• lost_faith
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      1 day ago

      Yes, they were big for a while, save your vcr the sudden stop at the end of rewinding, newer vcrs made these not necessary as they would slow down before the beginning of the tape.

      • jim_v@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        When hosting a Leprechaun movie marathon, you could swap tapes and fast forward through the previews and new releases while the VHS you finished drives in reverse in the rewinder.

        They come in clutch (haha) when the family sits down to watch Titanic and the second tape starts at that one scene with Rose wearing the necklace. And only the necklace.

        Be kind, please rewind.

      • thagoat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 day ago

        Video rental stores would have several of these devices under their counters to rewind the returned tapes because people wouldn’t rewind them at home. Go figure. They also rewound faster than your vcr.

        • babyfarmer@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Be kind, rewind.

          My local video store would hit you with a $1 fee if you didn’t rewind your tape when you returned it.

        • lost_faith
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          24 hours ago

          Just like falling off a roof, the fall is fine cause it doesn’t hurt, it’s the sudden stop at the end. This would shorten the life of the device, newer models slowed down saving the hardware undue stress. It was fun to hear the fast rewind then the slowdown, I can still hear it

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    I still have a rewinder, a VCR, and a huge box of tapes in storage.

    The cool thing is that in that box is the entirety of Star Trek: TNG recorded off the TV broadcasts, commercials and all. Those 1990’s local cable TV commercials are an absolute trip.

    • Mickey7@lemmy.worldOP
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      24 hours ago

      Some of the best things about old TV shows are the commercials that played at that time. Occasionally you can find an old TV show from the 50’s and watch the actual commercials from that time. Commercials back then were actually fun to watch. And of course back then it was different regarding the total commercial time vs the actual time of the content.

      • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        Officially, they were supposed to go bad years ago, but they seem fine. Same as with audio cassettes, they seem to hold up really well.