Message boards :
Cafe SETI :
Rest in peace, my old friend, the VCR
Message board moderation
Author | Message |
---|---|
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
I sadly heard about this on the Sunday morning CBS News program, and I'm still very unhappy about it, and worried about what to do. I have over 100 home-made time-shifted VHS tapes going back to 1982, when we got our first VCR, an RCA model, and it was a great machine that was easy to program with on-screen displays(something fairly novel back in those days). We also have a couple dozen commercially made VHS tapes. Our current VCR is a 2008 Panasonic model that records to both tapes and DVD's, and I guess I better start dubbing over those VHS tapes to DVD asap. The problem is of course some of the commercial tapes won't copy to DVD due to copyright protection. I am thinking about getting another VCR, just to have on-hand as a back-up. Gosh, I never thought the VCR would go away when we got our first one in 1982. I thought it was as permanent a new fixture as the console tv on which it sat. http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/07/21/486889433/so-long-vcr-we-hardly-knew-you-were-still-around The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
kittyman Send message Joined: 9 Jul 00 Posts: 51468 Credit: 1,018,363,574 RAC: 1,004 |
I guess I am somewhat surprised. I didn't even realize they were still being manufactured at all. 750,000 of them sold in 2015? I never would have guessed. "Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster |
Suzie-Q Send message Joined: 9 Mar 07 Posts: 3320 Credit: 4,746,812 RAC: 1 |
A few companies started (or continued) producing phonographs/record players (again) once they realized that people would not give up their vinyl record albums. Now some artists are even putting their new stuff on vinyl. This may happen to the VCR as well. Maybe not, but don't take the first thing you hear as gospel. ~Sue~ |
Suzie-Q Send message Joined: 9 Mar 07 Posts: 3320 Credit: 4,746,812 RAC: 1 |
Of course, transferring your old stuff to a more long-lasting format is a good idea, too. Videotape won't last forever. ~Sue~ |
zoom3+1=4 Send message Joined: 30 Nov 03 Posts: 65690 Credit: 55,293,173 RAC: 49 |
I didn't think anyone was making VHS machines anymore, let alone blank tapes, which I can't find locally at all anymore, I have a Magnavox VHS recorder/DVD player, it works ok, I do have a few tapes, but it's been ages since I played one, but then I'd have to give away the machine to get rid of them. The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's |
James Sotherden Send message Joined: 16 May 99 Posts: 10436 Credit: 110,373,059 RAC: 54 |
Two years ago I had a yard sale. Had over 350 VHS tapes That I only asked .50 cents a piece for. Everyone stated they didn't have a VCR anymore. I took the tapes to the local salvation army place. [/quote] Old James |
BladeD Send message Joined: 9 Aug 11 Posts: 13320 Credit: 1,603,919 RAC: 2 |
|
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
I can't imagine giving my tapes away. Probably what I'll eventually do is dub them onto DVD, and then transfer the DVD's to a hard drive. As for Funai, they may be just trying to scare people like me into paying top dollar for the "last" machine made. The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
Carlos Send message Joined: 9 Jun 99 Posts: 29720 Credit: 57,275,487 RAC: 157 |
I still have hundreds of both VHS and DVD's I am in the process of converting them all to MP4 format and storing on hard drive. There are programs for getting past the copy protections and even hacks for getting past Disney copy protection which turns out to be the best one at the moment. Blue Ray are still a problem. But I still have 3 VCRs, one with a built in DVD and one that reads both NTSL and PAL formats. |
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
I am in the process of converting them all to MP4 format and storing on hard drive. What is a good basic program for me to use? The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
Carlos Send message Joined: 9 Jun 99 Posts: 29720 Credit: 57,275,487 RAC: 157 |
WinX DVD Ripper. It's not free but it works well and great interface. Much easier to use that others. There is a free version but it only works on a 5 min sample. |
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
WinX DVD Ripper. It's not free but it works well and great interface. Much easier to use that others. There is a free version but it only works on a 5 min sample. Thanks Carlos. I have Handbrake and Seashore and a few other oddities on my Mac, but they're all kind of limited, and I'll be using a Windows computer for this, anyway. I just wish there was a gizmo that you could plug into a computer, pop a VHS tape into, and press a button, and voila you have a nice compressed digital version of the video. The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
J. Mileski Send message Joined: 9 Jun 02 Posts: 632 Credit: 172,116,532 RAC: 572 |
Many new technologies are born with a bang: Virtual reality headsets! Renewable rockets! And old ones often die with a whimper. So it is for the videocassette recorder, or VCR. Quoted from another message board |
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
Thanks, J. Mileski. It's weird to me that people nowadays don't seem to be concerned about keeping things that are recorded with a DVR. Once that DVR gets filled up, you have to start deleting things. Yes, I have a VCR connected to our DVR so we can offload some shows, but the quality suffers. I wish there was a way to tether the DVR to an external hard drive so the capacity could be increased. The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
zoom3+1=4 Send message Joined: 30 Nov 03 Posts: 65690 Credit: 55,293,173 RAC: 49 |
But that would possibly violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act... The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's |
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
But that would possibly violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act... Lol, I don't know anything about that. The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
zoom3+1=4 Send message Joined: 30 Nov 03 Posts: 65690 Credit: 55,293,173 RAC: 49 |
But that would possibly violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act... It refers to the quality issue you mentioned, that's why there is no DVR that has inputs and outputs like on a VCR, the rights holders made a new version of the VCR illegal, but then they'd lost against Sony years before, so they made sure no repeat would happen, so from time to time in the past I've been buying DVD's, My VHS collection is not very big, maybe they will be worth selling one day, maybe. The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's |
Carlos Send message Joined: 9 Jun 99 Posts: 29720 Credit: 57,275,487 RAC: 157 |
WinX DVD Ripper. It's not free but it works well and great interface. Much easier to use that others. There is a free version but it only works on a 5 min sample. There is look at the ION Tape to PC deck. |
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
WinX DVD Ripper. It's not free but it works well and great interface. Much easier to use that others. There is a free version but it only works on a 5 min sample. Interesting, but the link took me to an audio cassette to pc converter machine. There's also apparently a converter comprising an rca connection from the vcr and a usb plug going to the computer you can get: http://www.cnet.com/how-to/transfer-vhs-tapes-to-your-computer/ The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
But that would possibly violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act... Well, our DVR has rca outputs, and that's what I have inputted into the VCR. But yes, the quality suffers. The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
©2024 University of California
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.