We purchased our first VCR in the very early 80's. It was a Panasonic and paid almost $1,000 for it. It lasted almost 15 years until the plastic parts gave away that tuned in the channels and we couldn't find anyone to fix it. VHS tapes back then were $5.00 - $10.00 a PIECE not like the value packs you can get in Walmart for the same price today.

Just wondering how much everyone else paid for their first VCR.

The first VCR my folks had was a Sears model from the very early 80's.  It was a front loader.  Not sure how much it cost, but in those days, I'm guessing around $250

I think we got ours around 92. It was a Panasonic Superdrive; still works fine today.

My brothers and I chipped in one Christmas and bought a Sharp VCR for the parents about 1983. It still works very well to this day. I bought myself a Zenith VCR around 1993 and it also still works.

We first got one in 1987; it was a Toshiba that lasted about 4 years. We got my grandma her first VCR for Christmas in 1988; it was a model similar to the one we had. I think it died out in the early 90's as well.

I remember our family bought a VCR at the same time we got cable, which was in 1990 but I think the model (Phillips) was made the year before.

We got ours in the late 70s, but we had a Betamax one even earlier than that. I remember we taped the Star Wars Holiday Special on Betamax when it aired in 1978. My Dad was quite the high-flyer so we got lots of gadgets given to us.

We got our first VCR in 1989 out of the Sears Wishbook cataloge. I'm pretty sure it was a Samsung model not sure about the price though. That thing was great and it lasted over 10 years before it finally tore up.

Good topic!!! I got my first VCR in 1988. Its was a Citizen 2 head VHS and if I remember correctly I paid 379.00 for it. And those where the days before the GST. Canadians older than 25 should remember those good old days lol. I still have the first tapes I ever made with it...Much Music Power Hour shows and lots of other 80s videos. That VCR died a long time ago but I still have over 1100 tapes packed with 80s and 90s stuff and I just bought a DVD record to see if I can copy as many as I can. I even recorded all the commercials on them back then even though all my friends and family complained about it. Now I am glad I did, because I find having the commercials adds a lot to the nostalgia when watching them.

My mother bought our first VCR back in 1984, the year before I was born. It was a Toshiba. Well, I am going to be 21 in May and the VCR still works! I am always joking that they just don't make 'em like they used to but they really don't. It belongs to my brothers now, who are older then me.

In 1988 I went to work for a friend who said if I lasted until Christmas he would buy me a VCR.  I lasted and he bought me a
Bronksonic that lasted about 10 years.

We got ours in time to see "Michael Jackson's Making of Thriller" on Beta so that was about 1983. I have no idea how much it cost, but I do know it was a front loader. My grandfather bought one at the same top and it was a top loader.

Forgot to add that mine was a top loader. It also had the longest remote control wire you've ever seen!

I remember that tapes got stuck in inside alot!

My dad bought a Beta VCR, I'm guessing around 1982 or 1983.  It was so cool!  8)

My family got a VCR sometime around 1979/1980.  It was enormous.

It was a top loader that had dials for tuning instead of buttons.  One for UHF and another for VHF.  I'm sure it cost a pretty penny.  The movie tapes in those days cost into the hundreds.  I specically remember buying JAWS on tape for nearly $150.


The following year my dad bought an early model video camera and had to buy a portable VCR to go along with it.  It was also a top loader with a battery pack that you wore on a belt.  The main VCR was carried on a shoulder strap and the camera plugged into the VCR unit.

Another thing we used to have to do when renting movies. . .

in the early 80s, the only place to rent a video movie was at the electronics store.  They required a $50-$100 deposit before renting.  Imagine Blockbuster today asking for a C-Note before you walked out of the store with a copy of "The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper."    :o

I miss those VCR's that had a pop up top thing. They seemed cooler, lol.

I remember us buying a top loading VHS, used, for like $400. I know we got some movies with too, one of them was Grease. My Dad then bought a Beta and also the VHS camera like the one mentioned earlier. Later on he bought a JVC VHS that had a corded remote. I remember mentioning that I didn't like this VCR. My dad said go buy your own damn VCR then. I shut up.

Since we had like 3 VCRs and most kids at school had one, I had a little business going. The kids would tell me what movies they wanted and then I would copy it for them. This was before the started putting Macrovision copy guard on the movies.

The first VCR my family had was a FISHER.(Does that company still exist?) anyway it was a huge model to me. To me it was just as exciting as having cable. I believed my mom paid $400 and change in January 1986. I remember the remote control had just 4 functions rewind, fast forward, play, and stop. To programmed the machine you had to set it manually which required you to press alot of buttons on the machine. I was the only one in my family who learned how to programmed the machine. It lasted about 5 years.
Speaking of VCRS , my father had a model that had a pop up loader for tapes. I assume it was an older  model from the early 80s he bought in '92. I forgot the name of the model(it was a big one) but what I remember the most was the blinking 12p.m. clock when you first turn it on and after you set the clock, I swear the light from the VCR seemed to illuminate the whole room with the lights off. :o

I got my first VCR in 1986, it was a Magnavox VHS, that I bought from a SILO appliance store. Both the VCR and Silo store are no longer around...my VCR was stolen in 1991, and Silo folded in the early 1990's, I think.

In my home we didn't get a VCR untill the 90's.

I can't remember what our very first VCR was, but from some old photos it also looks like it was a front loader. It was more bulky than they are today and it was like a brushed steel affect. We got a new one when we were robbed in 1989 and that was one of the items they stole. The one from 1989 is a Mitsibishi and we still have it, but it doesn't play very well.

We didn't get a VCR until the late 80s/early 90s if my memory serves.

Do you guys remember the only place to rent movies was at local mom and pop video rental stores and you had to join their "Lifetime" club for around $100 or so. I always kidded who's "lifetime" do you mean" Obviously it wasn't the members because most of those type of rental stores are out of business. We used to be able to rent movies at the grocery store but when movie rentals switched over from VHS to DVDs they stopped the rental department. We still do rent movies from a local video store but never had to pay a membership fee. The nearest blockbuster is 13 miles away and I haven't really thought about using Netflix even though I've heard good things about them. Where do you guys go to rent movies?

Do you guys remember the only place to rent movies was at local mom and pop video rental stores and you had to join their "Lifetime" club for around $100 or so. I always kidded who's "lifetime" do you mean" Obviously it wasn't the members because most of those type of rental stores are out of business. We used to be able to rent movies at the grocery store but when movie rentals switched over from VHS to DVDs they stopped the rental department. We still do rent movies from a local video store but never had to pay a membership fee. The nearest blockbuster is 13 miles away and I haven't really thought about using Netflix even though I've heard good things about them. Where do you guys go to rent movies?


I usually prefer the independent rental places which also rent CDs, games, as well as sell music memorabilia, T-shirts, posters, CDs, DVDs.etc. The range is much better, and there is a good selection of arthouse/foreign movies (though I haven't really made use of it).

I don't think my folks got one until the early '90s. I actually bought my own before they got one. I bought it at a hock shop in 1989 - and it was a piece of junk. It would always mess up in the middle of the movie. A year later I bought a brand-new one at the same hock shop. I had that one up until a couple of years ago.

I remember my family renting a lot of them, until we owned one in '86 or '87. Also, I remember renting movies from a bunch of different places. One mom and pop, two mainly electronic stories, groceries stores, The Circle K, and a mini Wal-Mart like store in a mall.

Wow, no you can go to Walmart and get one for around 30 or 40 bucks maybe less

We didn't get one until 1991.

Notice that the very few dedicated VCR's today sell for more than the average DVD player? In fact, don't know if they still sell VCR's, not including the VHS/DVD combos (one of which we've got). Might've stopped sometime last year.

I was about 16 or so when I got my first VCR - that would make it about 1985.  I had a job, but not enough money to just buy the VCR so I put it on lay-away and ended up paying close to $300 for it.  I always remember that because it was my first "major" purchase!

I remember that it was a huge ordeal to become a member at a video store back then.  Most around me also made you pay a deposit and there was a waiting list to put your name on for certain popular movies.  You might have to wait a week or so to finally get it.  And it was years until current movies came out on video.

Where I live now, there are no video stores.  If you want to rent a movie, you have to drive a little ways or join Netflix.

Wow...I feel, really, really old now!  :-\\

Wow, no you can go to Walmart and get one for around 30 or 40 bucks maybe less


Actually, right now, they're 90 bucks at Wal Mart. My wife recently bought a piece of exercise equipment that only came with a VHS tape; DVD not available. We've thrown out or have given away all our VHS machines except one that is in the family room (wanted to leave it there); so we needed one to hook up in the rec room where the exercise equip is. Anyway, a techno friend dubbed the tape to DVD and we got another DVD player for 40 bucks.

I remember the VCR I had was easy to program, but in order to tape anything, I had to also make sure my cable box was set to the channel I wanted to tape, which was really a headache because I could not watch one show while taping another. I don't think there were cable-ready VCR's in 1986.

Anyway mine eventually got stolen...