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What to do with a bunch of vhs tapes
(lemmy.today)
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this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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Someone out there might think some of them are worth digitizing. Are these just old movies in standard boxes or are these taped copies? If there are any recordings of TV broadcasts, they may absolutely be worth saving. We only have access to some recordings of popular shows now because someone recorded the show once upon a time. TV studios didn't always archive and preserve broadcast shows because tape was expensive and no one in authority at the time thought they had any value to the future. The most notable example of this is Dr. Who. But, even mundane recordings of news broadcasts, shows, and commercials can have value to some. There are still some movies and things that never saw a later release on DVD or their original masters have been lost. You should catalog what you have and ask around the data hoarder communities, there may be someone willing to pay you to ship them select tapes.
Also check if your local library has a digitizing station. Some of them have setups for it
https://www.vpl.ca/facilities/digitize
Yeah I'll look through them and sort out which are recordings and look online. The majority are just movies without their cases though so I wont hold any hopes. Anyways even if I do miss one, it's looking more and more likely I'll just leave them at a thrift store (if they accept them)
Most thrift stores around me don't even keep CDs, Books, DVDs, or Vinyl around in the store anymore. I think they just sell them online or wholesale them to people that do. If you leave VHS tapes at a thrift store, chances are they'll just end up in the trash anyway. It would honestly be an expensive waste of shelf space in anything but an antique store at this point. I hope you find something interesting. It's probably mostly junk, but sometimes there's real treasure in junk piles.
People even want to make an archive of TV commercials, don't undersell what you have. You might have the only known copy of a particular commercial that somebody wants. Check out sites like my80stv.com to see one of the ways archived old commercials are used.