VHS - Please Explain

[Ferox13]

Originally Posted by TheWickerFan

P.S. Shame on you Ferox, having stuff stored at your mother's house.;) You should get that stuff out of there so she has more room.

They're up in the attic so they're out of her way though its pisses off my Evil Twin brother who lives up there.

[ManchestrMorgue]

I am normally a pretty nostalgic kind of guy, and like to keep all sorts of stuff for their nostalgic value. However VHS tapes are one thing that I have not really felt compelled to keep or collect.

I used to have heaps of tapes, but have kept only about 8, which were either films that can't be had on DVD or have some particular sentimental value.

They take up a lot of space, the image quality is poor (and deteriorates), and they have to be rewound. And big screen TVs only amplify the image quality problems. But I do agree with Bizarre - DVD's with encoding that stops you skipping piracy warnings/trailers, etc really irritate me. One of the beauties of DVD and Blu-ray is that they are random access formats (as opposed to tape that are by nature sequential access). So to have a random access format but prevent random access is downright nasty!

I can see the joy in collecting VHS for the sake of collecting - people collect all sorts of things that are meaningful to them and it is nice to be able to keep a small piece of your childhood. But for watching, I am glad things have moved on.

[TheWickerFan]

Originally Posted by Ferox13

They're up in the attic so they're out of her way though its pisses off my Evil Twin brother who lives up there.

You mean you're the 'good' twin brother?:eek:;)

[Nini_luv5]

I know for me I love watching my classic horrors on VHS because I get that nostalgic feeling that I used to have when I was a kid, because that's all we had.

In a way it's also like a horror collectible you know that you had the first copy of that was not on any film reel.

I don't know about others, but I know that VHS videos are just one of those things you can't get rid of because of the memories you have of them.

[TheWickerFan]

I understand sentiment. I had my Atari 2600 for the longest time, until it wouldn't work on the new TVs.:(

[Nini_luv5]

That sucks. My VHS almost ate my Candyman tape and I thought it was a goner, but I managed to save him time luckily. That would've broken my heart.…

[ManchestrMorgue]

Originally Posted by TheWickerFan

I understand sentiment. I had my Atari 2600 for the longest time, until it wouldn't work on the new TVs.:(

See, my solution to that would be to also get a TV that it worked on.

I have an Atari 2600, as well as an older Pong console, Commodore 64's, Amigas, SNES, Megadrive, and a few others. So I know how much it hurts :D

[Ferox13]

I think another element for people in the Uk (and some othe parts of Europe) is collecting videos that were released before the Video Recordings Act 1984. That was a bill that was brought in to answer the Video Nasty media stirred up my the British gutter press.
So tapes not bearing the little red and black BBFC logo were made back to a time where is was not compulsory to submit your film to be certed(and cut).
People also love to collect them for their box art or the fact they were on some obscure (now defunct) label.

[ManchestrMorgue]

Originally Posted by Ferox13

I think another element for people in the Uk (and some othe parts of Europe) is collecting videos that were released before the Video Recordings Act 1984. That was a bill that was brought in to answer the Video Nasty media stirred up my the British gutter press.
So tapes not bearing the little red and black BBFC logo were made back to a time where is was not compulsory to submit your film to be certed(and cut).
People also love to collect them for their box art or the fact they were on some obscure (now defunct) label.

Makes sense. I can see how the Video Recordings Act effects would make pre-Act cassettes interesting and collectable.

One thing is for sure - as they get older they will only become more collectable. Especially since working copies will become scarcer.

[cheebacheeba]

I collect VHS but not on a regular basis, and while I have a number of VHS tapes I wouldn' actually call myself a collector.
Though they do have an appeal to me.
I know the digital medium is kind of picking up pace in this one, but I have always noticed that it seems less horror films have made it to dvd/bluray than most other genres - this holds their value well to me.
Part nostalgia too, I like the feeling of a VHS cover opening up...there is a tactile memory held there for me, and it's nice to revisit.
The box art, if nobody has mentioned this already there's some cool covers that I saw updated or completely changed post vhs.
Old movies that I might not have seen, of all types - it's a good chance to get a look at them.
I like the sound of them rewinding. Also rewinding itself...even if someone hadn't re-wound a movie you're about to watch, sticking it on rewind wasn't so bad, it actually became something I was so familiar with, that actually doing it became a bit of the overall "tradition".
Not above all, but up there, is the fact that they're very cheap...well, for the non-collector collector. I don't have anything in mint condition
(Though I do have a darkman tape that I managed to pick up sealed brand new, with had a star trek TNG vhs pamphlet in there for $2! Near mint, now opened and watched once)
and I don't really need the whole brand new look...as long as they work alright and aren't soundfucked/stretched, I'm ok with the exterior. In fact, a bit of wear holds a kind of appeal to me, why I don't know.
One final thing on the VHS appeal that might sound completely stupid...I loved recording things on them and re-recording over tapes too.
Like audio mixtapes, there was an art to it, the pausing and unpausing at precisely the right moment, and there you have it, your own copy of *insert movie/show here* that you could take over a friends place...a bit like the oldskool version of transferring files via USB but a bit more wffort involved, and somehow just more fun.

They weren't perfect, but they were gooD technology that hosted an incredibly huge library of film in it's lifetime. I believe that the VHS is one of the most important friends to movie enthusiasts that there ever was or will be.

Edit - Agreed on the previews. Kind've like at the movies, but not. Yeah, looking back to see what was released at the same time was always cool.