VHS vs. Beta
My subconscious apparently decided to continue my stroll down memory lane this afternoon. A strange little stream of consciousness process led me to remember back, pre-high school, when my family did not have cable. Instead we had an antenna on the roof of the house for television reception. In the den (which, by the way, had some fabulous 70's-era wood paneled walls), we had a little contraption that controlled the antenna. It had a giant dial that we would turn causing the antenna attached to our chimney to rotate, and improving the picture on the TV. This was back in the day when we only had access to 4 or 5 channels. I don't really know what made me think of it, but I can picture the whole thing so clearly.
This of course led me to remember our first VCR. I distinctly remember my father waffling back and forth over whether to buy a VHS or beta tape player. He went with VHS. (Thank goodness). Apparently the masses thought that beta was the way to go at the time. There was only one place that we knew of in town where they rented VHS tapes when I was little; I remember driving across town to rent movies with my Mom. But back to the VCR. There was actually a pop-up part on the top of the 20 lb. appliance where you put the tape in. Kind of like an old cassette player. The "remote control" was actually a little handheld piece that could fast forward, rewind, and maybe pause. It was attached to the VCR proper by a very long cable. We thought we were so ahead of the game. It was able to record 12 channels (2-13). So no taping Fox, which was on channel 45 at the time!
Sadly, while my father was on the cutting edge with the VHS VCR back in the day, he made a bad call after that. Does anyone remember the laser disc player? Picture a DVD type disc the size of a big vinyl record. The laser disc player was a contemporary of the very first CDs in the late 80's/early 90's. It really never took off. I think my father still owns one, though. Perhaps he could sell it on EBay.
This of course led me to remember our first VCR. I distinctly remember my father waffling back and forth over whether to buy a VHS or beta tape player. He went with VHS. (Thank goodness). Apparently the masses thought that beta was the way to go at the time. There was only one place that we knew of in town where they rented VHS tapes when I was little; I remember driving across town to rent movies with my Mom. But back to the VCR. There was actually a pop-up part on the top of the 20 lb. appliance where you put the tape in. Kind of like an old cassette player. The "remote control" was actually a little handheld piece that could fast forward, rewind, and maybe pause. It was attached to the VCR proper by a very long cable. We thought we were so ahead of the game. It was able to record 12 channels (2-13). So no taping Fox, which was on channel 45 at the time!
Sadly, while my father was on the cutting edge with the VHS VCR back in the day, he made a bad call after that. Does anyone remember the laser disc player? Picture a DVD type disc the size of a big vinyl record. The laser disc player was a contemporary of the very first CDs in the late 80's/early 90's. It really never took off. I think my father still owns one, though. Perhaps he could sell it on EBay.
posted by Meredith | 9:26 PM
2 Comments:
We totally had one of those VCR's too, the "pop-up" kind. It sat next to the reel-to-reel that my father still has. Talk about old school! I remember when we FINALLY go one of those new fangled VCR's where it sucks the tape in, I thought it was so WEIRD!
All of my friends had Beta. We had...well, nothing. We had that rotating antenna thingie. Which, by the way? My in laws _still_ have. Yep. 2005.
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