I remember in the 90's my grandfather was taping a movie off the TV. It had started 30mins ago and he asked my mother an innocent question, "Can we go back to the beginning and watch it from the start now?"
I vividly remember my mother mock him saying that's stupid, no technology can do that.
I felt so bad for him at the time and I so wish he was still around today to see how far it's come.
I paused Netflix the other day on the TV and carried on, on my phone in the Kitchen as I prepared lunch, then cast the movie back to the TV and I always wonder and think what he would have said at seeing that.
I like to imagine hes waiting "at home" for them to get there like, "AH_HA! THE CLICKER LETS ME WATCH MOVIES THAT ARENT EVEN MADE!"
Then he can tell his grandson again when he "gets home"!
They didn't teach you anything my child because you can do that. But not. CDs can be rewound but also instantly jump back to the start of the track. VHS tapes are like cassette tapes. All of the info is on one long spool of tape so you can rewind but not jump to specific tracks.
The reason the grandpa couldn't go back to the beginning was because the movie was being actively recorded onto the VHS tape when he asked. The movie was still being baked onto the tape so rewinding wouldnt do anything as the movie was still being broadcast from the TV channel.
Once it was done recording the movie he would be able to rewind it.
Honestly? You never know; cassette tapes are having a resurgence of popularity in some music communities so they're a little more commonly known/used than VHS tapes and it's possible they didn't reason out that the two would work differently since you can't watch video on cassette tape.
The Video Cassette Player/Recorder did not have any on board memory and the VHS tape is an actual tape so all the storage is in a linear format with only a small section accessible to read and write at any time. That combination meant that the system could only immediately write OR immediately read and so you couldn't do the things we can now with digital video recorders where you can read from one segment of the disk and write to another at the same time.
You can. To clarify my memory and scenario, my grandfather was recording a film from live TV. While it was recording, he wanted to simultaneously rewind the tape in order to watch the film from the beginning and carry on recording the rest of it at the same time.
Like how now set top boxes have the capability to pause and rewind live TV. He wanted to do that but with a single tape.
He would have truly been in awe at the choice and capabilities we have now with modern technology and I guess in a way I still have him in my mind each time I experience something new with technology.
We’ve pretty much moved away from physical media unless you are into a related hobby. Most people, the only reason they had any disc player over the past 10+ years is because they have a game console in their home. Even those are going disc-less.
It’s funny in other subreddits…a post in r/Terminator complained that Terminator 3 isn’t available streaming. Half the replies told them to just buy the dvd or blu-ray, but they didn’t have a player.
There is, other than say audiophiles (like me), a trend to move away from digital content, such as ebooks (like me) because you never own the item, just the licence to use it. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that prevents this licence from being removed. You never own digital content, unlike vinyl and books.
About 10 years or so ago my parents were downsizing so we were having a mega garage sale. A little girl, maybe 7 years old, comes up to the tech table and picks up my old pink princess CD player. She turns to her mom and asks “what’s that?” I died inside that day. I was barely a decade older than this child and she’d never seen a portable cd player before. At her age that was my biggest flex
Some day some kid is going to give him the same reaction when he finds out he had to touch a screen to make devices do things instead of just using his thoughts.
I’m in my late 20’s and in my first car I had one of those cassettes with a 3.5mm aux cable coming out. Good audio quality surprisingly, but it was either that or The Spirit of Radio by Rush that was stuck in the CD player of that deck. (After a while you get tired of listening to the oppression of maple trees by the greedy oaks or modern-day warriors and their mean mean pride)
I get the name is a Video Cassette Recorder, but the tapes are called VHS. So if what the thing plays is VHS, then it is a VHS Player. Especially for people that weren't around then. If you want to play a DVD it's a DVD player, Bluray is a Bluray player, so people would kind of expect that a VHS is a VHS player.
Just wait until his kids start asking him if he's old when he shows them an iPad. Haha. I'm kidding, but damn I really do feel old. Haha, still got my collection of VHS tapes ranging from 80s sitcoms to independent slasher films/horror movies.
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I remember in the 90's my grandfather was taping a movie off the TV. It had started 30mins ago and he asked my mother an innocent question, "Can we go back to the beginning and watch it from the start now?"
I vividly remember my mother mock him saying that's stupid, no technology can do that.
I felt so bad for him at the time and I so wish he was still around today to see how far it's come.
I paused Netflix the other day on the TV and carried on, on my phone in the Kitchen as I prepared lunch, then cast the movie back to the TV and I always wonder and think what he would have said at seeing that.
"where the fuck's your mother, I got something for her ass"
Phrasing
I like to imagine hes waiting "at home" for them to get there like, "AH_HA! THE CLICKER LETS ME WATCH MOVIES THAT ARENT EVEN MADE!" Then he can tell his grandson again when he "gets home"!
"Home" is how I refer to the afterlife.
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They didn't teach you anything my child because you can do that. But not. CDs can be rewound but also instantly jump back to the start of the track. VHS tapes are like cassette tapes. All of the info is on one long spool of tape so you can rewind but not jump to specific tracks.
The reason the grandpa couldn't go back to the beginning was because the movie was being actively recorded onto the VHS tape when he asked. The movie was still being baked onto the tape so rewinding wouldnt do anything as the movie was still being broadcast from the TV channel.
Once it was done recording the movie he would be able to rewind it.
If that commenter had never touched a VHS tape and didn’t know how they worked, they certainly have never touched a cassette either lol
Honestly? You never know; cassette tapes are having a resurgence of popularity in some music communities so they're a little more commonly known/used than VHS tapes and it's possible they didn't reason out that the two would work differently since you can't watch video on cassette tape.
The Video Cassette Player/Recorder did not have any on board memory and the VHS tape is an actual tape so all the storage is in a linear format with only a small section accessible to read and write at any time. That combination meant that the system could only immediately write OR immediately read and so you couldn't do the things we can now with digital video recorders where you can read from one segment of the disk and write to another at the same time.
You can. To clarify my memory and scenario, my grandfather was recording a film from live TV. While it was recording, he wanted to simultaneously rewind the tape in order to watch the film from the beginning and carry on recording the rest of it at the same time.
Like how now set top boxes have the capability to pause and rewind live TV. He wanted to do that but with a single tape.
He would have truly been in awe at the choice and capabilities we have now with modern technology and I guess in a way I still have him in my mind each time I experience something new with technology.
Totally not a YouTube family.
"Are you that old, or is this that old?" This kid seems to know what a VHS Cassette is AND when it's from.
At this point I get not knowing what a vhs is but there are kids who don't know what dvds are. Now that scares me
We’ve pretty much moved away from physical media unless you are into a related hobby. Most people, the only reason they had any disc player over the past 10+ years is because they have a game console in their home. Even those are going disc-less.
It’s funny in other subreddits…a post in r/Terminator complained that Terminator 3 isn’t available streaming. Half the replies told them to just buy the dvd or blu-ray, but they didn’t have a player.
There is, other than say audiophiles (like me), a trend to move away from digital content, such as ebooks (like me) because you never own the item, just the licence to use it. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that prevents this licence from being removed. You never own digital content, unlike vinyl and books.
[deleted]
I wholehearted support copyright of a creation, and I'm inclined to agree with you. It's greed that's got us here.
If buying isn’t owning then piracy isn’t theft
It's not theft and never was. It's infringement. This is a very poor blanket argument.
I have 2TB of movies and music on an external hard drive. Yeah I "downloaded the car"
That's what got me to getting physical media agai., I have a tiny collection, but it is gonna grow.
You can most definitely store digital locally.
Yes, and there’s a whole generation growing up that doesn’t know how files and folders work.
Neither physical nor digital.
About 10 years or so ago my parents were downsizing so we were having a mega garage sale. A little girl, maybe 7 years old, comes up to the tech table and picks up my old pink princess CD player. She turns to her mom and asks “what’s that?” I died inside that day. I was barely a decade older than this child and she’d never seen a portable cd player before. At her age that was my biggest flex
Some day some kid is going to give him the same reaction when he finds out he had to touch a screen to make devices do things instead of just using his thoughts.
You mean you have to use your hands? That’s like a baby’s game.
Welp my back hurts. I’m gonna go lay down
The newest movie I recall watching on VHS was Sky High, which came out in 2005. CDs were already the mainstream back then but they're not THAT ancient
That was 20 years ago grandpa
In terms of technology, Moor's Law, yes... it is old. In fact, VHS will soon be classified as vintage. Yikes, that makes me feel so old.
I’m so fucking old…
I had a Sony Walkman cassette player.
I can smell that tape.
A few weeks ago my nephew saw a cassette tape and thought it was some kind of battery.
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I’m in my late 20’s and in my first car I had one of those cassettes with a 3.5mm aux cable coming out. Good audio quality surprisingly, but it was either that or The Spirit of Radio by Rush that was stuck in the CD player of that deck. (After a while you get tired of listening to the oppression of maple trees by the greedy oaks or modern-day warriors and their mean mean pride)
That is a great way to look at it. I’m not old just the shit I like is older.
The answer to the kid is just yes all around.
FUCK IM OLD!
"Are you that old? Or is this that old?"
Kid, please, I'm only 33
Well, this was better than it could have been. I get the willies when people call the VCR a ‘VHS player’.
Isn't it true as long as it's not a Betamax player?
I get the name is a Video Cassette Recorder, but the tapes are called VHS. So if what the thing plays is VHS, then it is a VHS Player. Especially for people that weren't around then. If you want to play a DVD it's a DVD player, Bluray is a Bluray player, so people would kind of expect that a VHS is a VHS player.
😩
Good question.
Somehow the kid knows that it’s old tech
Rude
Be kind, rewind.
I want to say things were better before but nope, fuck VHS and Beta. DVDs were a game changer.
Thanks I feel old now
Are you that old?!? Lol, yes, and I remember when they known as betamax first, but VHS won that war.
I’m mid 30s, just had a baby, and have a vcr hooked up to the same tv as my switch and ps4. Also have a dvd player there. My kid will know.
Anyone remember beta?
*chuckles in 5 1/4" floppy discs*
I've never actually used betamax tapes but i'm old enough to remember them :-)
Good recovery kid lol
Is that the black box they use to record things on planes? Can you just buy those?
Don't give him a music cassette and a pencil:
that would confuse him completely.
Kid asked me one time “if they had sneakers when you were a kid”. I almost slapped him.
The answers yes kid
Just wait until his kids start asking him if he's old when he shows them an iPad. Haha. I'm kidding, but damn I really do feel old. Haha, still got my collection of VHS tapes ranging from 80s sitcoms to independent slasher films/horror movies.
Flip the tab and show 'em the (endless) tape.
All I can hear is the gum chewing. And yes I’m annoyed.