It is dumb and I am tired of hearing it
The device is called a VCR
Who’s still talking about VCRs?
A lot of people. This was inspired specifically by a craigslist posting
Never heard of Betamax?
There used to be players that didn’t also record.
There are VHS players that don’t record. Maybe they’re talking about one of those.
And considering there was a format called VCR…
I know, that actually didn’t have much of an effect on popular usage…
In the day, there were devices that played, but didn’t record, VHS. When VCRs were expensive, they were a popular alternative for those who just wished to play back rental/retail cassettes. IIRC, recorders didn’t fall into the sub-$200 range until about 1992, while players were available for much cheaper. Occasionally, you’d see them called VCPs (try Googling “VHS VCP” to see examples), but “VHS player” was used just as frequently. So “VHS player” can be a perfectly cromulent term.
Nowadays, I’d imagine that the term “VHS player” for either recorder or player comes from common usage - record player, tape player, DVD player, etc. Few people record on VHS any more, so if someone is looking for a VHS machine, they’re looking for playback ability. When the main purpose is playback of a specific format, <format> + “player” is a familiar construct for people.
Awww, don’t be a player hater.
1985 called. It wants its OP back.
The name I’d seen for those (on the packaging) is VCP. But I seriously doubt it, as they were not very popular. I think it’s just that it was posted by a kid who doesn’t know what they were called, but knows the cassettes are called VHSes.
But there are several types of VCRs. One of those types is a VHS. I think the term “VHS player” is perfectly appropriate. Sure, it would be better to say “VCR (VHS)” but I’m not getting the outrage.
The first VCR I had used Betamax tapes. (Its remote control was connected by wire to the machine, which gives you another indication of how far back I am talking about). At the time Beta seemed a better technology than VHS.
Hasn’t Betamax been dead for a good 20 years?
The term VCR has been pretty much unambiguously understood to mean a VHS recorder for many years now, at least in the U.S.
I’d say all VCR’s have been a dead format for a good decade. I came from the world of video production so a VCR (to me) can also mean 3/4", Betacam SP, Digital Betacam, D2, D1, DV, SVHS, HDV, 8mm, hi-8, and probably a good handful of other formats that I’m forgetting right at the moment. To me, when I was working in production, “VCR” would have been a meaningless phrase. Like telling me to go out to the mall parking lot and get something out of your car. “Which car? Narrow it down some.”
To seriously answer the OP, “VHS player” became popular because early on it was an important distinction, and since then it’s just a matter of habit and reinforcement. Kind of like all tissue being Kleenex, or all copies being Xeroxed.
The players were smaller, too (as well as cheaper).
VHS = Video Home System
VHS (developed by JVC) was the competitor for Sony’s BetaMax system. Technically, BetaMax was a better system, but VHS won the home Video Standard war. My personal opinion was that VHS won because they learned lessons from the 4-Channel Stereo War that Sony overlooked.
4-Channel Stereo War: A couple companies decided that if 2-channel home HiFi sound was good, 4 would be better. So they developed home systems to produce it. All you had to do was buy 2 more speakers, a new receiver, and a new turntable w/cartridge. Sure, it was an inve$tment, but it was 4-Channel Sound and THE LATEST THING. Of course, you also would have to buy LPs recorded for 4-Channel sound to hear it. And those LPs were more expensive than stereo. So Columbia records released some “Quad” LPs for the system they endorsed and RCA released some LPs for their “Quad” system. Now, either system would play stereo LPs, but neither system would play Quad LPs made for the other system. They were incompatable. And frankly, there weren’t a lot of Quad LPs for either system released. So that whole concept sort of fizzled away and early buyers were stuck with Quad systems and only 3 Quad albums to play on them. And holes in their wallets. Lesson to be learned: You want to sell new media equipment? You need new media.
So, back to the Home Video wars. Both sides asked movie production companies for the rights to release on VHS and/or BetaMax their latest releases. The VHS people went a step further and approached every movie company for the rights to release on VHS their back catalogs. And got them.
So…
With both VHS and BetaCam, you could record programming off the air or cable.
With both VHS and BetaCam, you could watch recent releases.
With ONLY VHS, you could watch old movies.
Which pretty much killed off BetaMax. Until ENG (Electronic News Gathering) came around.
Well, first there was Super-VHS. The cassettes were larger and with a S-VHScamera and recorder you could record Broadcast Quality video. And with the proper equipment, you could edit stuff. Television broadcasters ATE it up. The stuff was fairly portable. There was a camera you could either mount on a tripod or hold on your shoulder, a recorder you could hang from a strap over your other shoulder and you could plug microphones into it.
Then Sony resurrected BetaMax, made the cassettes smaller, improved the electronics and the quality of the stuff recorded on the tape, and renamed it BetaCam. BetaCam replaced S-VHS and became the standard for ENG and even studio video taping for quite a while until Digital took over. And those in the business held off on Digital until the differing standards sort of finally agreed on ONE standard. Or the less popular formats died out.
The 80’s wasn’t a good time for OP what with everybody got AIDS and shit.
Dude, Laser Discs are way more rad than VHS players. Laser Disc is the only way to watch Jurassic Park, and dozens of other movies.
I use the term to refer to the VHS portion of a DVD/VHS combo unit. It’s not a VCR. When I had a VCR, that’s what I called it.
I used to call mine a “video”.
Just wanted to add something to the conversation.