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Tell us about your first VCR...

S

Stanislav

Another opportunity for y'all to "wax nostalgic," especially you middle-aged guys (like me).

What year did you purchase your first VCR back in the day? What brand, and how much did it cost? And what was the first program that you taped AND saved (not just time-shifted)?

I was actually a latecomer to VCRs, and did not own my first machine until 1986. (A combination of poverty and living arrangements kept me from taking the leap earlier.) Anyway, it was a front-loading Mitsubishi VHS unit, and cost almost $500! (Ouch!) The first thing I can remember taping and saving for later repeated viewing was a "Star Trek" marathon on a local independent station.

And you...?
 
I remember we first bought a VCR in the summer of 1985, which was a Panasonic PV-1330. I'm pretty sure it was on sale, but I don't know all the details, because I wasn't even 1 year old. I never started using it until I was about 3. But I remember it had a wired remote, which we never found until much later, you had to HOLD FF or REW in order to search the tape, it had a 4-digit counter (not real time), and it had one of those tuners with the presets, and the little dial wheels to set each of the channels. I assume units with those tuners came with a card thing where you would insert the numbers of the channels once you had them tuned, but we never did that, so it just had channels 2-13, and two *'s. We still have that VCR today, though it's not working properly. I never actually taped anything with that VCR, but the next one we had after that was a Sanyo, from about 1991. The first thing I taped was actually an episode of Sesame Street in the morning of 10/23/92. I remember I was very glad I figured out how to record, and soon after that, for a couple of years, I taped EVERY episode of Sesame Street. Some of those tapes got thrown away, but I still have most of them in my collection. And I wouldn't sell them, even for all the money in the world.
 
Mine was bought in 1980. Beta. Sanyo 3900. No remote and not cable ready. Still got it and it still works!
 
I bought an GE in 1978. It was huge, a mechanical tuner, an undampened top load mechanism, and had a wired pause button for a remote. I paid $849 plus tax. We didn't record much to save because the blank tapes were $30 each. My family thought I was crazy and I probably was but it wasn't long before they were asking me to tape something for them. It was a couple of years late I joined my first movie rental club. I had to post a $75 deposit, a $75 annual fee and it was somewhere between $5 and $10 a night to rent a movie.

Good Lord I feel OLDDDDDD!

Rick
 
My parents got a JVC in early 1985, which was a year before I was born. It was a front-loading unit, but it had the push-button tuner with the dials to adjust the different channels, and it in fact did come with a card with numbers on it that I found years later. The card came with the numbers 2 thru 83 as well as two *'s, and one each of CBS, ABC, NBC, and PBS. The counter was a four-digit display, no real time. It did have a digital clock and timer though, and the remote was wireless. Quite similar to that Panasonic unit. It also had a remote input jack for a video camera, although in addition to the camera and VCR, you needed a special adapter unit. We never had the adapter so if we used the camera we borrowed another JVC unit from my grandparents, which they had had since about 1984. Oh, the days before camcorders but after Super 8...

They time shifted a few things in 1985, but they never taped over anything and just kept buying new tapes. This meant that we ended up with a large collection of older stuff off TV. Later on I taped most episodes of Garfield and Friends during the 1992-93 season, off WJBK in Detroit.

We got the other VCR permanently in 1989, which had a proper camera jack and eight possible timers. It also had unusual features such as audio dub, insert, and "reverse play" which let you play a tape in reverse (without sound) at normal speed. However, it was a top-loading unit. We still have that VCR today although I keep it in a closet for future video capturing, once I get a capture card. The VCR still works for playing tapes but not recording. We finally got a VCR/DVD combo in 2004.
 
My brother bought our first VCR, and I believe it was in either 1985 or 1986. It was a $279 Toshiba. My actual first VCR was a used Sharp in 1989 that I bought for $75. It didn't totally erase the previous program and you could hear pieces of the sound from the previous program at times. The earliest things I can remember recording to keep were Marx Brothers movies from the late movies on WREG CBS 3 in Memphis in the late 80's.
 
My dad back in the 70s worked at one of those now-defunct discount department stores. Nichols Discount City. He bought our first VCR I remember when I was in third grade. This would be around 1976. Not sure what it cost but I do remember that thing being huge.

Awhile back I had a former co-worker who claims his family got a VCR ( with camera too to make movies ) from Sears in 1973 !! Sears sold VCRs way back then? 1973 ????
 
mleach said:
Awhile back I had a former co-worker who claims his family got a VCR ( with camera too to make movies ) from Sears in 1973 !! Sears sold VCRs way back then? 1973 ????
Click to expand...

That would have almost certainly been the short-lived Cartrivision system, which was marketed by Sears, Wards, etc. A good example of technology that was in one sense ahead of its time, but too cumbersome and technologically problematic for mass market success. It's an interesting story, which you can learn more about here, here, and here.
 
I think my first VCR was a Panasonic.About 1989-90 or so. The first things I taped to keep were A couple of Canton Baptist Temple Christmas Pageants from 1990-91 over WOAC-67 in Canton, Ohio,,A lot of Half Hour Christmas Specials from the likes of Bobby Goldsboro, Roger Whitaker, Riders in the Sky and Ricky Van Shelton in 1991 (original airing 1989) from TNN..Tennessee Ernie Ford 50 years in Show Business Special in 1989 also from TNN and Tennessee Ernies I Love Lucy appearances, shown on WOIO-19 in Cleveland, then the FOX affiliate..
 
It was a top-loading Panasonic VHS machine that cost about $450 in the summer of '84. The first recordings I made to save were generally HBO or Cinemax movies, and the first may have been "Raiders of the Lost Ark." The next year, I moved to a Pennsylvania city that received WPIX from New York on cable and I taped every nightly Star Trek rerun, until I ended up with nearly the entire series. I also recorded about eight hours of Live Aid off MTV and saved it for years, until I finally reused the tapes.
 
The first one I don't remember, I would have to see a pic to get a brand name in my head...was a hand-me-down and it either didn't run very well or it was hard to use, again, the tubes aren't lit up orange yet on that one... :D

About a year or so later, 1987, the first purchased one was an Emerson. It ran pretty well. I had it for several years. As far as TV recordings, the first I don't remember but I know my schedule was stupid back then (not unlike now, but different) so I probably taped some news, daytime, primetime here and there; the tapes may not have been very affordable as we had just a few at a time.

Wish I'd gotten in on the VCR ownership sooner but we did good to buy in 1987. If the ones before were into the thousands, and the tapes as much as $30, it's no wonder... :eek:
 
Our first VCR was a top-loading GE VHS deck that my late parents bought in early 1984. It had a tethered remote with a 25' cord. It had 12 presets (each presets was manually tuned with a flywheel). All and all, it had a pretty good tuner section. It was only last year when it was retired. 23 years, not too shabby. My Dad loved to record sporting events, especially the 1984 Olympics (which I still have the tapes!).
 
About 1986 we got a low end Toshiba front-loader. Had to manually preset channels, but had a real remote. Recorded a few movies/specials off HBO (The Pee Wee Herman special comes to mind). Also recorded various things to dub the audio over to cassette for sound bites to use on my college radio show. Went with me to college to record telecourses, but mostly used for Simpsons episodes. Still got a box of tapes. Machine died in 92 or so, replaced with a low end Quasar (Panasonic) HiFi unit, then a couple more Pannys (both still in service).
 
My first VCR was an RCA VCT-201 that I bought as a close out for $549 in the summer of 1980 using savings and high school graduation gift money. It wasn't exactly loaded with features: top loading, single event recording, mechanical rotary tuner, no special effects, wired pause button for a remote. But it worked, and it was very reasonably priced compared to the latest models that did have more features.

First recording that I saved on that VCR was "The Lathe of Heaven" when it was rebroadcast by PBS at the end of the summer of 1980. I recorded it from KTPS, channel 62, in Tacoma, WA -- and I still have that recording. Sadly, the official DVD release of this movie from a few years back doesn't look any better than that old recording.
 
First VCR Mom and Dad bought was in 1984, a Sears "LXI" model - front loading, with the flywheel tuner. It was a durable puppy, but wasn't enough to withstand getting fried by a lightning strike in about 2001. 17 years - not too bad a run.

MY first VCR was a Christmas present in 1988 (age 23). It too was a Sears LXI (Dad worked for Sears -- unfortunately, he wasn't the kind to take advantage of his generous employee discount to jump on the new technology). First one I'd ever seen with on-screen programming. First thing I recorded for posterity was the Grammy Awards in 1989. This machine was also quite durable, and I retired it in 2000 (although I'd since bought a hi-fi machine).

One thing's for sure - VCRs improved in picture/sound quality over the years (remember all the tracking issues when playing back a tape recorded on another deck?) .... but along the way have become less reliable. And VHS players are quickly becoming e-x-t-i-n-c-t! I'm ready to start buying used ones at yard sales, etc., just to assure a way to play tapes in the future when the (good) machines I have now finally give out.

--Russell
 
Tim L said:
I think my first VCR was a Panasonic.About 1989-90 or so. The first things I taped to keep were A couple of Canton Baptist Temple Christmas Pageants from 1990-91 over WOAC-67 in Canton, Ohio,,A lot of Half Hour Christmas Specials from the likes of Bobby Goldsboro, Roger Whitaker, Riders in the Sky and Ricky Van Shelton in 1991 (original airing 1989) from TNN..Tennessee Ernie Ford 50 years in Show Business Special in 1989 also from TNN and Tennessee Ernies I Love Lucy appearances, shown on WOIO-19 in Cleveland, then the FOX affiliate..
Click to expand...

While I remember having a Panasonic at one time, I just remembered the first VCR I owned myself..it was Shintom, an off brand front load VCR in the late 1980's..It lasted several years..Russell W, just reminded me of the time where on screen programming was THE big thing in a VCR..I now have over 150 tapes filled with programming..much of it will never be aired again..
 
I(or should I say Mrs. Genuis and I) lucked out and got a top loading Panasonic as a wedding gift in 1983. I believe the model make was a PV-1220, I think. I just remember thinking where on earth did one of my wife's grandmothers get the money to buy one! :D Anyways we kept that for several years until the early 90s or so when we sold it off at a garage sale. The first VCR we bought ourselves didn't occur until when we bought a Sharp VCR with a big red power button...that must have been our major purchase for 1988 as I'm for certain our major(not to mention layaway!) purchase for 1989 was the Nintendo ;D

Today, Mrs. Genius and I have a Maganvox DVD/VHS player in our bedroom that cost only $50...
 
The first family VCR was purchased Christmas 1979. It was a GE (Hitachi made) machine and was the last of the two speed VHS machines. The speed was selected manually and the salesperson show us the trick of changing speed to advance through commercials. A few years later the clutch burned out from this constant changing of speed. Features included flywheel electronic tuning, a wired pause and audio dub capabilities. This beast cost $900. It lasted until 1985 as the main machine and was offered to the thrift store gods a few years later. The next machine was a Panasonic with six hour capability, wireless remote and electronic tuning. It was purchased in 1985 and was around $500. I believe it lasted into the nineties.

My first machine was an Emerson purchased in 1987 at Service Merchandise. It was my first purchase on my Discover Card for just under $300. It lasted until 1994 when the transport mechanism started rubbing against the bottom of the tapes. After ruining several tapes it was retired. The new machine was a Sanyo Hi-Fi found at Wally World for, again, just under $300. It is still going today as a second machine. The other two machine used today is a Mitsubishi purchased for $119 in 1999 and a Sony as an audio production player (I used Hi-Fi machines for auido recording back in the 90's) purchased in 2003 for $89. The next purchase is a video capture card to transfer some goodies to DVD.
 
I don 't recall the brand (a Whoseywhatsit or somesuch) but the crazy thing ate more tape than it played or recorded. The experience spoiled me on recording anything, even for time shifting use. I since have used my money for more useful purposes such as ordering a slicer-dicer from Ronco.
 
1984.

Gotta love those SEARS Betamax decks. Those damn things take a licking and keep on ticking.

We HAD (don't recall the exact model number) the one with the extra tape speed on it, 3 day programming, top-loader. BEE-YOU-TEE-FUL machine and awesome quality. Got our family through most of the 80s recording Disney Channel, Nick, reruns of The Muppet Show off WTNH/Hartford in the mid 80s from Long Island.....even made it through the 1100 mile uprooting from NY to South FL.

Guess my parents figured out what I really wanted to do with my life when I grew up - yours truly at 6 years old (showing my age, boy do I feel old now lol) fixed the cable box several times when the cable went out and had to be reset (remember those?) got curious (stupid) about video and promptly destroyed the poor defenseless Beta in early 1988. :'(

I promised my mom and dad I would replace it someday and redeem myself. Needless to say the next 3 decks from 1988 on was VHS used for those couple of dubs from Beta to VHS, one of them a DVD/VHS combo, and other normal usage. Had to beg each time that spring cleaning came around to NOT DUMP THE BETA TAPES.

Yeah right, a 6 year old make good on a promise like that; replacing a VCR he broke, you say.

About 20 years and a Bachelors of Arts degree in Communications later, I'm on Ebay.....50 bucks get me one of the EXACT same model I broke in between excellent and mint condition, sat in a closet since 1990, estate sale....one day this big box shows up at the door, and Mom yelled at me, "That's WHAT?! That won't work....." I quietly unpack the beast, pull some RCAs out and hook the antique machine to the 2003 Sharp TV. Grabbed a tape recorded in the late '70s off WABC/NY (or was it Follow That Bird off of HBO in 1986?), and dared my mother to load it up and press play. ;D

I think I redeemed myself. :D

Now it's time for a cleaning head (times 2) and shopping for Beta tapes.
 
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