"We Are The VHS Preservation Society..."

[lardboy]

i'd love those harry enfield videos, lardboy. and i can capture, too, though it won't be for a few weeks.

want me to shoot you a PM? cheers :)

Done.  Bung me your address and I'll pop them in the post.

[TJ]

I have over a thousand VHS tapes, containing almost everything I ever watched from when I first got a VCR in late 1985.  I have no plans to throw any of them away.

Most of them are off-airs of now-readily available stuff (all incarnations of Star Trek*, The X-Files, Thunderbirds / Stingray / Captain Scarlet, HIGNFY, many films - especially late night arty BBC2 / C4 ones shown in the 80s for some reason ;-) ), but there must be some corking stuff in there as well.  How much of it is available I don't know, most of it I should think.

What I might have I can't really say, as so many of the tapes are unmarked, but certainly there's a good few series of Whose Line Is It Anyway, the BBC2 Video Jukebox music video marathon (the first time they ever broadcast past midnight I believe), the odd Network 7, some nice little Channel 4 short films like "The Telephone Box" and "Kitchen Sink", and loads of other stuff I can't remember.  EDIT: some Mary Whitehouse Experience, plus BOTH incarnations of Newman and Baddiel [Rest] In Pieces - except the first episode of the first run.

What I know I *don't* have, but wish I did, is more stuff like the DEF II segments, and somehow I managed not to tape Snub TV because I didn't know it was on until the end of the run.

And no, I don't have Live Aid.  Missing that was one of the things that persuaded me to get a VCR.

My house sale is hopefully going through within four weeks now; after that I hope to have some time to start unpacking them, going through them and seeing what I've got.  I shall probably be buying a video capture card too, after Xmas, so If anyone has any requests, let me know.

*  - except Enterprise past the first season.  And yes, I *am* gutted now you can buy them on DVD with commentaries for £74 a series - that's only two-and-half times the cost of the blank tapes, will be much better quality, and compared to the extortionate £12.99 for two episodes they used to charge on VHS, is a bargain.  They are the only tapes I'm toying with reusing, but I'd hate to lose all those BBC2 continuity annoucements.

Woah woah woah... you've got "The Telephone Box"? Put that at the top of your 'to do' list please!!!

[BeardFaceMan]

i've encoded a few old videos (VCD compliant quality, for ease of burning), and am sharing them on Soulseek, i could also torrent them if enough people want them. These include -

Absolutely - The Video 2
Bill Hicks - Funny Firm Chicago May 1992
Bill Hicks - Sane Man (The Laff Stop Austin Texas 14 July 1989)
Fantasy Football - More Unseen Fantasy Football
Fantasy Football - The Video
Fantasy Football - The Video 2 - The Glory Years
Fantasy Football - Unseen Fantasy Football
Mr Don & Mr George
Newman & Baddiel - History Today (Live At The Edinburgh Playhouse August 1992)
On The Seventh Day - Bill Hicks At The Cult Compound
Otis Lee Crenshaw & The Black Liars - London Not Tennessee (BBC2 Version) (with Bill Bailey and Sean Lock bits not on the dvd)
Smith & Jones - One Night Stand
Smith & Jones compilation
Alas Smith & Jones compilation
From The Mary Whitehouse Experience - Newman & Baddiel - Live At The Shaftsbury Theatre, July 1991
Robert Newman - The Dependence Day Video - The Royal Festival Hall, 26th October 1994
Spitting Image - Having It Off - The Bonkers Guide
Naked Video compilation
Naked Video compilation 2
Harry Enfield's Television Program - Series 2 eps 1-3
Hale & Pace - The Outrageous Material (2nd Series)

and a few other odds'n'sods too. Is Steve Coogan's Paul Calf stuff available on dvd (like Three Fights, Two Weddings And A Funeral and Video Diary)?

[Ambient Sheep]

Woah woah woah... you've got "The Telephone Box"? Put that at the top of your 'to do' list please!!!

Just to confirm, we're talking about the infamous Spanish short where the guy gets trapped in a telephone box, yeah?  If so, then yes, I definitely have it, and request noted!

If you've not seen it, "Kitchen Sink" (try not to read the Plot Summary) is a similar, if slightly less terrifying, tale.  I also have the first(?) C4 red triangle film, "Themroc", which I remember you discussing a fair while back now.

[TJ]

Woah woah woah... you've got "The Telephone Box"? Put that at the top of your 'to do' list please!!!

Just to confirm, we're talking about the infamous Spanish short where the guy gets trapped in a telephone box, yeah?  If so, then yes, I definitely have it, and request noted!

If you've not seen it, "Kitchen Sink" (try not to read the Plot Summary) is a similar, if slightly less terrifying, tale.  I also have the first(?) C4 red triangle film, "Themroc", which I remember you discussing a fair while back now.

Yep, that's the one alright! You've got Themroc too? This gets better and better!

[bomb_dog]

Re: The Telephone Box.
Just did a search for it on google -

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065513/ - imdb

http://www.wayney.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/lacabina.htm - about it

Apparently its currently available on edonkey - just checked, but haven't downloaded it to see if its actually it.

I vaguely remember seeing some of it on some clips show or other. The site above has a video of the last minute or so, and the photos on the page give you enough back story (what there is of it)

[Ambient Sheep]

Yep, that's the one alright! You've got Themroc too? This gets better and better!

Not only that, but Themroc is definitely labelled (not sure about The Telephone Box), so shouldn't be TOO difficult to find.

[Darrell]

Rare video releases I have originals of, some are already floating about, mind:

Bloodbath at the House of Death
Death by Country
Kevin Turvey: The Man Behind the Green Door
The KYTV video
Spike Milligan In The Best Of Q
Norbert Smith: A Life
The Paul Merton: The Series compilation (also off-airs of both series)
Vic Reeves: Four Golden Memories (all the I Will Cure You promo videos)
Smashie and Nicey: The End of an Era
Alas Smith and Jones
Smith and Jones
Smith and Jones - One Night Stand
Spitting Image - Bumbledown/The Sound of Maggie!
Spitting Image - The Classic Music Video
The Unrepeatable Who Dares Wins

If you're talking rare video stuff which has been supplied via less legal means, I'll likely be here all day...

[petula dusty]

...

[Rats]

Well I tried this today TJ and the synch starts going out after about 10 minutes or something, my card seems to have become shitter. I'll send you the video if you PM me your address or do you know someone with a decent card I could send it to?

[Dr David V]

The Paul Merton: The Series compilation

That's not that rare is it? I see it in charity shops all the time. I even bought one once.

Oh, and I've also got the Adam and Joe video, but someone borrowed it for over a year and now the quality has seriously deteriorated. I've also got a compilation of Clive Anderson Talks Back, the highlight of which being the Kris Akabussi interview.

EDIT: Oh, and The Supergrass.

EDIT 2: It's all flooding back now. I've also got a Naked Video compilation, with a strange 15 certificate that looks like an 18.

[Rats]

I've had a fanny on TJ and encoding in windows movie maker seems to never go out of synch but the quality is pretty crappy. Have a look at this 1 minute clip and tell me if it's any good to you.
It'll work out at about 360mb for the the video which is an hour and a half long.

http://www.zen26454.zen.co.uk/pad.wmv

[imitationleather]

I've got the almost forgotten 1998 Channel 4 mini-series 'Killer Net' on video. A quick look on amazon.co.uk tells me it's currently going for £35. Nice.

Jason Orange from Take That was in it.

[Mister Six]

Probably the only interesting vids I have are two Trap Door videos (voiced by "Willie Rushdan, according to whichever dyslexic put together the cover) and The Mary Whitehouse Experience: History Today, which is all the History Todays plus some crap standup from Newman and Baddiel. Also, er, The Nine Lives of Garfield, which is a handful of crap Garfield shorts with some random cat-based short cartoons thrown into the mix to pad it out.

(been going through  me old kids' videos, see?)

In the unlikely event that anyone gives a shit, I could post these to someone with a capture card so long as they promise not to hurt them. The Trap Door vids are better than you'd expect.

[Tom Hedonist]

I've had a fanny on TJ and encoding in windows movie maker seems to never go out of synch but the quality is pretty crappy. Have a look at this 1 minute clip and tell me if it's any good to you.
It'll work out at about 360mb for the the video which is an hour and a half long.

http://www.zen26454.zen.co.uk/pad.wmv

I'd say the quality of that is more than acceptable, and 360Mb for 90mins is pretty bloody good going.

[Rats]

Yeah, I suppose it is good for the size. I'll start capping it when everyone's away from the telly.

[Marty McFly]

i don't suppose anybody has that nuclear war cartoon thingymajig, "when the wind blows" on VHS do they? going for 37 fucking quid on amazon UK.. bit of an odd question i know.

[Rats]

Oops, my mistake, I've tried capping it a few times and it turns out that this is the only setting that keeps it's synch
http://www.zen26454.zen.co.uk/Untitled_0001.wmv
The quality is very shoddy but it's still watchable. Give me a shout whether I should bother or not.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

Yeah, I suppose it is good for the size.

That's the first thing I read when coming back to this topic.  For a moment I assumed it'd turned into another wanking thread.

[imitationleather]

i don't suppose anybody has that nuclear war cartoon thingymajig, "when the wind blows" on VHS do they? going for 37 fucking quid on amazon UK.. bit of an odd question i know.

Ooh, I got lent the book of this once. There's a film version? I must see it!

[Tom Hedonist]

Oops, my mistake, I've tried capping it a few times and it turns out that this is the only setting that keeps it's synch
http://www.zen26454.zen.co.uk/Untitled_0001.wmv
The quality is very shoddy but it's still watchable. Give me a shout whether I should bother or not.

Using my own system I'd rate that as "Poor". But that's no bad thing. My recent release of Bedazzled was no better. If it's the only way you can capture it, and so long as you let people know about the quality before they download it, I don't see anyone has anything to complain about.

[Rats]

I just found an old vido with the rare alternative video for irene cara's fame on it
http://www.zen26454.zen.co.uk/fame.avi (12mb)

[Rats]

http://www.zen26454.zen.co.uk/anb1.avi (15mb)
http://www.zen26454.zen.co.uk/afro.avi (15mb)

[Tom Hedonist]

I just found an old vido with the rare alternative video for irene cara's fame on it
http://www.zen26454.zen.co.uk/fame.avi (12mb)

Doesn't seem to exist.

http://www.zen26454.zen.co.uk/anb1.avi (15mb)
http://www.zen26454.zen.co.uk/afro.avi (15mb)

WTF is that about? I can't work out if it's a stroke of utter genius, or complete and utter tosh. TBH I'm leaning toward the latter. Although the redness in the first clip does give it the general air of a home made porno - never a bad thing.

[TJ]

If anyone's interested, I've incorporated my video wants list into the main 'Wanted - Can You Help?' page at is this music. Which would be http://www.bluejam20.freeserve.co.uk/isthismusic/wanted.htm

Do let me know if you're interested in helping out at all...

[lardboy]

Anyone want The Fast Show series two, parts one and two on VHS?  I'm purging the shelves.  Not bothered about capping as it's available on DVD.

Free to a good home.

[slim]

Not quite the same, but a vaguely related story on Dixons announcement that they will stop stocking VHS recorders can be found here.

But the writing is clearly on the wall for the VHS VCR. Even if retailers still wanted to sell them, there are apparently only around three or four companies in the world actually still making them. Soon, they will be rubbing electronic shoulders with the BSB Squarial and the Psion organiser in that great techno heaven in the sky.

Good journalism there.

Besides, the VHS sound and picture quality were always rubbish. Once any sane person had seen a DVD, they weren't going to put up with crinkly images and snow-filled screens any more

I have to disagree with this. I was and still am perfectly happy with the quality of VHS, either bought or off-air. I really don't see that much difference with DVDs, besides the obvious lack of sparkles. I suppose audio is a valid point, but still, this VHS bashing pisses me off. It's a great format. A lot of this article seems to be comprised of the journalist's personal gripes with VHS, so don't expect a good read.

Seeing as the US have now legislated that in future all hardware that can record digital signals, i.e. DVD recorders and PC hardware, will have to comply with digital broadcast flags, and Europe will quite probably soon bow to the copyright mafia, it may soon be time to stock up on VHS recorders and blank tapes, before the electronics companies just stop producing them altogether. It'd be a sad day if we were told what we could and could not record from the telly - how would I have seen the 2nd series of People Like Us without this capability?

[TTT]

If anyone's interested, I've incorporated my video wants list into the main 'Wanted - Can You Help?' page at is this music. Which would be http://www.bluejam20.freeserve.co.uk/isthismusic/wanted.htm

Do let me know if you're interested in helping out at all...

I've got some of the stuff on the list, either downloaded or on VHS. Are you wanting digital copies or vhs copies.

[tony peanuts]

I have the complete series 4 of The Adam & Joe show taped offa the telly like, if anyone's interested.  I see it's on that list of yours...

[Rats]

Sorry this is taking forever, I've been trying out different things. I'm getting my new computer soon so I'll see if that makes any difference or if it's the card that's completely shite. I was going to do it in parts and then re-encode each piece so the bit rate matched and then stick them all together but I may as well just wait a few days and see.