# Do you still have a vcr? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 9, 2017, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555 "2017-06-09T23:55:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/1 "2017-06-09T23:55:28Z")
Pretty much what the thread title asked, do you still have a means in your home of playing video tapes on your television? My associate and I have wager on how many people will still admit to owning one. For the record, the one hanging out in the bottom of your closet because of pure apathy and inertia - counts. If you _could_ have it hooked up and running, it counts. Whether or not it actually is does not matter. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/2 "2017-06-10T00:02:05Z")
Pretty sure no. I’m not going up in the attic to make sure. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/3 "2017-06-10T00:03:30Z")
I have a little 13" tv-vcr combo that we bought back in the 80s for a family lake house. It still works, and I still have a couple dozen VHS tapes. When the cable goes out, I generally drag it out and enjoy an old movie. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/4 "2017-06-10T00:04:42Z")
Yes. We just bought a DVD/VHS unit that records from tape to disc so we can start trying to save at least some of the tapes. Roughly 700 tapes going back as far as 34 years, we’ve lost a few to breakage and others are starting to show degradation on playback. [Last known VCR maker stops production, 40 years after VHS format launch](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/07/vcr-vhs-production-ends/) (2016) > [@](#): > > 40 years after the first VHS video cassette recorder rolled off the production line, the last known company making the devices is ceasing production. According to Japanese newspaper Nikkei, Funai Electric, a Japanese consumer electronics company, will give up on the format by the end of the July after 30 years of production. > > Declining sales, plus a difficulty in obtaining the necessary parts, prompted Funai Electric to cease production. While the Funai brand might not be well-known in the west, the company sold VCRs under the more familiar Sanyo brand in China and North America. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/5 "2017-06-10T00:08:15Z")
No, but we still have a lot of tapes. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/6 "2017-06-10T00:27:20Z")
I have a VCR that hasn’t been used in more than 15 years. The only reason it’s still in my house is pure laziness. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/7 "2017-06-10T00:31:00Z")
I was all ready to vote no, and then I realized I have this little 20" Samsung TV that I use outside when I feel like watching TV al fresco, and it has a built-in DVR. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/8 "2017-06-10T00:59:34Z")
Yes! Wanted to watch an old home movie last month and realized the VCR had never been hooked up to the “new” TV though (about a year and a half since we have had the TV) I had to dig out some old cables but I got it working. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/9 "2017-06-10T01:08:42Z")
I have not one but two, and they’re both hooked up and working. I also still have a working turntable for vinyl LP’s. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/10 "2017-06-10T01:10:52Z")
Yes. In fact, I’m sitting about three feet away from it. I have it hooked up to an old TV for when I want to watch a movie that wasn’t released on DVD. There’s a shelf of old VHS movies next to it. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/11 "2017-06-10T01:14:59Z")
My DVD player is a DVD/VCR combo, however I rarely, if ever, use the VCR. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/12 "2017-06-10T01:21:30Z")
Not at home, but I still have one in my classroom for those marathon showings of _Shogun_ and _Connections_. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/13 "2017-06-10T01:27:57Z")
Nope. Mine went to the Goodwill during the de-stocking before my last move 3+ years ago. It had been hooked up before that but was unused during the year we spent at that house. It was probably 3 or 5 years (and another move) before that when it was last used. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/14 "2017-06-10T01:28:52Z")
Two; one doesn’t work but I haven’t gotten to the e-recycle center, yet. And a lotta tapes. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/15 "2017-06-10T01:29:20Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > My DVD player is a DVD/VCR combo, however I rarely, if ever, use the VCR. Mine also…and I use 'em both now and then. Not very often; my preferred pastime is reading. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/16 "2017-06-10T01:31:23Z")
I have a standalone Panasonic and a TV/DVD/VHS combo unit. Both in storage along with a couple of boxes of tapes. The one tape I like to bring out now and then is 6 hours of early MTV videos–really fun to watch. ---
**Author:** ![bunyupp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@bunyupp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bunyupp)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/17 "2017-06-10T01:50:38Z")
Yes. It’s hooked up, and I still buy VHS tapes to watch. There are movies which will probably never come out on DVD or streaming (i.e. _Pete Townsend’s Deep End Live_ or _Viva Max_) so if I want to see them, I have to see them on VHS. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/18 "2017-06-10T01:55:21Z")
I had to figure out how to hook the damn thing up again a few weeks ago when my brother came over with an old tape. So not only do I have one, I even used it recently. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/19 "2017-06-10T01:56:55Z")
> [@bunyupp](#): > > There are movies which will probably never come out on DVD or streaming (i.e. _Pete Townsend’s Deep End Live_)… Hey I have that tape too…and the White City VHS as well 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555/20 "2017-06-10T01:58:26Z")
I didn’t get rid of mine. It just stopped working. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-have-a-vcr/788555.md?page=2)