Missing VHS format
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
United States
June 2, 2009 2:41am CST
Ok I"m going to sound "old" for a minute or two here; as I know that Blue Ray is the latest and greatest of formats......
But honestly, I think if the movie industry can't cut their prices down on the dvd's I will stick with VHS especially for my kids. I'm sorry but my kids (oldest being 6yrs) toss the DVD's all over the place and they end up getting scratched to heck and then they are pretty much trashed. I can't see spending that kind of money on the newest releases to barely be able to watch them more than a handful of times. So if I see titles of interest at rummage sales for VHS movies I'll buy those. VHS format is so much more durable in my house! You'd literally have to smash it or for the tape to be worn out or caught in the machine for it to be destroyed. Get a few good scratches on a DVD & kiss it good bye!
I wish they'd put the conviences of DVD (like skipping to various chapters & no need to rewind) on a more viable format that would hold up to the wear and tear of kids.
4 responses
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
2 Jun 09
I know how you feel. My kids have been pretty rough on our DVDs too. At one point we owned like 80 DVDs. Mostly we'd buy them out of the $5 bin at Walmart. Half of them weren't even opened, but the kids found a way to get to them. Over time we'd go through and throw out the ones that were destroyed.
Right now we have maybe 20-30 DVDs. We keep the majority of them put away now, in our room where the little ones can't get to them.
We also find other ways of watching movies. I have a Blockbuster online account, where they ship the movies in the mail. I have the upgraded account so I can exchange the movies in the store too, because we watch movies almost everynight (we aren't into most of the stuff on TV). So because it's 1 monthly price I don't mind putting a movie on the queue that I've seen a hundred times.
I also borrow a lot of DVDs from the library. Normally I borrow ones that only the kids are interested in, that way they have something to watch while I'm busy doing stuff and there's nothing on TV.
This way not only do we get variety, but we also don't have DVDs sitting around the house to get destroyed.
I still buy some, usually from the $5 bin at Walmart, or from garage sales like you said. We also started a collection of Christmas DVD's this past year because those are hard to come by when renting.
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
2 Jun 09
I bought alot of the $5 ones. And I lucked out the day after "black friday" and found alot of the DVD's still marked down of more recent movies. I know one yr I got Shrek II for $3.
We don't care for alot of things on tv either. And most of what I like is on when it's bed time so I miss out. Though I need to see what of those I can find online to view since I don't have a DVR or TIVO. Not that I know when I'd get to watch them w/o the kids *LOL* Never winning.
Hubby just got off his tusher and put our VCR back in.... I couldn't see why he wouldn't do it sooner. We can't afford to keep replacing videos and we have plenty on vhs why not?
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
2 Jun 09
I forgot to add I do not borrow them from the library or video store as my kids will trash or loose those. A few yrs ago they lost a care bears movie case (found it under the springs in the couch! 
last year) the library charged me $3 for the case, good grief I have plenty of black cases they could just have!
Then a few months back we borrowed a Scooby-Doo movie from the library as well, guess what.... the movie disappeared out of the case before we ever watched it. I still haven't found the movie, so we turned in the case *sigh* yeah that was $26 F'n dollars for a movie that was $7.50 @ WM! 
So if we don't buy them I'm not bothering!
last year) the library charged me $3 for the case, good grief I have plenty of black cases they could just have!
Then a few months back we borrowed a Scooby-Doo movie from the library as well, guess what.... the movie disappeared out of the case before we ever watched it. I still haven't found the movie, so we turned in the case *sigh* yeah that was $26 F'n dollars for a movie that was $7.50 @ WM! So if we don't buy them I'm not bothering!@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
2 Jun 09
Geez, what kind of monsters are you raising? Just kidding.
Like I said, we keep ours up. I make sure they're put up the moment we get the movies in the house, I take them down to put in the DVD player and I put them back up. At no point are they within reach of the children. The older ones are supposed to do the same thing with their books. They don't always, but they're supposed to.
I'm also trying to teach them the importance of taking care of the stuff. The older ones are doing fine, and the 3 year old is getting the hang of it. He's started taking out his own books from the library.
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
2 Jun 09
DVDs are pretty fragile and so expensive! I remember VHS, I had tons of tapes for my kids and even when Jack found out how to open it up and pull on the tape I could fix it. Man, he had SO much fun with that discovery!! 
I can't see paying all the money for a DVD. First, when I see a movie--I've seen it, I'm done with it and watching it again is boring. Children like seeing stuff repeatedly, I know, but I don't so I don't buy DVDs.
Do you have children that would like the Kidsong series? My kids LOVED those! Lots of music and dancing and catchy songs, totally G rated and aimed toward kids six and under although my kids watched till they were 8. You could get some great deals on VHS. In fact, the songs are so good that my poor ex husband used to go around humming and singing "Today I took my Diapers Off"!
I can't see paying all the money for a DVD. First, when I see a movie--I've seen it, I'm done with it and watching it again is boring. Children like seeing stuff repeatedly, I know, but I don't so I don't buy DVDs.
Do you have children that would like the Kidsong series? My kids LOVED those! Lots of music and dancing and catchy songs, totally G rated and aimed toward kids six and under although my kids watched till they were 8. You could get some great deals on VHS. In fact, the songs are so good that my poor ex husband used to go around humming and singing "Today I took my Diapers Off"! @3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
2 Jun 09
I think I had a kidsong video and I don't think the kids cared for it at the time. But I'm sure it's still floating around in the basement.
I agree you can usually fix it when and if they discover they can pull out the tape from the movie. Sometimes you can fix the scraches on DVD's but the kits are like $40 and don't always work everytime.
Some day your X will be wearing diapers again so that tune will be valid again at some point ;0)
@lisa0502 (1724)
• Canada
3 Jun 09
I would have to agree. I do own many DVD's for my kids but they are limited on watching them in the living room. They do though have a few hundred VHS movies that they get to watch in their rooms. My youngest is 9 and they still do not treat the DVD's with total care. And I can not afford to be replacing them at any whim. Especially the Disney DVD's because they do not seem to drop in price for most of them.
