That Little Black Box
Saturday is library day in the Short Stop household. We like to go on Saturday mornings because:
a. The boys are WILD since Daddy's home and neither of us feels like policing them after we've stayed up too late on Friday night eating heartburn inducing nachos and watching old episodes of "The Office".
b. The library is quiet. Our house is not. And, quiet goes better with heartburn.and
c. It makes us feel all scholarly and responsible that we're infusing the boys' brains with the knowledge that is seeping out of the books.
I have to confess that the boys never look at books at the library. They play with the Thomas the Train table, the bins full of toys, the puppet theatre, and the stuffed animals. It appears that Dewey Decimal traded in his card catalog for toys, trains, and videos.
So, I'm tilting my head sideways trying to read the titles to the movies, and it hits me:
There are more VHS tapes here than DVDs.
And, well....we haven't seen a VHS tape in this house in years. Before Jack was born, we took two huge boxes of them to the Goodwill and said "hello" to a whole lotta shelf space. (I did indulge myself and pull all of the tape out of one for the therapeutic value, but that's another story.)
So, in the spirit of sheer curiosity:
Do you own a VCR? If so, is it hooked up and do you use it? And, if it stopped working, would you replace it?
We do still own a VCR, and I'm almost embarrassed to type that. I think it's funny how our kids will grow up not knowing what a VCR even is.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, it isn't plugged in and we might as well send it packing since it is such a relic.
Thanks for the blast from the past! I kinda forgot it was even still lurking in my basement!
BTW, your family photo is ADORABLE. And, I am Jessica Brown's friend and the Cold Tangerines giveaway winner. I've blog-stalked before and Jess says to stop and just comment already. :)
We have VCR players in the girls' rooms for them to watch their movies. I find VHS tapes at garage sales all the time. If they broke, though, I don't think I'd replace them.
ReplyDeleteWe still have a VCR player, and I use it all the time. We have a DVD player as well, and I like that I can use whichever one I want. I would not buy a VHS except maybe at a yard sale. But, sometimes with school and educational videos, it is a great advantage since the library might not have a DVD or the DVD might have a waiting list, but I can get the VHS right away.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think I would replace it if it broke, since the players are so inexpensive now.
we do still have a vcr... three in fact. we don't use them often. mainly for youth group. we still own a lot of curriculum on video tape. and then every once in a while we'll record something on tv (we don't have tivo).
ReplyDeletewhat's sad is i have a large collection of videos my kids used to watch when they were little that i can't seem to part with. like all of the disney classics. but they'll probably never be watched again in that format.
We technically have a VCR, but once we got our TiVo (which I could write a whole post on why I love TiVo) we put it downstairs in the corner in our pack rat pile. We brought it out last night to watch our wedding video with the kids.
ReplyDeleteSo i sent our old VCR to my mom's for her daycare kids as she has a ton of old movies she loves to show the kids and they are too little to know the difference between DVD and VHS, and i JUST sold some old VHS movies at a Yard Sale I had a few weekends ago. Oh Sarah Grace, I was so sad to see Pretty Woman go away!!!!!! Tom on the other hand was relieved to see the old movies leave our basement. Great memories!! San
ReplyDeleteWe have one. It's hooked up, and we use it occasionally when we are watching old home movies or something that we've had for years. before DVDs were all the rage. You know...from before you were born!
ReplyDeleteI don't think Justin will let us get a vcr. =(
ReplyDeleteHmmm... Interesting post...
ReplyDeleteYes, we do have a VCR in our bedroom. And a DVD player. My mother gets tons of VHS videos for free from her job and we have a basket of them in our room for Morgan during her afternoon quiet time.
If the VHS broke... hmmm... don't know. That's a toughie. I guess it would depend on how much we would miss those videos.
Sarah - I love reading your posts, and laughing right along with you. I've never commented on a post before, but figured this time I would. Yes, I still use my VCR. It sits right above my DVD player. I use the VCR mostly for taping TV shows and once in a while for playing those favorite VHS movies that I haven't replaced with the DVD version. Yes, if it stopped working I would most likely replace it, assuming VCRs would still be available then.
ReplyDeleteYes, we have a VCR/DVD combo. We use it for Sierra for those old cartoons that I had for Julia...Spot, Disney movies that we haven't replaced with dvds yes, and so on. I'd say it gets used once every other month? So would we replace it? No. In fact, Marc was saying how dvds will go out and be replaced anyway (what are those new little "dvds" called?). So why replace the vcr. Too much to keep up with technologically! (that's a word right? :) )
ReplyDeleteYes, we have a VCR/DVD combo. We use it for Sierra for those old cartoons that I had for Julia...Spot, Disney movies that we haven't replaced with dvds yes, and so on. I'd say it gets used once every other month? So would we replace it? No. In fact, Marc was saying how dvds will go out and be replaced anyway (what are those new little "dvds" called?). So why replace the vcr. Too much to keep up with technologically! (that's a word right? :) )
ReplyDeleteoops! I clicked twice! sorry!
ReplyDeleteWe have a combo VCR/DVD player, and yes we still use the VCR. We have a lot of movies to convert to DVD.
ReplyDeleteWe have a VCR and we use it - we actually have 2! Not to watch movies or anything like that (all of our movies are now DVD), but when we want to record a show and don't feel like using the DVD recorder just to tape a half-hour show. We don't have TiVo or anything like that. If they broke, though, I know we wouldn't replace them. Dave and I just had that conversation last week.
ReplyDeletewe still have a vcr and yes, it is hooked up. and saddly... it is new. but we only have it because the sound system is hooked up to it and it was easier to replace the broken one then to rewire everything. we have not watched a movie in it ever.
ReplyDeletewe still have a vcr and yes, it is hooked up. and saddly... it is new. but we only have it because the sound system is hooked up to it and it was easier to replace the broken one then to rewire everything. we have not watched a movie in it ever.
ReplyDeleteWe have one here in the rental house we're in but it isn't ours. And we don't use it or have tapes anymore.
ReplyDeleteLOL to P + J + G (aka Julie's) comment on top! Way to be brave!
I do have a VCR... I haven't bought all my favorites on DVD yet!
ReplyDeleteWe have a combo one too and our library has mostly vhs - so I'm thankful we have it!
ReplyDeleteI don't really have a preference for one or the other really. VHS can jump and dvd stop because their scratched...what to do?
Still have our VCR on top of our DVD player. I used to look at the tape of my girls now and then, but it seems the VCR isn't working anymore. I can't stand the thought of never watching that priceless tape again :(
ReplyDeleteThe remote to the DVD is permanently connected to Dave's hand :)
Yes, we do still own a VCR, but also a DVD player, Tivo player & Blue Ray player....We have transferred most of our VHS tapes to DVD, but I guess we hang on to it for the occasional show. We probably wouldn't replace it though.
ReplyDeleteWe do own a VCR. Actually we have a few VCR/DVD combo's. We often tape things and watch them.
ReplyDeleteWe do have one VCR, but never use it anymore. I have to say, though, I still can't seem to get rid of the "babyish" VHS tapes my kids watched when they were littler. (And I'm someone who cleans out and gets rid of things all the time!) Anyway, that's off the topic. Just wanted to say I like your blog. And I love going to the library!
ReplyDeleteLooks like most everyone still has their VCR, us included. Actually, we bought our VCR the same year we got our DVD player. I probably still use the VCR as much as I use the DVD player too. Garage sale sell more VCR movies which is a bonus for us, because that means cheap movies (and the library too!)
ReplyDeleteHey sarah~
ReplyDeleteWe do still use a VCR (blushing)....and we still own lots of old kid's video's/disney videos that i cant let go of.
Plus, for the very reason of getting library movies! You are allowed to have the vhs tapes out much longer than the dvd's:-)! Less late fees:-)(much more variety among the vhs's)
I love how everyone gave you answers to your questions but failed to ask about what the story was behind the poor tape that met it's demise during the great tape purging.
ReplyDeleteWe have two VCR/DVD combo units. We have so many VHS from years yonder that we can't give it up yet- and I'm not ready to shell out all that cash to replace them into DVD. I like getting Izzy movies at garage sales in VHS form because its always a crap shoot as to whether she'll like them or not. One of our combos has a DVD burner- so if there is a true favorite of hers, I burn it to a DVD so she can watch it upstairs where we only have a DVD player. Would we replace the VCR- I'd probably hang on to at least one VCR until our VHS are gone or replaced.
ReplyDeleteWhat is amazing is how impatient I get or Izzy gets when a VHS has to be rewound!!! Ykes, you would think the 30-45 seconds was an eternity! Haha!
I wonder if we go to the same library - yours sounds extremely familiar. :)
ReplyDeleteWe don't look at the books much either - it's generally the girls making a mad rush to pick something out at random when I tell them it's time to go. The older two spend most of their time on the computers and Becca frequents the train table and toy bins.
Our last VCR died several months ago, so I've been starting to weed out all of the old videotapes. Ron borrowed one from a neighbor to hook up to the computer so he can work on transferring all of his stuff from videotape to DVD (he used to tape tv shows and movies like crazy), but we haven't watched an actual videotape in a very long time. Seems strange to think that VCRs weren't even around yet when I was a kid, and now they're almost obsolete!
i'm surprised how many people still have and use their vcrs. we haven't had one for about 4 years now.
ReplyDeleteWe have 3 VCR/DVD combos and use them occasionally.
ReplyDeleteMy van is equipped with a VCR. That's right, I said it. A VCR in my mini. So, we tote the tapes in my car.
Yes, we own a VCR. At the moment it is working and the DVD player is not. We still own lots of VCR movies and watch them quite often. However, if it quit working, I would not replace it.
ReplyDeleteWe own 2 VCR's and we would have to replace them if they broke because they get used a lot. We don't have cable so my husband and son watch a lot of hunting video's in fact he just bought 2 more this past week. They would have serious withdrawals if we did have a VCR.
ReplyDeleteSmiles!
I LOVE library days!
ReplyDeleteYes, we have a VCR/DVD combo. We still have a few videos that we watch, mostly kids movies, but a few of our movies, too. I'm not sure about replacing it, though. Hmmm.
We just sold our VCR but we still have a DVD/VCR combo. We still use the VCR on occasion since we have a collection of videos from way back when...
ReplyDeletei love library days too.