# Goodbye old friend **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 17, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997 "2011-01-17T21:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/1 "2011-01-17T21:28:35Z")
Old friend, we have been together for over ten years. You have been my companion through three cities and were always waiting for me when I got home. But now, I’m afraid, our time has drawn to a close. It pains me to say, but you no longer entertain me. I know you’re not dead yet, but there is simply no place for you here any longer. I thought about finding somebody to adopt you, but you’re just too damn old and useless. Nobody is going to want you, so I am going to unceremoniously throw you in the dumpster. We had some good times, though. Goodbye VCR. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/2 "2011-01-17T21:31:15Z")
If it was a BETA the bastard deserves to die! ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/3 "2011-01-17T21:32:01Z")
I’d take it off your hands. I wish I knew people just giving away VCRs. I have a big collection of movies on VHS and I’m not gonna spend money to rebuy every movie on DVD and then have to spend money to rebuy every movie on Blu Ray and then have to spend money to rebuy every movie digtially so I’m gonna keep my VHS collection and hoard VCRs so I can keep watching them when my VCR breaks. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/4 "2011-01-17T21:34:09Z")
Alex (my seven year old who has no idea what a VCR even is) got a VHS copy of… Tom and Huck?.. for Christmas. I had to explain to him what it was and then he got all upset that he can’t actually watch it ever. He was very gracious for the gift though. Good boy. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/5 "2011-01-17T21:38:15Z")
I have a VCR still hooked up to the entertainment system but I can’t remember the last time I turned it on. Once I finally transfer those old home movies (like my wife in her dance competitions) to some digital media, it will also be going away to the great electronics store in the sky. Or to PSXer! ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/6 "2011-01-17T21:43:42Z")
I don’t want to live in a world where kids don’t know what VCRs are. VHS movies are so much better for children. They can leave them lying around and hold them in their hands and they won’t get damaged like DVDs will get scratched up. They can just put in the movie and play it without having to navigate through the menu and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/7 "2011-01-17T21:45:06Z")
I don’t think I’ve seen a VCR since last millennium. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/8 "2011-01-17T21:45:21Z")
I found a great use for my old VCR. You see, the last time I moved (last spring) I accidentally forget to unhook the cable from the back of my old TV (my spare, CRT version, that’s just in the bedroom), so when I moved it, the co-ax pretty much ripped the jack right off the back of the set. So, I had no way of stringing cable into it at all. I was going to throw it out. They it occurred to me that the RCA jacks on the thing were working perfectly. I bascially use the VCR as nothing but a channel tuner. Cable co-ax to VCR-in, RCA from VCR-out to TV-in and I’m back in the ‘falling asleep while watching the TeeVee in bed’ business. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/9 "2011-01-17T21:47:13Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Old friend, we have been together for over ten years. :eek: Mine never lasted more than three years max. However, I’d tape 4-6 hours daily, and then play back/review daily (often it was mostly in FF mode). ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/10 "2011-01-17T22:03:07Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > :eek: Mine never lasted more than three years max. However, I’d tape 4-6 hours daily, and then play back/review daily (often it was mostly in FF mode). It was just really well made. Sanyo really knew how to build the things. What will really blow you mind, though, is the one that it replaced back in circa 2000. A top loader that was probably pushing 20 years! Now, THAT thing just would not die. I pawned it for some tiny amount and I suspect it might still be chugging along somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/11 "2011-01-17T22:05:38Z")
Can you still buy blank video tapes at drug stores? Because I’m still taping shows off mine, and the last time I went to buy blank tapes at the Osco, they didn’t have any. I will be majorly pissed if I can’t buy blank tapes any more. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/12 "2011-01-17T22:27:06Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Can you still buy blank video tapes at drug stores? Because I’m still taping shows off mine, and the last time I went to buy blank tapes at the Osco, they didn’t have any. > > I will be majorly pissed if I can’t buy blank tapes any more. How did you connect the ethernet card to your commodore 64? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/13 "2011-01-17T22:31:03Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > :eek: Mine never lasted more than three years max. However, I’d tape 4-6 hours daily, and then play back/review daily (often it was mostly in FF mode). Your only supposed to watch porn till your VCR needs glasses. You aint supposed to kill it. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/14 "2011-01-17T22:40:57Z")
Be sure to get the usable parts out of it before you throw it away. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGx-3t8CJ-k](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGx-3t8CJ-k) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/15 "2011-01-17T22:54:14Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > :eek: Mine never lasted more than three years max. However, I’d tape 4-6 hours daily, and then play back/review daily (often it was mostly in FF mode). When I was a kid, my parents bought my first VCR. [This was the model](http://videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=225596), which the post indicates was made in '84, so I probably got mine in '84 or '85. It kept working for over twenty years. It finally died when I was moving, and accidentally dropped it onto a cement floor. Still, that’s pretty impressive. That one machine saw me through the almost the entire video tape era. I got it just as the price on VCRs was coming down to an affordable level, and I lost it just around the time that the DVD pulled ahead as the medium of choice for home movies. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/16 "2011-01-18T00:16:28Z")
I haven’t had the heart to put our VCR out of its misery. Of course, it hasn’t been hooked up in years. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/17 "2011-01-18T00:26:53Z")
My VCR is a VCR/DVD combo, and I actually use it quite a bit. I still have a ton of movies on VHS, both purchased and recorded, and am too cheap to replace them with DVDs (and then, of course, the inevitable replacement with the next technology). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/18 "2011-01-18T02:08:53Z")
You bought a VCR in the 21st century? I still have the last one I bought, c. 1993. In storage, now - but it still worked the last time I checked, about two years ago. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/19 "2011-01-18T02:12:46Z")
I bought a VCR at Goodwill for $2 a couple weeks ago. What a bargain. Works fine ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997/20 "2011-01-18T20:20:41Z")
Have a VCR/DVD combo for anime I am too cheap to re-purchase on DVD and old fansub tapes. Get off my damn lawn you kids, fansubs were better when they were 5th generation copies that you waited weeks in the mail to come. **PSXer** will likely agree with me on that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-old-friend/567997.md?page=2)