Back in the Day...

[jsteinhauer]

Back in the day, I was a kid, and I had to go to the theater to see a movie. Had neither pay television nor a VCR until I was a teenager.

[uziel5000]

The first VCR in my house was this HUGE JVC unit. Bigger than an X-Box (the original) It would take about ten seconds from the time you pushed the "eject" button to the tape actually ejecting on the pop top. And it would make all these noises while it was doing it too. Like all these gears were working just to open the thing. The remote, if you could call it that, was not IR. It actually had a cable running from the remote to the VCR. Fun times! First movie I saw on VHS was Hercules with Lou Ferrigno

My first DVD player was actually my Playstation 2. The first electronic device I bought for my "bachelor pad" when I became independent. The first DVD I ever bought was Gladiator

My first(and current) Blu player is my Playstation 3. I bought it after I was given an LCD for Christmas and wanted to see what all the "HD fuzz" was about. First movie I saw on Blu was Troy which I borrowed from my brother.

[Blu As Hell]

Okay...let's see, now keep in mind I'm only 32, but my family has been ahead of the curve as far as homevideo formats go.

The first thing I remember as a child was my uncle's Betamax and his VHS players.

Then after a couple of VCR's, my mom got us a Videodisc player(RCA SelectaVision).

We went through a few more VCR's after the Videodisc format officially died, and at the age of 18 I bought my first Laserdisc player (Pioneer if I remember right).

Then...in 97, DVD came, I bought my DVD player (Toshiba to be exact) and I stopped buying VHS and Laserdiscs almost imediately.

October 06, I bought the HD DVD add on for the 360. I sold the 360, the add-on, and the HD DVD's in December of 06 and Bought my BDP-S1 and I've been Blu since.

[carpaltonnel]

Originally Posted by Ray O. Blu

Had to watch movies on the Z-channel, SelecTV, and ON-TV til we got betamax and then a vcr.

Wow! Z channel, just say a special on IFC about that channel....they don't make em like they used too.

[jsteinhauer]

Originally Posted by Ray O. Blu

..and ON-TV...

I missed this one. We had ON TV. I forgot about that. I recall That Mark "The Bird" Fydrich (sp?) was the spokesman for it in Detroit. They had to install an antenna, and it was on channel 20 (WXON) at night and on the weekend. Cable was not available in my neighborhood until I was in 8th grade, which was 1982 or 83. I recall watching the Popeye movie many times. You don't get much choice with one channel.

[pacificvibes]

Me being only 19 have only gone through VHS, DVD, now Blu-ray. I remember when we made the switch from VHS to DVD hahaha "WOW they look so much better" now I'm saying the same thing.

[uziel5000]

Remember this? "You got that DVD player for $300??!! Wow what a steal!!!!

[carpaltonnel]

Originally Posted by uziel5000

Remember this? "You got that DVD player for $300??!! Wow what a steal!!!!

Weren't VHS players like 3 ft 50 lbs and like 1,ooo bucks when they first came out? (went a little overboard, but not by much!)

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by carpaltonnel

Weren't VHS players like 3 ft 50 lbs and like 1,ooo bucks when they first came out? (went a little overboard, but not by much!)

Ok that's going 32 years so please my memory could be faulty but if I remember correctly my dad bought the Betamax in spring of 1977 for about $800, now that was a fortune 32 years ago.

[PH3AR]

well my parents got me 2 dvd players so.....the first player i got was my ps3

[Pirate King]

I grew up with CBS and NBC, ABC came along in my market when I was about 10. We had a black and white TV and you had to get up and walk to the TV to switch channels.

I believe it was 1981. I bought a RCA top load VCR with a wired remote. I think it was about 800 dollars. I remember VHS movies selling for about 49.00 (And we think Blu Rays are expensive) Several years later we had Hi Fi Stereo VCR's I think that one was about 400 dollars. Then it was Laser Disks., which were not too bad, though expensive then on to DVD. I dont remember my first DVD player. But I do think it was around 400 to 500 dollars. It's been a long time,, and I wonder what incredible products are out there in the future.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by Pirate King

I grew up with CBS and NBC, ABC came along in my market when I was about 10. We had a black and white TV and you had to get up and walk to the TV to switch channels.

I believe it was 1981. I bought a RCA top load VCR with a wired remote. I think it was about 800 dollars. I remember VHS movies selling for about 49.00 (And we think Blu Rays are expensive) Several years later we had Hi Fi Stereo VCR's I think that one was about 400 dollars. Then it was Laser Disks., which were not too bad, though expensive then on to DVD. I dont remember my first DVD player. But I do think it was around 400 to 500 dollars. It's been a long time,, and I wonder what incredible products are out there in the future.

I got my first DVD player in the spring of 1999, a Toshiba for $399

[fatediesel]

As long as I remember we had a VCR. The first player I had of my own was a 19" Magnavox TV/VCR combo I bought when I was 11 with my paper route money. This lasted me about 6 years until I got my first DVD player in 1999, which I believe was a Philips but I'm not certain. I recall the first DVDs I bought were American Pie and Shawshank Redemption. I got my first Blu-ray player in June of 2007, a 60 gig PS3.

[pjasonOH]

Originally Posted by Blu As Hell

Then after a couple of VCR's, my mom got us a Videodisc player(RCA SelectaVision).

I knew there had to be someone!
What was the quality like on those things?I've always been curious because didn't they have a needle that actually touched the disc?

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by pjasonOH

I knew there had to be someone!
What was the quality like on those things?I've always been curious because didn't they have a needle that actually touched the disc?

Use to see those a lot in the Radio Shack catalogue back in the early 80's. I always wondered what the quality was like on them.

[thedarkangel1975]

Originally Posted by carpaltonnel

How many different movie viewing formats have you had/gone through in all your years? Have you ever owned a VCR? What was your very first machine that you owned to watch movies on?

I had Beta, VHS, Laser Disc, DvD, and now Blu-Ray.

Once Raiders of The Lost Ark comes to Blu-Ray I will have owned that movie on all of those formats.

[blu-mike]

VHS,DVD my dad bought the first famliy dvd player back in 97 when they first came out and we got two free movies(Top Gun and Twister).


My mom and dad still use dvd but I switched to blu last year in jan 2008 when I got a PS3 my first movies were Spider-man 3 and sunshine.

now I am gunning toward 200 blus!!!

[Galley]

I bought a Sanyo Hi-Fi VCR in '86 for $600! VHS picture quality was always crap, but Dolby Surround Sound was great. I eventually used it as a mixdown deck in a home recording studio .

[uziel5000]

Originally Posted by carpaltonnel

Weren't VHS players like 3 ft 50 lbs and like 1,ooo bucks when they first came out? (went a little overboard, but not by much!)

Very true but the technology(the various heads it takes to make a VHS work) for VHS never dropped like DVD. Even today, a cheap VCR will run you $50.00 or more whereas a DVD player can be bought at Kmart for $29.95. It wont be the best DVD player in the world but it will work(for a while lol). And it will look better than VHS too.