When did you get your first VCR?

[Simba's Mom]

The color TV thread got me thinking about my first VCR. It was in 1981 and we paid over a thousand dollars for it. It had a remote control-well, for of a remote control-it was attached to the main machine by a long cord. Our next one had a completely separate remote, and cost maybe a third of what the first one did. So do you remember when you got your first VCR and how much it cost?

 

[Micca]

For my birthday, 1980. It was about the size of a microwave and had a wired remote. Price was close to $1,000 and the blank tapes were only sold at two places in town and were $20 each. Early adoption comes with a big price tag.

 

[DisneyDebbie]

Mid 80’s. I think my Dad paid $200- it was ‘hot’ from a guys trunk

 

[fla4fun]

The color TV thread got me thinking about my first VCR. It was in 1981 and we paid over a thousand dollars for it. It had a remote control-well, for of a remote control-it was attached to the main machine by a long cord. Our next one had a completely separate remote, and cost maybe a third of what the first one did. So do you remember when you got your first VCR and how much it cost?

1984. I don’t remember what is cost though. I actually still have it, stored in the basement somewhere. It also had the wired remote, and I have to admit, the wired remote responded more quickly than our later wireless remotes (a key item when pausing to avoid recording commercials).

 

[flyingdumbo127]

We got ours for the 1984 LA Olympics.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

My parents got one in the mid 80's I think it was... It was maybe 1986 or 1987. I know I got my own in my room in like 1991-ish.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Around 1980, maybe 1979. Expensive.

 

[ford family]

8th December 1980.

We brought it home and set it to record a film that evening whilst we were out.

When we returned home all of the schedules had been cancelled because John Lennon had been killed!

ford family

 

[nw6675]

Early 80s when we lived in Japan. We had a Beta, too.

 

[tvguy]

September 1979 when I got my first job at a TV station.
Bought a VHS RCA for $725 on close out at Gemco. It was a 2 hour/4 hour recording length machine and they had just introduced the 2 hours 4 hour 6 hour models. It was still working 10 years ago when my mom passed away and I sold it at the estate sale, I had given it to my mom to use to watch tapes I recorded for her off cable as she did not have cable.

People who worked in TV rarely used anything other than the 2 hour recording speed because the 4 and 6 hour settings had lower video quality. Used to drive us all nuts when we borrowed a tape a non-TV person had recorded because all they were interested in was getting 6 hours of TV on one tape.

Bought a new VHS Player/Recorder DVD burner combo in 2015 and over the last two years transferred all our VHS and VHS-C home movies to DVD and then to a hard drive. But we still have a number of movies on VHS so it comes in handy.

 

[luvthatduke]

I don't think I had my own until I got married.
But, I rented them from Blockbuster pretty much every weekend
starting around 1987.

 

[BrianL]

I remmeber the night we went out to get one at an old-school style electronics store it was probabyl like 1983 or so. It was a Mitsubishi that sat upright with a handle. There was a camera that hooked up via a cord to recod to tapes and a battery that could be used in place of the AC, so you could take the camera portable (with a bag or strap for the VCR). We also went to rent a movie and let us kids pick - it was The Last Unicorn. My sister and I used to play with that camera all the time doing little shows and news broadcasts, etc. We had a blast with it!

I actually still have the unit somewhere and last I knew it worked.

 

[bcla]

Might have been 1990 when I got my first machine with money from a summer job in college. It was a floor model S-VHS machine and I think I paid $400 for it. Eventually it failed. I checked it inside and saw it had a glass fuse that blew. Thought it was worth a try and I could find replacement fuses at Radio Shack. As soon as I plugged it in the fuse blew so it was toast by then.

 

[bcdisney]

Sometime in the early 80s I guess. We first rented them from those newfangled video stores and then my Grandfather (who helped invent magnetic tape) sent us one. I remember that we used to buy blank tapes in bulk at Price Club and Costco.

 

[bcla]

Maybe not in our home, but we had family who had VCRs maybe 1982 or so. One had an early Quasar VCR that came in two parts - a top-loading tape unit and a playback/tuner unit. The tape unit (which had a sling carrying case) could be battery powered and could connect to a camera.

Another one I remember in my extended family was a 1984 or so RCA VCR. It was also designed for a camera, although this one the top-loading tape unit docked in a base. I don't recall it being used with a camera, although it could play back home video.

Of course eventually camcorders because more common than separate cameras with tape units.

 

[amcnj]

The first one I owned was probably in 1986. I can’t recall if my parents had purchased one earlier, but I don’t remember ever using one back then.

 

[wabbott]

1985. Bought it at an appliance chain in Shreveport, LA called Shreveport Refrigeration. The place could have been the model for the store depicted in Dire Straits' video Money for Nothing.

 

[wenrob]

Maybe 1978 or 79? It was a Betamax. Seeing some mention the cost I’m wondering how/where my dad got one because no way did we have that kind of money. Maybe it was rented or he “knew a guy.” I remember signing up to rent movies and Dad having to present all kinds of ID and leave a hefty deposit. Losing or damaging a tape was something crazy, like $200. My personal first was 1989ish? Given to me by a dear friend. I held onto that thing for more than a decade before we upgraded to a fancier model that auto skipped commercials and didn’t have to be on the channel you were recording.

 

[TippyThomas]

We never owned one. Of course we didn't have television either so there really wasn't a need.

 

[Babs Johnson]

Summer of 1982. I think it was about $600. My father told me I was crazy.

The first show I recorded to test it was a rerun of The Addams Family. Cousin Itt had a major role in that episode.

We got ours for the 1984 LA Olympics.

I might still have some unwatched tapes from those Olympics.