VCR salvaging

[justoneguy]

here's how to recycle / repurpose your old VCR

[Rob72830]

I never knew all those things were in my vcr. That video was hilarious Well I gotta go do some hacking!

[Zincanator]

For a couple of seconds there I was like, "Whoa I need to go to Goodwill and buy up all their $7.99 VCRs!!!" Then reality hit me like a brick .

[fansubs_ca]

Ironically I still use VCRs, though mine are mostly SVHS decks, my most prized machines
are this model:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Panasonic-AG-19 ... 5aed6e272c

If you ever come across one of those sell it, don't scrap it. It has a neat feature called
time base correction. Basically what it does is if you have an nth generation tape where
the video wobbles back and forth because the timing bars on the side are either early or
late it finds them and stretches or condenses each line of video so the timing bars are
where they should be and thus the video no longer wobbles. This makes a lot of tapes
much more watchable. When dealing in rarities you often have stuff that you got from
someone who got it from someone else, etc. There are still people out there that have
favourite tapes from years ago. Since high end VCRs aren't made anymore the used
market is the only source. OK, even medium grade machines are no longer made,
just junky VHS only decks from China that dies in a year or less. -_-

[cesariojpn]

Ironically I still use VCRs, though mine are mostly SVHS decks, my most prized machines
are this model:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Panasonic-AG-19 ... 5aed6e272c

If you ever come across one of those sell it, don't scrap it. It has a neat feature called
time base correction. Basically what it does is if you have an nth generation tape where
the video wobbles back and forth because the timing bars on the side are either early or
late it finds them and stretches or condenses each line of video so the timing bars are
where they should be and thus the video no longer wobbles. This makes a lot of tapes
much more watchable. When dealing in rarities you often have stuff that you got from
someone who got it from someone else, etc. There are still people out there that have
favourite tapes from years ago. Since high end VCRs aren't made anymore the used
market is the only source. OK, even medium grade machines are no longer made,
just junky VHS only decks from China that dies in a year or less. -_-

Got a related query:

I saw the local thrift stores have boxes upon of blank VHS tapes. Are those worth it to resell?

[avidbrandy]

I lost it when it got to the VCR monster.

[fansubs_ca]

Got a related query:

I saw the local thrift stores have boxes upon of blank VHS tapes. Are those worth it to resell?

Hard to say, just how rediclously cheap are they and what brand? Also unless you can
sell them locally shipping will do you in. I still have a few local retailers I can get VHS
from as needed, just the choice of brand or availability can change at the drop of a hat.
The people like me that still use them are using them sporadically and in small quantities.
(It's purely a matter of how many people ask me for copies of stuff.)

If they are made in China don't touch them with a 10 foot pole, nobody would pay the
shipping even if they were free. The Chinese tapes shed their coating inside a VCR
like crazy! Made in U.S.A., Canada, Japan or South Korea is usually good. (Exception
I've seen tapes spooled in China with the tape it's self made in Japan or Korea, those
should be OK, it's the magnetic media the Chinese screw up, not so much the shell.)

Also SVHS tapes are more valuable than VHS, in my area I don't have any currently known
for sure sources but there seem to be a number of companies/people selling them online
in a lot of cases cheap...well cheap until you add shipping...then not so cheap unless you
buy a bunch at a time. This is why my posted price for SVHS copies is so high because
it's so uncertain what my cost for blanks will be at the time an order comes in. I might
get lucky and score them cheap...but I have to assume the worst case scenerio.

SVHS are the only ones that really have an online market as VHS can still be acquired
in most major cities if you are willing to look around.

Even as one of the last few hobbiest duplicators I try to avoid carrying too much inventory.

Sometime between now and the point of non-availability I'm gonna have to get a video
capture device to convert everything to DVD. Then I'll just need VCRs as play decks to
get stuff captured. There is a limit to how much people will pay for video tapes because
at some price/quantity it becomes cheaper to start digitizing the last few things that
nobody has converted yet.

Of course if you can buy them all for 1¢ each and have lots of storage space and buy
them all up you can set yourself up on Craig's List/Kijiji as the local old media guy.
You won't have much luck as long as you've got local competition though.

[cesariojpn]

Got a related query:

I saw the local thrift stores have boxes upon of blank VHS tapes. Are those worth it to resell?

Hard to say, just how rediclously cheap are they and what brand? Also unless you can
sell them locally shipping will do you in. I still have a few local retailers I can get VHS
from as needed, just the choice of brand or availability can change at the drop of a hat.
The people like me that still use them are using them sporadically and in small quantities.
(It's purely a matter of how many people ask me for copies of stuff.)

Mostly Sony, Memorex, those kinda brands. Guess i'll grab a few for personal use.