VCR's in general

[ruby]

My parents bought our first VCR in the early eighties.I remember the first video we rented was 'Greystoke:The Legend of Tarzan,Lord of the Apes'.It was a VHS,can't remember the make,but it was a huge silver thing,top-loading.For some reason our VCRs always broke(I think it was due to too many kids fiddling with them - my brother once took one completely apart when we went out shopping lol).I still buy videos today,it's true you can just chuck 'em in,no fuss.
They do seem to last longer than DVDs..

[lonesome crow]

Our first one my dad bought was a Ferguson videostar even the remote control was attached via a 3foot cord! we thought it was brill!!!!!

[Oggy]

We had a Radio Rentals, special a Baird i think........massive thing though, and heavy too.

[OrangeCremolaFoam]

Hi guys..

My first Video was a Hired Betamax for £10 a week from a local TV Rental Store when I was on Y.T.S. at age 16..thought it was great too..then my second Video was a 'Fergusson Videostar' with the huge chunky buttons..had it for years..it was about the size of a World War 1 Tank..;0)

best wishes...

Rab ;0)

[sixtyten]

Aye,same story here.. we rented a Fergusson Videostar from Radio Rentals,at the very birth of this "new" technology. its was a heavy silver affair,piano keys and top loading,natch.
First things I remember seeing on it were "Death wish,a bootlegged Exorcist and Dirty Harry.
the video shops were only in their infancy and Blockbusters did NOT exist! (at least in this country).the guys down the first Video shop in my neck of the woods were always offering "under the counter" tapes..clockwork Orange and the banned Snuff movies,but the stock in the shop must have been only about 100 titles at the time,just like when CD was introduced.
and considering we earned a lot less then,£4-5 a night was stupid money to pay to watch things that were pretty much on TV at the time too.
Always amazes me nowaday that years ago,any movie released in a Cinema had a five year wait until it appeared on TV..now,I don't even bother with the cinema as most films are out on DVD in months,weeks even

[sixtyten]

I also remember all the kids from school (I left in 82) coming over to each others houses (the ones lucky enough to own a VCR) and watching movies at lunchtime and weekends.Some of the quality of bootlegs around then was utterly appalling,but we still sat and watched.
the Fergusson we finally bought ( think it was one of those rent it and its yours after 3 years deals,not hire purchase,but the technology would be long superseeded by then) was and probably still works to this day. pretty indestructable as long as you kept the heads clean.
the school video was a V2000 and MASSIVE,as were the tapes. quality varied but it always seem the people who recorded educational stuff to be shown on the school V2000 did not know how to tune a TV!
nothing changes..my old man got a DVD/VHS combo a few years back and still can't work out how to get a good picture on certain channels
Viva la difference!

[Cal]

our first vcr was a sony C7 betamax a great bit of kit back then......the days of having to lie down on the floor to input all the time and programme details into the machine to do a timed recording.
i think it was stupid money back then (81), the figure of £499 seems to ring a bell

[steve edwards]

i remember that my dad bought our first ever video , it was a video 2000, NO I HADNT HEARD OF IT EITHER , it worked on the same idea as a music cassette , where as you can record/ tape on both sides it was fab

[Oggy]

We had a video disc player too, my dad won it at his works raffle, but we only had like 3 discs......

[Fatboy]

Re: VCR's in general

My parents were rather late in getting a video, the first video they got was in 1987, all I can remember is that it was an AKAI brand. I can remember years earlier, my friends having Philips video 2000 machines, which were MASSIVE, I can always remember the arguments my two friends would have regarding which was better, as one had a Betamax and the other had a video 2000, the friend who had the video 2000 used to always say that they were better as you could record on both sides of the tape. I can always remember people saying that Betamax was the best format as it beat video 2000, VHS, on picture quality, is this right ?

[Heather74]

Re: VCR's in general

I remember being about ten, mum let me buy a betamax from a car boot sale, it only cost a few pounds and came with a few tapes, we got it home set it all up, pressed play, and to mum and dads horror on came a porno, i remember me and my brother being told to get out while he and mum "sorted it" took a while.

[Fatboy]

Re: VCR's in general

I remember being about ten, mum let me buy a betamax from a car boot sale, it only cost a few pounds and came with a few tapes, we got it home set it all up, pressed play, and to mum and dads horror on came a porno, i remember me and my brother being told to get out while he and mum "sorted it" took a while.

lol, Thats a funny story lol.

[Cal]

Re: VCR's in general

I remember being about ten, mum let me buy a betamax from a car boot sale, it only cost a few pounds and came with a few tapes, we got it home set it all up, pressed play, and to mum and dads horror on came a porno, i remember me and my brother being told to get out while he and mum "sorted it" took a while.

excellent little story PMSL.
i remember a friend of mines old fella getting a home video camera kit.circa 1983-4
the camera was huge but you had to connect it via a cable to a video that you also had to carried along with you , the video was the size of a small suitcase. lol ....how times have changed

[Rapanui]

Re: VCR's in general

Similar story here - someone I once worked with having a birthday party for their daughter who was turning 6 - they decided to rent out a video (snow white and the dwarves) for the kids at the party to watch after the food. Thank God the parents decided to preview it the day before the party as it turned out to be the porno version - it had been put back in the wrong cover at the video shop !

[Rapanui]

Re: VCR's in general

Our first video was a betamax - a great big clunkie thing that was almost two big to sit on top of the tv. Ant that rediculous remote control with a long lead to it that you had to plug in to the back of the video - and if you wanted to record somethig and cut out al the adds you had to keep the button pressed in for the duration ...