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Posted by Bernie_Lomax (Member # 8571) on :
 
Anything talking about VHS (JVC) and Betamax (Sony) can go here.

I wonder who still has a Betamax player?

Does anyone collect Betamax videos?

Why did you choose Betamax or VHS over the other back in the day?

Does anyone still have TV shows/movies on tape with VHS or Betamax?

Anything else related to VHS and Beta can be discussed here.
 
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
 
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This above model was identical to ours.


My families first ever video player Bernie was a betamax but it was made by a company known as sanyo,I think my dad purchased it just before the format wars kicked off which we all know how that ended with vhs triumphant and betamax sent to the graveyard.

It was a really good player actually,a top loader like most off them were back then just that as time went by your trips to the videoshop would become less and less fun because it would go something like this -

"do you have this on betamax " - "no"

"what about this on betamax" - "no"

" but you must surely have this one on betamax" - "no,sorry"

" well what do you have on betamax" - "Not a lot"!


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One thing that was widely said about betamax at the time was that it gave the better picture out of the two formats not that that helped it out very much!

[ 06. September 2015, 09:57: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
 
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
 
 - [Big Grin]
 
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
 
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They say the inferior vhs killed off the superior betamax it makes me wonder if that is what Fred qwynne was really referring to in Stephen kings - pet sematary [Big Grin]
 
Posted by Alien (Member # 37378) on :
 
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Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
 
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Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
 
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Anyone ?
 
Posted by TerdNthePoolGGB (Member # 9818) on :
 
I didn't even know about Beta back then. Mom and dad spent $500 on a VCR and that was all she wrote. Saw a Beta player at a thrift store for the 1st time a year or 2 ago. Kinda wish I had bought it. I think they wanted $13 for it.

I will buy a Beta tape here and there simply because they are hard to find and I find them unique. Beta tapes I have are,
The Breakfast Club
Star Wars
Never Say Never Again (Big Box)
We are the World still (new and sealed)
a dozen or so of those vintage Disney in the white clamshell cases, stuff like Mary Poppins, not the newer stuff like Little Mermaid.

I prefer vhs still. They are so cheap nowadays.
Cover art is intriguing also. For instance, the Bond films have great artwork so I will buy those just for that. Today I found a couple Bond videodiscs that were awesome but they wanted $10 each so I left them. Videodisc are cool also for displaying. Will also buy brand new and sealed old stock vhs tapes, 80s of course. I try to find original releases. These will be displayed in an 80s room hopefully someday.
 
Posted by TerdNthePoolGGB (Member # 9818) on :
 
Can I get that shirt in yellow Young Warrior
 
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
 
I like the sound of an 80s room terdnthepoolggb,I think my bedroom is sort of half and half as I've got my Atari Jr 2600 sat on top of an Xbox 360 which itself sits on top of two vcr's with the odd 80s picture here and there it's a bit of a mash up in all truth!

I bet that top probably does come in yellow,trouble is if you wear that you might get attacked by the betamax brigade!
 
Posted by TerdNthePoolGGB (Member # 9818) on :
 
Don't you have some movie posters on your walls Young Warrior?
 
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
 
No I've not got them up yet,I've just painted my bedroom and just waiting to get time to put my quad frames up and I've got a us one sheet frame as well.

In my frames at the moment I've got the original judgement night us poster and in my quad frames I've got 10 to midnight and bachelor party plus I've also got jacks back video poster in a different size frame it's slightly smaller than the others.


Starting to get a collection of posters to display in them,a few I have picked up so far - making the grade UK quad poster,street fleet aka dc cabs,the party animal,the young warriors,52 pick up - (latest one I purchased),10 to midnight,mutant,bachelor party.

I bid on the UK quad poster for - kuffs with christain slater the other day but got outbid,also got outbid for poltergeist 2 and the horror comedy - house.

I never spend to much money on them if I can help it,I'd rather loose the item and try again another time.

The snap frames that you can buy to display the posters are pretty expensive so you definitely couldn't display every poster you own that is unless you have unlimited room and are filthy rich!

[ 07. September 2015, 16:19: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
 
Posted by Logan 5 (Member # 1467) on :
 
I hate the covers on those snap frames - they make the pictures really hard to see.

On the subject of Beta - not only did the tapes have different speeds, but the colours were definitely better than VHS. The main reason VHS won the video wars was that porn was available on VHS but not Beta. Also, VHS machines were available to rent, which gave many many people the chance to rent movies (mostly VHS) even if they couldn't afford to buy them (back when they cost a fortune).
 
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Logan 5:
I hate the covers on those snap frames - they make the pictures really hard to see.


Yeah my smaller poster frame which I have the James Spader movie jack's back displayed in the cover is of annoyingly bad quality where as my quad poster and us one sheet snap frame which I purchased from a different seller the covers do actually seem pretty decent and of a lot superior quality!

Some people just pin the corners to a wall,or you can get hanging frames,each way I should think has got it's advantages and disadvantages,whether you mind pinholes in your posters is one thing!

[ 09. September 2015, 06:10: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
 
Posted by TerdNthePoolGGB (Member # 9818) on :
 
Scored a Betamax player yesterday at an estatesale!! Kinda pumped about it. I have never seen one in action. I have heard many times the picture is better than vhs. They said it worked, and if so I got a great deal on it. Ebay had one that sold of this model for $150. My cost.....$20.
 
Posted by Pittsburghgirl (Member # 7514) on :
 
Very. nice Terd! We still have my husband's Betamax player, and a few tapes, mostly classic movies that he or his Mother picked up in a thrift store. We also have Slap Shot, one of my favorite movies (I have it on DVD too). The Beta picture is superior to VHS. I still buy VHS when I see something I might like. They are so cheap in the thrift stores.
 
Posted by Logan 5 (Member # 1467) on :
 
I'm about to try listing a Betamax player on eBay. I hope I get what I paid for it!
 
Posted by TerdNthePoolGGB (Member # 9818) on :
 
Is it hooked up and in use Pittsburghgirl? Slap Shot is a flick that I would like to find. Havent seen it since the 80s.

The thrift stores are a great place to search for videos. Have purchased hundreds of them thru the thrift stores and like you say the prices are dirt cheap. I would say they are the best place to look for vhs nowadays. Ebay and Amazon have a ton but a person can get 3 videos at thrift for the price of their shipping alone.

Hey Logan 5, did you buy the Betamax new?
 
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
 
My oldest friend is actually in Slap Shot, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year! Best hockey movie, one of the best sports movies, and one of the funniest American movies ever. So many quotable lines and funny scenes. So brilliant.
 
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
 
Still to this day not seen Slapshot but heard nothing but great things about it over the years.

Cool picking up a betamax player terd i had a look out of curiosity on eBay UK for one and nearly all on there seem to be for either spares or repair and there going for pretty good money so to pick one up if all things good and it still plays fine for 20 dollars is a absolute bargain!
 
Posted by Pittsburghgirl (Member # 7514) on :
 
Terd, I don't currently have my Betamax hooked up. We got a new tv last year and we just hooked up the DVD/VHS player. I should hook it up again and watch some of those old movies.
 
Posted by Pittsburghgirl (Member # 7514) on :
 
Crash, what scene or scenes is your friend in Slap Shot?
 
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
 
He is the guy with the beard in the radio station control room during the on-air interviews. I used to work at the radio station in Johnstown where those scenes were filmed. One of my favorite scenes is when during a radio interview, Newman puts a bounty on the head of the opposing player-coach. Team General Manager Strother Martin's response is hilarious.

[ 15. March 2017, 05:34: Message edited by: Crash ]
 
Posted by Pittsburghgirl (Member # 7514) on :
 
Very cool. I need to do a rewatch. Maybe this weekend.
 
Posted by Jakey V (Member # 37348) on :
 
I have movies taped off TV in the '80's with the commercials in them. We didn't know how to cut them out at first.
 
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
 
Tim Lucas, who used to publish Video Watchdog magazine, perhaps the best film magazine of all time, had an editorial a few years ago about stuff taped off of TV. He said that he was going through his collection of VHS tapes and throwing out things that he had bought on DVD when he realized, "Hey, for the stuff that I recorded off of TV back way back when, what if I'm the only one on earth who has a copy of a certain commercial or network ID or bumper? I'm throwing away history!" For all of us hoarders, that's pretty much the only justification we need to save VHS tapes, commercials and all.

And it is true. I have been searching for years for anyone who taped the entire series of a late-night syndicated movie show called The Canned Film Festival with Saturday Night Live's Laraine Newman, which ran during the summer of 1986. Somebody found an old tape of one episode and posted it on YouTube. Nothing else has ever surfaced. I have searched the grey market, the Internet, and collectors/traders and come up empty. It makes me wonder if the master tapes of the 13 episodes that they did are even still available. If not, it may be a show lost forever. So before you throw out that VHS tape... LOL

[ 22. March 2017, 07:58: Message edited by: Crash ]
 
Posted by TerdNthePoolGGB (Member # 9818) on :
 
Jakey v. That's cool. The old commercials are fun to watch.

Crash. That's something to think about for sure. I have some old vhs from the early to mid80s. Its Mtv footage. I believe about 14 hours. Its fun to watch Mtv in its infancy along with the current news at that time. And the commercials are fun too.
Also Crash, perhaps when a person goes to an estatesale or any place that has old vhs that were
recorded at home they should think about just what you arettalking about and maybe buy them instead of considering them complete junk
 
Posted by thenodfather (Member # 8732) on :
 
I didn't have a Betamax, but here's some interesting facts about it: https://legacybox.com/blogs/analog/fun-facts-about-betamax-tapes
 


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