Btw, if you want to have a laugh, here's an unintentionally funny documentary from the 80s (translates to "Mother Father Zombie - Horror for home use").

It's also seemingly very stiff, very serious by today's standards. That seemed professional back then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMy-NryQN2c

(Sorry for the lack of English subtitles, I have no relationship with that video. 🤷‍♂️)

That '84 documentary is (was) about the medium videocassette and the danger that comes with it.

It was a very sceptical view on the then-new medium. You know, worried teachers, parents and so on. Brutality "on screen" etc.

It tries very hard to highlight the negative aspects, which might be the most funny part (a kid watching a trash film about cannibals eating a heart they've just ripped out of a nude woman's chest).

The youth back then was surprisingly relaxed, by contrast, when being interviewed.
While the adults were almost being traumatized by all the gore from Hollywood movies
(at the end of the video, where the parents do discuss things through like being at the therapist/in a support group). 😁

Edited.

Edit: I think the latter reaction is kind of paradox,
because parents in this era did still read very violent bed time stories with their children
(The Grimm Brother's fairytales, Max&Moritz, Struwwelpeter etc).

I think I still have a couple VHS tape players in my garage. I have a VHS tape Dupe copier too.
I Still have my Oak entertainment center from 1980’s that I purchased at Costco. It still has my 32-inch CRT TV and 5-Disk DVD player in it.
It use to have my VHS player too and my 1980’s Home theater Receiver and Stereo, CD player, EQ, Phonograph, etc.
My old Home theater sound system was a Kenwood AVR that I still have in my garage along with some others.
I have a 5.1 THX surround sound system with Messina triangle surrounds and Yamaha towers for fronts speakers and a 12-inch subwoofer.
Some times I would switch the speakers out for the Wharfedale home theater speakers which had a nice warm natural balanced sound.

I sold most of the electronics back in 2008 but some are still in my garage in boxes.

Here are some photos of my 1980’s home theater system vs. Modern day home theater.

I have looked at this thread a couple of times. My first thought was "pretty cool." But then I started thinking about it. Setting yourself up to be dependent upon old technology - VHS players haven't been made in a long time; any ones you might get are going to be used.

On the other hand, I may have the same thing staring me in the face with DVD. Players are still made, yes, but they are definitely the bottom-end ones.

Along the same lines, there are people out there still collecting the RCA CED disks (40 years after the format was introduced.) And I think those people are nuts, because it was a bad technology that should never nave been released in the first place.

Perhaps the point is, this is cool but maybe there are limits to keeping old technology going

ncmark wrote on 2024-01-15, 17:05:

I have looked at this thread a couple of times. My first thought was "pretty cool." But then I started thinking about it. Settin […]
Show full quote

I have looked at this thread a couple of times. My first thought was "pretty cool." But then I started thinking about it. Setting yourself up to be dependent upon old technology - VHS players haven't been made in a long time; any ones you might get are going to be used.

On the other hand, I may have the same thing staring me in the face with DVD. Players are still made, yes, but they are definitely the bottom-end ones.

Along the same lines, there are people out there still collecting the RCA CED disks (40 years after the format was introduced.) And I think those people are nuts, because it was a bad technology that should never nave been released in the first place.

Perhaps the point is, this is cool but maybe there are limits to keeping old technology going

if a tiny number of people wanted to maintain vhs player facility for a few decades they could, even years after vhs was abundant - they can looks around flea markets, goodwill type charity stores, ask family and even buy on ebay - i'd say owning about 6-7 in fair condition is a few decades of semi regular use, especially if some basic mechanical maintenance is carried out so things don't seize up or deteriorate too much

one thing with DVD - i don't have many players though it may be enough, i like some of the early ones - when they were still high end - maybe i can get 1-2 more in fair used condition, but what i do have is about 20+ dvd drives for PCs and plenty of PCs to put them in

anyway, the point was that yes the item in question, vhs and dvd players, will dwindle in totality but there will be enough to go round for the even smaller number of people interested enough to use them and especially those interested enough to create 80's vhs stores in their home anyway 😀

With regards to lack of high-end players (of any kind) I think even the Japanese manufacturers are feeling the pinch of cheap crap from China

Hi, VHS didn't seem to have a high fidelity to begin with. It had about 200 lines resolution (colour).

So a cheaply made 6 head player (or VCR) maybe isn't worse than a random player (or VCR) from the 80s, which usually was connected via RF at the time.

The mechanical side is a different story, though.
The tape has to move smoothly, with a constant speed. Otherwise, similar problems to cheap Walkman players can occur (warble, wow and flutter).

If really needed, a repair on the kitchen table is possible. I was told cleaning the video head (a tiny piece on the drum) is possible with water-free (!) alcohol and a soft leather cloth (a lint-free cloth).
The cloth mustn't move, but the head drum must be gently rotated instead. That way, the head doesn't get ripped off.

Edit: What also comes to mind - some films look nicer in low resolution on a CRT.
Like for example, hand drawn animation (Ghibli, Disney).

Blu Ray releases of that kind are superior on the technical side, but also reveal the imperfections (lack of details drawn).

An DVD, or an old VHS by contrast may keep the magic, especially if being watched on a standard-defintion CRT monitor.

Same would technically be true for the BD, if downscaling was possible.
Early generation Blu Ray players had a Composite/Component/S-Video or SCART output, still.
On such models, an CRT could be connected.

Adapters/Converters are a workaround on never generations, but HDCP likely gets in the way. 🙁

Best head cleaner - common paper (the kind you would print your resume on, I wouldn't trust the coarse brown/recycled type) and pretty much any alcohol, no acetone*, get it wet but not enough to make the paper go soft, hold in place and manually turn the drum - then use cloth or q-tips only on tje stationary heads and lower (fixed) part of the drum, turning the video heads/upper drum to keep them away 😀

* I think most European denatured "pink alcohol" has MEK in it, which is pretty much equivalent to acetone as a solvent (certainly as a nail polish thinner!), not ideal for the fine coil windings

Don't forget to remove the "automatic head cleaner" - an usually white large curved plastic part to the right of the drum, with a small sponge that touches it at certain points during eject/load, the sponge decomposes and becomes much worse than nothing 🙁

If it's too old to have that 😀 it probably has a Ni-Cd battery for the settings 🙁