Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

[ottoparts]

I'm up in Vancouver, BC, and the thrift stores around here are god awful (Value Village charges $2 a tape, not to mention never stocking blanks, and the smaller stores don't seem to stock blanks either), but I've had good luck now and then from craigslist postings of people getting rid of tapes.
Found some late night movies off of CBC (CBUT) from the mid 80s (w/o/c, of course), and bought a huge haul from someone down the street from me for $40 once that had dozens of tapes of The Flintstones and Merrie Melodies off KCPQ/KVOS from 1992/93.
All out of tapes right now, and it seems like it's getting rarer and rarer to find them. If anyone has any tips for the area (Vancouver, or NW Washington), let me know! Some of the stuff (probably around 10% of what I get) ends up on my YouTube channel:
www.youtube.com/retrovancouver

I've only once come across a tape in the Bellingham VV that was labeled "Peanuts xmas", and had a full EP tape of xmas specials from 1991. Surely there's some small stores around there that I'm missing, although I know the back room of those places has a ton of good stuff...if only I could sneak in there and pilfer the stock before they chuck it out.

 

[crainbebo]

I've watched a few of your videos of the commercials - some classic KVOS in there! I've got a few eps of Star Trek TNG taped off KVOS c. 1990.

For Western WA, there's that record store in Everett (Bargain CDs Records Tapes) which has loads of blank tapes in some of the boxes...they get boxes of VHS tapes, some just chock full of blanks - the boxes are almost up to the ceiling so you might need some assistance. I get my tapes for free! But I haven't gotten any since about June. Not sure about Bellingham but there might be some little local thrift stores up in that area. Craigslist is also good at times as well.

-crainbebo

 

[Scott2013]

Haven't updated on my latest finds for a while, so this first list comes from a flea market trip earlier this month, and the second is from another flea market I went to just this past weekend.

TAPE 1: Ryan's Daughter (1970) taped from TCM circa 2000

TAPE 2: Phenomenon (1996) taped from KGUN in Tucson circa 1999 minus ads

TAPE 3: Escape from Sobibor (1987) taped from the History Channel circa 1997

Now for this past weekend's finds (much better content here IMO)
TAPE 1: The Spy Within (1994) taped from HBO circa 1995 or so

TAPE 2: Final round of the 1996 U.S. FIRST Hexagon Havoc robotics competitions taped from ESPN in December 1996 with ads, including a few local ads from the Pittsburgh area

TAPE 3: Ice Station Zebra (1968) taped from TCM in January 2001 with a few promos afterward; Grizzly Falls (1999) taped from HBO in January 2001 with a few promos afterward leading up to the first few minutes of Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989); last 75 minutes or so of Crossfire Trail (2001) taped from TNT on 1/21/2001 with ads

TAPE 4: Guarding Tess (1994) taped from Showtime in May 1996 with promos before and after the movie; The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) taped from Cinemax in May 1996 with promos before and after the movie

TAPE 5: Bonds of Love (CBS movie) taped from WJW in Cleveland on 1/24/1993 with ads (tape starts with the end credits of that night's Murder She Wrote and ends with the first couple minutes of Newscenter 8 at 11:00)

TAPE 6: A six-hour compilation of highlights from various broadcasts of WCW Monday Nitro on TNT and WCW Thunder on TBS Superstation from December 1999 to February 2000, content was copied from other VHS tapes that originally recorded these programs from broadcast, no ads found

I also picked up four more tapes of Dark Shadows episodes from the one vendor I mentioned before, all of which were recorded from the Sci-Fi Channel from July to August 1995 with ads.

From the same vendor, I also picked up a prerecorded tape--Real Stories of the Highway Patrol: Car Crashes: Crisis on the Interstate (a compilation of police chases and car crash footage recorded by the program's camera crew for the show). Strangely enough, whereas most prerecorded/studio tapes play back in SP speed with Hi-Fi, this tape played back in LP speed without Hi-Fi.

 

[Scott2013]

Forgot to mention my tape of Escape from Sobibor doesn't have commercials from the movie on it, so I couldn't put a definite year on it. Same with the tapes of Ryan's Daughter (TCM promos in this case) and Phenomenon.

 

[crainbebo]

Maybe the Real Stories prerecorded tape was from one of those cheap companies like Goodtimes or Starmaker. I know that some of those Goodtimes video tapes (the cheap ones that were in the Wal*Mart's in the cheap bins...) were mainly SLP, but some were LP (mainly at the beginning of it's life during the 80s)

-crainbebo

 

[Scott2013]

Picked up some more tapes within the past couple of weekends, some just this past weekend at one flea market, others the previous weekend at another.

TAPE 1: Fatal Attraction (1987) taped from unknown pay TV channel circa 1988; Fatal Beauty (1987) taped from Cinemax in March 1988 from the Cinemax Spring Tryout with several promos after the movie

TAPE 2: The 700 Club special edition: The Legacy of Christopher Columbus and broadcast of Heart to Heart with Sheila Walsh, taped from the Family Channel on 10/12/1992 with few ads, mostly Christian-themed ads for Regent University, Pat Robertson's book The Secret Kingdom, etc.

TAPE 3: Charlotte's Web (1973) and first ten minutes of The Goodbye Bird (1993) taped from the Disney Channel in October 1998 with promos between the two movies

TAPE 4: Both parts of The Magnificent Rebel (1962 special presentation of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color) taped from the Disney Channel in October 1998 with promos during the programs

TAPE 5: Air Bud (1997) taped from the Disney Channel circa 1998

TAPE 6: Men in Black (1997) taped from Request Pay-Per-View in February 1998 with promos before the movie; Money Talks (1997) taped from Pay-Per-View circa 1998; Eraser (1996) taped from unknown pay TV channel circa 1998; last 60 minutes of JFK (1991) taped from unknown pay TV channel

TAPE 7: Nowhere to Run (1993) found uncut and without commercials, unknown if this was recorded from premium cable or copied from a rental tape; partial episode of The Price Is Right, taped from WJW in Cleveland on 1/5/1994 with ads; another partial TPIR episode, taped from WJW on 12/20/1993 with ads; most of an episode of The Bold and the Beautiful, taped from WJW on 12/17/1993 with ads; most of a broadcast of Newscenter 8 at Noon with Loree Vick, episodes of The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, and half of an episode of As the World Turns, taped from WJW on 12/15/1993 with ads

TAPE 8: Six hours of coverage of Jamboree in the Hills (annual country music concert in Steubenville, Ohio), taped from WTOV in Steubenville on 7/20/2002 with ads

TAPE 9: Pharaoh's Revenge: Egypt's Lost Treasure, Quest for the Lost Pharaoh, and part one of Nefertiti Resurrected, taped from the Discovery Channel in January 2006 with ads

Other tapes I spotted but didn't pick up (based on the labels): Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995), episodes of Dinosaurs, Maximum Overdrive (1986), Commando (1985), one tape that included episodes of Scooby-Doo, SpongeBob Squarepants, Drake and Josh, iCarly, and The Saddle Club, and probably others I can't think of now. I was a little bothered at how many of those particular tapes I spotted had dust inside the cassettes, which could potentially do damage to my VCR.

For you radio aircheck aficionados, I also picked up a cassette tape containing a broadcast of WZIP (Akron)'s Saturday Morning Polka program. Haven't listened to very much of it, so I can't really tell what year it was recorded.

 

[branda1979]

So Scott2013, once again, 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.

And Scott2013, Kaylor's house in Haskell, AR has all of the recorded tapes.

So we will give you a rundown of all recorded tapes at Kaylor's house beginning all this week, OK?

 

[crainbebo]

Dug the old thread out again...

My oldest home-recorded tape (s) I have are a tape of Superman I, II and III that had very old Fuji labels on it. Probably taped around 1983. Also have a tape that has the NBC "Here's Television Entertainment" special from December 1983 (taped off WMAQ-5 Chicago) and a couple of old musical movies off of WFLD. I also acquired several tapes of HBO movies and some TV reruns from the Orlando area, taped around 1984.

-crainbebo

 

[kinphoenix2]

> What's the oldest still viewable off-air (not commercial)
> VHS or Betamax tape you own?

...my oldest dates from the weekend that I got my first VCR in January 1986. It's of that Saturday evening's runs of "Sneak Previews" on KTCA/2 Minneapolis, "At the Movies" with Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert on WGN-TV/9 Chicago (the program on which the trend of targeting kids for advertisments of Rambo-type toy weapons was critiqued) and the Sunday afternoon repeat of the ABC News history special "45/85" on WQOW/18 Eau Claire...<P ID="signature">______________
King Daevid MacKenzie
WLSU Wisconsin Public Radio, La Crosse
heard weekly on http://www.radio4all.net/
"Kill Ugly Radio." FRANK ZAPPA</P>

What a small world- I have your site bookmarked, nothing to do with radio board here though. Thought that link looked familiar!

anyhoo, my oldest VCR tape is a PBS Mclaughlin group from 2000, that is in a box that I am too lazy to get up and go look at. I did not tape it but is a relative in laws that ended up in my box somehow.

Wish I had my old stuff, moving to new locations and you lose a bunch of things through attrition.

 

[ajmcwhorter]

Probably first season episodes of Charlies Angel's I'm guessing. Also have Baretta, Logan's Run, Chico & The Man, etc. all on beta masters. Also have 3/4 inch masters of Dean Martin, Julie Andrews Hour, Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin and many others...

 

[crainbebo]

It's been a long time since I have updated, but I have probably acquired close to 50 new tapes since coming here to Yakima, including 40 off eBay between 1986-2003. Most were in the 1988-90 period and most of what I have is a mix of San Francisco and Minneapolis TV programming. I acquired about five tapes of Star Trek TNG with commercials off KBHK-44 in SF, Game 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals off KRON, some Miami Vice from KRON, Murder She Wrote and a bunch of movies off WCCO, KSTP etc. and the 1988 Olympic Closing Ceremony off KSTP in MSP. Everything has commercials.
Oh and something really rare - I got two tapes chock full of the forgotten "Houston Knights" crime drama, taped off KPIX-5 (CBS) with commercials, all 1987. Starring Michael Pare, it's a TV show about a Chicago cop that gets transferred to Houston.
I acquired a tape of Gone with the Wind off TNT from 1988 (about the first week it was on!) with commercials, a tape of "Tammy Tell Me True" off FAM without commercials unfortunately, and a couple of local Yakima tapes - one with a Beach Boys TV movie off KAPP-35, another with Witness to the Mob off KNDO-23 (NBC) with commercials.
The latest tape I grabbed was a tape with an episode of Bob Vila's Home Again from 1/13/91 off KING-TV in Seattle with commercials, and about 80% of them were various Sears ads! This Old House (my first tape from the old KTPS-28 Tacoma!) was on there, as well as A Hard Day's Night and Help! taped off USA (BeatleSaturday) around 91 with commercials and some boat race at the end.

-crainbebo

 

[Scott2013]

Well, I didn't know this website was back up and running, but within the past few months, I've added quite a bit to my collection. A good part of that addition came from a collection of 40 VHS tapes I bought from a seller on Amazon. Here is just a PARTIAL list of the tapes that came to my door back in January:

TAPE 1: Doctor Who (Fox movie based on the BBC series), taped from WFXT in Boston on 5/14/1996 with most commercial breaks included

TAPE 2: Four complete episodes and one incomplete episode of Home Improvement--four were syndicated reruns on WCSH in Portland, Maine, and one was an original broadcast on WCVB in Boston, taped between November 23-26, 1998, all but one episode has commercials

TAPE 3: Last few minutes of an episode of Home Improvement, episode of The Simpsons (syndicated rerun of Bart the Daredevil), another Home Improvement episode, and most of an episode of Beverly Hills 90210, taped from WFXT on 10/22/1997 with commercials

TAPE 4: Broadcast of Monster Jam taped from TNN in May 2001 with a few commercials; another Monster Jam taped from Speed Channel in February 2004 with commercials; last 20 minutes of an episode of Early Edition (syndicated) and first 15 minutes of an episode of Hollywood Squares (rerun of Newlyweds Week episode from 2000), taped from WBZ in Boston in February 2001 with commercials

TAPE 5: Saving Silverman (2001) taped from Cinemax in February 2003 with a couple of promos shown before the movie; Saturday Night Live (host Jack Black and musical guest John Mayer) taped from WHDH in Boston on October 4-5, 2003 with most commercial breaks included; last 30 minutes or so of 50th anniversary special of Today taped from WHDH on 1/14/2002 with commercials; most of 2002 MTV Movie Awards taped from MTV on 6/6/2002 with some commercial breaks included

TAPE 6: Broadcast of Monster Jam taped from TNN in August 2001 with commercials; first 30 minutes or so of WWF Livewire broadcast taped from TNN in August 2001 with commercials; last 30 minutes of an episode of As the World Turns taped from WBZ on 5/18/2001 with commercials

TAPE 7: (End of) I'm No Angel (1933) and (all of) Bananas (1971) taped from TCM circa 2000 with promos and Robert Osborne segments between the two movies; David Cross: The Pride Is Back taped from HBO circa 2000 with promos before the show; 61* (2001) and first 15 minutes of HBO special Playing the Field: Sports and Sex in America, taped from HBO on 4/28/2001 with promos between the two programs

TAPE 8: About 90 minutes of footage from Quincy Access Television (cable public access channel in Quincy, Massachusetts) containing various on-screen announcements and messages while Larry Carolla's All Request Show on 1300 WJDA played throughout, taped on 5/16/1999 with WJDA radio commercials; two partial episodes of Saved by the Bell: The College Years taped from TBS on November 4 and 5, 1994 with commercials

TAPE 9: Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure (ABC made-for-TV movie) taped from WCVB on 5/21/1989 with commercials; both parts of I Know My First Name Is Steven (NBC miniseries) taped from WBZ on May 22 and 23, 1989 with commercials

TAPE 10: How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), Whispering Smith (1948), and most of Shadow of a Doubt (1943), taped from AMC in February 1998 with promos and Bob Dorian segments separating the movies; tape ends shortly after the cable box changes channels to ABC (presumably WCVB) during the end credits of ABC News Saturday Night

TAPE 11: Babylon 5 episode taped from TNT on 2/7/1998 with commercials, cable box then changes channels to A&E during an episode of Foot Soldier, also with commercials; South Park episode (Jesus vs. Satan boxing match) taped from Comedy Central in February 1998 with commercials; two more Babylon 5 episodes taped from TNT on February 11 and 23, 1998 with commercials

TAPE 12: The West Wing episodes from April 25, May 2 and 9, 2001 taped from WHDH with commercials; two Whose Line Is It Anyway episodes taped from WCVB on 5/10/2001 with commercials

TAPE 13: Gone with the Wind (1939) separated into two parts on two different evenings on CBS, taped from KCBS in Los Angeles on January 11 and 12, 1987 with commercials

TAPE 14: About eight episodes of Beavis and Butt-head taped from MTV in September 1993 with commercials, although some commercial breaks were interrupted by channel surfing on the cable box, where we see clips from shows like ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings on WCVB, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw on WBZ, Cheers on WSBK, Married with Children (syndicated) on WFXT, etc.; last 30 minutes of an episode of Guiding Light, broadcasts of Inside Edition and Inside Edition Extra, and opening to News 7 special broadcast on the death of Reggie Lewis, taped from WHDH on 8/3/1993 with commercials

TAPE 15: Five episodes of Crusade and one episode of The Invisible Man, taped from Sci-Fi Channel in April 2001 with commercials

TAPE 16: A six-hour hodgepodge of clips from CNN programs (CNN Worldview, Moneyline with Lou Dobbs, Sports Tonight, CNN NewsNight, CNN Today, Burden of Proof, Inside Politics, and The World Today) taped between May 18-21, 1998; also two broadcasts of CBS Evening News with Dan Rather from May 19 and 20, 1998; also a couple of miscellaneous clips (part of an Inside the NBA broadcast on TNT with commercials and small amount of newscast footage from WFSB Channel 3 Eyewitness News in Hartford, mainly on the resignation of Hartford Schools' superintendent)...commercials are sporadic throughout the tape. Among the headlines shown: Microsoft antitrust lawsuit, death of Frank Sinatra, Powerball uproar, Hank Earl Carr standoff and hostage situation in Tampa, Thurston High School shooting in Springfield, Oregon, etc.

TAPE 17: Six hours of CNN coverage of the Bill Clinton impeachment trial on 2/12/1999

TAPE 18: Larry King Live broadcast with Al and Tipper Gore, taped from CNN on 4/20/2000 with commercials; CNN Worldview, CBS Evening News (on WFSB), The World Today, CNN NewsStand, and Sports Tonight broadcasts from 4/21/2000 with commercials; the rest of the tape is CNN coverage of the seizure of Elian Gonzalez on 4/22/2000 minus commercials

TAPE 19: Another hodgepodge of miscellaneous CNN programs (CNN NewsStand, CNN Worldview, The World Today, Sports Tonight, CNN Sunday, CNN.com, and Both Sides with Jesse Jackson) taped between April 28-30, 2000, most have commercials; also CBS Evening News taped from WFSB on 4/28/2000 with commercials. A lot of the programs focus on the backlash following the seizure of Elian Gonzalez.

TAPE 20: Same type of content as the last tape (CNN NewsStand, CNN Worldview, The World Today, and Sports Tonight) taped from June 8-10, 2000, most have commercials; also CBS Evening News taped from WFSB on 6/8/2000 with commercials; last hour or so is breaking news coverage on the death of Hafez Al-Assad

TAPE 21: Six hours of CNN coverage of the Florida Recount court hearing on 12/3/2000, very few commercials

TAPE 22: Various CNN programs covering the War in Iraq (Live from the Front Lines, Larry King Live, CNN NewsNight, and Iraq After Saddam) taped on April 13-14, 2003 minus commercials; also 60 Minutes from 4/13/2003 taped from WFSB minus commercials

I also found quite a few more tapes locally at flea markets and even at the local Goodwill store, believe it or not, since my last post. More on that in future posts.

 

[crainbebo]

This may be the best VHS lot of the year on eBay! You BETCHA it will be $50 or more by the time the auction ends! Tapes range from 1981 (!) to 2000 (and that tape looks like it was taped over a retail tape)...wish I had the money, but I still have a few movies/various Murder She Wrote to go through from the last lot in April!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/40-Used-Bla...prg=20131017132637&rk=1&rkt=4&sd=331204825798

-crainbebo

 

[branda1979]

As the site went back up, we just have homemade VHS tapes as told by Scott2013, here's what we found:

TAPE 1: Various segments from Nick Jr's Playalong but contains partial episodes of Little Bill, Oswald, and Dora the Explorer

TAPE 2: Various Nick Jr promos, segments, and bumpers between 1989 and 2007

TAPE 3: Various Cable TV clips including ID's, promos, program segments, and Nick Jr shows

TAPE 4: Six episodes of The Backyardigans (taped off Nick Jr in 2006) and the final hour of Nick Jr's Playalong (taped off Nick Jr in October 2003)

TAPE 5: Nick Jr's Playalong (taped between Fall 2003 and August 2004)

TAPE 6: Two episodes of Eureeka's Castle (taped off Nick Jr in 1991), two episodes of Allegra's Window (taped off Nick Jr in 1995), and five episodes of Oswald (taped off Nick Jr in 2001)

TAPE 7: Four episodes of Gullah Gullah Island (taped off Nick Jr in 1995), some local forecast and Prime Time Tonight segments (taped off The Weather Channel in June 1990), and seven episodes of Allegra's Window (taped off Nick Jr in 1996)

TAPE 8: A full two hours of Nick Jr's Playalong (taped off Nick Jr in January 2004), the final segment of Jeopardy! and the first segment of the 5PM news (taped off KATV in Little Rock from 1994), partial episodes of The Simpsons (taped off KLRT in 1995) and Bananas in Pajamas (taped off KASN in February 1996), and eight episodes of Blue's Clues (taped off Nick Jr in 1997)

TAPE 9: Three episodes of Barney and Friends (taped off KETS in 1993), a partial episode of Eureeka's Castle (taped off Nick Jr in 1992), a partial weather segment from the 6PM news (taped off KARK in 1995), 4 seconds of a KLRT signoff (taped off KLRT in 1995), 22 seconds of a episode of Rimba's Island (taped off KLRT in October 1995), 2 seconds of a Washington Journal broadcast (taped off C-Span in October 1995), a KASN ID and the first minute of Bananas in Pajamas (taped off KASN in November 1995), and nine episodes of Little Bear (taped off Nick Jr in 1996)

TAPE 10: Various scenes from Nick Jr shows and segments (taped between 1988 and 2005)

TAPE 11: Some partial Nick Jr Playalong segments and partial episodes of PBS Kids and Nick Jr shows (taped between February 2004 and April 2008)

TAPE 12: Various Treehouse TV programs (Crazy Quilt, Treetown, Wee 3, Wumpa's World, and Ants in Your Pants) taped from WTHQ-TV (Buffalo, New York) in 2002 with promos before or after each episode (for other programs and broadcast television premieres of video games) depending on what episode of each show is taped

TAPE 13: 8 complete episodes of Treetown taped from KTHQ-TV in 2000 with promos before and after each episode (each Treetown episode starts with the end of the previous show which is The Crayon Box, Bananas in Pajamas, Ducktales, or a rebroadcast of KFSN-TV's 11pm newscast from last night and ended with the opening of the next show which is Crazy Quilt, or the PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch)

TAPE 14 (8-hour tape): 6 episodes of Fimbles and 7 episodes of Treetown taped from WINN-TV (from back when as "The New Channel 7" or "Vermont's Channel 7") in mid-December 2002 with partial promos for other programming including a incomplete "Just Watch Us Now" image promo and a couple station ID's (from both the early and mid 90's along with the late 90's) before each episode of the 2 shows which aired on WINN-TV to this day

And look for more in future posts.

 

[Scott2013]

This may be the best VHS lot of the year on eBay! You BETCHA it will be $50 or more by the time the auction ends! Tapes range from 1981 (!) to 2000 (and that tape looks like it was taped over a retail tape)...wish I had the money, but I still have a few movies/various Murder She Wrote to go through from the last lot in April!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/40-Used-Bla...prg=20131017132637&rk=1&rkt=4&sd=331204825798

-crainbebo

Kind of surprising seeing that people actually used to tape over retail tapes sometimes. At some of the flea markets I've been to, I've spotted a couple of prerecorded retail tapes (one a History Channel video, the other a Royal Caribbean tourism video) that had Scotch tape placed over the space where the recording tab is missing, which indicates to me that someone taped over the original contents of the tapes. I never picked either of those up though.

I found this YouTube video showing an example of such, this time using a Thomas the Tank Engine videotape. Notice what happens to the video and audio once the original content gets taped over, which makes me wonder if that's what always happens when you tape over a prerecorded retail tape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWwDoracuWY

Similarly, in the VHS collection I ordered from Amazon, one of the tapes had a typewritten label with what appeared to be the title of an educational video on it, the recording tab missing. That tape turned out to be the two hours of WFXT footage from 10/22/1997 I mentioned before (Home Improvement, The Simpsons, and Beverly Hills 90210). Above the spot where the recording tab would have been was a tiny piece of what appeared to be masking tape, which makes me wonder if the tab was broken off, then the educational video later taped over, then the masking tape removed from where it was placed.

 

[crainbebo]

On that YouTube tape the promo for "Wife, Mother, Murderer" means that someone, around 1991 (when the movie came out on ABC-TV) accidentally taped over the VHS of Thomas the Tank Engine. Do you know what that educational video was? If it was 2 hours of WFXT footage, it was likely either a T-45 on SLP (120 out of 135 min), T-60 on LP or T-120 on SP. Educational videos are usually short so it was likely a T-45 or T-60 that got taped over. I have even seen some educational videos and promotional tapes that were only 5 or 6 minutes long if that. You could only get maybe 15 minutes with those, taped over in SLP, maximum.
On other lots I have even seen Disney movies taped over by who knows what, even Macrovision.

 

[Scott2013]

On that YouTube tape the promo for "Wife, Mother, Murderer" means that someone, around 1991 (when the movie came out on ABC-TV) accidentally taped over the VHS of Thomas the Tank Engine. Do you know what that educational video was? If it was 2 hours of WFXT footage, it was likely either a T-45 on SLP (120 out of 135 min), T-60 on LP or T-120 on SP. Educational videos are usually short so it was likely a T-45 or T-60 that got taped over. I have even seen some educational videos and promotional tapes that were only 5 or 6 minutes long if that. You could only get maybe 15 minutes with those, taped over in SLP, maximum.
On other lots I have even seen Disney movies taped over by who knows what, even Macrovision.

I can't remember what the original video on that tape was, but it was a typical T-120 videotape. Now that I think of it, I have a feeling what was originally on it was actually copied from a prerecorded tape rather than it being the prerecorded tape itself. I can remember at the very beginning of the tape was about a second of black screen before Home Improvement cuts in (last few minutes of an episode). What I found unusual about it though was that even though the recording tab was missing, there was a tiny piece of masking tape above the open space where the tab would have been, which made me think it used to be covered with tape at one point, and that was probably used to record the WFXT shows. I do remember the bottom of the tape label read "Honeywell Industries."

In regards to that YouTube video, my research shows that particular Thomas the Tank Engine tape (the one with the "Grandpuff" story) was made in 1994, and that the ABC movie "Wife, Mother, Murderer" re-aired in 1995.

As far as that Royal Caribbean videotape I spotted at the one flea market, I can remember the label reading that the video was 28 minutes long, so if it was taped over, the amount of content on it would obviously depend on what speed it was recorded in.

 

[crainbebo]

OK, thanks for telling me! I thought when you meant educational video, that you meant one of those short Britannica, United Learning, Sunburst etc. tapes that were really expensive and schools would buy for their classes. I remember seeing those Sunburst/United Learning tapes a lot years ago.

That Royal Caribbean tape could have an hour and a half taped over it if it was SLP-taped.
I remember buying a Goodtimes tape one time at the thrift store that had the recording tab still on there! Same with this public domain VHS with "6 hours of cartoons" complete with its own color/B&W box. And no it wasn't taped across a blank tape box. Bootleg? Didn't have a company listed.
Have you ever bought a bootleg VHS tape? Not home recorded but a tape of a movie that was a bootleg copy not from TV? I have never done that before and don't wish to buy bootlegs.

-crainbebo

 

[Scott2013]

I've found tapes that turned out to have movies that were copied from rental tapes, but I don't think that's what you're referring to.

While I didn't pick up that aforementioned Royal Caribbean tape, I did find a few home-recorded tapes at that same flea market earlier this month. Here's what I found:

TAPE 1: 12 episodes of Rush Limbaugh, including a special Veterans' Day episode, taped from WKYC in Cleveland in November 1992 with commercials...the show aired at 1:35 AM after Letterman Monday through Thursday and at 2:35 AM after Friday Night Videos on Fridays; at the end of the tape is a short clip from a partially taped-over episode of Soul Train on WKYC (aired at 1AM Saturday nights after SNL)

TAPE 2: Monday Night Football broadcast of Kansas City Chiefs vs. Los Angeles Raiders, taped from WEWS in Cleveland on 9/28/1992, commercials from the first quarter are omitted, but commercials from the rest of the game are included; partially taped-over episode of MacGyver taped from WEWS on 11/4/1991 minus commercials; full episode of MacGyver taped from WEWS on 11/11/1991 minus most commercials; most of the second half of ESPN Sunday Night NFL Pig-Out broadcast of Cleveland Browns vs. Houston Oilers, simulcast on WUAB in Cleveland on 11/17/1991 minus commercials

TAPE 3: Saturday Night Live with host Alec Baldwin and musical guests the Beastie Boys, taped from WKYC on December 10-11, 1994 minus commercials; Science Fiction: A Journey Into the Unknown (Fox special) taped from WJW in Cleveland on 12/13/1994 minus commercials, but does include a teaser for Newscenter 8 during the end credits, from the station's short-lived "Newscenter 8 Primetime" branding for their 10PM newscasts in the station's early days as a Fox affiliate; A Garfield Christmas Special and first segment of an episode of The Boys Are Back (short-lived CBS sitcom), taped from WOIO in Cleveland on 12/14/1994 with commercials

TAPE 4: CMT Crossroads episode with Kid Rock and Hank Williams Jr., taped from CMT on 2/17/2002 minus commercials, after the show we see a graphic in memoriam of Waylon Jennings; WWF Divas: Sex on the Beach (UPN special) taped from WUAB on 3/13/2002 minus commercials except for promos for that year's WrestleMania on Pay-Per-View

TAPE 5: Pumping Iron (1977) copied from rental tape; Arnold Schwarzenegger: Hollywood Hero taped from TLC on 11/11/1999 with three commercial breaks included--Pumping Iron was taped in SP speed and the TLC documentary was taped in SLP speed, so the latter is incomplete

There were other tapes I spotted there that I didn't pick up, which appeared to include:
-Rocky III (1982)
-Rocky IV (1985)
-Garth Brooks Live from Central Park on HBO (already have a copy of it)
-The Rugrats Movie (1998) and Quest for Camelot (1998) (didn't pick this tape up because the glass barriers holding the actual tape in the cassette were severely cracked)
-Sesame Street Christmas (unsure if this was Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Elmo Saves Christmas, or some other Sesame Street Christmas special that I haven't seen)
-Two unlabeled tapes from the same booth I bought the five from

 

[Scott2013]

Found six more tapes at a garage sale this past weekend. Here's what I found on them:

TAPE 1: This Is Garth Brooks (NBC special concert) taped from WKYC sometime in early 1992 minus commercials; some miscellaneous clips and performances from the 27th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, including Garth accepting the awards for Best Male Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year, taped from WKYC on 4/29/1992; last 30 minutes or so of Hollywood Hot Tubs (1984) and first 15 minutes or so of Crazy About the Movies episode on Gregory Peck, taped from Cinemax in January 1992 with promos between the two programs

TAPE 2: Several episodes of Seinfeld (syndicated reruns, including the final episode) taped from WOIO sometime in 1999 minus commercials

TAPE 3: Several MORE episodes of Seinfeld, also taped from WOIO in 1999 minus commercials

TAPE 4: Fox Saturday Baseball special broadcast of St. Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs (Mark McGwire's 62nd home run) taped from WJW on 9/8/1998, most commercial breaks are included, others are omitted, also includes two breaking news cut-ins from Fox 8 News (with Tim Taylor in the newsroom) on the hiring of the new Cleveland Browns owner for the 1999 season--both of those were shown with a split-screen effect, so viewers could still see the Fox feed of the baseball game

TAPE 5: Last few minutes of Channel 3 News at 11:00 (partial sports segment with Chuck Galeti [highlights of high school basketball games, including the mention of a then-little-known LeBron James from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School] and final segment with Steve Miles and Monica Robins), Saturday Night Live with host The Rock and musical guests AC/DC, and first 20 minutes of It's Showtime at the Apollo, taped from WKYC on March 18-19, 2000 with commercials

TAPE 6: Near-complete broadcast of WJW Fox 8 News at Ten (missing the first minute) with Bill Martin, Stacey Bell, meteorologist Andre Bernier, and Tony Rizzo with sports, taped on 6/3/2009 with commercials--tape originally contained episodes of South Park from the late '90s in SLP speed, as shown in the first few seconds of the tape, but all were taped over with the newscast that was taped in SP speed