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Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Cartoon Network now has live-action crap. (Well, most is still animated, my young siblings enjoy watching "Adventure Time")...And I'm still glad that Tom & Jerry reruns are still on there at lunchtime. Young people need to know about the old cartoons of the 1950s too...

-crainbebo
 
Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

crainbebo said:
Cartoon Network now has live-action crap. (Well, most is still animated, my young siblings enjoy watching "Adventure Time")...And I'm still glad that Tom & Jerry reruns are still on there at lunchtime. Young people need to know about the old cartoons of the 1950s too...

-crainbebo

Agree 100% Cartoons today aren't like that used to be. Cartoon Network, like many other channels MTV, VH1, take your pick, just don't live up to the name anymore.
 
Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Even BOOMERANG is now showing garbage!!

"PINK PANTHER AND PALS" what a piece of crap!!!!!!!! -- THAT CHANNEL STARTED OUT EXCELLENT!! (Even better I think than cartoon network!!!)
 
Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

The Dude said:
Even BOOMERANG is now showing garbage!!

"PINK PANTHER AND PALS" what a piece of crap!!!!!!!! -- THAT CHANNEL STARTED OUT EXCELLENT!! (Even better I think than cartoon network!!!)

I noticed that as well. Haven't seen the channel in a while, last time I did, I noticed they added commericals too. :'(
 
Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

crainbebo said:
Cartoon Network now has live-action crap. (Well, most is still animated, my young siblings enjoy watching "Adventure Time")...And I'm still glad that Tom & Jerry reruns are still on there at lunchtime. Young people need to know about the old cartoons of the 1950s too...

-crainbebo

they put on the old cartoons while the kids are at school, and the old people are home, and if kids are home during the they're probably not watching boomerang
 
Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Yes but its the same ones over and over!!!

Alot of 'Looney Tunes' they dont play cause its not P.C. -- Its total BS!!
 
Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Found some more tapes both last weekend and just earlier today. Some of these were good, but some were a bit disappointing this time.

TAPE 1: The Sting II (1983) taped from WEWS on 7/15/1989 with ads and start of TV5 Eyewitness News at 11

TAPE 2: Bridge to Silence (CBS movie) taped from WJW on 4/9/1989 with ads and start of Newscenter 8 at 11:00

TAPE 3: Big Momma's House (2000) taped from DirecTV Direct Ticket circa December 2000; most of an episode of American Idol and most of an episode of House taped from WSJV in South Bend on 2/4/2008 with ads

TAPE 4: Cocoon (1985) and most of The Karate Kid Part II (1986) taped from HBO on 1/4/1988 with promos between the two movies

TAPE 5: Several episodes of NCIS taped from WOIO between May and October 2006, two episodes included ads, the rest did not; episode of I Pity the Fool (short-lived reality show starring Mr. T) taped from TV Land on 10/18/2006 minus most ads; short Entertainment Tonight segment on NCIS Halloween episode taped from WKYC

TAPE 6: A few more NCIS episodes taped from WOIO between September and November 2008 minus most ads; two episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark taped from Nicktoons Network circa fall 2008 minus ads

TAPE 7: Terms of Endearment (1983) taped from WKYC circa 1986 minus ads; The Poseidon Adventure (1972) taped from WEWS circa 1986 minus ads; Hombre (1967) taped from WUAB circa 1988 minus ads

TAPE 8: The Deer Hunter (1978) taped from TCM circa 1998 (not sure though)

TAPE 9: 12 episodes of Ally McBeal (T-160 taped in SLP speed with all ads cut out), most were reruns taped from FX, but two were original broadcasts on Fox (WJW?), taped between January and February 2002...interestingly enough, the tape started out with color bars and tone, and between each episode was a few seconds of black, and at some points you could kind of tell that these episodes were copied from other tapes that were originally recorded from broadcast

So, not the best haul this time, but it's something at least. It would have been nice to have the ads included with the movies in Tape 7, but knowing the lengths of those three movies, cutting out the ads would have been necessary to cram all three movies into a T-120 in SLP speed without running out of tape.
 
Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

Those all sound awesome!!!

I'd love seeing ads from the 80s -- THEY WERE ALL AWESOME!!!!!!!! (Compared to the trash on air now)
 
Re: Self-made VHS tapes at Thrift Stores

It's fun to find the '80s ads and jingles. A different time. Haven't gotten anything for a month or two, but will soon. I think I'm going to go for tapes with no labels (from same box as ALCS, Home Improvement etc). They just might be more time-shifted TV shows, who knows.

-crainbebo
 
Well, I couldn't access my old account ever since the site made all these changes, so I ended up making this new one. Oh well.

Anyway, I picked up another good sized haul of VHS tapes from a few garage sales just a couple of days ago. Here's what I found:

TAPE 1: Sweatin' to the Oldies with Richard Simmons (1988) copied from rental tape, tape starts with a strange jumble of very short recordings all from WKYC in Cleveland, short clip of Today in Cleveland, part of a promo for NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, part of a commercial for an Anne Murray concert, and a short clip of NBC News Sunrise all recorded circa 1996 (based on the graphics used in the Today in Cleveland clip)

TAPE 2: Barbra Streisand: The Concert, taped from HBO on 8/21/1994, tape starts with 15 minutes of promos

TAPE 3: The Magnificent Seven (1960) taped from the Movie Channel circa 1992; the rest of the tape is a hodgepodge of various classic and then-current sitcoms taped in 1989; among the shows are Three's Company (likely taped from WUAB in Cleveland if memory serves me right), I Love Lucy (likely taped from TBS), Leave It to Beaver (likely taped from TBS), the Golden Girls (WKYC in Cleveland), and Mama's Family (WKYC)...the only commercial content on this tape was one full ad break from a Golden Girls episode and one partial ad break from a Mama's Family episode

TAPE 4: Two episodes of The Flash taped from WJW in Cleveland on 11/29/1990 and 12/13/1990 with ads; end of another episode of The Flash, episode of Doctor Doctor, and first few minutes of an episode of Knots Landing taped from WJW on 12/6/1990 with ads (during the intro to Knots Landing, we see the cable box switch over to WEWS in Cleveland during the opening of Prime Time Live, then flip back to Knots Landing); half of another episode of Knots Landing taped from WJW on 11/29/1990 with ads (in the last 11 minutes of the tape, we see and hear a strange cable glitch causing audio from CNN to be played on WJW)

TAPE 5: L.A. Confidential (1997) taped from unknown pay TV channel circa 1998

TAPE 6: Two history documentaries copied from rental tapes, one on the War of 1812, the other on Rommel the Desert Fox; World War I episode of The Eyes of War with Robert Mitchum taped from WUAB sometime in 1989 minus ads; tape ends with the last few minutes of an episode of Rod and Reel Streamside taped from WVIZ in Cleveland sometime in 1989 with a couple of PBS promos found afterward

TAPE 7: Starts with the final segment of an episode of Wheel of Fortune, ads from WHIZ in Zanesville, and the start of an episode of Friends taped in April 1999; The Truman Show (1998) taped from Viewer's Choice Pay-Per-View in April 1999, ends with a spot for the Truman Show Escape Reality Sweepstakes; How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998) taped from HBO in August 1999 with promos before the movie; last 10-15 minutes of an episode of Providence taped from WHIZ in April 1999 with ads; last 15 minutes of The Craft (1996) taped from unknown pay TV channel circa 1998; last 20 minutes of In the Army Now (1994) taped from unknown pay TV channel circa 1998 (not sure though)

I did find an eighth tape containing the movie Rear Window (1954) taped from WEWS sometime in the mid to late '80s. The tape was not rewound when I got it, so I took a sneak peek at what was on it while rewinding for about a minute, but when I rewound it to the beginning, the tape snapped off the right reel. I was able to unscrew the VHS casing, Scotch-tape the tape back onto the reel, then put the parts back together, and it did work, but when I played it back this time, I heard a clicking noise on the tape during playback. Turns out there was a piece inside attached to one of the reels that had been broken, so not wanting to risk any damage to my VCR, I went ahead and threw out the tape (unfortunate that I had to do that). I didn't even get a chance to see if there were any commercials on during the movie.

I remember spotting a few more homemade tapes at one of the garage sales I picked these up at. Maybe I should have picked up the others that were there to make up for the one that broke.
 
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Correction: I found out Mama's Family only ran on NBC for two seasons and ran in syndication for the remainder of the series. Can't remember which Cleveland TV station used to air Mama's Family in syndication though.
 
I had a problem one time with a tape - the tape guard (which says "Do not touch the tape" etc) snapped COMPLETELY off one of my tapes. Thankfully that tape only had a few movies taped off rentals. But it could have been worse.

The Truman Show - I have that movie taped off Showtime around 1999 - with a couple of promos at the beginning. SP tape so nothing else is on it unfortunately. I always hope that when I put a new tape in, it says "SLP" and not SP on my VCR. It's great to go through 6 (or 8) hours of who knows what.

-crainbebo
 
Hi. I am trying to find some episodes of Hatha Yoga w/Kathleen Hitchcock. I already have 19 episodes of that series and looking for more. I have lots to trade. Also I looking for episodes of 1990-91 TV series WIOU including a episode that featuring Anita Morris.
I am also looking for Not Necessarily the News episodes on HBO. They are: Year in Review: 1987, 1988, 1990, Inside Washington,
Inside Entertainment, News of the World, The Regan Legacy, Best of NNTN 2,1990 Reunion Show.
LMK if you're interested. Thank you.

E-mail: [email protected]
 
This past Saturday, a little town near me held a community-wide garage sale event that more than 125 homes took part in. It also included a flea market outside the local elementary school. Between two garage sales and the flea market, I took home a HUGE load of VHS tapes from this event. Nice variety of content this time.

Garage sale #1:
TAPE 1: Miracle Beach (1992) taped from Showtime in April 1994 with promos before the movie; Desire and Hell at Sunset Motel (1991), Far and Away (1992) and first 45 minutes of Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter, taped from Showtime in April 1994 with promos after the first two movies

TAPE 2: Denis Leary: No Cure for Cancer (1992), Miami Blues (1990), and Billy Bathgate (1991) taped from Showtime in April 1994 with promos after each movie

TAPE 3: One partial episode and three full episodes of South Park during Comedy Central's South Park New Year's Eve Bash and first 20 minutes or so of Comics Come Home 3, taped from Comedy Central on December 31, 1997-January 1, 1998 with ads; most of another South Park episode taped from Comedy Central in December 1997 with ads; most of Black Rain (1989) and Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988) taped from HBO in March 1991 with promos between the two movies

TAPE 4: Only the Lonely (1991) taped from unknown pay TV channel circa 1994; Sister Act (1992) and Death Becomes Her (1992) taped from the Movie Channel in July 1994 with promos between the two movies

Flea market at elementary school:
TAPE 5: The West Wing episode with guest stars Corbin Bernsen and Marlee Matlin taped from WKYC in Cleveland on 2/7/2001 minus ads; part of an episode of The X-Files taped from WJW in Cleveland on 2/4/2001 with a few ads; Unmentionables: A Brief History taped from A&E in February 2001 with ads and start of The American Wedding (documentary hosted by Joan Lunden)

TAPE 6: Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special taped from XETV in San Diego on 9/28/1991 minus most ads; episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation taped from XETV in October 1991 minus ads; first 40 minutes or so of Amazing Stories: The Movie (1989) taped from KTLA in Los Angeles circa 1991 minus ads

TAPE 7: Two more episodes of ST:TNG taped from XETV on 2/4/1991 and 2/11/1991, first episode with ads, second episode without ads; about 15 minutes of Back to the Future (1985) taped from KNSD in San Diego in December 1990 with a few ads

TAPE 8: One last ST:TNG episode taped from XETV circa 1988 minus most ads; one partial episode and two full episodes of Miami Vice taped from KCST in San Diego in May and June 1985 with ads

Garage sale #2:
TAPE 9: Starts with about 10 minutes of a soccer game taped from Univision (presumably WQHS in Cleveland) circa 2002; The Muse (1999) taped from TNT in July 2002 with ads (about a minute of the movie is taped over with footage from CNN Headline News)

TAPE 10: (Most of) America's Scenic Rail Journeys episode on Alaska, taped from WVIZ in Cleveland on 1/1/1996 with a few promos afterward; most of a broadcast of Ethics in America rerun from 1989 and part of an episode of American Cinema (hosted by John Lithgow), taped from WVIZ sometime in 1995 with promos between the two programs

TAPE 11: Most of an episode of Home Improvement, full episodes of Grace Under Fire, Friends, The Simpsons (The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson), and first 10 minutes of an episode of Moesha taped from WUAB in Cleveland on 4/20/1999 with ads (including a Ten O'clock News teaser on the Columbine school shooting)

TAPE 12: Clips of 9/11/2001 news coverage, starts with a feed from Shop at Home Network (presumably WOAC in Canton) broadcasting CNN's live feed, then the cable box flips to CNN Headline News broadcasting the same feed; after about 20 minutes of footage from that day, the rest of the tape contains coverage from the following days, taped from CNN Headline News, Fox News Channel feed on WJW in Cleveland, and a clip from a broadcast of ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings (WEWS in Cleveland)

The sales I got these from had a bunch more tapes that I didn't pick up. One sale had a combination of VHS and Betamax tapes that were mostly movies (according to the labels) in about five VHS storage cases. The flea market vendor I got the ST:TNG tapes from had a bunch more tapes in a box that appeared to be mostly more ST:TNG and Lost in Space episodes and a few movies. And the second garage sale had a few more tapes without labels that I didn't pick up.
 
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Nice load Scott. Always great to find some old TV programs and commercials on those tapes.

Sadler, I do have an episode of "Not Necessarily the News" - but it's from the summer of 1984, not what you are looking for.

-crainbebo
 
Didn't find as much this time, but here's what I found on three tapes I picked up at one of the local flea markets just this morning.

TAPE 1: Most of a sermon from Dr. Mike Frazier of Canton Baptist Temple, taped from WOAC in Canton circa 1997; most of Flower Power: A Jerry Baker Gardening Special and all of Lawn Problems: A Jerry Baker Gardening Special, taped from WNEO/WEAO in Akron in May 1996 with pledge drive intermissions; last 30 minutes or so of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) taped from WUAB in Cleveland on 3/31/1994 with ads and opening of the Ten O'clock News with Jack Marschall and Romona Robinson

TAPE 2: Hee Haw episode with Lorrie Morgan, taped from WBNX in Akron on 12/1/1990 minus ads with the exception of a Hee Haw Gospel Quartet album commercial

TAPE 3: Half of an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos, taped from WEWS in Cleveland on 11/10/1991 with ads; part of the 1991 NPC Women's USA Bodybuilding Championship, taped from ESPN in November 1991 with ads; last 20 minutes or so of Ghost (1990) taped from unknown pay TV channel; WCW Saturday Night taped from TBS on 10/26/1991 (the night before that year's Halloween Havoc) with ads and first few minutes of In the Heat of the Night (the 1967 movie that inspired the TV series)

Some of these vendors had more home-recorded tapes that I could have picked up, but those didn't have labels, so I left those alone. Plus a couple of them I spotted had visible dust inside the cassettes.
 
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More tapes I picked up, two last week, two just yesterday afternoon.

TAPE 1: No Holds Barred (1989) copied from rental tape; tape ends with two music videos ("Get on Your Feet" by Gloria Estefan and "Midnight Rider" by Gregg Allman) taped from VH1 in 1989

TAPE 2: For Richer, For Poorer (1992) taped from HBO on 2/29/1992, tape starts with a few promos

TAPE 3: A few exercise videos copied from rental tapes: three from Jane Fonda's Workout collection and one with Denise Austin; last ten minutes or so of a broadcast of World Class Women and half of a broadcast of Public People, Private Lives, taped from WKYC in November 1988 with ads

TAPE 4: 101 Dalmatians (1996) (forgot I already had this movie, oops) taped from WEWS on 11/1/1998 with ads; Sleeping Beauty (1959) taped from WEWS on 11/15/1998 with ads; The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) taped from WEWS on 12/27/1998 with ads; The Indian in the Cupboard (1995) taped from WEWS on 12/27/1998 with ads--all of these were ABC Wonderful World of Disney presentations (even though The Indian in the Cupboard isn't a Disney movie) except Winnie the Pooh, which was a local Movie 5 presentation
 
Some bad news - I won't be able to get any new home-recorded tapes for a LONG time. My VCR, DVD and most of my belongings are being put in storage as I am moving between houses, families, etc. So my tapes will sit in a storage for who knows when, and without a VCR I'm SOL in getting other tapes.

-crainbebo
 


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