Original movies on VHS

[Marigold]

Our VHS player no longer works. What do I do with all the VHS movies? Open to suggestions.

[TommyT]

There used to be a company in Summerhill that would transfer / burn VHS tapes to DVD format. Not sure if they're still there but advertised in the Sun with coupons.

[vintageogauge]

You can buy a player at a pawn shop or Goodwill store, or new ones on Amazon. Or donate the movies.

[retiredguy123]

I would shop frequently at the Goodwill store or other thrift stores that sell electronics. You should be able to buy a VHS player for less than 20 dollars.

[bandsdavis]

A number of years ago we bought a machine that transfers VHS to DVD. VHS tapes do not last forever and one or two of ours broke after we transfered them. I suggest you either by a machine and do it yourself or find someone who will.

[retiredguy123]

A number of years ago we bought a machine that transfers VHS to DVD. VHS tapes do not last forever and one or two of ours broke after we transfered them. I suggest you either by a machine and do it yourself or find someone who will.
Some of the machines will not copy original movies. Also, I don't think a copy service will copy original movies because of the copyright restrictions.

[Slapnut]

Google it and you'll be surprised with the information about having them transferred to DVD .

[TonyC]

As suggested, your best quote is to buy another VHS player. Not expensive compared to the cost of converting the tapes.

Or do you really need to keep them. If you have some personal recordings like family movies, then maybe just convert those.
If the rest are movies, then I would recommend not converting those at all to DVDs as they are also going the way of the DoDo. If you have a Streaming Device ($40 to $50 for a 4K version), for $15/month or less you is can have access to pretty well any movie within a few months after release, or TV show. Just rotate every month or two between all the various services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Prime Video and many many more.

[J1ceasar]

EBay. Amazon. Best to get a combo DVD and VHS player in one unit

[J1ceasar]

Or best buy . com , walmart.com

[dvpartlo]

Our VHS player no longer works. What do I do with all the VHS movies? Open to suggestions.

You can donate the movies to the Belleview Library. They accept VHS tapes, video tapes and anything along that line that works.

[nn0wheremann]

I got a good used VHS player at Goodwill for $5. Problem is, those tapes were recorded using old technology. The best of them might be at 400 lines of resolution, or about 1/6 megapixel. The lowest quality TV you watch now is 480 megapixels. Home recorded VHS was about 200 lines of resolution, so it is even worse when compared to high def you are used to watching on a modern TV.

[ggerskine]

Donate to the Belleview Library in Marion County. They take them for the book and multi media sales!

[toeser]

Our VHS player no longer works. What do I do with all the VHS movies? Open to suggestions.

Buy a used player on Craigslist or Ebay. I'm sure they are available.

[traveler9]

You can buy a player that does both. I have 2 and use them all the time

[Crosstour]

Have them changed to CD roms

[stevethepeddler]

Many of the VHS tapes are highly collectible and hard to find. Particularly Disney ones. Check out eBay and search. You might be surprised!

[angellmccann@yahoo.com]

Costco transfers VHS to DVD

[davem4616]

my VHS/DVD player recently 'jammed'....I was able to repair it myself.

That said...they still make VHS/DVD comb units...google it....I saw some for about $300 new

I would have gone that route vs. swopping them over to DVD if I wasn't able to fix it

[Hans53]

costco does a great job transferring them to discs

[noslices1]

You can get another VHS player or a converter at Best Buy that will convert them to DVD’s.

[noslices1]

I seem to remember that you can put a piece of tape over a slot on the original tapes so they can be copied.

[MandoMan]

I had about a couple hundred VHS movies for children. I gave away a hundred Disney VHS videos and similar films to a friend whose grandchildren were visiting for the summer. They were all delighted. I had about fifty of the wonderful Rabbit Ears story videos for children. I sold them in one big box on eBay for $50. (After fees, I made $30 on that.) I had several hundred videos recorded off the tv twenty to thirty years ago at the six hour rate. So grainy! I threw away all of those. All the videos for grown-ups that I had purchased (several hundred more), I took to the university where I taught and let students have them for free. I switched to DVDs fifteen years ago, and I hadn’t watched VHS video in ten years. Last fall I gave away a couple hundred DVDs that I didn’t think I’d ever watch again.

I also had several hundred books on CD, all in the expensive library binding (I bought them on sale for $6 each, unused.) I enjoyed them, then put them up for sale on Amazon for $6 to $8 each, which means I made about $3 per sale. But I only sold on average one per month. I tried to give them all to my local library, but the librarian said he would take them, but only to sell at the annual book sale. I advertised the final 150 of them on Craig’s List and sold them all for $100 to a guy who is on the road a lot and likes to listen to books on CD (as do I). Now they are all gone.

Now I have several thousand hours of recorded books on my iPad, computer, iPhone, iPod. Next step: listening to them. I have several hundred movie DVDs, many of them BlueRay DVDs with high definition. Will I ever watch them? I don’t know.

[Holpat39]

Donate to a thrift store.

[La lamy]

Our VHS player no longer works. What do I do with all the VHS movies? Open to suggestions.

I converted my VHSs to DVDs with a DVD/VHS combo machine that had recording capability (it was expensive back then), but sometimes have issues playing the transferred DVDs on certain machines.

[retiredguy123]

costco does a great job transferring them to discs
The OP is referring to "original movies" on VHS. Costco will transfer personal content from VHS tapes to DVD and other digital formats. But, they will not copy original movies or any other copyrighted material. It would be illegal, and their terms of service contain very detailed legal disclaimers regarding what they will and will not copy. Also, most original movies made on VHS tapes are protected by Macrovision, which makes it difficult, but not impossible, to copy them. I purchased a VHS to DVD copy machine when they first came on the market. But, when I tried to copy a VHS movie rented from Blockbuster, it would not copy it, because the machine had a built-in detection system that indentified copyrighted material.

But, why bother? Most old movies are available on a streaming service, at the library, or for purchase on Amazon. If you have VHS movies, I would just buy a VHS player.

[BlackhawksFan]

Our VHS player no longer works. What do I do with all the VHS movies? Open to suggestions.

Paperweights, a homemadeJenga tower, use the tape as ribbon on gifts, a straight edge

[024engine]

Vhs players always available at thrift stores or ebay.

[Carol Nichols]

The Village Neighbors Magazine Editor can help transfer them for you, or Video Vault can too. Buy a used VHS player at thrift stores. If you do not want tapes, donate them to Mark Twain Library behind Paradise Rec Center or Belevedere Library. Goodwill throws away too many donations, even valuable ones, so donate to another thrift store, like Habitat for Humanities, Operation Shoebox, Sheriff's Ranches, Hospital or Hospice, Cancer Thrift store instead.

[jnieman]

You could go on Ebay and buy another one. If you have a ton of movies it might be worth it. New ones cost a fortune on Amazon but used ones on Ebay are around $50. Make sure the seller has great feedback before you purchase so in case it doesn't work you can return it.

[Papapita3]

I would try to donate to nursing Homes ! A lot of times they have movie nights for residents !

[NavyVet]

Another place to donate movies is Sumter County Library at Pinellas. 2 years ago, I donated a bunch of Disney movies on VHS. They were happy to have them. Might be closer for you than Belleview Library. Call and check first if they are still accepting VHS media.

[theruizs]

If you have any tapes you made, find a service to get them transferred to DVD or digital media. Otherwise, decide which movies you absolutely want to keep and then bite the bullet and re-buy them on DVD, or on iTunes if you are into that or using AppleTV. It is not worth the hassle you will run into trying to convert copyrighted movies from VHS to DVD. And it’s not just the legal issue, but you can also have technical difficulties, and in the end, IMO, the quality sucks. The quality of DVDs or digital downloads is so much better that you will be happy you put your money there instead. The old tapes, try to find somewhere you can donate them.

[geoangel]

We bought a VHS to DVD converter. The blank DVD’s are not that expensive and they take up less space.

[ldj1938]

eBay probably has brand new for sale.

[EdFNJ]

If you want to "keep" the movies then transfer them to DVDs. Video Vault in Belleview can do it quickly, professionally and they are reasonably priced. They can also transfer them to a more modern medium like a thumb drive. (352) 347-9008 If they could or would (illegally) break the many year old copyright protection it would probably cost 3X more than just rebuying it used on DVD. If they are that old they are probably available for $4-$5 on DVD at a used DVD site or a place like Marion Market. Those transfer places usually charge big bucks for something you can buy for a couple bucks. I wanted to have 6 family 2hr VHS tapes transferred and it was well over $100 but that was 2yrs ago. Besides, how many times can you watch MASH (that was the original mainstream commercial tape other than Debbie which was a sports tape about the Dallas football team). :D

[OlifOlif]

I know of a source that can digitize your personal videotapes (birthday parties, weddings, etc.) as well as your 35mm slides, pictures, etc.

Contact me at 062902@gmail.com for more details!

[Carlsondm]

I just donated six vhs machines before I moved here last November. I saved them to play dance videos. Then I transferred them to DVD or found an inhanced version elsewhere. Now I am dvd and u-tube. I mention this because machines are out there, but you may like transferring better.

If your vhs tapes can be enhanced and transferred or you can get a dvd or bluray version, I recommend it. TVs are larger and vhs is too grainy for us. Darn technology forcing shopping again.

[Debboguch50]

How domating them to the mark twain library over by the paradise rec ctr!

[Barborv]

Honestly, if they are just movies, and not personal tapes, dump them. I dont think anyone wants them. Why have the clutter. You can get every movie you want on TV. If its a favorite all time movie, then maybe. I held on to some Disney ones for the grandkids and my son doesnt want them. He gets everything on his device. Or you can always donate to the Veterans. I always donate things to them.
If its home movies, then have them converted to a drive or something(im not computer savvy) my husband does it. This way its stored on a hard drive and on your computer, and again no need for storage space.

[retiredguy123]

Honestly, if they are just movies, and not personal tapes, dump them. I dont think anyone wants them. Why have the clutter. You can get every movie you want on TV. If its a favorite all time movie, then maybe. I held on to some Disney ones for the grandkids and my son doesnt want them. He gets everything on his device. Or you can always donate to the Veterans. I always donate things to them.
If its home movies, then have them converted to a drive or something(im not computer savvy) my husband does it. This way its stored on a hard drive and on your computer, and again no need for storage space.
I agree. If it is a movie that you really like, then buy the DVD on Amazon. But, throw the rest of them away. Paying someone to copy VHS movies to DVD is not only illegal, but it is a waste of money.

[LynneH]

We found that some of our favorite tapes were wearing out, as in "nothing lasts forever." A friend let us borrow his converter and we managed to save most of our collection. Those we couldn't convert, we evaluated whether to buy a DVD version or let it go.

[John_W]

First, any video transfer business will not transfer copyrighted movies, which you say is what you have. So to transfer those movies you'll have to do it yourself.

Movies on VHS have copy-guard, when you hit record on the other machine the screen will start flashing, making it unbearable to watch. You'll need a filter that can eliminate the copy-guard. This video will show you how to do that, here's a link.

How To Copy VHS Movie Tapes When You Can't in 1986 - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdxQ6ioKyzs)

If it were me, I would buy a cheap VCR at a pawn shop, Goodwill, yard sale, but I wouldn't spend anymore money than that. The best is to just give them away, and go to Walmart and buy the movies you like on DVD in the $5 bin. They'll last forever, the VHS tapes I'm surprised they lasted this long.

[tvbound]

Movies old enough to be on VHS are probably available for free from a number of different sources, so I personally can't imagine paying to have them transferred.