VHS ERA ADS: THE VCRs

VHS tapes get a lot of attention, but the VCR's don't.

Well, here's a couple of print ads, and some screengrabs from a television commercial.

Those first VCRs were ridiculously expensive, big, and heavy.

One of the first VCRs my folks owned, had a pop-up compartment - like an elevator. You would put the tape into it and push down, until you heard a sound that led you to believe it was closed properly.


Paul Giamatti in a PANASONIC VCR commercial ( 1978 )

Not being able to set the correct time on the clock, seemed to be a common problem.

Do you have the correct cables, and are they connected into the right places?

I can not remember if cable boxes were an extra headache.



There was always a fear of rental tapes being gobbled-up by the player. Or worse, having the tape get stuck, or break. This fear increased a hundredfold for kids playing porn tapes while their folks were away - not that I would know anything about that....