Bring out your dead! - VHS tapes

VHS tapes? Yeah, I'm stubborn so I still have a player and a few favourites, which I'm sure are free online.

But a box full? Nobody wants them. Off to the dump they go.

Except: there's a hundred feet (?) of free cordage in there. Yes it's plastic, but maybe it could have one more use before it goes to the landfill.

You will recall that this was the cordage that built the raft in Castaway.

So what do you think? Would you use this stuff, and where?

They still sell vhs at most of the thrift shops in my town.  My vcr is still working for now, but the batamax gave up the ghost years ago.

Not sure what I would use the cordage for.  Memory says it was tough on my hands.  Perhaps a basket?

I think I'd start by braiding it, that would lower the risk of old plastic breaking in a bad spot.
I like the idea of baskets. Wonder what else you could do the braid at that point? Hmmm....

Huh, amazing what I learn here. I never realized tapes were out of date.   I have a player and a box of classic tapes , but I haven’t played them in years.   They are hooked up to the Sony tube TV in the basement.

I'm cleaning out a relative's basement in preparation for a move. I'm pretty ruthless, out of necessity.

Local thrift shops won't accept VHS tapes. They don't sell.

The John Wayne VHS collection went to the take-it-or-leave-it at the recycling centre. Somebody might pick them up -- we'll see.

Romcom movies from the 1980's? Nobody wants those. They were dodgy even back then. Bye bye.

Years ago I used the "cordage" from dead VHS tapes to lash together a shelter on a survival exercise. (This was *before* Cast Away -- they stole my idea haha!) It was surprisingly stretchy and tough.

I've been thinking about VHS tapes and thrift shops.  I remember about 5 years ago they didn't accept VHS.  But the last three years, I've seen a lot for sale in the shops.  Even in the Sally Anne which tend to be the most fussy of them all.  

Anyway, Cordage
I was curious how strong it could be.  

r ranson wrote:I've been thinking about VHS tapes and thrift shops.  I remember about 5 years ago they didn't accept VHS.  But the last three years, I've seen a lot for sale in the shops.  Even in the Sally Anne which tend to be the most fussy of them all.  

Hm, that's curious. Is VHS the new vinyl?

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

r ranson wrote:I've been thinking about VHS tapes and thrift shops.  I remember about 5 years ago they didn't accept VHS.  But the last three years, I've seen a lot for sale in the shops.  Even in the Sally Anne which tend to be the most fussy of them all.  

Hm, that's curious. Is VHS the new vinyl?

Could be.

I know at least one family that hasn't made the upgrade to disc.

But also, there is a rebellion against how streaming services only have a limited number of movies.  The example in the news was 28 Days Later.  Apparently, no one is streaming and they stopped making dvds.  There is a growing market for physical mediea from the 1990s and early noughts.   Thrift shops are loving it.

Cool, the video uses 20 strands for about 100 lbs working load in a tow hook. Over a large smooth surface the working load is 150+.

r ranson wrote:But also, there is a rebellion against how streaming services only have a limited number of movies.  The example in the news was 28 Days Later.  Apparently, no one is streaming and they stopped making dvds.  There is a growing market for physical mediea from the 1990s and early noughts.   Thrift shops are loving it.

Vive la rebellion! I too hoard physical music CD's and DVDs (and a few select VHS tapes) of things I want to listen to or watch again. Anything that's online can vanish in a moment.

This summer I grabbed two giant shopping bags of free music CD's including both commercial recordings and home-burned mix tapes. I returned about half. I'll have fun this winter flipping through the rest for anything good. I have been hoarding disc players, which are free for the taking.

used to work for a lawn and hedge cutting as part of a community service---no it wasn t a judicial court order -----but one customer had stretched vhs tape around apple orchard tree s from branch to branch as well as hanging old dvds all over them --to discourage birds at the fruit ---hated mowing around those trees ---damn near chocked my self once ---and the stuff was always falling down ---strimmers and mowers making short work of that stuff hidden in the grass---plastic fragments everywhere

tony uljee wrote:...  ---and the stuff was always falling down ---strimmers and mowers making short work of that stuff hidden in the grass---plastic fragments everywhere

Good point. It wouldn't be UV stabilized so it wouldn't last a long time.

My father and I still loudly proudly use our VHS tapes, when our VCR broke we hunted up and down to find another, and yes, we still record off of television so we can watch a show later, the digital recording feature on cable etc. costs too much extra per month and we also record stuff off regular TV.  At least once a week or so for viewing later.

Side note: somebody grabbed the big box of John Wayne VHS movies I left at the local take-it-or-leave-it. Hm!

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

r ranson wrote:But also, there is a rebellion against how streaming services only have a limited number of movies.  The example in the news was 28 Days Later.  Apparently, no one is streaming and they stopped making dvds.  There is a growing market for physical mediea from the 1990s and early noughts.   Thrift shops are loving it.

Vive la rebellion! I too hoard physical music CD's and DVDs (and a few select VHS tapes) of things I want to listen to or watch again. Anything that's online can vanish in a moment.

This summer I grabbed two giant shopping bags of free music CD's including both commercial recordings and home-burned mix tapes. I returned about half. I'll have fun this winter flipping through the rest for anything good. I have been hoarding disc players, which are free for the taking.

We also resist.  In part due to lack of viable internet options, in part because we recognize the reality of things disappearing down the memory hole.  
My kids still watch VHS... their friends were amazed by the idea of "rewinding" tapes after viewing.
We used to have a local electronic repair shop that would fix our VHS players... they are now closed.  We have a few spares in storage, but players are hard to get.

We have similar perspective on books.  Thousands in our house.  Some go with our interests: Theology, Science, History, but also lots of fiction - for our kids and for us.   It's amazing what the library can't even get for us by interlibrary loan...

On that note, does anyone have a VHS copy of the movie "far and away"?  I heard some music from the soundtrack the other day, and want to re-watch it with my wife.  

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyjvn658n6o

Not about videos so much, but shows the trend towards a return to physical media.

I think r_ranson is on to something:

Optical media pushback:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/12/the-optical-disc-onslaught-continues-with-lg-quitting-blu-ray-players/

New release on VHS:
https://www.space.com/entertainment/alien-romulus-scores-a-super-sweet-vhs-tape-release-this-week

We once used a bunch of useless old audio cassette tape to make a bird-proofing for our pea field. We put up sticks around the edges of the field, and stretched audio tape back and forth. I don't remember how well it worked to keep the birds off the seed, haha. After a week or two, it did start to break up and flop around so we collected it all for the trash.