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Old enough to remember this? (1978) (Original Post) Omaha Steve Mar 9 OP
Absolutely! And they cost a small fortune back then. paleotn Mar 9 #1
News to me, I wasn't aware they were that early. I thought about 1982. bucolic_frolic Mar 9 #2
We got ours in 1978 synni Mar 9 #10
And the movies were about $129 as I recall from the early 80s /nt bucolic_frolic Mar 9 #11
I remember JoseBalow Mar 9 #3
I had a Quasar VCR a few years later nuxvomica Mar 9 #4
I got my first one in 1982 and it cost me $800 which I saved and paid for with my own money! kimbutgar Mar 9 #5
The good old days, when John McEnroe was on tv, winning :-) spooky3 Mar 9 #6
I went with Beta Max Ferryboat Mar 9 #7
Me too, 1982 Itchinjim Mar 9 #9
I remember those. Different Drummer Mar 9 #8
That is $4,850.00 in today's money LudwigPastorius Mar 10 #12
Yup. OldBaldy1701E Mar 10 #13
I had a Zenith, it was actually a rebadged Sony. boonecreek Mar 10 #14

paleotn

(20,287 posts)
1. Absolutely! And they cost a small fortune back then.
Sun Mar 9, 2025, 07:54 PM
Mar 9

Around $5K in today's money. Not a trivial purchase. But it was a status symbol. Like the brick sized cellphone would be about 10 years later.

bucolic_frolic

(49,963 posts)
2. News to me, I wasn't aware they were that early. I thought about 1982.
Sun Mar 9, 2025, 07:59 PM
Mar 9

And I thought BetaMax was first. Oh well.

nuxvomica

(13,268 posts)
4. I had a Quasar VCR a few years later
Sun Mar 9, 2025, 08:04 PM
Mar 9

It cost about $500 and the cassettes were the size of a college dictionary. I haven't seen better image quality in tape or digital since.

kimbutgar

(24,906 posts)
5. I got my first one in 1982 and it cost me $800 which I saved and paid for with my own money!
Sun Mar 9, 2025, 08:32 PM
Mar 9

My ex husband was furious I brought it and several times threatened to throw it off our deck when I didn’t cook dinner fast enough because I was watching my favorite all my children soap opera. When I finally split from him a few years later he was mad I took it when I moved out ! It was the first thing I put in my car when I left him !

LudwigPastorius

(12,270 posts)
12. That is $4,850.00 in today's money
Mon Mar 10, 2025, 01:07 AM
Mar 10

…all so you could see that episode of Laverne & Shirley you would have missed.

OldBaldy1701E

(7,707 posts)
13. Yup.
Mon Mar 10, 2025, 07:28 AM
Mar 10

I owned my first VCR in 1989. I could not afford one before then. I also got cable that year. It was the first time I could afford that as well.

But, I remember seeing them in the store. No one I knew had one at the time. Way too expensive for farmers and mechanics.

boonecreek

(858 posts)
14. I had a Zenith, it was actually a rebadged Sony.
Mon Mar 10, 2025, 02:44 PM
Mar 10

Bought it from a friend who needed money. Paid him $500.00 which looks like a
bargain compared to that ad. I remember the cassettes were expensive, about $25.00
apiece. Oh yeah, it was a Beta.

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