What year did you or your family get a VHS or Betamax?

[Pryderi]

I think it was 1985. Before that we had a laser disc player.

[NYC_SKP]

1. In 1984 I graduated from college, bought a Sony XBR stereo monitor and a stereo VHS tape deck.

From Crazy Eddie on Sixth Ave. in NYC, and got them home in a cab.

The following summer I bought my mom and dad their first one.

Later I bought a laser disk player, thinking it might take over from the magnetic-tape technology, but it didn't quite happen.

[MiddleFingerMom]

2. I don't remember exactly what she had (I think it was an early VHS), but my cousin...

.
.
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... was a doctor who lived very frugally. She had two vices -- although she drank a LOT of very cheap
warm Schmidt's beer, she sipped very VERY expensive brandy.
.
And she was a movie freak. This was back when you had to BUY the movies at 49.95, 69.95 and more
a pop. She had a walk-in closet lined with shelves FULL of videotapes.
.
I spent two months at her home snuggled up with her English Bulldog (Winifred) recuperating after a
bad motorcycle accident.
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I was in HOLLYWOOD HEAVEN!!!!!
.
.
.

[Taverner]

3. 1983 - VHS

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. Bought my own VHS around 84 but being in the AV biz, I could borrow from work before that.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

5. My parents never bought a VHS.

They didn't know how to shove a VHS tape in a tape player. They couldn't understand it. So they didn't watch movies on tape.

They thought my daughter was a genius because she could use a VHS player at age five, just like all the other kids her age.

[MiddleFingerMom]

6. My folks were smart -- they didn't even buy a color TV until AFTER all the kids had moved out.

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I don't know if it's connected, but none of us lived with them beyond the age of 18 (except for summer
breaks from college).
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.
.

[Kennah]

8. Must. Resist. Urge. To write. Age based. Cracks.

[Kennah]

7. Got cable in 1980, and I think we got a VHS in 1980 or 1981

[OffWithTheirHeads]

9. 1974 I think. It was about half the size of a mocrowave oven.

[Scuba]

35. And about $1,500 bucks.

[Gore1FL]

10. 1985

For Cardinals vs Royals World Series.

[caraher]

11. Maybe 1990 or 1991?

Not sure. But we bought a full-size camcorder in 1989 and for a year or two we also used it to play VHS tapes.

[IrishEyes]

12. 1980

[Chan790]

13. 1985 or 1986. n/t

[hay rick]

14. 1912- we were always early adopters.

[Auggie]

34. LOL

[OriginalGeek]

15. I got married in 1986

she already had a vhs VCR so I got to use it for a year or two before we got married and it became officially also mine.

We would skip class and rent a movie (from a locally owned place before we ever heard of Blockbuster) and go watch at her house.

It had a wired remote. Pain in the ass. Kids tripping over it all the time.

[cyberswede]

16. We didn't even get a color tv until 1981

One of my school friends had a Betamax - I thought it was way cool!

[GoCubsGo]

23. And, I thought my family was bad...

My folks were always a bit behind the game when it came to things like TV and cable. They were usually at least two or three years behind everyone else when it comes to new technology. But, they at least got their first colored TV in around 1968. We had it in time to be able to watch the first moon landing, which was a black-and-white broadcast. LOL!

[cyberswede]

24. LOL!

My older sister would rent a color TV every year when "The Wizard of Oz" was on broadcast TV - that was a big treat for us.

It was a whopping 19" (which was bigger than ours - maybe that's why I have a 50" flat screen now?)

[GoCubsGo]

26. If I could afford it, I'd have a 50-incher, too.

I have a wall that's big enough for one. Actually, it could hold a 65" or however big they are. It could be a great selling point if I ever get off my ass and put my house up for sale.

[Drummerboy2277]

17. We got ours from Silo's

It was a 4 th of July sale in 1976 a top load Panasonic.... It was like 1200.00 Dad later bought a Betamax a year later, I think it's still packed in its original box somewhere in th attic... ... Before the VHS... We had a 16mm projector theater projector .... I still remember watching Star Wars on movie reel....

[Populist_Prole]

18. Not till long after I left home to live on my own. 1990. VHS

It was even later that my parents got one.

I think I was the last person in the western hemisphere to get a cell phone as well.

[caraher]

31. When did you get a cell phone?

For me it was in 2009... I was certainly the last acquaintance of mine to get one! And it was only because I was going to be traveling a lot for a few months and wanted an emergency phone.

Now I'm gone farther from home for longer periods and just upgraded to an iPhone. In the store they laughed at my old phone when I transferred the number...

[Populist_Prole]

32. 2004

I was the absolute last of all my family, friends, and coworkers to get one. That you held out till 2009 makes me envious.

[Brother Buzz]

19. 1977

I was totally gobsmacked to view something I had just seen on TV. We've come a long way.

[olddots]

20. I sold the crap from 1983-1987

even though we could get demos for next to nothing we were all leery about the format war and resisted VHS finally broke down and bought a VHS and our daughter destroyed it by trying to make a grilled cheese sandwich in it .

[mockmonkey]

21. 1983

Sony Betamax Hi-Fi I still have it. It still works.

[tabbycat31]

22. I honestly don't remember

But in kindergarten (1985-1986) I remember watching tapes of Winnie The Pooh

[Tommy_Carcetti]

25. I want to say 1985.

We only had the Betamax for a year, maybe less, before switching to VHS though.

For some reason I remember after a tape was having trouble playing, my aunt recommending to my dad to put the tape in the refrigerator. Why, I don't know. I don't think it worked.

[sharp_stick]

27. 1982 I think

it was a wired remote unit that I thought was just so incredible. I got it for Christmas and I was pissed that the only video rental store in the area was closed on Christmas day so I couldn't pay for a membership to rent videotapes from them. I spent most of Christmas taping a TV show and then replaying it. Pissed off my brother to no end with that activity.

We lived on a farm so no cable and still way pre-satellite so I was taping one of three stations off the antennae.

Those were the days.

[Aristus]

28. I got my first VCR back in 1986.

VHS films were incredibly expensive back then.

But Channel 13 - Tacoma was an independent station before being bought by the Fox network in the late 80's. They would show uncut movies late at night. I bought a ton of VHS blank tapes, then I would stay up late and tape movies like "Amadeus" and "Apocalypse Now" unedited off the TV. That worked for me until movie prices became less insane.

[octoberlib]

29. My dad bought a Betamax in 1978.

Then switched over to VHS in the 80's.

[csziggy]

30. 1977? - first Betamax sold out of the Sears here

It was the re-run of the Saturday Night Live with Paul Simons singing "Still Crazy After All These Years" while wearing a turkey suit. I wanted to record it - drove to the Sears (the only place in town that had any VCRs in stock) and talked them out of their display unit.



I kept that tape for years after our last Betamax died.

http://vimeo.com/54107179

[ArnoldLayne]

33. Panasonic VHS October 1982.

[ok_cpu]

36. Not sure what year.

But can remember renting movies from Camelot Music. Looking back at one of the shows I know we recorded, would have been early 80's before 1983.

[Rochester]

37. 1998

No typo.
And I still have it and use it.

[MADem]

38. 1982 in Japan. It cost a fortune!

It was the "bee's knees" though, at the time!

[Doc_Technical]

39. I think it was 1982.

It cost $750, so in today's money that's well over
$1,000.
I don't remember the make but it was made out of
metal and very sturdy and heavy.
Movie rentals were about $3.00 each back then.
We got a VHS because there were more rental movies
in that format.

[SteveG]

40. 1985, VHS

nt

[fizzgig]

41. 84 or 85

first movie i remember watching on vhs is dumbo.