Is it normal that i still use vhs tapes/players?

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17 Comments

It's October 2012, I have a Blu-ray player and an awesome Vizio HDTV. But I still use VHS. I don't think of it as obsolete, I just see it as a cheap and easy way to record. I feel mildly insulted when people consider it obsolete, for example, I saw an ad that said "You don't use VHS anymore, so why do you use Internet Explorer?" I do consider IE obsolete (when you can get Google Chrome for free, who needs Internet Explorer?) but not VHS. And once i was watching an episode of RayWilliamJohnson's vlog and Ray said something like "You think I still play Atari and watch VHS tapes?". is it normal that I still use VHS?

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70% Normal
Based on 50 votes (35 yes)
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Comments ( 17 )
  • NothingxCrazy
    11 years ago

    There are some things you just can't replace. There are so many good things on VHS. All of those classic cartoons.. I could watch those until the day I die.

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    • GuessWho
      11 years ago

      You can get a TV/Video tuner for your PC and record them over and optionally make DVDs.

      It's definitely worth doing because tapes degrade over time.

      There are also people you can pay to do this for you.

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      • NothingxCrazy
        11 years ago

        This is true. There is also a VHS to DVD converter for your TV that plays both.
        But there's just something about putting a VHS in that makes the show so much better. It's sort of like making food on a stove. It will never compare to food made over a campfire. A Walkman will always trump the MP3 player in my book, as well.

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        • cantheist
          11 years ago

          Campfire food is terrible unless it's a hotdog or smores.

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          • NothingxCrazy
            11 years ago

            To that, I disagree. It's almost the same as cooking on a charcoal grill but with firewood instead. Fire makes food taste better, in my opinion.

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  • Terence_the_viking
    11 years ago

    Happy days.

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  • KeddersPrincess
    11 years ago

    Me too. I have a whole shelf of VHS's that I'll be damned if I get rid of.

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    • GuessWho
      11 years ago

      You can get a TV/Video tuner for your PC and record them over and optionally make DVDs.

      It's definitely worth doing because tapes degrade over time.

      There are also people you can pay to do this for you.

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  • thunderh89
    11 years ago

    Yes. I am 23, I have a small amount of audio cassette tapes and vinyl records. I also have a lot of CDs. I know that there are times that you can't find a certain album on CD or mp3, so having it on a physical media that you can digitize and even play from the media sometimes. I have two VHS tapes (I don't have a VCR anymore and don't want to get one until I can afford a converter). Heck, it is a quick way to record stuff as well, as long as you don't care about HD.

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  • [Old Memory]
    11 years ago

    I still played atari 2600 up until a few months ago somebody stole it. Im still pissed about that. I never see them at the goodwills anymore.

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  • kapiko
    11 years ago

    Heck I still play the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 2. There are some great things that never get transferred to newer models. Same goes with VHS to DVDs. And just preference

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  • cantheist
    11 years ago

    Campfire food is terrible unless it's a hotdog or smores.

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  • [Old Memory]
    11 years ago

    There's an awesome film coming out called VHS

    Everybody should watch the trailer for VHS on YouTube

    I have never been this excited about a movie

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  • GuessWho
    11 years ago

    You could probably buy a USB TV tuner for your PC (with software) cheaper than a VHS player nowadays.
    I use one to put all my old VHS tapes over to digital formats.

    If I were to record something new, I'd either use that or my DVR. It's actually much easier and has a much higher capacity.

    Obsolete does not mean that it doesn't work, it just means that is has been surpassed by a newer technology and is no longer the standard. (and most likely no longer manufactured)

    I do suggest that you move over to a digital solution because when your VHS player eventually breaks, you may not get another one.

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  • dappled
    11 years ago

    I guess the problem is connectivity. My newish TV doesn't support RF at all. Probably the only common connectivity that's between video players and modern TVs is SCART and SCART's days are numbered because it's an analogue standard (like the signals recorded on videotape). HDMI (a digital standard) will make SCART obsolete.

    There was a brief move towards digital video and I've seen video recorders used to back up hard disks. However, because hard disks are specifically designed to retrieve data in a non-sequential way (videotape is sequential only), it was inevitable that video would lose the battle.

    I like video as a medium and I find it really strange that nobody has invented a digitiser that you can plug into the back of a video recorder which digitises the analogue content on the fly and outputs it digitally to HDMI. Maybe there's a business opportunity there.

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    • GuessWho
      11 years ago

      My VHS player has Composite Video out, and I have a USB dongle with composite video in.
      I use it to record all my old tapes onto my PC directly.

      I also have a SCART to Composite adaptor for other machines.

      As for converting to HDMI: It's a built-in feature in some home theatre systems, but you can buy separate converters too.
      Just Google "RCA to HDMI"

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      • dappled
        11 years ago

        I went a similar route of digitising things to PC. It was much handier to have them in digital form.

        As for conversion, converters are usually the deathknell for the standard being converted to because it implies few use the standard any more and there's only residual interest based on legacy equipment. However, I'm often surprised at how long the converters stay around.

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