VHS recordings of TV shows

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08-09-14 | 04:49 PM

#101

Alan Smithee

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Quote:

http://modcinema.com/

Whoa- just ordered their first volume of commercials. There's been a few DVDs of commercials out, but most of them were sourced from 16mm film, it's a lot harder to find ones sourced from videotape. I have one DVD that's already out of print called "The 70s Dimension" which was made from 16mm commercials found in a TV station's dumpster.

Also ordered their DVD of the 1977 "Magic of ABC" special (which looks to be from a home recording, but has commercials left in), but mainly because it includes as a 'bonus' the 1978 Goldie Hawn Special which features this:
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/I8SX8f1__RY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
(And yes, I know there's a watermark on this video, but screenshot shows it's not on the DVD I'm buying.)

Saw this as it was broadcast and never again after that, first time I'd heard the song Short People, and didn't know it was Goldie Hawn til today.

They've got a bunch of other stuff that pre-dates home VCRs, will be buying a LOT from them hopefully.

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08-09-14 | 08:22 PM

#102

teameck

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluetoast

Holy shit 1000 tapes? Did you have one of the programmable VCR Plus things where you put in a number and it records? If so, how exactly did that work?

Nah-- I only had one VCR with VCR Plus, and I didn't trust it. (I think you had to find the code/number in your paper, and when you entered that code, it knew what channel and time to start and stop recording instead of inputting it all manually.)

I would scour TV Guide (back when it was worth a damn) every weekend for the week ahead, and write down everything I wanted to watch that week (and I recorded it all because live TV is for suckers with the commercials/interruptions). I'd keep the little schedule, and after work, I'd set each VCR and then write down on the schedule which of the four VCRs I put the tape in and then set each VCR to record later.

I'd figure out which channels 'went long" (NBC had seemed to overrun their Thursday comedies by a minute toward the end of Friends) and compensate on my own by recording longer.

I got pretty good about just using a single tape for a single show as my backlog got crazy, but when I'd be gone for a weekend-- or a week-- I had to get creative.

It all worked pretty well until we got a DVR. Then I didn't have to screw around with many tapes except for the shows I was really behind on. Then I started buying DVDs and eventually learned if I didn't buy the DVD, I could borrow it from the library, so I stopped the VCR nonsense.

But this was all in the mid-'90s-'00s, so no "classic" shows or commercials. Just stuff I wanted to watch and did-- or stuff I thought I'd get to eventually.

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08-09-14 | 08:38 PM

#103

Mondo Kane

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Smithee

My YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/user/eyeh8nbc/videos

So uhhhh....Do you got an uncut version of that Swedish Erotica?

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08-09-14 | 10:05 PM

#104

hasslein

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From: Sunny CA

Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

I recorded a lot of stuff, but the only complete series - all from syndication-

Starsky & Hutch
Moonlighting
Quantum Leap
WKRP
Planet of the Apes
Buck Rogers
Gilligan's Island (colorized)
Kolchak The Night Stalker
Droids (original run)
Ewoks (original run)

Last edited by hasslein; 08-09-14 at 10:16 PM.

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08-09-14 | 11:11 PM

#105

My Other Self

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Quote:

Originally Posted by hasslein

Do you still have the colorized Gilligan's Island tapes? I've been trying to track that first colorized season down for well over a decade now. I had them all on tape when I was a kid but my dad "purged" all of my VHS tapes in the late 90s and I lost everything I had.

If you're able to help me please PM me.

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08-10-14 | 05:23 PM

#106

Rex Fenestrarum

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Quote:

Originally Posted by teameck

Yep: VCR Plus+ Codes were published in newspapers and TV Guide, and you entered the code into your VCR to set up a recording. I remember those codes being one of the first hacks I read about online; after they were discontinued in many countries, people figured out how to make their own codes. Kind of an interesting read, if you're in to cryptography.

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08-10-14 | 05:29 PM

#107

hanshotfirst1138

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From: Livonia MI

Since I could just set a VCR to record at a particular time, to be honest, I never head much use for VCR plus codes.

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08-10-14 | 05:59 PM

#108

Alan Smithee

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From: USA

Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Quote:

So uhhhh....Do you got an uncut version of that Swedish Erotica?

Yeah, I actually got that Beta tape cheap from an Ebay seller, I wanted it mainly just because it was an early pre-recorded tape and I didn't have any other porn tapes that old, and that may very well be the first time a preview for other titles was included on a tape. No way would YouTube have let that stay on without editing, though it's pretty funny to watch with the cuts.

This commercial isn't mine, but I was really glad to see it on YouTube since I'd only seen it once back in 1978 or so, showing the first VHS movie releases from Magnetic Video. Though I was about 5 at the time I knew what VCRs were and I really wanted one, and when this commercial came on I told my dad I wanted not just a VCR but the sign outside the house!
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dFtyMNTD2f4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Remembering that those VCRPlus codes in the TV listings annoyed me, since I didn't have a VCRPlus thingy they were just meaningless numbers cluttering up the listings. Remembering those numbers seemed like a bigger pain than just putting in the time and channel, which I could do in a few seconds.

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08-10-14 | 07:39 PM

#109

TerryW

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Here's the booklet for my first VCR circa 1980:

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08-28-14 | 01:22 AM

#110

JP5683

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

I have tons of 80s shows with commercials intact.

Every MTV VMA's from 1984-2006

Stuff from Talk shows and interviews of various artists that will never be available anywhere else

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08-28-14 | 06:55 AM

#111

Lastdaysofrain

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From: Boston

Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Did you ever convert them to DVD?

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09-01-14 | 10:17 PM

#112

rbrown498

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

I've still got a couple hundred taped-from-TV VHS tapes around here. I mostly recorded movies--the only two shows that I taped entire runs of were TWIN PEAKS and THE WONDER YEARS.

I've also got a few episodes from series that will probably never see a legitimate release, such as THE MOMMIES, CAFE AMERICAIN (with Valerie Bertinelli), and one of my all-time favorites that just didn't click with the public at large, BOSTON COMMON. I've also got a few Commander USA's Groovy Movies, some Joe Bob Briggs' Monstervision episodes, and several episodes of ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?

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09-01-14 | 10:34 PM

#113

Why So Blu?

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From: Los Angeles

Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

I have no VHS tapes or VCRs. They went into the garbage can a long time ago.

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06-25-15 | 01:33 AM

#114

lennybg

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Quote:

Originally Posted by Double_Oh_7

I have tons of Late Night with David Letterman on VHS, and no player to play them on

Hey I'dbe interested in purchasing VHS copies of Late Night with David Letterman and the David Letterman show on NBC.

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06-25-15 | 01:35 AM

#115

lennybg

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Hey I'd be interested in purchasing VHS copies of Late Night with David Letterman and the David Letterman show on NBC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TerryW

I started recording from TV in the early 1980's. The main reason we got our first VCR was to record The David Letterman Show (morning show) when school started up and we couldn't be home to watch it.

Here are a few shows I recorded over the years:

Spoiler:

Hey I'dbe interested in purchasing VHS copies of Late Night with David Letterman and the David Letterman show on NBC.

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06-25-15 | 01:36 AM

#116

lennybg

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Hey. I'd be interested in purchasing VHS copies of Late Night with David Letterman and the David Letterman show on NBC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TerryW

Spoiler:

Hey. I'd be interested in purchasing VHS copies of Late Night with David Letterman and the David Letterman show on NBC.

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06-25-15 | 05:01 AM

#117

JimRochester

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From: Rochester, NY. USA

Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbrown498

When we cleaned out mom's house for her move we finally got her to get rid of the VHS stuff. Other than a copy of Star Wars on VHS for 50c, nothing else sold and was all thrown out.

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06-25-15 | 04:52 PM

#118

Alan Smithee

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From: USA

Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Since this got bumped, the last thing I uncovered:
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/39ZE4HXnK0Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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06-25-15 | 06:12 PM

#119

hanshotfirst1138

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From: Livonia MI

So does anyone have Mighty Max? I keep hoping Mill Creek or Shout will get it...

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07-12-15 | 10:14 AM

#120

nbafan89

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Quote:

Originally Posted by Double_Oh_7

I have tons of Late Night with David Letterman on VHS, and no player to play them on

I would be interested in taking these off your hands if they are still avaliable? PM me please

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07-12-15 | 10:15 AM

#121

nbafan89

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Quote:

Originally Posted by JP5683

I have tons of 80s shows with commercials intact.

Every MTV VMA's from 1984-2006

Stuff from Talk shows and interviews of various artists that will never be available anywhere else

I tried to email you a while back about a possible deal but you never replied

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07-12-15 | 01:24 PM

#122

SterlingBen

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From: The Plains

Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Lot of wasted shelf space in this thread...

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07-12-15 | 01:34 PM

#123

Alan Smithee

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From: USA

Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Just realized tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the Live Aid concert- the 3-hour ABC special was one of the first things I taped after we FINALLY got a VCR, so I should probably get around to transferring that to a dual-layer DVD. I'd previously put it onto a 2-sided disc. There was a syndicated coverage that ran the entire day that I'd planned to record, but our station joined it in progress and the sound quality was awful (despite being an early stereo broadcast) so I stopped taping that. In hindsight I should've just taped it anyways.

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07-12-15 | 02:39 PM

#124

TerryW

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Re: VHS recordings of TV shows

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Smithee

I taped the entire original broadcast from MTV onto 4 VHS tapes. It was a bit tough to be awake for the whole thing to be able to change out the tapes. Almost ran out of time when Zeppelin was playing but luckily had just enough space until after they finished. Have yet to transfer to DVD. Also recorded OZ for Afrika beforehand.

In addition, I have obtained over the years a 17-disc collection of the concert on CD.

Also found a 4-DVD set of footage not included on the official set.

I always remember hating the VJ interruptions.

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