Any collectors of older media formats and/or specific types of programs?

Any collectors of older media formats and/or specific types of programs in our midst?

I never meant to start collecting the old Laserdisc format, but when I ran across a player a few years ago it opened doors to finding material not available on DVD and Blu-ray. Some concerts I enjoyed back in the late 1970’s on VHS (my high school years) or …on the (very flawed) CED format of video I’ve now found on Laserdisc and enjoyed again. I’d date myself if I mentioned what ones. The nice part for me is that the audio on Laserdisc is so uncompressed and clean. I’ve dubbed a few of the soundtracks for enjoyment in my music library, too. (Personal use only, of course!) They look pretty nice sent through a DVD recorder and output via HDMI. I’ve not tried a dedicated upscaler/converter yet. Maybe someday.

Strangely, considering I work in radio, I don’t collect old radio shows. (yet.) People find that a bit strange since in all other aspects of my life, I’m deep into radio.

As things move more and more to the cloud and streaming, I’ll probably be viewed as odd for wanting older formatted video content, but there’s something fun about watching a favorite show or movie on a different physical device. In a way this relates to Leo’s discussion last weekend of people moving away from DVR’s to on-demand, too. Amazing how quickly we leave one technology in the dust for the next. I still enjoy owning my own physical copies of favorite movies and shows, yet I love the modern convenience of services like Audible, and magic boxes like Roku that bring the world to my TV.

Any other collectors of older media in our midst or…do I walk that path alone?

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I am not a collector, but I am a fan of learning about how things work[ed]. To that end, have you ever watched “Technology Connections” on YouTube? It seems you might enjoy some of his content.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy0tKL1T7wFoYcxCe0xjN6Q

Have not! Will try and report back. Thanks so much for the suggestion!

Greetings,

I collect CD’s I miss 8track tapes though :grinning: but I am not collecting

I don’t “collect” these old formats as much as I have never gotten rid of the ones I have.

LaserDisc, VHS, Beta, U-Matic, LPs, audio cassettes - all of them just sit on the shelves.

Older media… that sounds like me. So nice to see others who hold onto and enjoy “the media”. Yes it’s old but often priceless to watch and often not available, anywhere…

I started collecting Laserdiscs for the music then dabbled into movies and now have heaps of LD’s and now confused as to what screen I need to play them on these days.
Thinking that a 4K TV might make them look worse on the screen than say a Full HD 1080p TV and does this mean I would then miss out on the benefits that the newer TV’s have to offer.
Many of my Laser Discs (several are Voyager, Criterion, Box Sets or Special Editions) are rare and hard to find. (as are some of my DVD’s)
I would like to play them directly to a TV and ‘not copy’ them onto a different media format. Besides with over 1,600 titles and likely 2,500+ discs I would not want to spend the next five years copying them.
I also have heaps of DVD’s and CD’s. I do not do much collecting as such these days. Thought I might spend ten years watching what I already have mixed in with a bit of online items for newer releases.

If any know, would the 2018 Samsung UA43N5500 or 2019 Samsung QA49Q60R or Other be the best type of TV to buy that will better handle overall picture quality, with issues of upscaling, artefacts and other considerations? My viewing distance is 70" to 80".

Any thoughts on this is appreciated.

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I am not a collector but I still have a few VHS tapes and cassette tapes :wink:

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I’m not sure about that. Cloud/streaming are completely incompatible to collecting, they’re very much ephemeral as far as media consumption goes. I think this trend makes it harder for artists to gain staying power. Also, media quality doesn’t seem to be a focus of streaming services. As you mentioned, uncompressed audio is a benefit of Laserdisc that we can’t get with any streaming service that I know of.

I’m a bit of a collector on the gaming side. I’ve got stacks of all the Nintendo Gamecube games I ever bought along with Xbox 360. This ones a bit harder to argue, as emulation kind of makes this a moot point. But the cases still look nice in my media center console!

I have an affinity for old ephemeral educational films produced between the 40’s through the 80’s. I think they’re rich time capsules for understanding the norms of the time (both good and bad), and also understanding how media has been used as a teaching tool.

I have a small collection of 16mm reels and 2 projectors (but both have been in my crawlspace for years, and I’m thinking about passing them on to someone else), and a larger collection of flimstrips with tapes and records. I every once in awhile will go on a spree on eBay to find more, but haven’t done so in awhile.

This is me, too! I have boxes of old LPs and VHS tapes of shows/movies…some I recorded off the TV but most that I’ve bought. I keep thinking I’ll list some on eBay…yeah, that’s probably not going to happen.

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