Spinoff: Your family's first VCR.

[Atlas722]

When fid you get it? Our family's first VCR was bought in 1988.

 

[kdonnel]

I believe 1982. It was a top loader.

A VCR and an Atari 2600 were the two electronic items my parents were early adopters. Otherwise by the time they got something it was extremely common.

 

[bdrex28]

My Dad was gifted a VCR by his squadron when he retired as their squadron commander in the Air Force. They flew F16s and previously F4s so they were all into gadgets and toys.

This was a Panasonic and was in 1982

What was cool was it had A wireless remote which wasn't common at the time.

Next toy was a VHS camcorder. Lol

 

[NAB]

We rented at first when we rented movies. Parents didn’t buy the first one I did.

I remember it was expensive at the time compared to years later. Think I paid $350 for it after I got my first job in the early 80’s. I wanted to record my General Hospital and Days of our Lives…lol Lived at home so didn’t have any expenses other than room and board.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I remember when we got one... it's like this is the coolest thing ever. I believe it was probably 1986-7 (not to make a 6 7) joke there I am pretty sure it was 8th grade or freshman year of high school.

 

[E&Cmom]

I am guessing around 1984 give or take a year.

Around the same time my neighbors/ friends borrowed one from someone and we watched movies all weekend long.

 

[tvguy]

Mine, not my family's. An RCA 2 speed VHS VCR. Top loader. Bought it in October 1979 a few months after getting my first job in TV. Paid $725 for it at Gemco. That would be like $3,200 today. Took it with me when I moved out. Years later, I bought a new one and took it back to my mom's house for her to use to play tapes. When I got cable in 1987 I would record stuff for her on the History channel. I sold it in 2013 when my mom passed away, it still played tapes just fine even though it was 34 years old.

 

[disykat]

1991. DH and I used some of our wedding money to buy one. I spent the 80's making a living, paying off a small college loan and then taking a 6 week backpacking style trip around Europe with one of my roommates, not buying things. When I met DH he was also madly paying off school loans so we were debt free before the wedding. We also bought our first color television to go with the VCR! I think we got a small microwave too.

My parents didn't even get a VCR or a microwave until the mid 90's. They were fairly comfortable financially but just didn't see the need. DH's family didn't have much money, but they had all that stuff. DH was an anomaly to them.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I'm thinking '78 or' 79. Decision between Beta and VHS. We did VHS.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I wouldn't be able to know but I do know we had a car shaped VCR rewinder at some point.

I do remember when combo DVD/VCRs came out and how expensive and popular/hard to get they were.

 

[disneychrista]

I think we got one in 1989. Probably from Kmart.

 

[disneychrista]

I wanted to record my General Hospital and Days of our Lives…lol

This is why I wanted one too. But it was Days, Santa Barbara and Another World.

 

[RedAngie]

My parents bought a top loading VCR while I was away at college, spring 1982. It was a pain to program it.

The first time I used it was to record an Addams Family rerun that heavily featured Cousin Itt.

 

[soccerdad72]

Honestly, no clue on the year. Probably somewhere around the early(-ish) 80's, I would guess.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

It was 83 or 84, once they figures out Beta vs. VHS. They opted for VHS. Funny but a friend and I were recently wondering if we could find one as we both still have some VHS we'd like to watch but don't want to pay to convert.

 

[BrianL]

Oh, I remember it vividly. I think it was probably 1983 - the whole family went out to a neaarby electronics store - the old-school kind that was like a show-room with sales people. We purchased a Mitsubishi HS-710UR, a vertical unit like below:



We got the whole kit too, with a battery pack and handheld camera that attached to it. You could sling the recorder in a shoulder bag and use the much more compact camera to film on the go! The thing was HEAVY though. After we got it, we went to a small video rental place, and they let us kids pick the movie. It was The Last Unicorn!

 

[GAN]

It was definitely BetaMax somewhere around 1982

 

[firefly_ris]

I wanna say 1986. It was a silver Panasonic.

 

[fla4fun]

1984. I think it is still in the basement somewhere. It had a wired remote, so you had to be careful walking around if someone was using it or you would trip on the cord.

 

[Micca]

My birthday, November 1980. That thing was almost $1,000 and was big as an air fryer. There were only two places in the entire town where you could buy blank tapes, and they were around $20 a piece. I got a lot of use out of it though, and it lasted a long time