Variety, in a very funny obit (with the very Onion headline "VHS, 30, dies of loneliness"), reports that videotapes are now officially fossils. Retailers have said they no longer have the shelf space to stock ‘em, so the studios will no longer produce ‘em. This raises several questions:
- When will they stop making VCRs? If you, like me, never really use yours, you haven’t bothered to replace it since it ruined your American Anthem tape. Do you run out now and buy a new one just so you’ll have it? Or is it time to finally throw the thing out and sell the tapes it hasn’t destroyed? (Keep in mind that your mom paid $80 for that copy of Dirty Dancing).
- Exactly which ’80s and ‘90 movies are you willing to replace on DVD? The decision will be extremely difficult if they keep releasing classics, like Weekend at Bernie’s, with no extras. (I refuse to believe Jonathan Silverman didn’t have time to talk. He chatted with me).
- When is American Anthem going to be on DVD? You know you want it.
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I use my VCR almost every day to record TV shows, seeing as how it’s much cheaper than a DVR or Tivo or whatever. I rarely if ever watch regular VHS tapes anymore, though.
I also use my VCR to record my favie shows. I don’t know what I’d do without it. It’s no fancy dvr box, but it gets the job done. I do still have movies on VHS, but it’s always the hard decision between buying new movies on DVD or replacing my old VHS movies. I usually opt to buy new movies because I don’t own them yet. I don’t think I’ll replace the VHS ones until I have no other options. Buying movies can get pretty pricey. Plus I buy TV series on DVD and those add up too.
I just want Tao of Steve to come out on DVD.
And since the James Bond top 20 didn’t have a talkback, here’s mine:
Did Blofeld right that frikken’ list? Ian Fleming would be spinning in his grave if he saw that You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever were listed among the “better” Bond movies. The list is wayyy off. Bond stinkers like “You Only Live Twice”, ‘On her Majesty’s Secret Service”, “Live and Let Die”, and friggin’ GOLDENEYE should have been near the bottom of the list, not the top.
The Living Daylights was AWESOME and deserves a top 10 spot. Nevermind that it’s the only Bond movie to deal with Afghanistan. Tomorrow Never Dies was the only good Brosnan flick (wayyy better than Goldeneye), and For Your Eyes only was by far the best of the Roger Moore movies. Also, From Russia With Love deserves a higher ranking.
The only things I agree with are that World is Not Enough was the worst and Goldfinger was by far the best. And it dealt with the North Koreans attempting to use nukes in the USA.
Like brandonk I also use my VCR to record TV shows every day. The satellite system available to me doesn’t have the option for a PVR and I have not bought a recordable DVD player yet so my VCR is great. With all the crap on TV it is nice to have a guarantee that I can always see the good shows.
RIP TO THE VHS
We’ve all seen the signs so it shouldn’t be that much of a shock that VHS is no more. Dead. Gone. I noticed a while back that Blockbuster’s shelves were sans VHS and when the latest Harry Potter came out,
I still use a VCR to record my fave TV shows. BLAH BLAH BLAH about TiVo and DVRs. Whatever shows I miss that are on the same time as I’m taping something while I’m out, I have friends that happily DVR stuff for me, and then I spend weeekend afternoons on their couch! *YES, I HAVE SOME TRULY AWESOME FRIENDS*
But actually I just bought the only movie I have on VHS that had yet to be replaced on DVD last night. THE LITTLE MERMAID. I don’t buy many movies, but I can’t tell you how many people have borrowed this VHS from me. My sister is a community center/day care teacher & has worn the VHS out, so yeah, I had to finally upgrade to dvd. I don’t usually buy very many movies since I see most of them in the theaters, I just rent em. But yeah, the VHS THE LITTLE MERMAID tape I have is the original clamshell that caused the controversy with the fallic shaped spiral tower on it. Disney stopped using that cover. I tried telling my one friend about it last night when she was with me buying the new dvd, and she totally didn’t believe me!
i still use my VCR everyday to record as well since it’s cheap and efficient for what I need. my vcr is only a year old, so i think that should work fine for a while, but i guess i need to stock up on blank tapes.
i do however, only buy dvds for the most part.
I have a combo DVD player/VHS, and use the VHS to record TV shows. It’s ok if the studios want to stop making them, but as far as recording, it’s still a viable machine.
I have, count ‘em, 3 VCRs. Call me a luddite, but it’s a technology that still works and I can tape one show while watching another. I am not totally in the 80s – I also have two DVD players, but no DVR. I dread trying to upgrade to TIVO and digital cable and making sure the TV PIP still works as well as the surround system…….
Wow I would definitely buy American Anthem on DVD. I watch exercise machine infomercials at 2 am to get my Mitch Gaylord fix now.
Don’t be haters to the TIVO! Can your VCR pause live TV shows, can it record the exact time (2 minutes over LOST episodes), can it hold 70 hours of shows in the palm of your hand (not a big huge stack of tapes or only 3 hours since you keep taping over the same tape until it falls apart). Big Fat No Sirree! Just like the heated seats in my car (can’t live without ‘em now) – I will never go back to a world where I don’t have TIVO.
What a scary thought! I adore my VCR and use it every single day! I still have a video library of 250 tapes so I guess I have to buy 2 or 3 VCRs before its too late. I rarely use my DVD. But I’m a liitle slow because I still carry a walkman on my hip each day as well!
Patti – not a TIVO hater, just afeared! =:-O
>^..^<
I, too, use my VCR on a daily basis. Can’t live with out it.
I’ve also been known to purchase pre-recorded movies on VHS, especially since the chance of the movie being released on DVD is nowhere on the horizon.
And Ep, I agree: the Bond top 20 movie list was screwed up. Live and Let freakin’ die is #3?!? From Russia with Love #8? Did the EW staff smoke something funny before coming up with that list???
I use a VCR to record shows as well. No money for a DVR. I think the last cassette I bought was ‘Titanic’ in 1998 for $10.
I couldn’t live without my VCR. I have DVR at home, and I absolutely love it. But I’m up at college right now, and so TIVO isn’t an option. With the VCR, I can record shows while I’m in class or studying. It makes my life a lot easier (it also helps that ABC puts a lot of their shows online now).
Ep – I have Tao of Steve on dvd. But, admittedly, I bought it from Blockbuster used.
LOL! I remember when VHS first came out in the 80’s. In order to become a member of a Video Store, one had to pay 50 to 80 dollars for membership – LOL!
The one my family use to rent from had all the movie titles on the shelf (one of each title) and you knew you could rent it if the chip in front of the title was on the shelf. You’d take the chip up to the counter and they would exchange it for the movie – LOL!!
I remember wanting to rent the He-Man cartoons but those damn chips never came in!
Aww technology, now instead of having to rent porn from the local video store, WHERE EVERYONE KNEW WHAT YOU WERE RENTING, you can download in the privacy of your own home/room.
I confess that I own both American Anthem (VHS) and Weekend at Bernie’s (DVD and probably VHS too).
I still use a VCR daily, but I’m really bad at labeling tapes. I don’t know how many times I’ve accidentally taped over something I hadn’t watched yet. And since I’m the only one in the household that knows how to program the VCR, guess who gets blamed if show x wasn’t recorded. Now that TiVo is literally giving their boxes away (go to tivo.com and see for yourself) it’s becoming more and more difficult to resist.
Yeah, until Tivo/DVR/PVR can record more than 2 shows at a time (uh. hello. Thursdays. I need 4), I will keep my VCR’s around the house each taping a different show. Works for now at least and cheap. I’ll replace them when they start breaking down, and hopefully by then the digital machines will be able to record more than the 2 at a time they can now.
Until I’m wealthy enough to invest in a decent DVD recorder or recorder/VHS combo, my VCR still gets a lot of use, mostly to tape stuff for my kids or to transfer the logjam of crap from my DVR (which has a copy to VCR feature that I’ve yet to see work). Mine’s 13 years old and when it dies, I’ll move to a DVD recorder…but until then.
I am starting to duplicate some of what I have on VHS (which numbers in the hundreds between professional movies and stuff taped off TV) with DVD editions. Some I’ve given to my brother, the others I think I’ll start selling on Ebay.:)
Now that I have a DVR I will use my VCR less, but I still watch videos. I have movies I recorded off of TCM that aren’t available for purchase anywhere. When “Fitzwilly”, “One For the Book”, and “The Reluctant Debutante” come out on DVD, I’ll consider pitching my VCR. Til then, I’m keeping it.
Also – my VCR is my A/V hookup for my TV, DVR and DVD player. So it’s handy in that fashion also.
I can’t afford Tivo or a DVR yet either (I rent in apartment in a rural town so cable/satellite options are not great), so my VCR still gets ton of use. I mainly rent DVDs, but I tape a lot of TV shows.
I’m another one who uses my VCRs on an almost daily basis. I’ve been looking at DVR but right now they’re still too expensive and I’m seeing that too many people are having problems with them, which reminds me of when VCRs first came out. The first 3 or 4 VCRs my family didn’t last more than 3 years. The last two I bought have lasted 3 and 8 years with almost daily use and they’re still going strong.
I’ve replaced a couple of VHS movies with DVD. There’s only one or two more that I’d consider replacing. The rest either aren’t really worth replacing or aren’t available on DVD.
I too use my vcr’s daily. Rarely watch tv live other than news. When there are 4 shows I like opposite each other I can tape ‘em all and watch them later. Just about impossible to get a good one (ie not third world made junk) locally, but ebay still has high-end refurbs cheap. I’ve no interest in making my cable company any richer, or in adding another bill to pay. Despite the attempt at forced obslesence I”ll bet are still a lot more vcr’s in use than dvr’s, and will be for a long time to come.
i am another daily vcr user…how else can i watch my beloved general hospital? i am not interested in adding yet another bill from the cable company so i can have another box on top of my tv…maybe someday but not now. i am still too attached to my fossil i guess! besides, re-buying everything i have on vhs would put me in serious financial woe.
Bah, I’m in college right now. TiVo is like HDTV to me right now…I can’t afford to use it. VHS is so much more convenient to use with the TV I have right now (it has a built in VCR) and considering how much I have to sacrifice watching TV right away, it helps. Screw TiVo.
We have 2 VCRs, and we use both of them to record TV shows. I still can’t figure out why I’d want to pay a monthly fee to use a Tivo, or one of those things. That’s ignorant, in my mind. And as for the shows that run a minute long? I just start my VCR a few minutes early, and run them a few minutes late, so I never miss anything.
I’ve got nothing against VCRs, but will say that those who dis on tivo clearly do not have it. I spent a DAY at a friend’s house with Tivo and had to get one by the end of the week. As the old saying goes, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it…
VCR’s are leaving, they’re going to stop making compact discs, what next? closing drive-thrus so you can eat pills that turn into hamburgers? oh the humanity!!