Topic: Anybody still have the Columbia VHS tapes?

[Squirrelbait]

This may sound like a dumb question now that all the boxed sets are out, but has anyone hung onto the VHS tapes with the shorts on them?

I thought I had most of them (which I'm now transferring to DVD) but it looks like I'm missing a few.

Would anybody happen to have:

Woman Haters
Healthy, Wealthy And Dumb
Cash And Carry
Out West
Whoops, I'm An Indian
OR
Shivering Sherlocks?

I have a lot to trade. Thanks for any help!

[Dunrobin]

I have about 25 or 30 of the Columbia shorts VHS tapes.  I have no use for them at all, but just haven't been able to throw them away.  (It's kind of like burning books, to me - blasphemy!)  I'll check later to see if the ones you're missing are among them.  If they are, you'd be more than welcome to them.

[Larrys#1]

VHS Tapes? People still use those? lol. I don't even own a VCR anymore, so even if I still had them, I won't be able to play 'em. Heh! 

As an FYI.... the Sony DVDs will look a lot better than any VHS you transfer to DVD. It's probably not worth the time since the DVDs are so cheap now, but it's up to you. Just wanted to let you know...

[Lefty]

VHS Tapes? People still use those? lol.

Soitenly!  I have a DVR/VCR, and not only can I watch old tapes (not as good quality as DVDs, natch), but I can still record and dub to DVD whatever I want, like for instance the last bit of a Flyers' victory or someone bowling a perfect game on TV.

[Shemp_Diesel]

I think I'm one of the last people in existence who still has a VCR, and I use it from time to time, like whenever I want to watch Goof on the Roof and not worry about Moe's head being lopped off by widescreen bars.


 

[JazzBill]

I have all 190 on tape but they aren't really good to anyone else. I taped them off of TV. I used to tape them from AMC and Stooge A Palooza. It took me years but that was the fun part. Leslie Nielsen is the host on the AMC ones and Anna Nicole Smith was a co-host on a couple of them. Rich Koz, (a Chicago favorite) was the host on the Stooge A Palooza ones. Just about the time I finally had all of them is when the collection came out oin DVD.

[metaldams]

I had all those Sony 3 shorts per tape VHS tapes plus a lot of stuff taped off AMC and the "missing 60" (for us message board old timers) episodes that didn't receive official VHS releases on blank cassettes from old Internet friends.  I even had those five Goodtime volumes that had a lot of later Shemp shorts.  Fun days, but I can't knock the convenience of the eight DVD's, which look so much better and take up less shelf space.  So in my case, those old VHS tapes are now in their permanent resting place in some dump.

Jazz, I remember the N.Y.U.K. AMC days.  In addition to the late Leslie Nielsen and late Anna Nicole Smith, I also remember Carrot Top and Dan Lauria as hosts.  Those were fun times.

[JazzBill]

Jazz, I remember the N.Y.U.K. AMC days.  In addition to the late Leslie Nielsen and late Anna Nicole Smith, I also remember Carrot Top and Dan Lauria as hosts.  Those were fun times.

Yeap, the good thing about AMC is they didn't put commercials in the middle of the shorts like Spike did.

[ProfessorStooge]

Now that the 190 shorts are on DVD, I eventually parted ways with the VHS tapes Columbia released. I even had some bootleg tapes of some Stooge feature films and I got rid of those, too. I do own a DVD/VCR combo unit, and own some VHS tapes that I watch during the Christmas season. The Stooge tapes took up 3 shelves. Now my DVDs are all on one shelf and I can display more collectibles

[Bum]

I never bought any of the Columbia VHS tapes, mainly because in 1987, I had taped most of the shorts off of TBS. This was during a period when TBS was showing the shorts in [mostly] chronological order, something I've never seen during any other TV presentation of the films before or since. I was later tempted to buy some of the Columbia tapes [mainly to get the small handful of shorts I hadn't taped], but never did, probably due to what I considered poor-value-for-the-money. I still have my homemade VHS tapes, and will own them as long as working VCRs are still available. I obviously love my Stooges DVDs, but it's nice to occasionally [IE once every ten years or so!] go back and re-live what it was like when we had no choice but to watch old, faded, scratchy, spliced prints of the shorts. Watching those every now and then serves as a reminder how wonderful the restored prints on the DVDs are, something we may eventually take for granted [or do already!]

[Larrys#1]

I think I'm one of the last people in existence who still has a VCR, and I use it from time to time, like whenever I want to watch Goof on the Roof and not worry about Moe's head being lopped off by widescreen bars.


 

I think it's amazing how people can still own a VCR. All of mine broke many years ago (their longevity is incredibly short compared to DVD players) and they don't sell them anymore. Yeah, maybe there are a few DVD/VCR combos currently in the market but I hate those. My parents have that and the DVD portion broke and now they have a VCR/DVD combo and a DVD player hooked up to the same TV. Looks silly, lol.

[Bum]

I think it's amazing how people can still own a VCR. All of mine broke many years ago (their longevity is incredibly short compared to DVD players) and they don't sell them anymore. Yeah, maybe there are a few DVD/VCR combos currently in the market but I hate those. My parents have that and the DVD portion broke and now they have a VCR/DVD combo and a DVD player hooked up to the same TV. Looks silly, lol.

Funny: You say that DVD players last longer, but the DVD portion of your parents' combo unit is broke. I have an LG brand DVD recorder/VCR combo that I bought years ago. The DVD half quit working, I got it fixed [still under warranty], and it broke again, this time for good. The VCR half is still working fine.

VCRs have become obsolete for playback of prerecorded materials, and obsolete for short-term time-shift recordings, but they still can't be beat for quick, easy recordings of programs off of TV for LONG-TERM storage purposes. I have things I've recorded on VHS that will never be seen again anywhere, and I can watch them anytime I want, and will be able to do so 20 years from now. Betcha can't do that with your DVR or TIVO!

[Larrys#1]

The DVD portion broke because the tray doesn't open anymore. Weird, eh? If it weren't for that stupid tray, it would still be fully functional. I have a lot of DVD players.... a portable one, one on the PC, one on the laptop, and two standalone players for my two TVs and none of them broke. One standalone is about 8 years old and still works fine. All of the VCRs I've bought never lived past 4 years. I look at my parents' problem as just a stroke of bad luck since I've always had great experiences with DVD players.

As for VCRs recording capability... DVD recorders work just as well. It's just that it never caught on since it was too complicated for people to use. It's not as simple as popping in the VHS tape and hitting record. It requires formatting, recording, setting chapter points, and then finalizing. It's a little more complex and many people refused to learn it. TIVOs are a lot simpler, so that's a reason why they're the fad today.

[TwoOunceBrain]

I have a bunch with the old-style side flap boxes that I got for a dollar each at Half-Price Books. I might have about 15 of them and I want to get rid of them.

[Tony Bensley]

The DVD portion broke because the tray doesn't open anymore. Weird, eh? If it weren't for that stupid tray, it would still be fully functional. I have a lot of DVD players.... a portable one, one on the PC, one on the laptop, and two standalone players for my two TVs and none of them broke. One standalone is about 8 years old and still works fine. All of the VCRs I've bought never lived past 4 years. I look at my parents' problem as just a stroke of bad luck since I've always had great experiences with DVD players.

As for VCRs recording capability... DVD recorders work just as well. It's just that it never caught on since it was too complicated for people to use. It's not as simple as popping in the VHS tape and hitting record. It requires formatting, recording, setting chapter points, and then finalizing. It's a little more complex and many people refused to learn it. TIVOs are a lot simpler, so that's a reason why they're the fad today.

I had a similar thing happen with our Toshiba VCR/DVD player combo a few years ago, with it becoming unable to play discs.  As our Toshiba DVD Recorder conked out at about the same time (After recording thousands of DVDs!), I wanted to get a Toshiba VCR/DVD Recorder combo and to junk the player combo.  Unfortunately, the only store that carried them at an affordable price no longer had them listed as available stock and I had to settle for replacing the DVD Recorder and keeping the other unit for the still functioning VCR.  Naturally, after too much time had passed to do an exchange, the DVD/Recorder combo reappeared in the store's available stock listing! AARRGGHH!!!!

Anyway, getting back to The Stooges, the only VHS title that remotely interests me in terms of potential purchase would be the aforementioned GOOF ON THE ROOF (1953) due to the DVD aspect ratio issue.  That said, for me the two stumbling blocks are loss of visual quality (Especially as we no longer have any CRT monitors, nor plan to get one!), and personal lack of available funds at the present.

CHEERS!