(OT) Source for Small VHS Tapes

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tangerine3 14 years ago

I bought an older camcorder at a garage sale, for $3. Aside from having a weak battery, it appears to work fine when plugged in directly to the power unit. But it needs these small VHS tapes, which I think are called VHS-C (according to a website). It seems that no local stores sell these tapes anymore. Anyone know where to buy them? (Dont suggest ebay, I do my best to avoid ebay after getting far too many defective items and getting kicked in the ass with outrageous shipping prices).

This camcorder was made in 1998, so it's not that old. The plan is to record to tape, then transfer the video to my computer for digital saving. That way I really only need one or two tapes.

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Reed 14 years ago

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Bill Hall 14 years ago

Another of over 100 reasons NOT to by at "Rat Shack".. Their store, VHS-C tapes are over twice the price of others !! Needed several 2032 button batteries recently. They were on my way home . So stopped in. Over $6.00 for a single battery! Went to Big Box store; two pack of name brand batteries $2.49 >> Used to be the place for electronic parts, Ham gear, etc. They have gone to Hell in the proverbial Hand Basket .

Bill

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Stormin Mormon 14 years ago

RS lost my business, after I bought a cell phone there. And they never sent the $40 rebate.

I did go back one time, the kid half my age spent the entire contat trying to sell me on his brand of cell phone service.

Hope they spend my money nice and slow, it's got to last them.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Another of over 100 reasons NOT to by at "Rat Shack".. Their store, VHS-C tapes are over twice the price of others !! Needed several 2032 button batteries recently. They were on my way home . So stopped in. Over $6.00 for a single battery! Went to Big Box store; two pack of name brand batteries $2.49 >> Used to be the place for electronic parts, Ham gear, etc. They have gone to Hell in the proverbial Hand Basket .

Bill

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clare 14 years ago

For not much more than the cost of 2 vhs-c tapes and the $3 you have invested you can buy a sile digital video camera that will download DIRECTLY to the computer and give even better video quality.

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tangerine3 14 years ago

You got that right. $5 more than the other link. Granted I would not have to pay shipping, but that is just a ripoff.

Yea, RS was originally a place for hams and electronic hobbiests, but their parts have been reduced to a few small racks. Cellphones seem to be their big push lately, but that market will soon be flooded with sellers, if it's not already. About the only time I go to RS these days, is if I need a small part and need it now. Like a diode or something. In that case, I dont have to pay $5 to ship a 35 cent diode. Even if I have to pay $2 at RS to get it, I'm still ahead. I remember in the 90s when they sold computers that were twice the price of other stores and they they had their own OS, or was it an addon front end for Windows 3.x. Either way, they were not compatible with other computers. I bet their cellphones are designed to only get service from them, and at a hefty price.

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Steve Barker 14 years ago

think you can get along with amazon??

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tangerine3 14 years ago

Eventually I'll probably find a free or cheap digital camcorder, but this one will work for now. (What the heck is IEEE 1394 (Firewire) )? I've heard of firewire, but dont you need a special computer for that? I only have USB ports.

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John Grabowski 14 years ago

*To download analog video onto your hard drive you will need an internal video capture card in your computer or a USB external video capture device. A firewire port enables digital video to be downloaded directly into the computer. You will also need a large hard drive to store the video files as they can be quite big, but you can purchase an external hard drive for that.

I seem to recall seeing a HD digital camcorder at Costco in the $200.00 - $300.00 price range.

VHS is the lowest quality video format.

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Art Todesco 14 years ago

Actually, I picked up a JVC Picsio camera new for about $70!. I does stills and HD videos. It plugs directly into the USB (2.0) port on the computer. Here' 2 short examples that I shot using it:

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and

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. It amazes me what it can do. And it can slip into you shirt pocket easily. Yes, it's not a true camcorder with an optical zoom lens, but it was only $70 and soooooo convenient. But be aware that if you computer doesn't have enough horsepower, the video will probably stutter. That happens with my older XP laptop, but not with a newer dual core Windows 7 machine.

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