I tend to like the Sanyo models a little better....Built like tanks, usually seem to require no repairs to work, and they don't keep the tape pressed up against the drum on rewind and fast forward reducing head/tape wear, and improving the speed of those functions.

I picked up a VHS tape at a thrift. Don't remember the name, but it was a demo tape. Every 10 minuites or so, it flashed on the screen, demo tape only, not to be sold or rented. :nono:

Last VHS purchase
 

Machine: Mitsubishi deck purchased from Magnolia Hi Fi (before the Best Buy era) in 1998. Bought the extended warranty, and it went out 1.5 years in. The replacement has been going since. It has the old VCR+ function. Still use it to record shows off cable. Too cheap to pay DVR rental. it gets 10 - 15 hrs a week of use between record and playback.

Tape: "Greatest Story Ever Told" 2 tape set, and "Stalag 17", both from same thrift, 50 cents a piece, IIRC, about 2 years ago.

There were some non-pay service DVRs made. I have a Panisonic DVR/DVD recorder (gotten cheap at a thrift store) that I use as a back up recorder incase the Toshiba DVD recorder I use to archive my favorite shows on has a glitch.

Yes most demo tapes are quite awesome!!!!

I found a tape containing a variety of reels selected from the french CBC Archive and covering Expo 67.
It looks nice next to my Expo 86 Betamax tape.

Just picked these up;

Meatballs
Best of the best 3
Terminator 3
Assassins
Waynes World
Tootsie

Beta where art thou?
 

I don't know what it is, but i've been having a heck of a time finding any beta movies or beta tapes for that matter. I've been to about four or five different thrift stores, two local flea markets, even pawn shops. Nobody around where i live seems to have anything. I do realize that beta wasn't around as long as VHS but it puzzles me to think, there's got to be at least someone out there lol, i live in a City of a population of 663,617 people! It's not quite the season here yet for yard/garage sales either. Even just trying find a Beta player on Kijiji can take several months if not longer. I understand people think why bother if the stuff isn't worth anything, why goto the bother of posting it online. Then along comes somebody like me and people think i'm crazy for wanting this old stuff lol.

There is a good market for some beta players. Try finding a cheap working Super-BetaHiFi or EDbeta on ebay....they sell for a fortune.

Tapes are much less plentiful these days. I can count on one hand the number of loose tapes I've found in thrifts so far....I may have got more tapes by bringing home decks and hitting the eject button. LOL.

The first tape I got was from an old TV repair shop of all places...
Last year I picked up a beta camcorder and bag at Volo auto museum's antique shop there were a few prerecorded tapes (4 ish) and there were several unopened blank tapes in there too.

At a antique radio/ham swap meet I got a crate of old rental tapes (some were a bit water damaged) for a song in the donation auction. There are a number of duplicates, and I might part with some once I've watched both copies to see which is in better shape.

Tom! Are you referring to new Beta or VHS tapes?
I picked several new VHS tapes at the various thrifts. They usually have them mixed in with the used pre-recorded tapes. I'll buy them for .25 or .50 each. Only the good quality brands.
Now, a lot of the thrifts are getting ex-rental tapes from the stores going out of business. Most of them are pretty ratty.

That post was all Betamax....I can walk into any local thrift and come back with more VHS tapes then I'd ever get to watching, but Beta fugedaboutit.

I'm constantly running into VHS all the time. Always going through them to see if there's anything i need. I never see beta at all. There was actually a Sanyo Beta unit at one of the Salvation Army stores but i usually avoid anything Sanyo plus it was missing a door on the front.

Actually, Sanyo had a better idea with their Beta models. They would retract the tape back into the cassette for full rewind, saving wear on the head drum. Saw a ton of Sonys with worn drums that caused so much stiction drag on the tape some couldn't rewind all the way without shutting down.

The Sanyo betas tended to be built like tanks, and semi immortal. If it is still there grab it.

Been long gone. This was some months back.