Trainboy and company Posted August 15, 2018 Share Posted August 15, 2018 Hello, I currently own a large collection of Thomas the tank engine VHS tapes. All of them still work and are in good condition. I have a couple of older ones from the 80s by Kaleidoscope, quite a few ones by VCI/Video collection from the early and late 90s, and a couple by Hit Entertainment from the early 2000s. They are not for sale, but I was hoping to make an enquiry about if these old videos would be worth anything on the Internet should I wish to sell them at some point in the future. As I said, the videos themselves all still work, and the boxes and inserts only have minimal damage to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Have you considered transferring them to DVD..With the right kit you can do this yourself. I transferred about 10% of my 200 plus VHS tape collection (feature films) to DVD when the demise of VHS happened. If you can't do it yourself, then there are transfer service providers who can do it for you and probably more professionally..I'm no expert on values, but I would think that there is very little market for VHS these days regardless of the content on them, unless it is a very rare recording. Long lost episodes of TV classics for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingthedog Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 SWMBO occasionally works in a charity shop. They get hundreds of videos and they are all thrown away. They are worthless. Copy them onto a DVD is the best idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 PS - I should have added that some VHS tapes have 'Macrovision copy protection'. Many of the ones I transferred did. VHS copy protection is easily overcome with the right kit. I used an external video encoder connected to my PC via a IEEE1394 Firewire interface. Now all obsolete kit as best part of 25 years old but it did remove the VHS copy protection with ease. The more modern equivalent kit is now USB and a lot cheaper, but not all the modern kit will remove the protection. Hence why probably safer and more cost effective to use a paid for copy service provider..My understanding is that as long as one is making a copy for personal 'back up' purposes and not for financial gain, one is not foul of copyright law. Well at least not to the extent where one would be successfully taken to court for it..To the best of my recollection, kit that can remove 'Macrovision copy protection' requires it to have its own internal timing clock that does not take timing information from the incoming video signal. This generally makes the kit more expensive than the cheap video convertors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingthedog Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 You could just bin the tapes and go to a charity shop and buy the DVDs. They had about a dozen in our local shop for 25 pence each. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trainboy and company Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share Posted August 16, 2018 Chrissaff, I have thought about getting the VHS tapes transferred to DVD, but two problems have prevented me from doing so. The first problem is that I would definitely not be able to do it myself, because I am not good with things like that, and I would probably end up purchasing the wrong kit because I have no knowledge whatsoever of the matter. The second problem is that getting it done professionally in a video transfer shop could be expensive, and at the minute I don't have a lot of money. I don't intend to have them transferred, so it is fine. I still own a fully working VHS player, and that plays the tapes fine. Like walkingthedog said, I could just purchase the episodes on DVDs, but most of the Thomas the tank engine VHS tapes were never released to DVD. It is a shame, because I personally would have loved to see a DVD release of Chases, Races and Runaways, and Percy and Harold and other stories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trainboy and company Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share Posted August 16, 2018 Chrissaf, Charity shops also no longer take in VHS tapes for some reason. I remember taking a big bag full of old children's VHS tapes to a charity shop a few months ago and they wouldn't take them in because they apparently no longer take in VHS tapes anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 You can, if your ISP fun police allows it, download torrent files for all episodes of TTTE, etc. These can be saved and converted to mp4 format suitable for viewing on most modern devices Including smart TVs. The procedure is illegal in some countries without hiding behind a VPN. Some sites will allow free live streaming episode by episode. Whilst searching for examples of such files I tripped over an irreverent site telling the dark side tale of Sir Topham-Hatt and Thomas and his Steamie Club versus the dirty Diesels. In the article (no link provided as it was unsuitable for little ones and would probably also offend true TTTE fans) there was reference to the original #1 being green, before Sir T-H gave Thomas in his blue suit the number. If so who is this cute pepper pot boiler guy running number #1 and apparently left to rust away in a siding.../media/tinymce_upload/a8af2e97f00b7bc1ee18b66fe7ecd042.JPG...photo credit to the CRACKED internet site article... I always knew there was a hidden agenda to most of these children's programs.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingthedog Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Chrissaf, Charity shops also no longer take in VHS tapes for some reason. I remember taking a big bag full of old children's VHS tapes to a charity shop a few months ago and they wouldn't take them in because they apparently no longer take in VHS tapes anymore. They don’t take them because they used to get hundreds every week and none were sold. Things have moved on I’m pleased to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 I have a do-da that converts VHS to my PC, unfortunately it only transfers in realtime so my stack of tapes is going to take me the rest of my retirement to complete.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trainboy and company Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share Posted August 16, 2018 RAF96, I would never stream the episodes illegally, even if the disc I burned them onto was for my own use and not to be sold for profit. It is just something about it that doesn't seem right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trainboy and company Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share Posted August 16, 2018 Caiptean, VHS tapes have their advantages and disadvantages. However, there are more disadvantages to them in my opinion. One common problem is that VHS tapes tend to lose quality over time. I own a few VHS tapes where white lines roll down the screen in some areas where the tape is slightly worn, and I have a few where the picture rolls due to damage to the edge of the tape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingthedog Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 All mine went in the bin asap. The only thing I saved were the screws that held the case together, very useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWR-Gordon-4 Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 I would say that all videos are woth nothing. Even Thomas videos are worth noting. DVD's are technically out of date, too as one can buy a Blu-ray Disc. I am surprised DVD's have not been discontinued yet, in favour for Blu-ray Disc. GNR-Gordon-4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellocoloco Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 I'll be keeping my old VHS tapes whilst space allows - including one Thomas tape. One thing that makes me want to keep them is that films are the way I remember them...I do not enjoy older films that have been digitally enhanced. I bought a few years ago Blu Ray copies of the six Star Wars films for my son and yet still prefer to watch the original three on VHS. Maybe its because there's no JarJar...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWR-Gordon-4 Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Caiptean, yes Thomas episodes that used to be sold on video tapes, that are now on DVD have not been digitally enhanced, or anything like this at all. It is all the same picture and sound quality of you have it on DVD or on video. It's too much effort to digitall enhance programmes, plus I don't find it makes any difference. I used to have all the original Mr. Bean episodes on videos and a few years I replaced them on DVD. Apprantely, the DVD versions I have a digitally enhanced, or remastered, whatever you call it and I can't tell flamig difference at all, with the DVD copies I have the videos I used to have. Picture and sound seems to be the same. I think they just put that on the case, to get people to buy it. GNR-Gordon-4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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