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Confession-Age. Who has misguided nostalgia for VHS?
- Thread starter Corwood Rep
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GrotesqueBeauty
Banned
I don't think it's misguided. I once posted about preferring old school horror movies on VHS and got piled on. Sorry, but some content is better off dirty and lo-fi. It's like a patina.
I still have about 10-15 VHS tapes of stuff I recorded in the 90s, but I don't think I have a working VCR.
I don't think I'll ever watch them again, but I still won't throw them away. I don't know why I keep them.
I remember scrambled Cinemax. But I lived close enough to the Canadian border, in Canada they showed nudity right over the regular antenna broadcast channels.
My mother asks "Why do you need to put an Antenna on the roof to pick up channels from Canada? We have cable."
"Ummm, maybe I can learn French
"
I don't think I'll ever watch them again, but I still won't throw them away. I don't know why I keep them.
bjork said:
I remember scrambled Cinemax. But I lived close enough to the Canadian border, in Canada they showed nudity right over the regular antenna broadcast channels.
My mother asks "Why do you need to put an Antenna on the roof to pick up channels from Canada? We have cable."
"Ummm, maybe I can learn French
"XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
It's still used a ton on the broadcasting side, regularly used for copying HD material around.U K Narayan said:
We know, given the meme you inadvertently started.MrHicks said:
Corwood Rep
Member
I hadn't even heard of D-VHS until this thread. Haha, what a stupid idea.
Megadragon15 said:
I bought one for $250 brand new(JVC HM-DH30000U). I don't regret the purchase. It upscales VHS tapes, It allows you to transfer VHS to a computer through firewire, I am able to record High Def content on S-VHS media, not just on DVHS media and I can record content from my DVR.
I have a couple of DVHS movies I purchased. I also have concert, movies and the first episode of Conan O'Brien in HD, and misc HD content. Yes I know a lot of it can be done on PC. It's just nice knowing I have a VCR that can do all this stuff.
As for Blu-Ray replacing DVD anytime soon, forget about it.
The jump from VHS to DVD was huge and had many benefits. Sure Blu-Ray has better picture and sound quality, but those factors aren't a really huge factors for average consumers. The majority of them have trouble dealing with those black bars that are cutting off the image in the movie
I don't miss the technology of VHS or the shitty picture.
What I miss is home-taped stuff. Looking at videos on YouTube that people had recorded off their local stations in the 80s, with the station IDs and local ads and all of that... it's so weird to me. It's like, I know I saw what they saw, but at the same time we didn't see the same thing.
I still have a few comic book long boxes full of VHS (seriously those boxes are versatile) that I've been meaning to digitize for nearly ten years now, but each time I go to start the project, everything on the tapes is already available online. Someone else went to the trouble of uploading my childhood, but it still doesn't look right.
EDIT:
That... actually sounds pretty awesome.
What I miss is home-taped stuff. Looking at videos on YouTube that people had recorded off their local stations in the 80s, with the station IDs and local ads and all of that... it's so weird to me. It's like, I know I saw what they saw, but at the same time we didn't see the same thing.
I still have a few comic book long boxes full of VHS (seriously those boxes are versatile) that I've been meaning to digitize for nearly ten years now, but each time I go to start the project, everything on the tapes is already available online. Someone else went to the trouble of uploading my childhood, but it still doesn't look right.
EDIT:
That... actually sounds pretty awesome.
If there are two things I have absolutely no nostalgic memories of, they are VHS and audio cassettes. Unlike game cartridges vs cd/dvd games, VHS and audio cassettes have absolutely no positives when compared to cd/dvd/blu ray.
AlternativeUlster
Absolutely pathetic part deux
There are still tons of old cult films that haven't been released on DVD yet so I still watch them. We had a thread about this not too long ago. I think Time Dog made it.
parrotbeak
Member
I used to live right next to the freeway, and when I made cassette mix tapes or recorded songs off the radio, sometimes I'd catch a piece of a trucker talking on their radio. Some bits would turn out really cool, like a trucker saying "oh my god" or laughing just at a right break. When I hear those songs off cd or mp3 now I will still imagine the trucker's voice. I wish I'd copied those cassettes onto cd while I still had a cassette deck.
I don't really miss vhs technology, but I like some movies that use that grainy feature. I don't have hdtv or bluray so I'm not really jaded by hd yet, although I'm not that overly impressed by it either.
I don't really miss vhs technology, but I like some movies that use that grainy feature. I don't have hdtv or bluray so I'm not really jaded by hd yet, although I'm not that overly impressed by it either.
HomerSimpson-Man
Member
Mr. B said:The only regret I have for ridding my self of VHS' is that I can't watch the unedited versions of Star Wars anymore
The Limited Edition DVD Special Editions sets do have the original version, it's not even anamorphic so I guess it really really retains the VHS quality.
PetriP-TNT
Member
Last time I watched a VHS movie was ummm... last month I think.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Remember when you would pause and it was this staticy mess? Sometimes it was even alternating between two frames. At the time it just seemed like "this it what happens when you stop time.. it gets fuzzy and unclear".
When I first saw the pause function on DVD and it was just a still frame.. I was a little shocked. "This is unnatural!!" :lol
When I first saw the pause function on DVD and it was just a still frame.. I was a little shocked. "This is unnatural!!" :lol
bjork said:
THHHHHHHHHHHIS!
A girlfriend of mine took that VHS back in the day to watch and never returned it. The redubbed version sucks complete and utter ASS, and I absolutely REFUSE to put myself through watching it with the new english dub. If I could find the original dub online somewhere, I would bite, because that was one of the most fantastic dubs I've EVER heard.
POWERSPHERE
Member
Yep, analog inperfections somehow make me happy, seeing the signs of life & age in something is somehow satisfying. Life, eh.
dreamcastmaster
Banned
VHS porn that has not been rewound, you'll know exactly where the last viewer got off! :lol
I'm already ready to chuck DVD out the door, so no way in hell would I ever go back to VHS. Swear to god, one of the happiest days of my life was the day that DVD as a new platform finally became a reality.
Now this, however, I can say that I'll miss. There's a lot of great old stuff out there that people have stuck on random VHS tapes. I wish it was as easy to capture and store video now as it was thanks to VCRs. (Sure, a DVR can capture, but most people don't know how to then get it off into something that can be kept.)
Manguy said:
Now this, however, I can say that I'll miss. There's a lot of great old stuff out there that people have stuck on random VHS tapes. I wish it was as easy to capture and store video now as it was thanks to VCRs. (Sure, a DVR can capture, but most people don't know how to then get it off into something that can be kept.)
I have fond memories of my first VCR, and the good times I spent with it, but VHS is a useless format now. It's failings and quirks may remind me of good times, but they're still entirely bad things. Future directors will probably be able to include them artificially, for dramatic effect, like dirt on film.
The only reason I'd turn to VHS now is for content which didn't survive the jump to DVD. Mostly user-created stuff (recorded TV broadcasts), although there are some movies and shows. And I doubt Blu-ray will even do as good a job of making DVD's full library of content as obsolete as DVD did to VHS. I think digital (including stuff like piracy and Youtube) will likely make Blu-ray and DVD and finally even VHS obsolete. But I'll miss my hard copies. Ahhh, I remember my first VHS bookcase...
I wonder if some day people will pine for the olden days of shitty low-quality flash video from Youtube, or downloading .asf files from Bearshare.
The only reason I'd turn to VHS now is for content which didn't survive the jump to DVD. Mostly user-created stuff (recorded TV broadcasts), although there are some movies and shows. And I doubt Blu-ray will even do as good a job of making DVD's full library of content as obsolete as DVD did to VHS. I think digital (including stuff like piracy and Youtube) will likely make Blu-ray and DVD and finally even VHS obsolete. But I'll miss my hard copies. Ahhh, I remember my first VHS bookcase...
I wonder if some day people will pine for the olden days of shitty low-quality flash video from Youtube, or downloading .asf files from Bearshare.
I grew up a Beta boy, so the day our family was forced to go VHS (because the local video stores quit getting new releases for Beta) was a sad day indeed.
I hated the shitty quality, I hated having to tape shows on Long Play and the severe deterioration in quality because of it. I hated the bulk and having entire bookcases and shoeboxes full of those tapes.
I hated it so much, I bought a DVD player when they first came out (500-600 bucks) at a time when I didn't have a pot to piss in. I knew if I waited a few more years I could get one for less, but I just couldn't wait.
I hated the shitty quality, I hated having to tape shows on Long Play and the severe deterioration in quality because of it. I hated the bulk and having entire bookcases and shoeboxes full of those tapes.
I hated it so much, I bought a DVD player when they first came out (500-600 bucks) at a time when I didn't have a pot to piss in. I knew if I waited a few more years I could get one for less, but I just couldn't wait.
Torhthelm Tídwald
Member
The one advantage VHS had was that you could teach kids to handle them without ruining them. Let a little kid take a DVD in and out and it is guaranteed to be scratched to hell. As I understand it, the market for kid's shows on VHS was going pretty good up until a few years ago.
I currently own 1 VHS tape. I've been meaning to give it to a thrift store for a while now.
I currently own 1 VHS tape. I've been meaning to give it to a thrift store for a while now.
Our family was the only one I knew of that had two VCRs, so we could hire tapes and pirate them. We weren't supposed to mention this to anyone, but one day we let it slip to some other kids. Dad got pretty mad... I was worried that the motion picture people would break down our door in full riot gear and haul Dad off. Dark days.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
YES!
i love watching old vhs. all the low quality previews that lead into the show, watching the auto-tracking work, the sound a tape makes when you fast-forward. . . man, i love vhs. there's something so tangible and mechanical about it. it's like, you can look at a vhs and see exactly how it works: the little wheels and gears, the tape wound around all that in all different directions. dvd is like some mystical voodoo shit.
i love watching old vhs. all the low quality previews that lead into the show, watching the auto-tracking work, the sound a tape makes when you fast-forward. . . man, i love vhs. there's something so tangible and mechanical about it. it's like, you can look at a vhs and see exactly how it works: the little wheels and gears, the tape wound around all that in all different directions. dvd is like some mystical voodoo shit.
José Mourinho
cocknose
As a child we had one of those VHS machines that had a wee disc thing (best way I can describe it) on the remote and machine that you could turn clockwise or anticlockwise for super slow mo, that's probably not what it was for but that's why I used it anyway. Good times.
iamaustrian
Member
I have over 200 video tapes and about 150 self recorded tapes and I frequently watch them.
Arielle the mermaid still gives me chills on VHS.
oh and btw: it was 5 days ago when I purchased my last (new) VHS tape in a shop.
Arielle the mermaid still gives me chills on VHS.
oh and btw: it was 5 days ago when I purchased my last (new) VHS tape in a shop.
MrHicks said:
The only "nostalgia" I have about VHS is the memory of recording some softcore stuff from the night program to one of my movies. Getting the tape to the right point was always a bitch, but having tits and ass at your free disposal as a young teen was pretty awesome.
I do have fond memories of buying dozens of bootleg vhs tapes in Bangkok whenever we were passing through Thailand during vacation. Nepal didn't exactly have a stellar line up of local channels so our only option as far as visual entertainment were vhs tapes. Also, every few months my father would bring back a suitcase from the US full of star trek, Babylon 5, and other sci fi shows that my uncle recorded on vhs for us. I cherished them almost as much as the new video games i'd get once every 6 months.
But would I go back to VHS? Hell no. Mold, twisted tape, rewinding endlessly, the tape running out in the middle of a show. It was hell. Sweet hell.
But would I go back to VHS? Hell no. Mold, twisted tape, rewinding endlessly, the tape running out in the middle of a show. It was hell. Sweet hell.
Souldriver
Member
VHS is great.
When there's something wrong with the tape, you can just rewind or forward for 2 seconds and it's over. With optical media: if it's broke, it's broke. Just the littlest scratch in your cd can ruin everything.
Edit: my sis still tapes lots of tv shows and movies on VHS, which I'm thankful for. It's the perfect "watch in bed till you fall asleep" stuff.
When there's something wrong with the tape, you can just rewind or forward for 2 seconds and it's over. With optical media: if it's broke, it's broke. Just the littlest scratch in your cd can ruin everything.
Edit: my sis still tapes lots of tv shows and movies on VHS, which I'm thankful for. It's the perfect "watch in bed till you fall asleep" stuff.
I can barely stand going back to VHS, messing with tracking, the terrible color bleeding and wash out, bad sound, and heck, with modern TVs there is almost no way to even hook up a VCR anymore!
I do recall fixing a cheap asian VHS import (filmed with a hand camera of a theatrical release in chinese with what looked like arabic subtitles
) with scotch tape, hard to do that with DVD 
I keep a VCR around for the Dune extended cut I have, as well as the THX Star Wars. The little VHS pron I have left is almost unwatchable, either due to the terrible resolution or the bad 80s dress I did get some Metallica VHS tapes (Live S#@T and some other ones) that I will now have to watch to relive the high school days.
I do recall fixing a cheap asian VHS import (filmed with a hand camera of a theatrical release in chinese with what looked like arabic subtitles
) with scotch tape, hard to do that with DVD I keep a VCR around for the Dune extended cut I have, as well as the THX Star Wars. The little VHS pron I have left is almost unwatchable, either due to the terrible resolution or the bad 80s dress
I did get some Metallica VHS tapes (Live S#@T and some other ones) that I will now have to watch to relive the high school days.- Status