What do you do with a vhs collection?

[heidi]

Should we keep aaron's mid-80s vids of Remmington Steele? What about my Episodes of Friends from 1994?

The first 4 hours of Desert Storm on cnn, back in 1991?

The Lois & Clark wedding episode which aired the Sunday before we got married?

I don't mind keeping all the commercially released videos, but when do the tapes of Diana's funeral and Kung Fu - The Series become more dust-collectors than Things To Watch?

Comments

[laughingirl.livejournal.com]

Heh. I know exactly what you mean... I've been through the same thing.

Last episode of Cheers?
First episdoe of Port Charles?
etc.

They're so crackly you can barely watch them, but, still...!

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

But do you have the post-Cheers Jay Leno thing?

[just-clodia.livejournal.com]

I would keep the desert storm one. For history, ya know.

[laughingirl.livejournal.com]

No! I was so pissed about that, too!!

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

If I find it, I'll send it to you.

And hey, I just found one of aaron's Sharpe tapes. Sean Bean!

[shezan.livejournal.com]

I'd keep Desert Storm and Diana's funeral, and get rid of whatever is available on DVD (but hang on to things like Dallas and Dynasty - assuming you have as cheesy taste as I - which are not available on DVD.)

That being said, don't throw it in the rubbish bin - there must be plenty of charitable outfits that would give your tapes to elderly people who either might like to watch the series again, or would reuse them for blank tape.

[laughingirl.livejournal.com]

*laugh* nice!

[wordplay.livejournal.com]

God, we're going through the exact same thing right now. I eventually just got really pissed off (decluttering always ends up making me angry) and chucked the lot, and then Marc went behind me and salvaged what was really important to him - some Desert Storm footage, footage of the big OJ chase (which we actually have on tape b/c the Rockets were in the playoffs that year and it was during a game) and my Challenger tape.

My final policy - anything that can be bought gets tossed, which is why we got rid of all our ST:TNG and Buffy and Northern Exposure and Seinfeld tapes.

[scribbulus-ink.livejournal.com]

I'm in the "if it's available on DVD, toss it" camp. The historical or one-shot events like Diana's funeral, etc, I'd keep.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

: nods. And they're clearly never releasing the Diana funeral on dvd.

But I am looking forward to discarding my Live Aid on ABC on Betamax when Geldof releases the whole thing this Christmas.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Aaron is insisting that we keep Freaky Friday (the Jodie version) on disney-release vhs *and* the Wide World of Disney version taped off the tv, commercials and all. And the dvd we got for Harry of the old *and* new versions.

And yeah, I just found both OJ *and Menendez hearings (which I think I had because I was a research asst for Leslie Abramson in 94).

[scribbulus-ink.livejournal.com]

I had that on Betamax too! I nearly wore out the Duran Duran performance. (Should I have admitted that aloud?) I had to get rid of all my betamax tapes years ago, though, when the machine broke, and everything had gone VHS anyway, so I didn't see any point in having it repaired.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Power Station, too?

Mer, I should see what I can get on eBay for my 1996 Live Aid calendar, in fine condition...

[scribbulus-ink.livejournal.com]

If John Taylor was involved, I was there. I thought he was hotter than Simon. IIRC, watching that concert was when I became a little disenchanted with Simon, because his voice was warbling out of tune all over the place, and it struck me that he must be a better studio musician than a concert musician.

And I'll bet you could probably get something for that calender. I imagine it must be a collector's item by now.

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

Offer them to the vidders egroup - there are always vidders looking for tapes that they can use as source material for vidding.

[eibbil-libbie.livejournal.com]

Ooo...mind meld. I was just wondering last night if I should keep all my taped episodes of Scarecrow and Mrs. King. Eeeks. Bad eighties stuff all over but just cheesy enough to be endearing.

I'm with the "if it's on DVD pitch it" camp.

Pre-Special Editions Star Wars? Keep it!

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Oh, and don't throw anything by George Lucas, no matter how many later tapes and DVDs exist - you probably own the rare bloopers he's been editing out of his oeuvre ever since the first day of release.

[bekkio.livejournal.com]

Well, since most of those types of videos are my husbands, I usually sneak them out of the house when he's not paying attention. Plus most of our tapes like that are over 20 years old, and are barely watchable. He hasn't figured it out yet :D

[gwendolyngrace.livejournal.com]

If you don't want the Remington Steeles, send them to me. If you do want them, please copy for me? THere are only about 12 episodes available through Columbia House.

Yes, I'm that much a Remington Steele Geek.

Second the thing about keeping the pre-new edition SW. I'm keeping mine.

And yeah, for the record, I still have a bunch of betamax tapes. Problem is, I keep getting hold of betamax machines to dub them over, and the machines keep dying.

[saucy-wench.livejournal.com]

I'd keep them, and put them in storage. It might interest Harry and Jon when they're older.

[longtimegone]

OMG! I remember those! My mother taped all of that and we used to watch it often! She is a duran duran FREAK.

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

I've still got Doctor, Doctor and most of Max Headroom on tape; have no idea how good they still run, but nobody's releasing them on a more stable format yet. :/

My problem w/ my old tapes is a lack of labelling....

[til-midnight.livejournal.com]

Well, I no longer own a VCR player, so when I left for school, I got rid of everything but Star Wars. (Yeah, no way I'm getting rid of those.) But as long as you have a function VCR player, I agree with everyone else and say keep what isn't available of DVD.

[cat-mom.livejournal.com]

Tapes degrade over time, so storing them for the future is not a good idea and do you really have that much storage room? Are you really going to sit down one of these days and watch Di's funeral again? If you haven't watched something in 2-3 years you should chuck it. Be ruthless, you'll feel great!

[heinous_bitca.livejournal.com]

Eeee, Scarecrow! *adores*

I wish I had those on tape. Alas, I only have my Lois & Clark collection. *sighs*

[heinous_bitca.livejournal.com]

I'd buy the whole set of RS if they put them on DVD. In a heartbeat.