• @[email protected]
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      3023 days ago

      My family was pretty poor growing up, but we had cable. Back in the day there would occasionally be free weekends of Disney Channel, HBO and the like. Whenever there was one of those free weekends, my parents would buy a super long blank VHS tape and record hours of random movies. So for years every movie that I watched had an 800 number that would pop up every few minutes asking you to call and subscribe.

      • @[email protected]
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        1123 days ago

        The more things change, the more they stay the same i guess. Sounds like just anout every streaming service out there today.

      • @[email protected]
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        823 days ago

        My dad would rent movies from blockbuster then set up the camcorder on a tripod to film the movie off the TV. It was always a big to-do since we all had to be quiet so we didn’t ruin the recording…

        • @LookBehindYouNowAndThen
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          523 days ago

          I’m going to assume you’re joking so I don’t go outside and scream into the middle distance.

          • @[email protected]
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            423 days ago

            The motivation combined with the complete lack of understanding of the tech is certainly interesting.

          • @[email protected]
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            222 days ago

            Jus make sure to close the blinds on the way out. Otherwise, there will be a glare on the screen.

    • @renrenPDX
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      823 days ago

      That’s what you get for recording in SP.

        • @doingthestuff
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          123 days ago

          I think we used a different term for it, so maybe that’s a regional abbreviation. But I’m thinking they were talking about the recording quality/speed. I remember there being two options, one gave you twice as many hours but the quality was lower.

          • @HomerianSymphony
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            623 days ago

            From memory, SP was standard play, LP was long play, and SLP was super long play.

            You could get 6 hours on a tape with SLP, but only 2 hours on SP.

    • @doingthestuff
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      423 days ago

      This is the movie I thought of also. My copy was also from TV, but I did have it all on one tape with the exception that we were missing the first three or four minutes of the movie. Even today when I catch the beginning of the movie, I smile a little thinking of all the times I didn’t get to watch that.

      Hey you guys!!!

  • Xanthrax
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    3323 days ago

    I had the same thing with video games. My dad got a free promotional copy of Morrowind from Fry’s. I didn’t have a computer/ laptop, but every summer, my dad would let me use his on our road trips. That game made me want to learn so much about anthropology, biology, history, mythology, etc… I played for hundreds of hours and never even came close to finishing.

    • @[email protected]
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      1423 days ago

      Morrowind is one of my favorites of all time. I was into nag champa incense at the time, and so that smell will always remind me of Morrowind. Singing about the ambiance of Morrowind was kinda incense-y anyway, so it was the perfect combo

      • Xanthrax
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        23 days ago

        I love nag champa! The og smells so sweet, and the ashes are pretty/ easy to clean. I always think of headshops, though lol. They taught me the bottle trick, though. I like to use a key ring to hold the insence upside down in a glass bottle. It’s super clean.

    • @[email protected]
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      1123 days ago

      never even came close to finishing.

      It is an Elder Scrolls game, you don’t finish those, the existence of the main quest is merely a theoretical thing from myth and legend.

    • @Soup
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      723 days ago

      My dad got a PS2 when I was six. There was Jak and Daxter, and there was Colin McRae Rally. Later I also ended up with Sly Cooper.

      I didn’t have many friends to compare with so that was what I played. Everyone else played Crash Bandicoot, Pokémon, Mario games, etc. and I was like “have you heard about Ratchet and Clank”? Those series eventually got more popular but no one I knew had them at the time.

      • Xanthrax
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        123 days ago

        I had Sly as well! The soundtrack was awesome.

  • @Hobo
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    3123 days ago

    Me and the other Brave Little Toaster kids ended up a bit weird.

    • arthurpizza
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      823 days ago

      Her character in the Waterboy was it for me.

    • @ThunderWhiskers
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      323 days ago

      Heh heh this guy was feeling light as a feather and stiff as a board!

  • @Evrala
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    2222 days ago

    Short Circuit and Flight of the Navigator. Had them both on one tape and I’d sit down and watch it all in one sitting.

  • @dessimbelackis
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    2123 days ago

    And it was recorded off the tv so you had to fast forward through commercials about clap-on clap-off lights

    • @nepenthes
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      422 days ago

      And the beginning of films were cut off. Big Trouble in Little China starts at the poker table for me-- I never realized Jack Burton (😍) had a monologue at the start.

    • @Chekhovs_Gun
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      322 days ago

      My dad would pause the recording when commercials started and resumed recording when the commercials ended. It was funny when he was 15 sec late on both accounts lol.

  • @Poppa_Mo
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    1923 days ago

    Uncle Buck Great movie.

    • @Hobo
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      523 days ago

      When I was a kid I wanted to grow up to be uncle Buck. Unfortunately my brother took that position (down to driving a shit car that randomly backfires) and I’m just a normal dude 😕

  • @[email protected]
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    1822 days ago

    And I’m actively trying to go back to that. I ripped all of our old DVDs and Blurays and cancelled most of our streaming services. I told my kids that we can buy pretty much anything they want (so they don’t miss out), provided it’s not an exclusive.

    The net result is that my kids really like Clue (1985) and Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008).

    • @nomous
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      1122 days ago

      my kids really like Clue (1985)

      One of the best movies ever so that speaks pretty well to their tastes.

        • @nomous
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          322 days ago

          It has a great cast overall but he definitely carries the movie, just like most things he’s in.

          • @[email protected]
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            322 days ago

            Yup, once they’re a little older, I’ll introduce them to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, it’s fantastic.

    • The Picard ManeuverOP
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      622 days ago

      You’re raising them right. Lol

      Do you have the ripped movies on a Plex server or something that’s easy for them to use?

      • @[email protected]
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        22 days ago

        Yup, Jellyfin. Unfortunately, my youngest kept watching even after I said no, so it’s locked behind a passcode. But when it’s watching time, I unlock it and let them pick. We have some Pokemon seasons, Studio Ghibli animations, and a bunch of other kid-friendly shows and movies for them to choose from.

        • The Picard ManeuverOP
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          322 days ago

          That’s awesome. This is my next project. I want my kids to have a library of movies/shows that I’ve personally curated, instead of letting them loose on a handful of streaming services.

          • @[email protected]
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            322 days ago

            Do it! It’s a bit tedious to rip everything, but you can always “rip” things by looking up whatever you need on the internet from less… copyright approved sources, which can help to seed the collection.

            We happened to have a bunch of movies and shows, so I went ahead and ripped everything, and I ended up buying a Bluray drive and flashing open firmware onto it to rip those properly as well.

            • The Picard ManeuverOP
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              222 days ago

              I’m planning to combine this project with learning how to set up a Linux machine (thanks Lemmy) as the media server and local backup storage for pictures/videos. Might as well learn how to do some safe sailing at the same time, I suppose.

              • @virku
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                322 days ago

                Check out the servarr stack + jellyseerr for your sailing activities. It is very nice to have one ui to search in then everything is sorted and just appears in jellyfin when it is ready! I set it up on a home server running TrueNAS recently. The only thing i might have done differently is run proxmox as os and set up a TrueNAS as a VM for my storage needs instead.

            • @virku
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              122 days ago

              Do you by any chance use AppleTV to watch jellyfin media? If so what app do you use? I couldn’t get the only jellyfin app I was able to find to install for some reason.

              • @[email protected]
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                222 days ago

                No, just the app on my smart TV (LG). I’m considering getting a “dumb” TV to replace it, at which point I’ll probably use a Raspberry Pi instead.

    • Flying Squid
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      421 days ago

      My daughter liked both of those a lot.

      But then she also really loves Forbidden Zone and Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

      She’s a weird kid. Like her mom and dad.

  • @ansiz
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    1822 days ago

    I had an aunt with the Disney channel and HBO that recorded almost everything. It was like a home video store at her house, probably hundreds of tapes that she let friends and family borrow. She have me a spare copy of the Disney animated Robin Hood with all the animals and I must have watched it a hundred times.

    • @[email protected]
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      22 days ago

      My great aunt had 101 Dalmations. Just that film. Every time we visited, we would just sit there for an hour watching it. Over and over. It was great.

    • @Chekhovs_Gun
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      322 days ago

      My “rich” aunt (relative to my family) had a laserdisc player. I would watch the Disney Robin Hood, as well as Star Wars and Star Trek The Motion Picture.

  • @MacGuffin94
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    1623 days ago

    Surf ninjas. It was the best kind of b movie fever dream.

  • @brap
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    1523 days ago

    Several dozen? Rookie numbers.

    • @candybrie
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      323 days ago

      Yeah. My VCR TV would automatically rewind and start playing again. I have no idea how many times some of those tapes were played but it definitely broke 100.