Use for old vhs recording tapes
john royce
would prefer not to just throw them away, but would they be of use to
anybody these days?
George
RickMerrill
Try the FREECYCLE GROUPS on Yahoo.com - you advertise something to give
away (rather than put it in the landfill) and then arainge with someone
to come pick it up.
There are still people collecting shows and VHS tapes: I gave away over
100 of the darn things.
Bill
> We have stacks of old vhs tapes with home recorded television films on.
> We would prefer not to just throw them away, but would they be of use to
> anybody these days?
Sell them at a yard sale for 10 cents each. Someone like me will come by and
buy them.
VHS tapes are the BEST quality for long term. They will still work after
many years, whereas DVD's will not work at all with just a tiny scratch.
I've had too many DVD's which stopped working, so I'm not buying any more of
those. It is money down the drain.
I'm buying all sorts of VHS movies now for very little cost. Many times a
dollar or 50 cents, but sometimes 10 cents each!
Rod Speed
There always are a few dinosaurs who keep using obsolete technology.
Whether they have enough tapes tho is another matter entirely.
Rod Speed
> john royce <blue...@mail.invalid> wrote
>> We have stacks of old vhs tapes with home recorded television films
>> on. We would prefer not to just throw them away, but would they be
>> of use to anybody these days?
> Not really. These days, VHS is extremely outmoded, plus would you
> want to give away tapes containing your own content to strangers?
He appears to be talking about what he has recorded from TV.
> You would presumably have to degauss the tapes or record
> unimportant content over them before you give them away,
Nope, not if it was recorded off TV.
> which is not worth the effort
The Real Bev
Apparently rest homes etc. are glad to get them. People try to sell
prerecorded tapes at yard sales for a quarter, but I don't think anybody buys
them; no matter what time we arrive at the sale, the containers are still full
:-(
--
Cheers, Bev
=====================================================================
If violence isn't solving the problem, you're not using enough of it.
The Real Bev
> "john royce" wrote in message
>> We have stacks of old vhs tapes with home recorded television films on.
>> We would prefer not to just throw them away, but would they be of use to
>> anybody these days?
>
> Sell them at a yard sale for 10 cents each. Someone like me will come by and
> buy them.
Or not. LP records, VHS/beta tapes and National Geographics are pretty much
unsalable. If you're stuck with them, consider dropping them off at the
library after hours so they can't refuse to take them; if they have to throw
them away, at least you won't know about it.
> VHS tapes are the BEST quality for long term. They will still work after
> many years, whereas DVD's will not work at all with just a tiny scratch.
>
> I've had too many DVD's which stopped working, so I'm not buying any more of
> those. It is money down the drain.
>
> I'm buying all sorts of VHS movies now for very little cost. Many times a
> dollar or 50 cents, but sometimes 10 cents each!
The problem is the rubber parts in the VCRs, which eventually rot. Newer VCRs
have non-replaceable parts.
--
Cheers, Bev
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Subscribe today to "Fire in the Hole - the Quarterly Journal
for Incinerator Toilet Enthusiasts" -- Andrew
Evelyn Leeper
And there's plenty of stuff we're still recording off TV (but we got
several cartons of tapes from my sister-in-law).
--
Evelyn C. Leeper
I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods
when I nod; my shadow does that much better. -Plutarch
Evelyn Leeper
> Bill wrote:
>
>> "john royce" wrote in message
>>> We have stacks of old vhs tapes with home recorded television films
>>> on. We would prefer not to just throw them away, but would they be of
>>> use to anybody these days?
>>
>> Sell them at a yard sale for 10 cents each. Someone like me will come
>> by and buy them.
>
> Or not. LP records, VHS/beta tapes and National Geographics are pretty
> much unsalable. If you're stuck with them, consider dropping them off
> at the library after hours so they can't refuse to take them; if they
> have to throw them away, at least you won't know about it.
I hope people take this as humor, because forcing the library to pay to
have your trash hauled away is not fair.
LPs may actually be usable by artists since they are moldable. National
Geographics may be usable by scrapbookers et al for the photographs.
Ask on Freecycle.
George
> Bill wrote:
>
>> "john royce" wrote in message
>>> We have stacks of old vhs tapes with home recorded television films
>>> on. We would prefer not to just throw them away, but would they be of
>>> use to anybody these days?
>>
>> Sell them at a yard sale for 10 cents each. Someone like me will come
>> by and buy them.
>
> Or not. LP records, VHS/beta tapes and National Geographics are pretty
> much unsalable. If you're stuck with them, consider dropping them off
> at the library after hours so they can't refuse to take them; if they
> have to throw them away, at least you won't know about it.
Why would you advocate making the library be responsible for disposing
of someones trash? Do you imagine someone will spend days reviewing them
and cataloging them instead of their having to pay a fee to dispose of
them just like the the original owner?
George
> "john royce" wrote in message
>> We have stacks of old vhs tapes with home recorded television films on.
>> We would prefer not to just throw them away, but would they be of use to
>> anybody these days?
>
> Sell them at a yard sale for 10 cents each. Someone like me will come by and
> buy them.
>
> VHS tapes are the BEST quality for long term. They will still work after
> many years, whereas DVD's will not work at all with just a tiny scratch.
I guess it all depends what "best" means. The quality isn't that good to
begin with and can only get worse as they degrade.
>
> I've had too many DVD's which stopped working, so I'm not buying any more of
> those. It is money down the drain.
>
You must have some unusual conditions.
BigDog811
> Bill wrote:
> > "john royce" wrote in message
> >> We have stacks of old vhs tapes with home recorded television films on.
> >> We would prefer not to just throw them away, but would they be of use to
> >> anybody these days?
>
> > Sell them at a yard sale for 10 cents each. Someone like me will come by and
> > buy them.
>
> > VHS tapes are the BEST quality for long term. They will still work after
> > many years, whereas DVD's will not work at all with just a tiny scratch.
>
> I guess it all depends what "best" means. The quality isn't that good to
> begin with and can only get worse as they degrade.
That's correct. Magnetic tape has always been a high maintenance
medium to use for archival storage of data. You can't just make a
recording and put it away for an extended period until the data/
information is need again. Assuming it was recorded on high quality
tape on good quality equipment, it still needs to be stored and
handled properly to avoid damage to the magnetic coating, and
periodically re-spooled/rewound under even tension to avoid print
through and tracking problems.
Having said that, I have quite a few old video tapes, dating back as
far as late 70's, in Beta, VHS and VHS-C formats. To say nothing of
several dozen 10 1/2 inch audio tape reels that go back even farther.
They all still play fine (except Betas because I no longer have a
working Beta video player). I converted all of them to digital a long
time ago. The only time I pull them out is when I'm feeling
nostalgic. I should probably get rid of them, but destroying them is
a bigger job than I want to take on. I'll leave that to my survivors,
at which time I won't care.
>
>
>
> > I've had too many DVD's which stopped working, so I'm not buying any more of
> > those. It is money down the drain.
>
> You must have some unusual conditions.
>
More likely he's using junk discs he buys at the local big box.
An excellent article (recently updated) accompanied by a good
discussion can be found here:
http://adterrasperaspera.com/blog/2006/10/30/how-to-choose-cddvd-archival-media
It includes links to vendors that sell high quality archival discs,
which can be had for as little as 20 cents per disc when bought in
quantity.
And no, I have no connection to the author nor any of the vendors he
links to.
The Real Bev
> The Real Bev wrote:
>> Bill wrote:
>>
>>> "john royce" wrote in message
>>>> We have stacks of old vhs tapes with home recorded television films
>>>> on. We would prefer not to just throw them away, but would they be of
>>>> use to anybody these days?
>>>
>>> Sell them at a yard sale for 10 cents each. Someone like me will come
>>> by and buy them.
>>
>> Or not. LP records, VHS/beta tapes and National Geographics are pretty
>> much unsalable. If you're stuck with them, consider dropping them off
>> at the library after hours so they can't refuse to take them; if they
>> have to throw them away, at least you won't know about it.
>
> I hope people take this as humor, because forcing the library to pay to
> have your trash hauled away is not fair.
We The People pay extra to have our recyclables recycled as well as having our
trash hauled away. We pay by volume, not pound. It's truly unlikely that the
libraries have to pay extra to deal with unwanted books or records, and there
is also the vague possibility that the items can actually be sold at the
libraries' book sales. My local library, to which I contribute paperbacks that
I'll never want to read again, sells paperbacks fof 25 cents (pretty much what
I paid for them) and hardbacks for 50 cents.
Our library loans CDs, DVDs and tapes. They might actually be able to use the
prerecorded ones. The home-recorded ones are absolutely useless. LP records
are similarly unsalable, with certain exceptions for extremely rare recordings.
> LPs may actually be usable by artists since they are moldable. National
> Geographics may be usable by scrapbookers et al for the photographs.
> Ask on Freecycle.
Nobody can ever throw away a National Geographic. It's just not possible.
Accordingly, there are far more of them available than the decoupage/
kindergarten/ scrapbooking communities can absorb. If a book has to be thrown
away, which I am absolutely unable to do, I rely on the professionals to do the
necessary triage. Whatever might be done by melting LP records, I'm pretty
sure it can't be called art. Real shame, but there it is.
--
Cheers, Bev
==================================================================
"America is at an awkward stage: it is too late to work within the
system, but it is too early to shoot the bastards." -Claire Wolfe
sr
>> Geographics may be usable by scrapbookers et al for the photographs. Ask
>> on Freecycle.
> ==================================================================
: LP, vinyl records, Crafts: When I was a kid , I softened the vinyl records
in the oven, watch carefully, When they were pliable, I made them curvy,
pressing up than down around the rim. When cool I spray painted them gold or
silver than added sprays of flowers, or sm fruits, if for the kitchen walls.
They were so pretty and my aunt actually had a sm. business out of her
kitchen
RickMerrill
> The Real Bev wrote:
>> Bill wrote:
>>
>>> "john royce" wrote in message
>>>> We have stacks of old vhs tapes with home recorded television films
>>>> on. We would prefer not to just throw them away, but would they be
>>>> of use to anybody these days?
>>>
>>> Sell them at a yard sale for 10 cents each. Someone like me will come
>>> by and buy them.
>>
>> Or not. LP records, VHS/beta tapes and National Geographics are
>> pretty much unsalable. If you're stuck with them, consider dropping
>> them off at the library after hours so they can't refuse to take
>> them; if they have to throw them away, at least you won't know about it.
>
> Why would you advocate making the library be responsible for disposing
> of someones trash? Do you imagine someone will spend days reviewing them
> and cataloging them instead of their having to pay a fee to dispose of
> them just like the the original owner?
Maybe the librarian will watch the "home videos" and have the police go
talk to the litterer whose likeness is on the VCR !-)