VCRs and tapes were still expensive into the 80s. When my parents bought their first one in late 1984 or early 1985, the paid around $450 or so for a floor model Magnavox VCR that originally went for $700. Decent quality blank tapes were around $10 at regular price, while the higher grade ones were nearly $20.
The first time I saw a VCR was in August 1977. I was visiting a friend and he tricked me into believing he called the TV station and got them to re-broadcast a Paul McCartney concert that had been on the night before. When he showed me the machine I couldn't believe how huge it was. It was the size of suitcase and he paid over $2,000 for it. I bought my first VCR in 1984. I paid $635 for it and it was (lucky me) a Betamax. I don't care what people say. Betamax was a good product.
Even if you don't use them, VHS tapes can degrade pretty bad over time. Two years ago I found an unopened copy of "Psycho" that had been purchased 28 years ago but never played. When I played it, it looked very strange. It kind of looked like a an old black and white picture that had been rained on and warped .
Must have been exposed to a strong magnetic source for quite some time. My mom still has a couple VHS tapes she recorded in the late 70's and early 80's and they still work fine.
The one in the video looks like the one I bought in early 1980 for around $800. I gave it to a friend and years later he brought it back when he moved to the West coast. I still have it in the attic, don't know if it works anymore.
SelectaVision is now a nickname of CED VideoDiscs in the Philippines, currently owned, managed and invented by Dyna Products, Inc., when Dyna acquired RCA in April 1986.
$100...? For four tapes? Wow, times really have changed... because at last check, at a Walgreens near a low-income neighborhood, I saw 120-minute Sony VHS tapes marked for clearance at under $1!
@Thesurus05 Even as late as 1984 when my parents bought their first VCR, those tapes were not cheap. Of course the price of pre-recorded movies back then was ridiculous.
@lefebvrer3289 In fact, the OLDER machines had fewer problems than the machines today. Sometimes, technology goes way ahead of itself to the point where you just want the old machine back. You could pause it longer than the models available today. And remember, not everything is out on DVD yet. "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" is STILL on VHS as well as a lot of the great classics, so, I have not quickly said goodbye just yet. DVDs are beautiful, but have some ways to go. Not all that is new is good.
You're right about that -- ours was built like a tank. You could've used it as a stepstool. My dad worked at RCA so we got the very first one in town for the princely fee of $1500...
@Thesurus05 It was past the $1,000 mark. Tapes were variable in price; a September 1980 ad I have lists single tape prices for Sony's Beta at $22.95 (L-500), $31.95 (L-750) and $35.95 (L-830) while the Fuji L-500 was $25.95, and both Tohisba & Scotch L-750 tapes were $29.95. For VHS the Scotch T-120 was $32.95 and TDK T-120 $35.95. You got a discount if you bought 2 or more, and a larger one if you bought a case at a time (generally knocking $3 to $5 off each tape)
I don't think that copy of "Psycho" was a cheap tape. It was quite a bit heavier than the VCR tapes of the 1990s. The tape had been stored in a garage for more than 25 years and I think the cold is what ruined it. I recently bought the remastered Blu ray of "Psycho" and the picture quality is amazing. .
I saw a bunch of those early RCA VK250 Selectavision blank tapes originally made around 1977 and a bunch of the early TDK Super Avilyn tapes from around 1980 at a junk store recently, but it appeared that someone taped over the original programming on them with copies of prerecorded rental tapes around the mid-late 1980s, so I decided not to buy them.
@TheTubePortal That's it. Nearly 75% of Americans could not , unless they were living large & in the suburbs at that time. I remember wanting one as a teenager & my parents never saying a word about it as they KNEW it was out of their price range. Most folks looked at this as a luxury item & not as a "need to have". It was just too great an investment and parents were mostly interested in getting their kids into college at that time. The priorities were different then. Now you can buy 3 for 1.00
@thatmuse76 Yes, I remember. "Shoot The Moon" was 89.99. And don't even think about "Star Wars" or any of the classics. They were asking for 100.00 per pop. Most smart people said to wait until these crazy asses fell off their greedy horses, and eventually they did. The machines were well made and lasted 25 years with proper care. It is a great investment if you were alone and did not have a family to feed. The lazer came out, and it just wasn't worth it. Pretty, but harder to maintain.
@YukoAsho That's right. You spend more more money having to purchase new disk for recordings and now there are machines that will not even allow you to record certain films from certain productions from your cable box. There is a reader in the machine that will hot block your recording attempts. Not so with VHS.The business is as now greedier than ever. Like I said, new doesn't always mean better. New just means, new problems, more money to spend.
@kittyscratchesboo And to think, people bitch about $30 Blu-rays.... Shame RCA just couldn't get CED off the ground, I can't help but think that we'd have been at Blu-Ray sooner if they had.
