Major purge of VHS tapes

I moved here to Australia over 15 years ago -- and am finally going through my file boxes of (U.S. format) VHS videotapes.  Have so far gone through five boxes; kept 1 box's worth, binned 4.  I think I have about six more boxes to go.

They've been under our baby grand piano all this time, so not really in the way -- but I just figured "Eh", and started doing it.

(Related note:  I'm on vacation this week, as is The Lady.  We were going to do a great big de-cluttering, and send a bunch of things to the thrift stores -- except  that due to the C-19 situation, all the thrift stores are closed.  We're still going to do the de-cluttering -- but I really hate to just throw away a bunch of useful stuff.  Maybe just put it in bags, and pile it under the carport...?)

Have tossed a bunch of tapes of t.v. shows that I taped off the air:  Greatest American Hero, Wonder Woman, Ed (bowling alley lawyer, from Stuckybowl), Friends, Seinfeld, Smallviille, Dark Angel, and a bunch of episodes of the Jon Stewart show (back when he was a talk show host, not a political commentator). Figured that anything that I could get on DVD -- but haven't yet -- means that I'm apparently not interested.  And some of them (e.g. Friends) I already have on DVD, anyhow.

I had also taped segments of talk shows (e.g. Letterman) that had interviews with people I was interested in, or performances by bands I like:  I can probably find most of those on YouTube, if I liked -- and I never went back and re-watched those, so:  bin.

I also found a few "personal" videotapes -- e.g. a music video that Guitar Cousin and I shot, circa 1991, for one of his songs -- and also a music video I did for a song I wrote for my girlfriend at the time (The Great Green Bean - TGGB).  Also two tapes shot by a guy that Old Roommate and I briefly roomed with (or maybe **I** shot them, using his camcorder?  The notes on the tape don't say).

Unfortunately, I can't watch any of them here (in Australia):  in addition to no longer having a VHS player (our last one broke around 2006; haven't bothered to purchase a new one), the US and AU have different video systems -- and it would be really hard to find a U.S.-format player around here.  So I'll just wait until my next visit to Seattle.

And, I found a few videotapes of movies, as well as music videos (I used to belong to a "music videos of the month" kind of service, where I'd get a "mix tape" of music videos on videotape: we didn't have cable, and thus no MTV).  I haven't decided what to do with the tapes music videos yet:  some would be available on YouTube, but not all of them.  I'll probably keep them for now, and review them again in another few years (in total, they'll be less than one file box).

But the movies -- sadly -- are going in the bin:  none of them are rare, and I suspect that even most impoverished people these days (in Australia) have DVD players rather than video players:  so a VHS copy of "Singing in the Rain" or "It's a Wonderful Life" won't be in demand:  not worth saving for a year, then suitcasing back to the U.S. to donate to a thrift store.  But, I'm thinking of keeping the VHS copy of "This is Spinal Tap" -- just for the cover.  I'll display it on a shelf -- or maybe bring it in to work (when I go back to work -- rather than working from home!!!).


--GG


P.S.

The Difference Between NTSC and PAL
NTSC stands for National Television Standards Committee. PAL stands for Phase Alternating Line. NTSC is the standard broadcast format in the United States, while PAL is the standard broadcast format in Europe, Australia, and parts of Asia.

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Most people will not be able to easily tell the difference between NTSC and PAL. The main difference starts with the electrical power system that runs behind the color transmissions. In the United States, electrical power is generated at 60 hertz. The signal behind the NTSC broadcast format is set to send out 60 fields per second. Most televisions use a interlaced system, so the NTSC signal sends out 30 lines of the image, followed by another 30 alternating lines. Basically, that results in 30 frames of a complete image appearing every single second.

In Europe and other countries, electrical power is generated at 50 hertz. Televisions that utilize PAL as the broadcast format only produce 25 frames of a complete image appearing every single second. This causes problems with the proper display of motion, as it makes actors move a bit faster because of the difference in frames per second that are showing movement. If you are trying to watch a PAL movie on a NTSC television, you need to add 5 frames per second, or the motion of the film will be very jerky or slow.

Resolution Quality

The other main difference between NTSC and PAL is resolution quality. While PAL produces fewer frames per second than NTSC, it produces more lines. An NTSC television will broadcast 525 lines of resolution, while a PAL television will broadcast 625 lines of resolution.

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(Source: http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/how-tos/buying-selling/the-difference-between-ntsc-and-pal.html)
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