The Video Shop

[Retrogames]

Re: The Video Shop

Hey - Ritz Video, blimey not heard that name in more than a decade. I forgot about them. I got banned from my local one for threatening to ramraid the shop (it was all over the news at the time, ramraiding that is) because the manager refused to rent me a 15 certificate as I didnt have ID on me. Despite the fact that i'd driven down and parked right outside, front of the car facing the counter through the window. Admisssion- I was only 14 but it was the days when the Police wouldn't pull underage drivers over in our suburb Dad never twigged that I was taking the Sierra XR4x4 when he was on nightshifts, either. Might tell him when he comes up next weekend!

[stuckinthe80's]

Re: The Video Shop

We had a few video shops in our town. Lots of other shops like the corner shop also rented videos. One of the video shops 'Rainbow TV and video' would deliver tapes that you had reserved on a saturday night. They also had other titles in the car boot of you fancied another! The rainbow and another called 'R&M video' used to have monthly lists to take home. Also a coming soon list you could reserve titles off. Those were the days. Lovefilm can't hold a candle to those stores! We did get a 'chain' type store called 'Ritz Video' this was bought out by blockbuster.

[Retrogames]

Re: The Video Shop

Ah no come on, i'm a massive (ie still use it, still collect it) Beta fan but VHS was the best. Cheaper, many more films, And the quality was only visible when you used 1hr Beta tapes. They were so thin at 3hr that the quality was as good as double play vhs. The studio quality Betacam was miles better than both, but only shares the cassette shape with Betamax- everything else is different. Beta sound was pants too, and on a 20" tv i'd argue that sound was more important than picture.

Of course a lot of pre-cert Beta tapes offer better picture and sound as they had a shorter rental life. Nowt more annoying that the film you wanted being out on the format your parents owned/rented but in on the other format!

Speaking of which, does anyone rent anything nowadays? That seems to have completely died off.

[darren]

Re: The Video Shop

yes we had about 5 video shops in our town
including one that only opened two hrs per day.

i cant remember any video shops in my town renting out computer games though.
vhs may be gone now but it was what started us watching films at home.

in fact beta was far better quality than vhs.

[Richard1978]

Re: Video shops

I remember there were a few video shops near me that also rented games, but by the time my parents got a player pre-recorded tapes were getting cheapers & we hardly rented.

I mostly used the local library that had a good selection.

[Retrogames]

Video shops

Remember when they first got popular? Our suburban rank of shops had three at one time, all seeming ly stocked different films entirely! The one at the top of the road had loads of Atari 2600 games for 50p rentals, the one by our school was ran by a complete moron who had the great idea of leaving the boxes on the shelf all the time, meaning multiple trips up to the counter to be repeatedly told 'no, that ones out too". The one at the bottom of the road seemed to change every other week between being a video shop and a games shop, they stocked video 2000 films at a time. Why, I don't know!

I've been buying iconic ex rentals for 10p a shot for the last year, when we move we're looking for a house with a garage for a full-on cinema conversion and I thought it'd be neat to have the entrance staged as a 1980s video shop. Perusing the boxes to pick a film will bring back the memories! Might even add a beaded curtain corner ahem!

[memoman]

Re: The Video Shop

you have to register before you can read 99% of the posts .The search bar is accessable though.

[stuckinthe80's]

Re: The Video Shop

Have a look at www.pre-cert.co.uk for pictures of old video covers. Use the search bar on the left hand side to find any cover from the UK and Australia. Its a great site!

[memoman]

Re: The Video Shop

http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/rejected.htm

some banned 80's films among the list .Not as comprehensive as other lists i have seen


http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/nasties.htm

this seems a better list

[memoman]

Re: The Video Shop

I have this book.. great video cover memories in this..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shock-Horror.../dp/1903254329

Lot better when you have the films and not just the covers ;-) For those who are curious i'm sure it's an interesting read.

[sixtyten]

Re: The Video Shop

well it happens im a big collector collector of old videos.pre cert videos
i remember seeing all the pre cert videos and the famous nasties and the covers scared the life out of me.
covers like cannibal ferox,cannibal holocaust etc.

and now i collect them paying over 100 quid for individual pre certs.

I have this book.. great video cover memories in this..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shock-Horror.../dp/1903254329

[memoman]

Re: The Video Shop

I remember the first few cheapish videos you could buy were Raiders of the lost ark, Jaws 3d and An officer and a gentleman and they were £29.95 i think and that was around 1984.
Some films like ET, Empire strikes back and Return of the Jedi took about 5 to 7 years to eventually come out to rent.

Darrens right a lot of Pre Certs are worth stupid money if i remember rightly Beast in the heat and Devil hunter were 2 of the rarest nastys and the going rate was about £400 to £600 that may have changed though, even a few beta films are worth over a £100.
Most sell thru vids these days aint worth 20p even most of the charity shops bin em these days and dont bother with them.

The only film i was refused when i was a kid was Death Wish 2 because the man in the shop said there was a nasty rape scene in it.
I always loved Golan Globus films theyre still good now in a "its so **** and cheesey its good way" some of my faves were American Ninja, Invasion USA, Revenge of the ninja and The Delta force must have seen Delta force over 100 times and probably still has the best movie theme tune ever!

Vhs was good in it's day but has long been surpassed by superior formats.

Re: The Video Shop

I remember the first few cheapish videos you could buy were Raiders of the lost ark, Jaws 3d and An officer and a gentleman and they were £29.95 i think and that was around 1984.
Some films like ET, Empire strikes back and Return of the Jedi took about 5 to 7 years to eventually come out to rent.

Darrens right a lot of Pre Certs are worth stupid money if i remember rightly Beast in the heat and Devil hunter were 2 of the rarest nastys and the going rate was about £400 to £600 that may have changed though, even a few beta films are worth over a £100.
Most sell thru vids these days aint worth 20p even most of the charity shops bin em these days and dont bother with them.

The only film i was refused when i was a kid was Death Wish 2 because the man in the shop said there was a nasty rape scene in it.
I always loved Golan Globus films theyre still good now in a "its so **** and cheesey its good way" some of my faves were American Ninja, Invasion USA, Revenge of the ninja and The Delta force must have seen Delta force over 100 times and probably still has the best movie theme tune ever!

[frame]

Re: The Video Shop

'Square Eyes' was the name of our local rental shop and was a great source of entertainment for a few years.
Frame.

[Richard1978]

Re: The Video Shop

I remember a few years ago picking up some tapes in a 2nd hand shop for £1 each, most of which were in good condition.