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comment by JonG97
JonG97  ·  2215 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, what's your favourite TV show that is more than 20 years old?

Not every season on DVD, mind you.

Damn, steve, how many VHS tapes did it take to store the whole series?





steve  ·  2215 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I own all the seasons... COME AT ME BRO (if you'd like to borrow them)

    how many VHS tapes

a lot... and I was enough of a nerd to want "high quality" recordings, so I was doing the "SP" setting so I could only fit two hours (two episodes) per tape. It was obscene. I think I got through about three seasons like that - and switched to LP which gave me four per tape? And then I couldn't afford cable for a while.... and the streak was broken... and then DVDs came out... and then I had kids... and then I was like "hell if I'm ever moving this box again" and then I got cable again... and then I filled up my DVR with them... and then I figured out that I could export the contents of my DVR to my Mac (via the handy firewire port on the back)... which I could import using some janky old Mac utility I dug out of some obscure forum online.... and then I started to convert those files into something I could burn to DVD... and then the Northern Exposure series was released on DVD and I bought the special collector edition of season 1 and 2 (complete with little down parkas) for $25 per season... and then a year later seasons 3,4,5,6 were in a multipack in a Target discount bin for I shit you not $10.

and this is the sad, sad world that I call my life.

JonG97  ·  2215 days ago  ·  link  ·  

You're right, dude, that is sad. Great story, though! I felt your pain quite keenly.

I wonder about those poor souls who got caught in the middle of the transition from VHS to DVD. You've got a stash of tapes with entire seasons of TV shows stored away in them.

How do you cope with the fact that DVDs offer more storage space than analogue tapes?

steve  ·  2215 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    How do you cope with the fact that DVDs offer more storage space than analogue tapes?

Or that the transition from physical media is all but complete?

It’s a brave new world soldier.

JonG97  ·  2215 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yeah, that is true. I still like the tactile nature of physical media, though.

user-inactivated  ·  2212 days ago  ·  link  ·  

You and me both. The only time I ever purchase digital media is if it's the only option (or if it's a book in the public domain that I know I'll pretty much never find scouring bookstores high and low). There is something really special about looking at your shelves and seeing your collection. Even more so, there's something special about taking something off your shelf and giving it to a friend.

JonG97  ·  2212 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Plus box sets look really cool on your shelf! There's something satisfying about owning a complete series on DVD or Blu-ray, in my opinion.

steve  ·  2215 days ago  ·  link  ·  

and y'all thought I was playin'