Man Catalogues His VHS Tape Collection

[Arthur Pringle]

Sorry I couldn't think of a more interesting title for this thread, but thought the blog below would bring back some memories for anyone who taped tv in the 80's & 90's.

"I've got around 3000 VHS tapes sitting in boxes in my garage. I'm archiving them one by one. This is a blog listing what's on each tape. In unnecessary detail"

vhistory.wordpress.com/2017/01/

[Windy Miller]

That is quite a mammoth sized project you have there Arthur. It will be a magnificent archive when completed.
What are the oldest recordings that you have?  I was looking if I could do a search by date on your blog.

[Vienna]

Interesting, Arthur. I suspect quite a few people have got TV programmes from this time that they recorded on video tape and then stored away in their garages etc. I used to record lots of things in the eighties/nineties on VHS, particularly The Twilight Zone on Channel 4, but I never considered keeping them once DVD arrived at the end of the last century. I suppose if it's rare than Kaleidoscope might be interested in it. 

Vi

[Arthur Pringle]

Apologies for the confusion lads, it's not my collection, it's a blog I just happened to come across earlier today

I do still have some VHS tapes from tv recordings though, a couple of hundred tapes. I used to have a lot more but they were seized about 20 years ago by the Trading Standards. Long story but I used to sell tapes from a small ad in a horror film magazine called 'The Dark Side' & unbeknownst to me, I sold a tape of what used to be called 'video nasties' to a Trading Standards officer who had replied to my ad.
Next thing you know I was subjected to a dawn raid by 3 officers & a local copper, most of my tape collection ( which was 95% tv stuff, nothing sinister ) was seized never to be seen again. Went to court, got a £1,000 fine & community service. The whole thing was a grim experience that I never saw coming, as far as I was concerned I was just selling films & tv shows to fellow film fans, but the powers that be took a very different view & threw the book at me.

[Steve Austin]

Jan 12, 2017 19:54:19 GMT Arthur Pringle said:

Apologies for the confusion lads, it's not my collection, it's a blog I just happened to come across earlier today

I do still have some VHS tapes from tv recordings though, a couple of hundred tapes. I used to have a lot more but they were seized about 20 years ago by the Trading Standards. Long story but I used to sell tapes from a small ad in a horror film magazine called 'The Dark Side' & unbeknownst to me, I sold a tape of what used to be called 'video nasties' to a Trading Standards officer who had replied to my ad.
Next thing you know I was subjected to a dawn raid by 3 officers & a local copper, most of my tape collection ( which was 95% tv stuff, nothing sinister ) was seized never to be seen again. Went to court, got a £1,000 fine & community service. The whole thing was a grim experience that I never saw coming, as far as I was concerned I was just selling films & tv shows to fellow film fans, but the powers that be took a very different view & threw the book at me.

I'd have thought you'd have learnt your lesson from the Tiger video debacle   

[Dirty Epic]

Jan 12, 2017 20:06:33 GMT Steve Austin said:

Jan 12, 2017 19:54:19 GMT Arthur Pringle said:

Apologies for the confusion lads, it's not my collection, it's a blog I just happened to come across earlier today

I do still have some VHS tapes from tv recordings though, a couple of hundred tapes. I used to have a lot more but they were seized about 20 years ago by the Trading Standards. Long story but I used to sell tapes from a small ad in a horror film magazine called 'The Dark Side' & unbeknownst to me, I sold a tape of what used to be called 'video nasties' to a Trading Standards officer who had replied to my ad.
Next thing you know I was subjected to a dawn raid by 3 officers & a local copper, most of my tape collection ( which was 95% tv stuff, nothing sinister ) was seized never to be seen again. Went to court, got a £1,000 fine & community service. The whole thing was a grim experience that I never saw coming, as far as I was concerned I was just selling films & tv shows to fellow film fans, but the powers that be took a very different view & threw the book at me.

I'd have thought you'd have learnt your lesson from the Tiger video debacle   

Scotch tapes? :lol:

[Dirty Epic]

Sad to hear your experience Art. 3,000 tapes is a massive archive. Know how fraught sorting this sort of stuff is and hope you get it all sorted mate.

[Vienna]

Jan 12, 2017 19:54:19 GMT Arthur Pringle said:

Apologies for the confusion lads, it's not my collection, it's a blog I just happened to come across earlier today

I do still have some VHS tapes from tv recordings though, a couple of hundred tapes. I used to have a lot more but they were seized about 20 years ago by the Trading Standards. Long story but I used to sell tapes from a small ad in a horror film magazine called 'The Dark Side' & unbeknownst to me, I sold a tape of what used to be called 'video nasties' to a Trading Standards officer who had replied to my ad.
Next thing you know I was subjected to a dawn raid by 3 officers & a local copper, most of my tape collection ( which was 95% tv stuff, nothing sinister ) was seized never to be seen again. Went to court, got a £1,000 fine & community service. The whole thing was a grim experience that I never saw coming, as far as I was concerned I was just selling films & tv shows to fellow film fans, but the powers that be took a very different view & threw the book at me.

Actually Arthur, I thought you were talking about someone else so I wasn't confused  myself  

[Del Boy]

Jan 12, 2017 19:54:19 GMT Arthur Pringle said:

Apologies for the confusion lads, it's not my collection, it's a blog I just happened to come across earlier today

I do still have some VHS tapes from tv recordings though, a couple of hundred tapes. I used to have a lot more but they were seized about 20 years ago by the Trading Standards. Long story but I used to sell tapes from a small ad in a horror film magazine called 'The Dark Side' & unbeknownst to me, I sold a tape of what used to be called 'video nasties' to a Trading Standards officer who had replied to my ad.
Next thing you know I was subjected to a dawn raid by 3 officers & a local copper, most of my tape collection ( which was 95% tv stuff, nothing sinister ) was seized never to be seen again. Went to court, got a £1,000 fine & community service. The whole thing was a grim experience that I never saw coming, as far as I was concerned I was just selling films & tv shows to fellow film fans, but the powers that be took a very different view & threw the book at me.

Blimey you certainly copped it. 
Shame you didn't get your tapes back that was a bit naughty of them.

[Charles Bronson]

The  trouble with VHS tapes of course was that deteriorated over time, and they took up too much space. I used to tape stuff myself but nowhere near that extent. I still have a few in the loft myself, I will have to have a sort out, one of these days. I might have something I'd like to transfer to a DVD. I know I transferred one or two to DVD's years ago. I think they were just film documentaries.

I used to record a lot of stuff on my DVD recorder, mostly films. I have them in DVD folders in a spare room upstairs where my desktop computer is situated. I have proper DVD sets and books on shelves up there. I really will have to catalogue the DVD's in the folders sometime so I can lay hands on them without having undergo lengthy searches.
I've got quite a lot of them really, but I've not recorded any thing for quite few years now. They were just for my own use not to sell or anything.

Bob Monkhouse as we know, was fanatical about recording stuff, which has turned out to a great thing. He had stuff that would never have seen the light of day again. 

Charles.