We were not a well off family as such,but my father always bought the latest gadgets.We had our first Betamax about 1979,it was a big hulking thing,and it cost something like £250,then.Quite a lot for the time,and the videos to go with it i think started at something stupid like £20 each.I have still got all our recordings we made on these tapes and one of the old BMV of my fathers knocking about in the attic,last time i looked it still worked.Got lots of good 80's movies on them,if only i could play them still.

Hi Schmungo, yeah we hade Beta as well, all my mates backed the winning hoss, VHS, but I remember the smaller vids were slightly better quality. And the first film we ever got to rent, in about 80-81, was the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (we were way too young but this was well before classifications came in for vids)
The 2nd film was the man top left "Dirty Harry"

Yes,us to.To tell you the truth i was only 9 in 1980,but,you name it i watched all those so called banned,video nasties.I used to sit up,not too late,went to bed before 10pm,with my parents,but my older brother would make excuses to leave the room to go to his bed,scared of them.

Same here, Beta-max in 1980, my parents let me watch anything. Same as you Ian, first videos I watched were Dirty Harry and Texas chainsaw massacre.........Driller Killer

Big sellers now if you have working models. I've bought and sold some betamax horrors on ebay.  Got some good money for them. Specially the uncut horrors that were released before the DPP got hold of them.
Most now are on dvd from the states. But there is still a few collectors of the beta out there.

Marc, do you think that VHS (films/format) will eventually become collectible? Threw a shit load of movies away the other day, as they're virtually worthless at the moment - 500 were going for a BIN of £12.99 on the bay a few weeks ago...

We didn't buy a video player until 1988 (it was a VHS one and my dad was never great with techy stuff anyway), but my Uncle Ali in London had a Betamax player in the '80s.  I remember seeing it in his lounge and he even brought it over to our house in Blackburn in '86.  We rented out Rocky 3 and a martial arts flick called Sharmen The Drunken whatever.  It had an opening theme tune worthy of Lalo Schifrin.  My uncle even brought First Blood over, but we never got to watch it (we saw it back at his place in 1988 anyway before he, my aunt and my cousins went abroad).  He was a huge action nut, but he loved musicals, romance and sci-fi, too.
My earliest memories of our VHS player is when my brother taped Police Academy 2, Prisoner : Cell Block H and Neighbours.  We used to tape The Incredible Hulk as well, when ITV repeated it every Saturday evening in spring 1989.

Sadly VHS recorders where a new fangled idea on Tomorrows World when I was growing up, all I had was a very good memory and a vivid imagination, bought my first Pansonic VHS recorder in 1981 it cost me £600 then, top of the range model , and I still have some of the tv progs and films I recorded on tape in boxes stored away, I just cant bring myself to chuck them .

My mother still has a few betamax players,pick them up at car boots for spares and loads of blank tapes and films too,the one we had first is still going strong i believe,and the first films we saw was the thing,great at the time,still a good film now.

The people we used to babysit for had a betamax - a huge machine... Top loader too. They had this contraption that clipped onto the top that would eject a full video cassette and then slide a new one in automatically. I remember them using this to record the original Band Aid concert on 4 videos...
  
  
I also remember watching 'Nightmares In A Damaged Brain' on it, which I think was the first film to be labelled a 'Video Nasty'.

My mother still has a few betamax players,pick them up at car boots for spares and loads of blank tapes and films too,the one we had first is still going strong i believe,and the first films we saw was the thing,great at the time,still a good film now.

-collywolly

Scotch video tapes

Sony Promotional Video for the VERY FIRST Betamax!!1975