VHS tapes - the future

[Quasipal]

Yes, VHS is dead. I am told that again and again - by the charity shops who throw them away, by those who visit my house and note my *cough* collection and by the lack of any decent playback machines. BUT, there are so many out there still it is unreal. Forgotten home videos, old pre-cert classics and limited edition tapes put out for special reason (I have some UFO footage tapes and some 80's 'town tour' tapes that are almost historical documents now).

At this point I am concerned by what the future will hold. I worry that because no machines are available, people will just throw away their tapes or consign them to tha garage (and inevitable mould). What was an important format for 25 years and a whole generation has suddenly died due to the rise of digital formats. I forsee a time when people will regret the haste in which they took their VHS deck to the dump and that working VHS decks will rise in value, yet due to the strain placed on them and lack of parts will still not be the best that could be.

I am thinking 5 to 10 years from now - and even now look at the battles on eBay for decent machines. The upper end Panasonics and JVC's are often in a poor used state and this situation can only get worse.

I collect 78's, but even though these are 50+ years old, because the replay system is so simple even tired machines are easy to fix. VHS decks are not simple and parts expensive and hard to get.

What are your thoughts - am I worrying unduly?

[bendixG15]

In my house, I have...........

Slides - thousands of them, some of which are very dear to me.... and no one else
LPs - hundreds of them, some of which are very dear to me... and no one else
VHS tapes - A very close and old friend of mine has 50 years of his life on them ... he's the only one who cares

Soon, I will be dumping all my treasures, letting go of the past. My treasures are mine alone, everyone one else has theirs.

So I suspect, that your treasures are yours alone.
Welcome

[yoda313]

Well I still saw dvdr+vhs combo decks at bestbuy the other week. I can't attest to the quality of the vhs playback nor do I remember the brand name. But they were their brand new and available to buy.

[Ron B]

Buy a slide/negative scanner and save your photos; it's worth the effort. You can save all your analog tapes for a reasonable amount of money if you have the deck to play them.
I also found out you can use an old VHS deck to steal information off a credit card; but all that made me do is be more afraid of identity theft.