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SaveFerris
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29 Aug 2017, 12:10 pm

DeepHour wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
I remember how shocked I was when places like Blockbuster first proliferated. Circa 1982. It revolutionized the culture to almost the extent that the Internet revolutionized the culture circa 1996-1997.

This was around the time when people started being able to buy phones, rather than rent them, in the United States.

1984 was the key year for phones in the US, I find. This was the year when Ma Bell was found to be an illegal monopoly. Thus began the competition for phone service which continues today.

In 1982, I didn't even have a TV in my apartment, no less a VCR. VCR's started become affordable for most people in about 1982, though.


Not sure that it was quite the same over here, kraftie. My first VCR was an ex-rental Sony C7, which I bought on a bank loan in 1984 for around £450. By the early years of the 21st century new VHS machines were on sale for £150 or less, but the quality was not impressive, even from the likes of Sony and Panasonic.


I first started watching videos on a Betamax ( watched Time Bandits on Betamax ) , every VHS player I had after I left home I got from a skip and fixed it


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kraftiekortie
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29 Aug 2017, 12:12 pm

You're probably a tinkerer, Ferris.

Maybe like Doc in "Back to the Future?"



CockneyRebel
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29 Aug 2017, 12:15 pm


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League_Girl
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29 Aug 2017, 12:19 pm

BirdInFlight wrote:
Sadly I don't think we have anything that is like Redbox in the UK, nope. Thanks for the suggestion though, League Girl, I appreciate you trying to come up with an equivalent for me. :)

Funny, I used to live in the US and I remember Redbox from all those years ago; it's good to know those are actually still going! I wish we had the same thing.



How long have you been back in the UK? I am guessing you havent been back that long.

The first time I saw a Redbox was in 2007. They didn't have any in Montana and now they do. All their video stores in my old area are gone too. I would rent movies and then return them after I got off work. I have not seen video rentals in supermarkets in a long time.


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League_Girl
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29 Aug 2017, 12:22 pm

I still have VHS tapes and a VCR and I got one for free at a yard sale. When I first saw a betamax tape, I thought it was a small VHS. I also remember laserdisc. I wonder why we don't see those in any second hand stores but VHS?


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kraftiekortie
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29 Aug 2017, 12:41 pm

VHS tapes were actually good. The only problem: They were sometimes like 2 hours long, so sometimes you couldn't tape the whole movie. And you had to rewind (though I never found that a problem).

I found it amazing that one could even tape TV shows and watch them later!



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29 Aug 2017, 12:49 pm

Early Betamax machines were superbly engineered and built like battleships - my early 1980s Japanese-made Sony Betamax C7 lasted twelve years, but in later years when companies like Sony and Panasonic shifted manufacturing abroad to places like Malaysia, Thailand and Slovenia, quality plummeted. I took half a dozen VCRs made by these companies to the local recycling site between about 2000-2010 (all of them VHS by then of course). I've still got some Beta tapes, but nothing to play them on.



Last edited by DeepHour on 29 Aug 2017, 12:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Sweetleaf
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29 Aug 2017, 12:55 pm

As far as I know movie rental stores are a thing of the past.


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drwho222
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29 Aug 2017, 1:01 pm

NewTime wrote:
Are there any movie rental stores around in your area anymore? My area doesn't have them anymore. There's only Redbox kiosks over here now.


Here in the Chicago area Blockbuster no longer exists, but there are lots of Family Video stores. Especially in the suburbs.



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29 Aug 2017, 1:04 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
VHS tapes were actually good. The only problem: They were sometimes like 2 hours long, so sometimes you couldn't tape the whole movie. And you had to rewind (though I never found that a problem).

I found it amazing that one could even tape TV shows and watch them later!


I think the reason VHS fell out of favor is because you cant easily release whole show seasons on them. But they don't have the issue of sometimes being scratched and unplayable NEW IN PACKAGE.



Sweetleaf
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29 Aug 2017, 1:18 pm

BirdInFlight wrote:
I wouldn't even know where to find one around me now, and I even live in a major city with most amenities. The only access I would have to renting movies now is to use online streaming services. I have a pay-as-you-go account with the one that used to be called Blinkbox. I can't afford the expense of things like Netflix.

The only problem with streaming, for me, is that I also can't afford an unlimited data plan for my internet service. I get 10 GB per month and if I stream all the movies I want, I overrun my data and get hit with massive fees for going over.

So my stream rentals have dwindled to once a month and now none at all.

It makes me sad, because back in the hayday of physical rentals, I was constantly at the video store and kept up with the latest movies.


Do you know anyone with netflix? you could see if they'd let you use theirs. Me and my brother just use our moms account.

Also though have you ever thought of switching phone plans? I mean that sounds crappy that you get fees for going over and such. I use MetroPCS and there is no such thing as fees for going over and its just 40 bucks a month, it also has data maximizer which means it helps preserve your data to get more hours of streaming.

I mean realistically home internet is the best for streaming...but if you can't afford that, then obviously that isn't an option.


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Sweetleaf
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29 Aug 2017, 1:20 pm

drwho222 wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
VHS tapes were actually good. The only problem: They were sometimes like 2 hours long, so sometimes you couldn't tape the whole movie. And you had to rewind (though I never found that a problem).

I found it amazing that one could even tape TV shows and watch them later!


I think the reason VHS fell out of favor is because you cant easily release whole show seasons on them. But they don't have the issue of sometimes being scratched and unplayable NEW IN PACKAGE.


But now you can watch shows whenever you want with streaming services...and you don't have to have taped it yourself to watch later, or just get the DVD when it comes out.


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drwho222
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29 Aug 2017, 1:25 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
drwho222 wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
VHS tapes were actually good. The only problem: They were sometimes like 2 hours long, so sometimes you couldn't tape the whole movie. And you had to rewind (though I never found that a problem).

I found it amazing that one could even tape TV shows and watch them later!


I think the reason VHS fell out of favor is because you cant easily release whole show seasons on them. But they don't have the issue of sometimes being scratched and unplayable NEW IN PACKAGE.


But now you can watch shows whenever you want with streaming services...and you don't have to have taped it yourself to watch later, or just get the DVD when it comes out.


Not everybody has the internet in their homes. I don't.



DeepHour
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29 Aug 2017, 1:29 pm

drwho222 wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
VHS tapes were actually good. The only problem: They were sometimes like 2 hours long, so sometimes you couldn't tape the whole movie. And you had to rewind (though I never found that a problem).

I found it amazing that one could even tape TV shows and watch them later!


I think the reason VHS fell out of favor is because you cant easily release whole show seasons on them. But they don't have the issue of sometimes being scratched and unplayable NEW IN PACKAGE.


The main factor in their falling out of favour was their size, I'd say. Plus all the hassle of physically winding the tape forwards or backwards to find a particular scene. Later VHS tape was also of much poorer quality than the earlier stuff (up to mid 1990s) and was more prone to unravelling or going mouldy.



drwho222
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29 Aug 2017, 1:35 pm

DeepHour wrote:
drwho222 wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
VHS tapes were actually good. The only problem: They were sometimes like 2 hours long, so sometimes you couldn't tape the whole movie. And you had to rewind (though I never found that a problem).

I found it amazing that one could even tape TV shows and watch them later!


I think the reason VHS fell out of favor is because you cant easily release whole show seasons on them. But they don't have the issue of sometimes being scratched and unplayable NEW IN PACKAGE.


The main factor in their falling out of favour was their size, I'd say. Plus all the hassle of physically winding the tape forwards or backwards to find a particular scene. Later VHS tape was also of much poorer quality than the earlier stuff (up to mid 1990s) and was more prone to unravelling or going mouldy.


I did not know that mold could grow on the plastic of a VHS tape. Thanks for the info. Some of my collection is still VHS.



DeepHour
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29 Aug 2017, 1:39 pm

^ Yep, I had to throw out at least 20 VHS tapes a few years ago after discovering they were 'infected'. None of them were from the 80s or early 90s though.