Stupid Things You Hear Collectors Say

[Clint Thompson]

dear god, why?

 

I mean, I can kind of understand video game carts or CDs/DVDs/Vinyl.

 

any tape/magnetic format isn't worth shitballs.

 

I questioned myself doing this the other day but then realized that it's not such a big deal when it's 50 cents a shot and an impulse thing to buy to watch a video once or twice. Most people spend more than that just renting a movie. I suppose if you're doing it to collect then yeah, that's a bad idea haha..

[DustyKramKram]

dear god, why?

 

I mean, I can kind of understand video game carts or CDs/DVDs/Vinyl.

 

any tape/magnetic format isn't worth shitballs.

 

Well, "worth" is certainly a subjective concept, and collectors of anything should understand that more that most. I run into non-collectors all the time who balk at my tape collection, but when a collector does, it honestly surprises me.

 

So to answer your question, I like the way movies look on tape. There's something warm and tangible about the aesthetic. Anyone who prefers to play retro games on a CRT should understand this feeling. Furthermore, it's about film history, archiving, and preservation. There are tons of movies that came out on VHS that never made it to DVD or beyond. One of my favorite films of all time, TOKYO POP, was only ever available on VHS and LaserDisc. And if you like weird trash like I do, VHS is an endless treasure trove of amazing garbage. There's a great feeling that comes along with rescuing a long-forgotten relic, taking it home, cleaning it up, keeping it safe, and doing your best to ensure whoever gets it next will treat it similarly.

 

If you'd like a crash course in VHS appreciation, allow me to recommend some documentaries: REWIND THIS!, VHS MASSACRE, ADJUST YOUR TRACKING, and CHUCK NORRIS VS. COMMUNISM.

[Professor Gull]

 

 

So to answer your question, I like the way movies look on tape. There's something warm and tangible about the aesthetic.

Its bad cause I feel a little similar about VHS tapes. I would prefer laser disk but since I don't have one of those any more it just makes it easier to some VHS stuff every now and then. Star Wars for instance the 4,5,6 trilogy before they got remastered is much cheaper and easier to come by on VHS.

 

But back to stupid things collectors say.

"I know I have 6 He Man figures at home so why not 7 or 8 or even a dozen."

[Gentlegamer]

I could copy and paste a bunch of things, but I'll just use the shortcut:

 

www.nintentoage.com

[+GoldenWheels]

Its bad cause I feel a little similar about VHS tapes. I would prefer laser disk but since I don't have one of those any more it just makes it easier to some VHS stuff every now and then. Star Wars for instance the 4,5,6 trilogy before they got remastered is much cheaper and easier to come by on VHS.

It is embarrassing what those DVD collections go for, even the FS editions. I sometimes still watch my non-anamorphic, non dolby 5.1 widescreen DVDs which include the non-remastered over the blus I have, just to see the movie the way it was.

[+FujiSkunk]

I've hung onto a fair number of laserdiscs, and it's safe to say the Star Wars discs would be the last to go if I ever had to give that collection up.

[HoshiChiri]

"Not a word."

 

Often said to roommates when collectors come home with, say, a fresh armload of vinyl records. Not that I would know anything about that...

 

Reminds me of a conversation I had with my fiancé at a con years ago. We passed each other in the hall by our hotel room. I was carrying a couple of boxes.

 

"What are those?"

"About $200 worth of Pinky Street dolls."

"Why did you spend $200 on dolls?"

"Why did you buy a $200 lightsaber?"

"...Fair enough."

 

And we went on our way.

[+save2600]

I've hung onto a fair number of laserdiscs, and it's safe to say the Star Wars discs would be the last to go if I ever had to give that collection up.

 

 

What do you think of the Star Wars originals (only available as bonus discs) when they were first released on DVD? Have you compared them to the laserdisc versions by chance? Was under the impression that they're exactly the same... I have the set, but haven't actually watched them all the way through yet. Might be good enough to finally retire the laserdisc trilogy if you're ever looking to downsize.

[+FujiSkunk]

What do you think of the Star Wars originals (only available as bonus discs) when they were first released on DVD? Have you compared them to the laserdisc versions by chance? Was under the impression that they're exactly the same... I have the set, but haven't actually watched them all the way through yet. Might be good enough to finally retire the laserdisc trilogy if you're ever looking to downsize.

 

I intentionally skipped on those DVD's, honestly. Once I heard they weren't offering anything over what I already had, I decided Lucas had enough of my money. Of course in retrospect I would've bought them had I known I could have sold them for a mint afterward.

 

But yes, I've read they are sourced from the same masters as the last round of laserdisc releases, in all their nonanamorphic, Dolby Pro Logic, composite dot-crawl glory. Good for saving on disc swaps, certainly, but not much else, and by that point I had made my own movie files by "ripping" the laserdiscs the old fashioned way.

[EdwardK]

 

Furthermore, it's about film history, archiving, and preservation.

 

I use that same excuse for my CED's.

[Gentlegamer]

I'm glad I bought the unspecial Star Wars DVDs when they were released, but the superior Despecialized versions are available for free.

[+nanochess]

"I'm only collecting loose cartridges, I'll never go for CIB" *he goes*

[78001987]

 

I use that same excuse for my CED's.

if it's about film preservation and archiving, VHS tape is just about the worst medium possible. Magnetic Tape has the shortest lifespan of any storage medium. Edited May 27, 2016 by 78001987

[+FujiSkunk]

if it's about film preservation and archiving, VHS tape is just about the worst medium possible. Magnetic Tape has the shortest lifespan of any storage medium.

 

Not just preservation of the movies and shows themselves, but preservation of the media and how those movies and shows were presented in that era.

 

...so the collector will tell you.

[atarifanboi]

If you're talking about magnetic media, this is a worthwhile, if mildly fightening read: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36385839

[Seob]

if it's about film preservation and archiving, VHS tape is just about the worst medium possible. Magnetic Tape has the shortest lifespan of any storage medium.

Nope magnetic tape is one of the best storage solutions. Hence al the tapestreamers for backing up.

If handled correct and used in a good deck, vhs isn't bad.

I find it strange that a collector would say that collecting vhs is crazy. Some would say collecting videogames is crazy, and yet we do collect.

[Clint Thompson]

 

Well, "worth" is certainly a subjective concept, and collectors of anything should understand that more that most. I run into non-collectors all the time who balk at my tape collection, but when a collector does, it honestly surprises me.

 

So to answer your question, I like the way movies look on tape. There's something warm and tangible about the aesthetic. Anyone who prefers to play retro games on a CRT should understand this feeling. Furthermore, it's about film history, archiving, and preservation. There are tons of movies that came out on VHS that never made it to DVD or beyond. One of my favorite films of all time, TOKYO POP, was only ever available on VHS and LaserDisc. And if you like weird trash like I do, VHS is an endless treasure trove of amazing garbage. There's a great feeling that comes along with rescuing a long-forgotten relic, taking it home, cleaning it up, keeping it safe, and doing your best to ensure whoever gets it next will treat it similarly.

 

If you'd like a crash course in VHS appreciation, allow me to recommend some documentaries: REWIND THIS!, VHS MASSACRE, ADJUST YOUR TRACKING, and CHUCK NORRIS VS. COMMUNISM.

 

I think there's proof in regards to CRT vs. LCD arguments where the computer tricks the display into doing color mixing and such to give it a nice image whereas on an LCD screen, they never look right or are "too" crisp and end up altering the intended image output in a negative way. Same could be said about LP or Vinyl and that warm fuzzy feeling you get playing them through a nice vintage Marantz receiver where as you don't get that on the CD medium but of course, this has all been discussed to death elsewhere.

 

Imagine it's 1996 and you're at KBToys gobbling up $29 boxed Jaguar consoles and hearing a 'collector' say "These things are going to be worth $250+ boxed in 20 years" and people would just roll their eyes saying "yeah right." Now look at the market. Of course, who's going to sit on a stockpile of 100s of Jaguar units in hopes to sell them all in excess of $200 some 20 years later? For the people buying them like that, Best Electronics and B&C are sitting in a nice spot right now. I have a hard time seeing MSRP $149 Jaguar CD units going for $500 new now. I guess it's hard for me to comprehend but suppose they are a rarity now, especially in mint/new condition.

 

"Honey, what is this $813 going to *so and so company*?"

Oh, I just bought into the 64-bit revolution - Jaguar and Jaguar CD.

 

 

True collector prices.

[78001987]

Nope magnetic tape is one of the best storage solutions. Hence al the tapestreamers for backing up.

If handled correct and used in a good deck, vhs isn't bad.

I find it strange that a collector would say that collecting vhs is crazy. Some would say collecting videogames is crazy, and yet we do collect.

im not a collector.

 

And you're dead wrong about VHS tapes. The life expectancy of VHS under normal conditions is 10-25 years. Most commercially released VHS tapes are well past that time now, and have already degraded or become nearly unplayable, brittle, and prone to snagging and tearing in yourVCR. Optical media, however has a life expectancy of 100+ years or more, based on normal storage conditions.

Edited May 27, 2016 by 78001987

[EdwardK]

im not a collector.

 

And you're dead wrong about VHS tapes. The life expectancy of VHS under normal conditions is 10-25 years. Most commercially released VHS tapes are well past that time now, and have already degraded or become nearly unplayable, brittle, and prone to snagging and tearing in yourVCR. Optical media, however has a life expectancy of 100+ years or more, based on normal storage conditions.

 

I'm going to call BS on those media meeting the expected life spans. I have some very early release CD's that are no longer playable, and sadly one side of my Raiders of the Lost Ark Laserdisc is starting to degrade. Among other people who have similarly aged CD's and Laserdisc, this is not a unique issue. I also have some VHS from the 80's that still play as good today as they did then and others that play like trash, all kept in the same storage conditions. What I take from all of this is that it was all luck of the draw on what came from the factories. Life expectancy for electronics per my experience is just a claim to sell product and nothing more.

 

Not trying to convince you that VHS is some gift from the gods, just saying the life expectancy thing has per my expierence(and i'm pretty sure plenty of other people) is not as set in stone as people would have you believe. Now if you want to hate on anything about VHS, I won't argue with any complaints about the video quality being well under current formats, and how it's especially noticeable on modern TV's.(Disclaimer: this is all relative to the typical, most commonly found playback setups. I know there is bound to be someone on this forum, possibly in this debate [that is well removed from the topic of this thread by the way] that have a system that would blow this claim out of the water. I'm talking about the set up that most people will possibly still have)

[atari181]

I also have early DVDs that are no longer playable

[CPUWIZ]

I also have early DVDs that are no longer playable

 

 

I have lost a whole bunch of brain cells in the last 40 years too.

[atari181]

I have lost a whole bunch of brain cells in the last 40 years too.

I wasn't talking about misuse.

[7800fan]

^^ not necessarily from misuse. Could be from incorrigible children.

[omegadot]

I would think tape backup is great because you do a backup them they sit in a dark closet in a climate controlled space unless someone hoses something and they are called into action. The library need paper backups might see higher use but still don't touch something like a Disney movie hammered into a cheap deck hundreds of times.

[MotoRacer]

 

I'm going to call BS on those media meeting the expected life spans. I have some very early release CD's that are no longer playable, and sadly one side of my Raiders of the Lost Ark Laserdisc is starting to degrade. Among other people who have similarly aged CD's and Laserdisc, this is not a unique issue. I also have some VHS from the 80's that still play as good today as they did then and others that play like trash, all kept in the same storage conditions. What I take from all of this is that it was all luck of the draw on what came from the factories. Life expectancy for electronics per my experience is just a claim to sell product and nothing more.

 

Not trying to convince you that VHS is some gift from the gods, just saying the life expectancy thing has per my expierence(and i'm pretty sure plenty of other people) is not as set in stone as people would have you believe. Now if you want to hate on anything about VHS, I won't argue with any complaints about the video quality being well under current formats, and how it's especially noticeable on modern TV's.(Disclaimer: this is all relative to the typical, most commonly found playback setups. I know there is bound to be someone on this forum, possibly in this debate [that is well removed from the topic of this thread by the way] that have a system that would blow this claim out of the water. I'm talking about the set up that most people will possibly still have)

 

Yeah, it's why I sold my Laserdisc (small) collection and two players. I love laserdiscs, like... A LOT. But I had three discs fail on me, and I started seeing the writing on the wall. Maybe one day Laserdisc, or a higher definition Laserdisc will find a resurgence like vinyl has had, and we'll see some higher quality prints. Until then, I think both VHS and Laserdiscs are officially dead formats as they're just getting a bit long in the tooth to be terribly useful.