Do you still have a VCR?

[RoughCollie]

We don't. Ours broke years ago, after DVD players were in common use. We didn't replace it.

 

Yet the boys came home from driver's ed with a videocassette to watch for class. This video isn't on the internet, we looked.

 

Are these still in use, commonly, or is the driver's ed teacher (whose private company charged us $90 per child for classroom work only) just behind the times?

[radiobrain]

We have 3, so we have back up when others die.

 

We also have 2 turntables, several cassette decks and somewhere I have a reel to reel. We also still have a typewriter, a traditional darkroom, several SLR cameras, a 2 1/4 and 4 x 5 camera, and a fax machine. I am sure we have a slide projector too. Oh, we also have one rotary phone in our basement, it is nice to have when the power goes out.

 

So, maybe we aren't quite the people to ask. :D

 

I do think that you can't assume that anyone would have a VCR anymore, and you should complain to them that they need to have it transferred to DVD, it is NOT that expensive.

[RegGuheert]

Our last one died years ago. We tried purchasing a cheap one for the tapes we still had, but it just ate them.

 

Just recently we paid Costco to convert our wedding videos to DVD. (Unfortunately they were only successful in converting one of three tapes.)

 

Since VCRs are no longer manufactured, I think it is somewhat unreasonable to expect customers to have them. I would insist on a DVD.

[Carrie12345]

I think it's crazy for any class to use VHS when VHSs aren't even being produced anymore. That company does need to get with the times.

 

We did try to keep our VCR going in order to utilize a bunch of children's videos, a few of our old favorites, and our library's selection. When it finally swallowed a library tape, we reluctantly said goodbye (to the VCR and $40! :glare:)

 

Between the DVR and Netflix Streaming, we haven't missed it one bit!

 

Okay, maybe my subconscious has. I guess it really is time to get rid of the 2 boxes of VHS tapes in my loft. :tongue_smilie:

[RoughCollie]

We also have 2 turntables, several cassette decks and somewhere I have a reel to reel. We also still have a typewriter, a traditional darkroom, several SLR cameras, a 2 1/4 and 4 x 5 camera, and a fax machine. I am sure we have a slide projector too. Oh, we also have one rotary phone in our basement, it is nice to have when the power goes out.

 

My husband has all that stuff -- well, he did until we moved and we had to downsize his stuff because we moved into a house about 2/3 the size of our former home. He still has a fax machine and a typewriter (because he can't figure out how to print envelopes on his printer).

 

He is a pack rat. I always blamed it on that.

 

I have to call the driver's ed guy today and explain why my kids didn't watch this very important video. It's about the trial of a drunk driver. The class is going to do a moot court project. My kids aren't worried because their parents are lawyers -- but somehow I don't think that knowledge about how a trial works transfers to children by osmosis.

 

I just wonder if it most people have VCRs. This town is commonly referred to by people who live here, but have lived elsewhere, as being 30 or 40 years behind the times.

Edited October 5, 2010 by RoughCollie

[Gwenhwyfar]

my mother still has a vcr ~ but this is the same lady who got her very first cordless phone recently and hates it. ;)

 

it's RIDICULOUS that this drivers ed program is sending home vhs tapes.

[RoughCollie]

it's RIDICULOUS that this drivers ed program is sending home vhs tapes.

 

I thought so, too. But then I started worrying that the guy would think I was ridiculous for not having a VCR. Maybe, for once, I am ahead of the times. I see that's not true, as usual.

[specialmama]

We have a VCR/DVD combo, but yes, it is getting increasingly harder to even find VCRs on the market. Perhaps your library has one you could use for an hour?

[Tabrett]

Nope. I would talk to the teacher and request a DVD. You can't be the only person with this problem.

[RoughCollie]

We have a VCR/DVD combo, but yes, it is getting increasingly harder to even find VCRs on the market. Perhaps your library has one you could use for an hour?

 

When all the boys have been available at the same time, I haven't had time to make the hour roundtrip to the library, plus wait for them to watch the tape, or the library was closed. They brought this home Thursday evening and the next class is this afternoon.

[chickenpatty]

We just got a VCR. Thrift stores sell many of the old VCR tapes for 50 cents!

[Renthead Mommy]

We do, but we still have old videos that were given to my son years ago. I think people with younger kids may have them more often only because people tend to pass on those videos, and vcr is easier for littles to work. However if you're taking driver's ed, you certainly aren't a 'little'! LOL! So yeah, sort of crazy to think everyone can use that at home.

 

My parents are visiting and just last night said something about recording something we'er going to miss later this week. I told them I haven't been able to record things since getting cable boxes got so complicated.

 

They looked at me like I was crazy. They were also sort of appalled that we don't have a DVR.

 

However they (and the guy at Radio Shack) were shocked we "still" had such a "old" tv. Before they came I went to RS to get the cable so we can watch Netflix from the computer to the TV. The tv has regular audio/video jacks in teh front of it. Apparently it's too old and must have a 15 pin connection or something.

 

But if it still works perfectly fine, why just get rid of it for more expensive and fancier???

[momofkhm]

We have one, but we still have a few VHS tapes as well. The picture quality isn't as good obviously.

 

The drivers ed my dd took, they watched all the videos in the classroom. It was provided by the public schools. (It's the way we do it in NC.) Nothing was sent home.

[LuvToRead]

We have 2. Our library has mostly VHS tapes, plus we have a lot. Also, I just can't figure out our DVD recorder, so I still tapes shows with the VCR.

 

For anyone wanting to purchase a VCR, I would recommend getting a used one. New ones just don't last very long. We bought a new VCR that lasted three months. We then bought a used one from one of DH's co-workers, and it works perfectly. It is probably 15 years old.

[5knights3maidens]

Yes, we have a VCR. I still get the video cassettes from the library, yard sales, or thrift store. In the case of the Driver's Ed class, they should have dvd.

[Pippen]

Our last one died years ago. We tried purchasing a cheap one for the tapes we still had, but it just ate them.

.

 

The same thing happened to us--we still had a lot of kid stuff on VHS so it was always a risk watching them. The last ones that rolled off the production lines must have been serious junk.

 

Our library still had a lot of VHS tapes last year that I wanted to use for homeschool so I bought a combination VCR/TV from a pawn shop (actually I traded in a bunch of tapes and DVDs for credit). It was a model we'd had previously that worked well for many years so it was a better route for us, except for the storage.

[KS_]

We still have one - I use it as a backup for recording TV shows. We do have a computer hooked up to the TV that functions as a DVR, but if I have 2 shows on at the same time, or the computer is on the fritz, I use the VCR.

[Dawn in OH]

We have one, and thank goodness, because many of the items at my library are still only available on VHS. But as far as a class requiring a student to view something on VHS, that's crazy. If our VHS died, I doubt I would make an effort to replace it.

[RoughCollie]

If our VHS died, I doubt I would make an effort to replace it.

 

Luckily, by the time ours died, my kids had outgrown their extremely large collection of videos. They wanted me to buy a new one this weekend -- an idea that was quickly discarded when I told them to pool their own money to make the purchase. It's funny how needs become frivolous wastes of money when the kids have to spend their own funds.

[Hunter's Moon]

I still have one in my bedroom.

 

I'm the only one in the house with one.

 

We have a lot of videocassettes from when I was younger, so I just kept it.

 

I use it rarely, but when I need to, I'm glad I have it.

[AHASRADA]

You all are scaring me! :001_huh: We have 3 VCR/DVD combos, plus a portable DVD player. I cannot imagine (nor have I ever seriously considered) all of our VCRs dying!

 

We did begin to favor DVDs about 3 years ago, just because they take up soooo much less space, but they are also much, much more expensive. We purchase them mainly as gifts.

 

My kids, OTOH, are very sentimental about VHS (OK, mainly ds13, who is sentimental in general) and love to collect classic cartoons, Disney movies, etc. from thrift stores, 2nd hand shops and yard sales. The thrift stores we frequent charge from $2-4 per VHS tape, so I am assuming there are enough people who still have VCRs to warrant this price and availability.

 

I guess this is a wake-up call to get everything copied onto DVD before the inevitable happens.

 

As for the Driver Ed class, yes, it is crazy to assume everyone will have a VCR. I would have called the teacher immediately to ask if they have the material on DVD or advice on finding a time/location to watch it.

[Garga]

We have 3 vcrs and 2 dvd players. We have a ton of movies that are on vhs tape that we don't want to spend the money to replace with dvds.

[AngieW in Texas]

We have 3 VCRs.

 

One is hooked to the upstairs tv, but it's never used. We still have it because we didn't see any reason to throw it away.

 

One is hooked to the downstairs tv, but is very rarely used because we just don't watch things on vhs anymore.

 

The other is part of the tv in the van. That is used only when we go on long trips (at least 1.5 hours). We've had to go on vhs buying trips to Half Price Books because all our vhs tapes were of shows that the kids outgrew a long time ago. Fortunately vhs tapes are very easy to find. Unfortunately, our vcr is eating about one tape out of every 4 or 5 now. I don't know how much longer it's going to work. We won't repair it once it dies. It gets used for maybe 15-20 hours every year. We take 6-7 hour round trips to visit family 2-3x/year and we also do a 3-4 hour round trip vacation every year.

 

Our library got rid of all vhs two years ago. They got rid of most of their audiocassettes as well. They only kept audiocassettes of books that haven't been redone in cd format.

[Jennifer in MI]

We don't have one either. I would like to get one though as we've been gifted a number of Teaching Company series on VHS tapes. I want to watch them!!!

[Cinder]

We still have 2 VCR's. (How else could we watch our original Star Wars videos? Y'know, the ones that don't have all the extra CGI'd stuff--even my kids prefer it. :D ) But I don't think we know anyone else who still has one. These days I wouldn't assume everyone has a VCR. It would be like passing out a lecture on cassette--it's just rapidly becoming outdated.

 

Cinder

[Dandelion]

We have a DVD/VCR combo - and we haven't used the VCR portion of that in over a year at least...

[kewb]

We have 2 dvd/vcr combos. The VCR portion rarely gets used anymore. Every once in awhile the kids break out an old movie that we don't have on dvd.

[Mejane]

We have the combo as well. We also have hundreds of VHS tapes.

[angela in ohio]

We only have one because my IEW set is so old it has VCR tapes. I would never assume anyone has a VCR. When I loan it out, I ask first if they have one, and if not, I let them borrow that, too. :001_smile:

 

They should provide you with a DVD.

[DesertDweller]

We have a DVD/VCR combo. but I've gotten rid of almost all of our VCR movies and shows. Most of them were from when the kids were younger anyway and seldom, if ever, watched. I won't buy VCR tapes at this point although I've seen plenty of used titles that I wouldn't mind having. I think eventually they'll go the way of the eight track tape.

[i.love.lucy]

We have a combo recordable DVD one. My dh wanted it to copy over his massive library of MST3K videos and it's almost complete. But he still has kept the VHS :glare:. We also have crates and crates of records that we keep hauling around. :glare: So we use the VHS side for copying them, but rarely for watching anymore at all. In fact, I can't remember the last time we watched one. Wait, the kids did watch an old Wallace and Gromit recently I guess.

 

One more :glare: to express my feelings about keeping all this stuff!:D

[Tree House Academy]

Yep...and lots of VHS movies too.

[mama2cntrykids]

Yup, we have one. I thought WalMart still sold them? At least they did a couple of years ago.

[Pam L.]

We have two vcr/dvd combo units. We found it almost impossible to purchase just a vcr a couple of years ago, so we went with this option. We loved switching to DVD's!

[ThelmaLou]

Yes, we own a VHS/DVD/Blu-ray combo. I ordered mine from Amazon back in April when the price was $139. Don't know why the price is so high now, unless it's no longer being made. Here's what we have:

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMP-BD70V-Blu-ray-Multimedia-Player/dp/B001VZ1W5U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1286293194&sr=8-1

[Tap]

We still have one for old Disney VHS tapes.

 

It is the same one we bought 10+ years ago, and won't be replaced once it goes.

[aggieamy]

I must really be the odd one out here. I haven't had a VCR player in probably 7 years and if someone handed me a VHS I'd look at them like they had two heads. I think the drivers ed class should provide a DVD.

[bookfiend]

We don't have one either. I would like to get one though as we've been gifted a number of Teaching Company series on VHS tapes. I want to watch them!!!

 

Garage sale, my friend. When ours broke, I found the identical model that weekend at a sale for $5.00. (I'm certain we paid $170 new.)

[Belacqua]

We have the vcr/dvd combo, and the vcr part does get used. All our Standard Deviants recordings are on vhs, and we do still use them quite frequently (frequently enough that I have One Carbon in Your Alkane permanently wedged in my head).

 

So what's coming after dvds are obsolete? I need to prepare myself mentally. :)

[Jean in Newcastle]

Yes, we still have a VCR and we use it every couple of months or so mostly for educational videos from the library. If there is a DVD, we will get that instead.

[ereks mom]

I still have lots of VHS tapes that I need to transfer to DVD, but my DVD recorder isn't working properly at the moment.

[kalanamak]

I think it's crazy for any class to use VHS when VHSs aren't even being produced anymore.

 

Oh, am I behind the times. I love my tapes. I have tapes from 1992 still going strong, and CDs and DVDs always seem to get scratched. I've had DVDs just "wear out".

 

Popping in a tape is so much easier for littles.

Oh, darn. I hate change. I'm so glad I'm not immortal.

[Matryoshka]

When our last VCR died, we got a VCR/multiregional DVD combo. I don't feel like re-purchasing all my Schoolhouse Rock videos!

 

But honestly, if we hadn't needed the multiregional DVD player, we might not have gotten a new VCR. But it's nice to have for some of that old stuff.

[LBS]

but I recently bought a couple of $5 VCRs at Goodwill, so we could watch some of the VHS tapes for homeschooling, since I ended up purchasing them (to watch one time) when the DVDs were too expensive. Both worked fine, not eating tapes yet......like others commented, there are so many wonderful tapes at thrift shops....we only watch most movies once, now.

 

LBS

[gaillardia]

We have two vcr recorders/players and two dvd players.

The little ones will outgrow the old vhs movies eventually.

Our country county library branch has mostly vhs, but some dvd.

I know a lot of people complain about little kids scratching dvds.

We do still have a turntable, little music cassette players and cassettes, and records that I thought I had gotten rid of... I made my husband get rid of his old 8 trac tapes years ago.

Son uses the records.

[Nestof3]

We still have one, but yes, they are behind the times.

 

My son took drivers ed online:

http://driversed.com/

[NanceXToo]

My 10 y/o has a small TV with a built in VCR in her room. She sometimes rents videos from the library and watches them in her room.

[RegGuheert]

 

We did begin to favor DVDs about 3 years ago...

I basically banned purchases of VHS tapes sometime around 1998 because I did not want to face the prospect of transitioning to DVDs at some point. On very rare occasions we would purchase curriculum on VHS, but in many cases we held out until the publisher offered their wares on DVD. As a result of this policy, we probably never owned more than about 30 or 40 VHS tapes. We are holding onto very few at this point, our wedding videos among them.