB on 10/24/1992 with ads

TAPE 10: Unusual Occupations (1947), The FBI Story (1959), Obsessed with Vertigo (documentary on the restoration of the Alfred Hitchcock movie Vertigo), Vertigo (1958), and first 20 minutes of Cry the Beloved Country (1951), taped from AMC sometime in 2001 with ads and promos shown after each movie

TAPE 11: Heidi (1937) taped from AMC circa 1994 (not sure though)

 

[4dude]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

I love VHS tapes!!!!

The sound and picture is better than anything else!! (Its analogue opposed to digital)

I have MANY movies i thankfully have found TOTALLY ANALOG!!

Its getting hard though because alot of movies on VHS have been re-issued and they have either been DIGITALLY MASTERED or DIGITALLY TRANSFERRED or somehow DIGITALLY PROCESSED/RECORDED to the tape..... (All of which result in worse quality)

Im quite picky about the movies I get,but that pickiness results in what I consider to be THE BEST QUALITY

 

[crainbebo]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

It's always great to see that good ol' Captain Picard is still around with original commercials! (Star Trek TNG) I have 10 episodes from S1 and S2 taped off c. 1990, on two separate tapes, off KVOS and KCPQ with all the commercials. Fun to see Wil Wheaton (as Wesley Crusher) at a young age, and Klingons ;D

I watch DVDs quite a bit, but they are mainly for movies post-2005 (when VHS went obsolete). I'm not going to find a clamshell VHS of WALL-E, for example, in the thrift store, because that was from 2008.

-crainbebo

 

[hubcity]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

It's going to the trash, because not only is the movie in terrible quality (brightness varies from bright to dark-unwatchable)...

-crainbeo

The bright-to-dark effect means that what you were watching was the result of an attempt to duplicate a pre-recorded tape with Macrovision anti-copying encoding. Macrovision messed with most recorders' automatic brightness controls. Not only is the quality cruddy, it's unlikely it came from a broadcast or cablecast source. So, yeah, it's kinda useless.

 

[crainbebo]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

At the first several frames, there's a "PLAY" graphic that was caused by another VCR other than mine. Plus when I rewind or FF, I see the black and white Macrovision frame for a few moments - so yes, it was a rental tape. And porn on any of my tapes goes straight to the trash!

-crainbebo

 

[WPPCProductions]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

You always can record over it.I do that all the time when I find tapes with stuff that does not interest me.

 

[jwgreek8606]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

A record/tape/CD/VHS/DVD store up north in Everett, WA got a huge lot of VHS tapes (over 2000!) from a "hoarder" down south. While most of the fifty bags looked like retail VHS (I couldn't check them all, it would take me an eternity ) a couple bags had MORE blanks from the 1980s (that's what the the tape casings dated back to mostly, brands included Fuji, BASF T-120s, Sony, Maxell, Memorex and even an SKC in the pile). Since I was not sure if old commercials etc. were on them, I picked up a couple, as if I was buying a lottery Scratch ticket. One of them had a few eps of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (BBC series from the 70s) likely taped off PBS (if so, KCTS 9, but no promos or bumpers at all on the tape). The other had the 1988 Seafair Hydroplane Race (from Seattle, Lake Washington) taped off KIRO 7, with ALL the original 1988 commercials left on, including tons of local Seattle ads. Others that I didn't buy included: a 1992 Breeder's Cup (horse racing, likely off KING 5 since NBC had the rights at that time), and several older movies (like My Fair Lady, for example).


What's the name of that store?

-crainbebo

 

[jwgreek8606]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Never thought I'd be back in this thread, but here it goes:

Last week while visiting a local thrift store in Florida:

• A Tape featuring an episode of "Spenser: For Hire" as well as "Star Search '88" off WABC and WPIX respectively along with the first 10 mins of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous as well as a Poor Little Rich Girl TV Movie Starrring Farrah Fawcett (RIP!) Plus a show called "Comedy Break" and ends with first 10 mins of INN from 1986
• TV Movie, "Red River" with James Arness along with WCBS-TV Channel 2 News with Reggie Harris and Jane Velez-Mitchell (yes, that one!) plus taped over Spring Training Braves Baseball from WTBS and taped over George Michael Sports Machine
• Evergreen TV Movie along with News 4 NY and Tonight Show with guest-host Jay Leno and Dave Barry
• Perry Mason TV Movie from 1992 off WPTV
• Hawaii Five-O and first 10 minuites of A Current Affair Extra from WSVN

Apparently, I got what I was looking for...so far.... and yes they do have commercials!

Nice finds! How did you find all of that WNBC/WCBS stuff, since you're 1000+ mi S? I have a Perry Mason movie, "The Case of the Musical Murder" from 1989, off of WBIR-TV10 in Knoxville, TN. It does have commercials, and an episode of Roseanne (off WATE 6) follows it.

-crainbebo

Does your Roseanne episode have commercials?

 

[crainbebo]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Never thought I'd be back in this thread, but here it goes:

Last week while visiting a local thrift store in Florida:

• A Tape featuring an episode of "Spenser: For Hire" as well as "Star Search '88" off WABC and WPIX respectively along with the first 10 mins of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous as well as a Poor Little Rich Girl TV Movie Starrring Farrah Fawcett (RIP!) Plus a show called "Comedy Break" and ends with first 10 mins of INN from 1986
• TV Movie, "Red River" with James Arness along with WCBS-TV Channel 2 News with Reggie Harris and Jane Velez-Mitchell (yes, that one!) plus taped over Spring Training Braves Baseball from WTBS and taped over George Michael Sports Machine
• Evergreen TV Movie along with News 4 NY and Tonight Show with guest-host Jay Leno and Dave Barry
• Perry Mason TV Movie from 1992 off WPTV
• Hawaii Five-O and first 10 minuites of A Current Affair Extra from WSVN

Apparently, I got what I was looking for...so far.... and yes they do have commercials!

Nice finds! How did you find all of that WNBC/WCBS stuff, since you're 1000+ mi S? I have a Perry Mason movie, "The Case of the Musical Murder" from 1989, off of WBIR-TV10 in Knoxville, TN. It does have commercials, and an episode of Roseanne (off WATE 6) follows it.

-crainbebo

Does your Roseanne episode have commercials?

Yes it does!

-crainbebo

 

[jwgreek8606]

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Ugh. Now I wish I had kept all of my old ones. :'(

I used to have a VHS tape of "The Muppets Take Manhattan" recorded off of KDFW-TV (Dallas) back in the late '80s (after my first daughter was born - I think it was either '86 or '87), and the premiere episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" recorded off of KRBC-TV in Abilene in September of 1987. Actually I had my father in law record it, because I couldn't stick around to hit the record button and the NBC Saturday MLB Game of the Week went into extra innings (I think it was Minnesota at Detroit at old Tiger Stadium), so my copy recorded the end of the game and missed the end of the first episode (a two-hour affair). I also had a bunch of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons recorded off of Cartoon Network and WTBS back in the mid '80s. Got that idea from a friend of ours in Colorado who did the same thing for their kids. I may still have an old KTXS-TV (Abilene, TX) newscast announcing the birth of my youngest daughter (I was the executive producer there) in 1988. I'll have to look and see what I have left over - I'm pretty sure I threw most of them out, though.

Cartoon Network did not come out until 1992