Watching Old Home Videotapes

[KraznorG 28]

Kind of curious how other people's families handled home videos. Last week I started going through the backups of VHS tapes my Dad made and it is some of the most surreal stuff I've encountered. Seeing yourself as a baby, VAGUELY remembering toys you played with when you were ultra young, seeing them new with the tags on them at a Christmas you don't remember. My Uncle who passed away when I was 11, alive on the screen. Seeing his mannerisms, hearing his voice again. Recognizing a table that your parents subsequently gave you and is right next to the screen it just appeared on, 27 years ago. 

 

Did your parents take a lot of video? Do you ever think about how your kids are going to feel about old social media accounts you made, videos you uploaded, songs you sang, podcasts you were on? Recent generations are probably getting more and more accustomed to seeing themselves in media so it isn't odd or unfamiliar anymore. Seeing these tapes from the late 80s, a lot of people are still clearly nervous about there being a camera on, but now almost everywhere you go someone is recording something on their smartphone, or Face-Timing, or what have you. Commonplace. I guess seeing a big, VHS camera is a bit different. So much more pronounced and in-your-face.

 

Anyway, rambling. Going to keep watching. Span nearly 20 years, maybe two dozen discs of video content? Did your parents do that or were mine weird? Ostensibly they were sending these to my cousins who lived across the country in Ontario at the time, so that was the justification. 

[Thuja 3,659]

My mum never really took any videos, just pictures.  I was very(and still am) camera shy, so there aren't very many pictures of me.  Maybe when I was a wee little thing but not as I grew older.  It's kind of funny to look back and see those pictures.

[CC_Maud_Pie 6,431]

My parents took a lot of pictures and videos of me when I was younger. There are videos in cassette and video tapes that I've watched that involve:

 

- Me as a toddler playing at home.

 

- Me playing soccer

 

- Some of my school days (preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary school) where parents came and filmed and took pictures of their kids.

 

- My trips to Disneyland that range from me being a toddler to an elementary school kid. Including one that was taken before California Adventure opened

 

- My trip to Walt Disney World in 2004

 

- My trip to Vancouver in 1999

 

- My childhood trip to Scotland in 2001 and seeing my grandparents, who are both dead now

 

- Some day trips to San Francisco, including one that was taken at the Metreon when it was themed after the book "Where the Wild Things Are".

 

- My birthday parties

 

And many more!

 

I've experiences a lot in life already.

Edited March 17, 2015 by CC_Maud_Pie

[TheJLeeTeam 914]

My parents have several home videos on VHS or DVD. Some of them include Disneyland vacation, trip to Hawaii, Birthday Parties, and plays I was in during elementary school.

[Cirrus. 1,089]

First of all let me say, "I HATE TAPES!!!"

 

I wish I could just snap my fingers and they would be digitized. I probably have literally MILES of tape (VHS, Digital 8, MiniDV, & HDV) to convert and archive.

 

We've always had the camera rolling through the years in my family. I do think of it as an investment. We've always used better than average equipment (updated with the times too.)

 

My grandpa died unexpectedly this past December at 89, so I'm very glad to have a lot of video of him. It's going to make going through the footage harder though. -_-

 

The funny thing is that my grandpa had ALL of his pictures/film reels, negatives, and videotapes organized. ALL of his digital pictures are burned on LABELED CD's! He did his own downloading/photoshopping/editing on the computer by himself (with my occasional tutoring) and would make discs to print pictures at the store up to the end. MOST people HALF his age don't even do that.

 

I'm finally just about ready in terms of equipment to get to work on processing all of that footage. The price per GB of storage is finally affordable- even more so as time goes on. I built a new computer a few months ago with plans to get working on it. Working full time and going to school makes getting motivated to do it a challenge though.

[SCS 7,537]

I don't remember how many videotapes my family has of things. I know we have a few but I haven't seen them in a long time. We do have many, many pictures though.

[Jonny Music 3,414]

My family still has a collection of VHS tapes of family memories and movies and such along with our DVD and Blu-ray collection in our home physical media library.

 

As for physical photos, I still have those in my house. Who knows how many there are.