What should I do with all my videos?

[hairykrishna]

I've got well over a hundred old VHS tapes. I'm moving in January and, as I haven't watched any of them in about 5 years, I'm going to get rid. It seems a shame to chuck them all in a skip, they're worthless on eBay and the charity shop I asked wasn't interested as nobody buys them any more. Anyone got any ideas?

[V8mate]

They really are worthless.

My sister runs some charity shops; I think they sell them at a rate of 5 for a £1 and they still take forever to shift.

Down the tip!

[Brigand]

I suppose theres no choice but to bin them really.

Any you really like could be converted to digital and saved on a PC, but like you said, you'll struggle to shift them or even give them away.

Just gotta be ruthless and get rid, there may be a pang of guilt, but you'll feel better off without them cluttering the house up.

[hairykrishna]

Brigand said:

Any you really like could be converted to digital and saved on a PC, but like you said, you'll struggle to shift them or even give them away.

Even that seems pointless really - none are particularly rare so it's generally easier to just download them than go through the rigmarole of feeding them into my PC.

Oh well, bin it is unless someone comes up with a better idea.

[PaulG40]

Had a load stored in my parents loft, ended up just getting binned.

I still had PC games up there too in there boxes from the days when you had 9 odd floppy discs for the full game. Ended up binning them too.

[Jasandjules]

Freecycle?

[TimJMS]

If I had a multifuel burner, I might be tempted to feed them into it over a number of nights.

100 VHS tapes has got to be worth a good few KW of heat.

[Buff Mchugelarge]

Unreel them and do a beautiful streamer affect down your nearest motorway.
OR..

Tie the tape to your old front door and then drive to your new house. A kind of breadcrumb, tape reel thing.

[Oakey]

Same as your DVD's, bin them

[youngsyr]

Just trying to think of places that might have a VHS player and a use for free videos:

- Old people's home?
- Schools?

[Meeja]

youngsyr said:

Just trying to think of places that might have a VHS player and a use for free videos:

- Old people's home?
- Schools?

You'd probably struggle to find a VHS player in a school these days.

At my son's school, they watch video content in the classroom (rather than the "TV room" that existed when I was a child about a hundred years ago!) on an interactive whiteboard.

All clever stuff.

[anonymous-user]

There is a film/TV prop store in West London (can't remember the name, only went the once) who have shelves and shelves of this sort of stuff.....obsolete technology.....old phones, mobiles and PCs, office equipment, catering stuff, transport tech.....everything and anything where the chuck-awayness of it means this stuff often vanishes without being missed.
They also hoard loads of what we would call junk ready for the day that it too becomes retro.
Maybe give/sell it all to them?

[hairykrishna]

OAP home's a good idea. I don't think, even if the school had something as archaic as a video player, they'd be interested in a load of films would they?

[Pesty]

youngsyr said:

Just trying to think of places that might have a VHS player and a use for free videos:

- Old people's home?
- Schools?

Still find them now and again in the odd hospital but they are usualy in storeroom gathering dust.

[Rich_W]

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&amp...

Copy them to DVD if they're rare. If not chuck them all. Making sure you recycle the paper and plastic of the box.

[Dracoro]

Put the whole lot on eBay as a single lot.

99p starting bid. Collection ONLY (let them know what area you are).

Wait and see what happens. Worst case scenario you've paid 20p or whatever for the ad.

Even if someone only bids the 99p, it's worth it just to save the hassle of taking them down to the skip!

[Morningside]

Crossflow Kid said:

There is a film/TV prop store in West London (can't remember the name, only went the once) who have shelves and shelves of this sort of stuff.....obsolete technology.....old phones, mobiles and PCs, office equipment, catering stuff, transport tech.....everything and anything where the chuck-awayness of it means this stuff often vanishes without being missed.
They also hoard loads of what we would call junk ready for the day that it too becomes retro.
Maybe give/sell it all to them?

Sounds interesting.

Dracoro said:

Put the whole lot on eBay as a single lot.

99p starting bid. Collection ONLY (let them know what area you are).

Wait and see what happens. Worst case scenario you've paid 20p or whatever for the ad.

Even if someone only bids the 99p, it's worth it just to save the hassle of taking them down to the skip!

I did that with my 70+ eight track recordings. In the end they sold for about £30. Not a lot of money but it gave them a new life.

As for copying to DVD what a waste of time that was. I had 300+ VHS recordings and decided to copy them to DVD using the (then new) Phillips DVD recorder. Cost me a damn lot of money when they first came out.

Trouble is for longer recording I found the encryption combined with longer times made them totally unwatchable.

Do you have any rare ones like early 80s horror?

[hairykrishna]

Nothing rare, unfortunately. Completed listings on eBay seem to be full of job lots of videos that didn't sell. Worth trying a no reserve auction anyway though I suppose.

[Famous Graham]

TimJMS said:

If I had a multifuel burner, I might be tempted to feed them into it over a number of nights.

100 VHS tapes has got to be worth a good few KW of heat.

I wouldn't advise it without some care. Unless you're Emsman.

Tape is extremely flammable.

[TimJMS]

If I was Emsman, I'd shovel them in 5 at a time