What year did you get it? Do you remember the first thing you taped?

We got our first one in 1986. It's a Sharp VHS, I'm looking at it right now. I don't know how to wire it up to get anything other than the clock to work (it can't tape or play back right now, nice paperweight!), but as of last year when it was hooked up to another TV, it was still able to dub off our newer VCR.

The first thing we ever watched on it was a rental of "Ghostbusters". I don't remember what the first thing we taped off TV was, but it may have been WWF's "Saturday Night's Main Event" from the wee hours.

Whoa I really feel old now. I too remember those early and mid '80s VCRs that weighed 300 pounds and had some little 3 inch wire remote attatched to it. It wasn't till the late '80s that the VCRs(the VHS ones anyway) started to become more 'modern'. Beta VCRs were always good though.

My family got our first VCR in 1983 or 1984. I think our first movies that we rented were E.T. and Star Wars, at least that's what I'm told. But the first one I personally remember my family renting was "Oh God! You Devil!". We also rented "Ghostbusters". :) I used to rent a lot of He-Man cartoons in the mid '80s as well. Back then we had to go to a drugstore to rent movies. It wasn't till the late '80s like '87 or '88 that Blockbuster Video showed up.

My cousin's family actually has a REALLY old VCR from the '70s. They're kinda on the rich side so they could actually afford to buy a VCR back in the '70s. It's one of those massive two piece VCRs. On the surface it doesn't look that bad though, somehow it actually has a wireless remote and LED readouts. But you need like 3 or 4 guys to move that thing. I remember when my uncle would use his camcorder, he actually had to strap one piece of that VCR to his shoulder. I'm surprised his arm didn't fall off.

You feel old Awesome Dude? Check this out, we got our first VCR in 1980 when we lived in Japan! The buttons were huge and the tape loading system popped up rather loudly!! It was a JVC. The first film we bought was "The Rose"!! :cool: I remember recording commercials and variety shows from Japanese television. I still have a tape full of shows somewhere. :thumb:

I didn't have my first VCR until late 1990. It was a Magnavox 2-Head. The thing lasted me 9 years after tons and tons of recording and watching movies and music videos.

The first thing I watched on it was some movie, but I can't remember which one. The first thing I recorded on it was music videos. (Back when you could still catch a few good videos on MTV.)

I think my parents bought their first VCR in about 1983. I wasn't too interested in taping anything, but my mother began taping The Young and the Restless. Then, we got cable and I discovered the many wonders of MTV. Used to tape hours worth of great music videos. Unfortunately, being a goony kid, I ended up taping over those tapes with some other inane programing, so I no longer have them to view!

We got our first VCR in 1980 or 1981. (it was in kindergarten, anyway) A classic top-loading Kenmore model with a *gasp* corded remote control, which only had a "pause" button on it! That was always my job, zapping the commercials. Some things never change. Of course, now I wish my old tapes had the darned commercials! :D

The first thing we taped was Chariots of Fire on CBS. We only had four channels on TV, and all with crappy reception, but we were fascinated with the concept of taping anything and watching it later. We taped all kinds of junk that first year just because we could. Naturally, I, as the six-year-old in the house, learned to program the VCR first, and had to teach everyone else. Tee hee.

We didn't get a video store in our hometown until 1983, when I was in second grade, :rolleyes: and that was when I started really using the VCR a lot. I rented Fraggle Songs: Volume 1 about 75 times between second grade and fourth grade, and watched it almost every day before school. I also wore holes through our video store's copies of The Dark Crystal, The Last Unicorn, and The Sea Prince and the Fire Child. That was when all videos were "priced for rental". ($99 or so)

I found a copy of the Fraggle video on eBay last year, and I have been happy as a giant Fraggle-eating clam (http://www.punchandjewelry.com/legacy/html/frep08.htm). Obviously, it didn't belong to a video store where an obsessed little girl kept renting it twice a week, because it's in really good condition! :D

I remember we got our first VCR in 1980, when my dad was stationed in Idaho. I remember he bought it at Sears. My first video was "The Muppet Movie". We left Idaho and moved to England shortly after that. I remember we tried to tape as many movies off HBO that would could get. Ufortunately those were the days when HBO only broadcast from like 4pm until midnight.

My parents got our first VCR about 1982...a big klunky silver thing where the tape popped out of the top. I'm not sure we ever figured out how to record things on that one, but we watched a lot of videos.

I bought my first VCR in '88. For some reason, my mom was never interested in buying one for the family, so I bought one myself and put it in my room! It was a cheapie and didn't last too terribly long.

Somewhere in the mid-late 80s... my mother got one as a gift. Not a clue in the world what was first recorded... probably either a movie off The Movie Channel or music videos off MTV :p

We got our first VCR in 81-82. It just died three years ago. It was a MONSTER!! The tape thing popped up on the top, it also had the attached remote that never made it to the couch.

Being the electronics nut, I begged and begged and begged and prayed and pleaded and bargained and begged and wishes and begged some more until one surprising day, my parents decided to buy one (I think it was 1987).

Since I was the expert, it was up to me to choose the 'right VCR'. My mandatory criteria included:

1. loading from the front (it was so cool!)
2. black
3. be able to watch a program while taping another
4. be able to see what's on the tape while you rewinded or fast forwarded (that was soooo important!)
5. be able to record in EP mode (I had no money so fitting 6 hours worth of video on 1 tape was great. Until I discovered the accompanying picture quality)
6. VHS
7. 4 heads
8. audio dubbing

It was a Sears VCR. When it conked out, I kept the head. I still have it somewhere. It was very interesting to see. It has scratches on it.

I can't remember what the first thing I watched on it was. I know that the first thing I taped was a sitcom then right after, I thought what a stupid thing to tape to I erased it.

Now, my first movie projector... just kidding.

My parents finally broke down in 1989 and got a VCR. The very first thing I taped was a show called "Classic MTV" where they showed videos from the early 80's.

I got my first VCR in 1980. A big RCA top loader still got it, it still works. Can't remember what the first thing i taped was.

We got one in 1983, and went wild, we'd rent movies not stop, first movie We watched was Deathwish II.

It was one big monsterous gthing, top loading, but it worked

My parents still have the first VCR they bought. :D I remember we got it for Christmas, but I don't remember the year, nor the first show I taped. I still have to go to their place to set it for shows my folks want to tape. :lol:

In April, 1988, my mom bought a VCR: a JVC HR D200U.

She still has that VCR, but she no longer uses it (I haven't used it since 1998). I think it needs repair, but I think mom should buy a new VCR instead. After all, some VCR's are priced under $100 today.

For Christmas 2002, I finally got my first VCR: a JVC A591U. It was only $59.99.

My parents got our first VCR in 1984 (I remember because it had the Olympic seal on it). It was a Sanyo Betacord. I managed to tape a few things like Karate Kid and Eddie Van Halen's appearance on SNL before lightning ruined the tuner. My cousin had a Sony Betamax before we got our VCR. I still remember going to his house the night he got it. He told me we were going to watch "American Werewolf in London". I thought it was coming on TV until he showed me the box. The next quantum leap in home entertainment came when my dad got a stereo VCR in 1989 and I talked him into hooking it up to the stereo system. "Waxworks" was the first movie for that setup.

My first VCR was a Panasonic that I bought in 1982, but I can't remember the name of first VHS movie I got.

Like many others my family got out first VCR in 1984... It was your typical pop up loader, wood grained beast with a corded remote. A house fire took that VCR in 1985, so we got a brand new RCA front loading, cordless remote wood grained unit... it was the main VCR until 87 or so when my dad purchased a GE 4-head Hi-Fi VCR for an astonishing $1200.

There's been a couple VCR's since then... oddly enough they've always been RCA or GE.

I think i must have been about 6 or 7 when my parents got their first VCR, I can remember the first thing we watched was Labyrinth, and a cartoon with a boy and a donkey - it must have been some sort of religious cartoon??

OK, all of you are gonna base on me... My first was a BETA.. And I still have A VCR (Shut Up Lisa!!!!) I know DVD is supposed to be the Sh&T.. But like a 80's kid. I like record's and VHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I bought my first VCR in the mid-eighties.T'was an old Panasonic with the top loader and the front panel that was hiding the controls.I paid $750.00 for it !!!
The same day i got it,i figured i needed tapes if i wanted to record anything...got 2 of them for the cheap price of $35.00 :bigcry:
First thing i rented for it ? Mad Max

Guess we got out first VCR in 1984 (or thereabouts). Miserable thing affected my social life for a while, because I spent to much time at home watching movies. :lol:

Our fist VCR was an early 80's Realistic top loader. The thing had the type of tunner that you had to tune in each channel with that little key like thing... remember those? It only picked up like 10 or 15 channels. So you soon learned to just tune channel 3 and use the cable box to change channels.

The first thing I recorded was MTV of course. Still have about 50 tapes of old MTV stuff...... mainly metal.

I think it was either 1984 or 1985 when we got our first one. I can't recall the brand it was but I remember the first movie we popped into it was MR. MOM :) It played fine up until only a few years ago too! You can't find that sort of quality products these days can you?

The Spring of that year.


I think I taped Home shopping


:lol:


We had bought it to watch movies and wrestling

Hey Greeno

I also have a really really old tape of RAGE - which at the time was the equivelant to MTV here in Australia.

I watch it sometimes and really laugh, there is some 90's stuff on it too but looking back at all the KISS clips i have is just so much fun!!

Everytime i watch it though i am a bit worried it is going to break or ruin the VCR it is so old and dusty.

My family was the first in the neighborhood to get a VCR. This was way back in 1980 (when I was five years old), and it was an early RCA VHS model. It's the old fashioned kind where you load the tape manually into a carriage that pops up from the top (released by a spring mechanism when you press the eject button). This did not have a remote control. Its retail price then was $1000 (about what you expect from a VCR at the time) but my dad bought it for $500 because it was a display model being sold at a clearance sale.

It overall performed quite well for about three years, and the earliest show I can remember having on tape was several episodes of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" series which was broadcast for the first time on PBS.

My first VCR was a BETA. I watch Durna Durna videos, Olivia Newton John and Air Supply's in concert allllll the time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Around 1984, when I still lived in Holland, another kid in my street had a VCR at home. THe only thing I remember us watching was "Return Of The Jedi" over and over again.
This was of course when it was to bad weather to play Star Wars outside ;)

:therock:

we had a beta machine with micheal jackson's thriller on one of tapes. then we got the VCR in like 1983. we were like.................whoa.. new technology! at 3 years old, i was showing my parents how to work the VCR. my mom still dont know how to work one, let alone a dvd player.

[QUOTE=Cartoon_Chris]What year did you get it? Do you remember the first thing you taped?


My 1st memory of a vcr was from when I was about 12 or 13ish. Our neighbor bought this huge VCR with wood panel look to it. We used it for a few days, rented some movies at the only video shop in town and were just amazed. Then, my neighbor's son brought a porn flick over when nobody else was home and we watched it with our eyes as big as saucers. I didn't think people did that stuff on tape. I don't know what went wrong, but the tape messed up, like a walkman would eat a cassette tape. I was freaking out, we couldn't get the tape out and started crying like babies. :lol We had to watch his dad and my parents try to pry the tape out of there. I forgot the name of it but it was obviously porn. I could've died. The boy was grounded because that was his dad's tape that was destroyed. Bad memories. I was afraid to even touch the vcr once we got one.

I didn't have my first VCR until late 1990. It was a Magnavox 2-Head. The thing lasted me 9 years after tons and tons of recording and watching movies and music videos.

The first thing I watched on it was some movie, but I can't remember which one. The first thing I recorded on it was music videos. (Back when you could still catch a few good videos on MTV.)

Wow, some memories! I remember renting porn movies at the age of 16 or so. That was in the early to mid 1980's. Me and my brother would watch those flics in Dad's bedroom, believe it or not, and put the tapes in their cases just as Mom and Dad were walking in the door by the garage.

The First Vcr we got when I was a Kid was a Sliver Hitachi top loader VHS with Green LED, and also you could plug in in a Microphone and dub over original recordings which was absolutely amazing.

Then we got hold of a load of pirate videos from a friend of my older sister..and got to see films like:- Young Warriors, Evil Dead, Return of the Jedi, ET, Nightmares in a Damaged Brain. Stuff like that

Then I remember being in Bed one Saturday Morning, My folks were up and about, and all of a sudden I heard this music...der der der der dadda der der, der der der der dadda der der, der dadda der dadde der dadde der dadda der dadda dadda dadde der..... ( nice) it was Rocky III...Mr T Kicking sly's butt..fantastic memories, and the flash appearance of Hulk Hogan ...wow great days.

That Vcr is still kicking about at my folks in the bedroom now. Good Old Days

Lol :thumb:
Daz

Oh man. Do I ever remember our first VCR. Came from a store called Heligh Myers. I don't know if anyone else had one of these but they had all kinds of kewl gadgets for the home. Back to the subject though. good ol 1982. It was a Phillips 2 piece unit that loaded from the top. What was so cool about it was that it included a video camera with it, hence where the other piece came in. I can recall my old man carrying the big recorder strapped to his arm and in the other hand the camera. He was estatic over that thing. Like the dad in the Christmas Story with the leg lamp. I have gobs of videos of our family from the 80's. It's killer! :happy:

I was 12, I think when my dad bought the VCR so that would have been 81 or 82, I think. -- A Beta tape player!

I think the first thing I taped was an Adam and the Ants concert on Mtv. And soon after that I was busy taping Duran Duran video's concerts, appearances. I even taped Duran Duran when they were on Solid Gold!!! Does anyone remember that? I think it was to show off their New Moon on Monday video!

It was the early 80's and it was a huge, clunky thing that loaded from the top.......

I do not remember my first VCR machine... But I do remember the first show that I saw that was taped ona VHS tape. Which was none other that the GREATNESS of
WKRP in Cinncinnati ... What a great show!!!!

I can't remember what year we got out VCR but it was a state of the art Beta machine and the first movies we rented to watch on it was Saturday Night Fever and the Elephant Man...I am still scared to this day to rewatch the Elephant Man :no:

It was the early 80's and it was a huge, clunky thing that loaded from the top.......

I haven't seen any top-loading VCRs since the early '80s.

I think I've seen top-loading VCRs only at my elementary school (1980-1983).

In 1988, my mom finally bought her first VCR--a JVC. (She still has the thing. But it's no longer in use. I think it's considered shot. I haven't used it since '98.)

For Christmas 2002, I finally got my own VCR! Coincidentally, it's also a JVC.

my first VCR was actually rented from a grocery store for reasons i still don't know why.
it was this huge contraption that looked like a reinforced metal safe. it was a top-loading, boxy thing.

My first VCR was an RCA VKT430 4-head mono vcr. Paid $549 in 1984 for it at a place called Trader Horn in Brooklyn, NY. First movie I rented was (maybe) 'Trading Places'. Taped tons of stuff off the air, still have most of it though it doesn't play back very well on my new machines. VCR worked until about 1998, though it was not used after 1991. Second VCR was an RCA VMT670HF, a 6-head Hi-Fi stereo VCR, paid $750(!) in 1986 for that one. It was in the repair shop soon after I bought it. Managed to keep it in working condition until about 1995.

my first VCR was actually rented from a grocery store for reasons i still don't know why.
it was this huge contraption that looked like a reinforced metal safe. it was a top-loading, boxy thing.


LOL! I had forgotten about that! We used to get together with friends and rent a VCR for the night! I do believe we rented ours from a grocery store, too, back then!

I can't remember if it was my first or not, but I do recall a GE model that I paid like $300 for - maybe '86 or '87 - from a store called Prange Way (wow, they are long gone now).

I remember setting it to tape MTV's 120 Minutes on Sunday nights. I recall being upset because I wasn't able to get ALL the episodes of Max Headroom (thanks to TechTV I can finally let that issue go). I also remember taping some of the very first Unplugged's ('90 or '91). I think I still have some of those tapes from the late 80s... Guess I should put them on DVD now before they fall apart!

I also remember buying my first VHS tape - it was the live Prince concert from 1985 I think. The commercial release - not a bootleg.

I would NEVER buy a bootleg! :tsk:






:bs:


-pjc

We got our first VCR in 1988, my last year of high school. I don't remember the first thing we taped, but we wore that thing out. We still have it, but it's not useable anymore.


What year did you get it? Do you remember the first thing you taped?

We got our first one in 1986. It's a Sharp VHS, I'm looking at it right now. I don't know how to wire it up to get anything other than the clock to work (it can't tape or play back right now, nice paperweight!), but as of last year when it was hooked up to another TV, it was still able to dub off our newer VCR.

The first thing we ever watched on it was a rental of "Ghostbusters". I don't remember what the first thing we taped off TV was, but it may have been WWF's "Saturday Night's Main Event" from the wee hours.