Anyone still have a VHS player?

[Kit]

I remember in 2006, our local Wal Mart decided to stop carrying VHS tapes so they were just gone over night. One day they were there and the next day they were not, just gone just like that. Makes me wonder if they just sent them back to the company than just putting them all on sale to get rid of them and simply not order anymore in stock.

This was a big deal at my work because many people working there were low income so they couldn't just go out and buy a DVD player and replace their whole movie collection. But yet I remember companies continued making VCRs despite that VHS films were no longer being made.

Last time I went to our local video store here that is still in business and going, they had gotten rid of all their VHS tapes and only had DVDs now. Back in 2009, they still had a lot of VHS films. I remember it nearly closed when the owners decided to retire but the people there didn't want it to go so another business decided to collect funds and buy the business and now they own it. Plus it is also a film museum where they actually have movie props on display including the building model they used in Blade Runner.

I also notice it is getting harder and harder to find VHS films in second hand stores and I haven't seen any at a Goodwill in a long time. In Montana, they always have a bunch of them and they were selling them for 50 cents each because they wanted to get rid of them and that is how we got so many VHS tapes at our lake house. Some of them there are from my childhood and were there since the lake house was built and some of them also belonged to my great uncle before he passed away.

 

[Kit]

Plus that dreaded moment when the VHS player got hungry and ate your tape. lol. Then you may be there pulling it out by the tape only. Then rewinding it and putting it back in and crossing your fingers.

And using scotch tape to tape the film back together if it ripped. The film was usually strong and didn't rip easily but darn you really had to push the tape in and out to get it unstuck and they roll the film back in the tape. Then you would have white lines running down the screen in that scene where it got eaten.

 

[Sarah S]

And using scotch tape to tape the film back together if it ripped. The film was usually strong and didn't rip easily but darn you really had to push the tape in and out to get it unstuck and they roll the film back in the tape. Then you would have white lines running down the screen in that scene where it got eaten.

I used glue worked great most of the time actually. Also i had to remove the cover (obviously after unplugging the device ) so that i could then untangle the tangle in there

 

[Sarah S]

I still recall paying about $1200 for my first VCR circa 1980. LOL..must have weighed 40 pounds. A Mitsubishi HS-300U.

My how so much has changed...both technology and its economics.

Looks similar to the big brick we got (also back in the 80 `s ) LOL

 

[Skeletor]

I researched this. The last VHS players were made by Funai Electronics in July of 2016. Since then no company makes them anymore so finding a new one in a store like Target is impossible.

 

[Judge]

The pace of consumer-electronics technology moves so fast now that it's very difficult to hang onto obsolete technology. Though I'm completely stoked by Samsung still offering significant firmware updates to televisions like mine now seven years old and running even better than when I originally bought it. Go figure.

Yet there's no way I'll ever intend to buy all my dvds all over again in a newer format. As long as I can find a flatscreen smart tv that runs at 1080p I'm good! No need for 4K or 8K or whatever else is developed that now amounts to overkill with an expensive price tag.

 

[Kit]

I also do not intend on rebuying everything digital. I will just hang onto our DVD players and our PS3. Though we don't even watch DVDs anymore. We watch them on Netflix and On Demand and youtube and sometimes Disney Plus. Plus we have Amazon Video with Prime and there are free TV apps with free movies and tv shows.

 

[Judge]

I also do not intend on rebuying everything digital. I will just hang onto our DVD players and our PS3. Though we don't even watch DVDs anymore. We watch them on Netflix and On Demand and youtube and sometimes Disney Plus. Plus we have Amazon Video with Prime and there are free TV apps with free movies and tv shows.

If you're using a widescreen tv that has at least 1080p resolution to watch all those online channels, odds are that in most cases the picture quality will be better than DVDs upconverted to 720 and 1080p.

Though really old film footage, documentaries and all non-HD sources are going to look a bit blurry no matter what resolution they are broadcast in.

That said though, watching most any recent digitally-created source is a hoot. Especially if your tv can render them at 30 frames a second.

 

[Skeletor]

Will a 4k hd player play DVD and blu ray?

 

[Skeletor]

Just curious does anyone here remember 8 track tapes? My dad had them and a working 8 track player. Now you can find the tapes in secondary market bookstores if you are lucky. The players? Forget it. Perhaps there is one collecting dust on some forgotten antique shop shelf.

 

[Creep]

Yes. Nowadays I either watch old movies on a VCR or new movies on my iPad. I like being able to stop the movie where I want & come back to it later.

 

[Judge]

Will a 4k hd player play DVD and blu ray?

Yes, they will play lower resolution Blu-Ray and standard DVDs. Multiple optical lasers that can independently read each disk format.

However the big caveat is not the player, but a 4K television set. Seems none of them visually render DVDs very well. A prime reason why I've stuck with my Samsung 1080p widescreen tv and my DVD library.

 

[dragonfire42]

We still have one. If I remember correctly, my brother can get it to work, but it needs some persuasion.