Getting A Physical, Staying In Control

*** This post officially marks a new format, which will now be known as Jasimo_Discman — formerly known as ‘Jasimo’s Blog’. Changes to this site will occur randomly for a short period. I write short summaries about physical media, which is making a comeback in the 2020s. Be sure to visit my Instagram account for more content! ***

Pictured here is a bulky looking Panasonic Omnivision 4-head VCR manufactured in November of 1999. Sitting in a dark room, the VHS tapes are sitting on top of it — the ones you would find at a thrift store. These days, you could be looking at $200 or up for a used gadget like this, plus a broken remote. I figured I would start a no-frills video lab and examine some old-school relics simply by watching them. If only I can get the darn Vizio TV from 2016 set up to original 4×3 aspect ratio…

We know that inflation is getting very serious all across the board now, and gathering physical content requires financial resources. I am lucky to have a charity thrift store some twelve miles away that sells plenty of used VHS and DVD ‘clutter’ for chump change. Not to be outdone, I have a healthy collection of 4K movie discs for futureproofing.

The only downside collecting old thrift store videotapes is zero availability of horror, macho-man action and anything cult-related that would be sold at speciality video shops in big cities — at least that’s my experience. They sell for higher sticker prices, and they’re still used copies in variable condition. When in doubt, investigate Ebay for some dealbreakers.

So, if you’re near a thrift store with a giant selection at economically sound prices, you might as well take advantage of it right now. Even DVDs can go for only a buck and still run on high end 4K disc players — be sure to clean them first, and watch for signs of disc rot. Should you want a 4K copy of the same title in the near future, I would still hang on to that old legacy copy as there’s possible historical value, another reason to break into physical media over streaming services that have conned consumers.