I want my old VCR back...

[Nords]

Nords, I'm coming to Honolulu next week, should I bring my 1998 era Sony with me?

This thread (and analog TV's planned obsolescence) fill me with foreboding. If you're getting rid of it and don't mind the hauling hassle, I'd be delighted to take it off your hands!

 

[jazz4cash]

I have a pile of VCRs in the basement. I can usually patch em up to run for awhile and then they quit....always mechanical problems with the tape drive. The tuners seem to work great so I'm reluctant to trash 'em, but I have taken a couple to be recycled.

 

[TromboneAl]

My understanding is that the retail outlets dropped the 'unbundled' DVRs because they just could not sell them next to the same unit with a 'discounted' (but bundled subscription) price. I guess the average consumer does not look at a monthly charge as 'real money'. So I suffer for it.

BTW, here's the antidote to situations in which one is disadvantaged by either the stupidity of other people or by marketing that profits from it:

Realize that there are many situations in which you can take advantage of that.

For example, marketers have found that by having larger portion sizes in a meal, they can charge more for it, even though their costs of producing it are only marginally higher. So, you take advantage of it by splitting the meal with someone else. For example, you could go to Denny's, split a $4.99 grand slam breakfast, and still get more food that you should eat at a single meal.

 

[ERD50]

T-Al, true in some cases (like dropping home prices), but I don't see a way to play this one.

If you could manually program the DVR w/o a subscription, that would be one way. But, AFAIK they lock the thing out completely w/o a current subscription.

-ERD50

 

[Milton]

We had an old VCR (bought in the early 1990's) that finally broke. So, we had to go out and buy a new one. Got a DVD/VCR combo (seems like they don't sell stand-alone VCR's anymore).

My late father anticipated this situation, so he stashed away four (!) new VCRs as back-ups.

He died last year and my mother has been cleaning up the house ever since. She kept one of the spares, gave one to me, and sold the other two at a garage sale. They went for $10 each, new in the box.

 

[travelover]

My late father anticipated this situation, so he stashed away four (!) new VCRs as back-ups.

He died last year and my mother has been cleaning up the house ever since. She kept one of the spares, gave one to me, and sold the other two at a garage sale. They went for $10 each, new in the box.

Reminds me of a (late) good friend. He bought out all the Beta tapes from video rental stores that he could find and bought two new Beta players to play them on. Lasted him the rest of his life.

 

[starter82]

Fast-forward to today and you'll be hard pressed to find a DVD recorder with a hard drive, and if you go to eBay it might cost you nearly $2,000 to pick up an older model.

I'm not sure I follow this. What do they record to? Media only?

 

[aenlighten]

Some DVD R/DVRs with hard drives are available

The Phillips DVDR 3575H ~$300, Magnavox H2080MW8 ~$100 are DVRs without subscriptions. They have ATSC tuners but convert HD to SD, so they aren't really the latest thing, but the manufacturers have noticed the price rise in used equipment, so maybe in a year or two there will be something without a subscription. Many DVD Rs record to media only though, like the Panasonics.

 

[simple girl]

Wow, thanks for the great replies. I shared the info with DH. Then I went and searched the net a little more and found this:

" Because all tv broadcasts are switching to digital broadcasting in 2009, manufacturers are required to make the newer machines either with a digital tuner or no tuner at all. The digital tuners are more expensive, and so a lot of the less expensive machines currently in stores don't have any tuner at all. The only way to record tv shows on such a machine is to attach something else with a tuner (e.g., a cable box or another vcr) to the line input jacks on the machine, and then use the other device to tune in the channels. (If you have an older vcr that still tunes in the channels but doesn't record so well, you might want to use that). It is still possible in some stores to get older models of some devices that still have the analog tuners, but they're getting harder and harder to find."

So....we could have used our old VCR as a "tuner"...but unfortunately threw it out! So Nords (and whoever else doesn't want to make the same mistake as us!), don't throw out your old VCR's! The tuners may still be good and you can route the signal through them to your new DVD/VCR (as long as I am understanding the above correctly).

We will be looking at local pawn shops/etc. for an old VCR we can rescue

Well, an update. We found an old VCR at a local pawn shop for $15. Returned the cable box, so no more additional $10/mo charge from the cable company. Old VCR tunes the shows to our new VCR/DVD just fine! Score another one for the LBYM types!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

For about 400-and-something days it will. Then the analog tuner will stop working for OTA broadcasts.

The pisser with these tunerless vcr's is that even if you can get a digital tuner box for free with the feds $40 coupon program, the vcr has no way to change the channel on the dtv box.

They'll still work with analog cable as long as thats offered. What happens with that after "the switch" is debatable. The cable companies may send analog versions of the digital channels down the wire for a while, maybe a long while. They might also charge extra for that while offering better deals on basic digital cable packages until they squeeze enough people off the analog feed to dump it. Cable companies REALLY want you on the digital service with a digital box or cablecard, because then they can pitch premium channels, PPV's and on-demand services, which are where the real profit $ are.

 

[kcowan]

The cablecos have to relinquish their bandwidth so an analogue option does not exist. Their digital technology enables channels to be presented on demand at the nearest node, so if everyone is watching the SuperBowl, then the rest of the cable capacity is available for other things.

OTOH the digital menu enables you to program it to switch to desired programs so the VCR just has to record from its feed at the corresponding times.