Granted, few people use them much anymore so this may be a moot question. However, when we replaced our six year old / 4 head VCR with a brand new, Sony 32 head VCR last Christmas it lasted all of one day before it wouldn’t play. We took it in and the guy said it was very dirty. We had it cleaned and the same thing happened after about a week. Now having five large dogs, our house tends to collect dust rapidly (despite three times per week cleaning). Could it be that modern VCR’s are simply much more sensitive to dust, ect than their ancestors? IF so who got the bright idea of making them this way?
Same thing happened to us. We had to replace our very good (until it died suddenly) VCR last year.
Went to the local electronics shop and discovered they only had 4 VCRs to choose from. We chose one and, in short it sucked! The buttons were cheap and loose, the reaction was slow to pause/unpause (which made editing from my camcorder all but impossible) and the recorded picture was terrible.
We went out and searched for a “top of the line” model (though the first was not an unknown brand by any stretch!). We ended up getting a ‘Super VHS’ VCR and it has been perfect!
There is no such thing as a 32 head VCR. There is a 32 micron head VCR, whcih is probably what you meant to say. But this isn’t anything new. I’ve seen 19 micron heads. This refers to the size of the headgap, and is important because a smaller headgap can read and write a thinner track, which improves image quality by reducing bleedthrough from adjacent tracks.
It’s an industry-wide conspiracy to move heathens like yourself to DVD players like the rest of civilization.
Resistance is futile.
It’s because the VCR is a dying animal, so the high-quality ones from back in the day (when they cost several hundred dollars) aren’t worth producing; there’s not enough profit in it. People buying VCRs are presumed to be people who are extremely money-conscious, or buying in addition to a DVD player, so they are produced (and sold) cheaply. My current VCR cost me twenty bucks.
Keep in mind that the scrolls are probably not Essene. That was just some nonsense an early “expert” insisted on. There was also no Essene community anywhere near the Roman fort at Qumram. One BBC program on this (hosted by Roemer?) delved into the issue of whether the scrolls were actually those of a Jerusalem sect fleeing during one of the revolts. See the entries under 1995 and ff. here.
I believe that nowadays many VCRs have a “self-cleaning” or “auto-head-clean” feature, but I don’t know how it’s supposed to work or whether it’s relevant to the OP.
In my very limited experience, I haven’t noticed modern VCRs being any worse in quality than the older ones. But like so many other consumer electronics items these days, they keep getting cheaper, with more features, but not built to be particularly durable or long-lasting.
Ack, phhht. Sorry wrong thread.
And now for this thread.
All consumer goods are being made cheaper and cheaper. Most consumer electronics in particular.
People would rather pay $10 less for a TV or VCR that’s only going to last a year than one that will last 10 years. So guess what happens?
If you guys would just stop buying junk, that would allow at least those of us who want quality goods to be able to find them on the shelf.
Actually bragging about how you only paid $x for a crappy item is “amusing”.