Of the video tapes I’m getting rid of I’m finding things that I recorded a decade or more ago and thinking, “oh, I should play this while I’m cleaning today…this was a fun movie.” Then I pop it in and hear this muddled sound and fuzzy, blurred picture and think, “what the hell were we thinking back then. The quality of the recording is unwatchable crap!”

My expectation of picture quality has changed radically. I haven’t been much of a television watcher since the 1980s, but still enjoyed movies and certain programming. But gosh, I can’t believe how easy we have it in the digital age! Pictures are razor sharp, the audio doesn’t require acute attention to decipher what is being said. This video tape was the audio/visual equivalent of eating overly hydrated tapioca. All mush, no substance.

The pre-recorded ones aren’t so bad. I might even watch one of those later tonight. But the ones I taped off cable are amazingly useless today. Out of curiosity I might have to pop in one of the tapes my brother gave me. It’s third generation dub recorded originally from an off the air broadcast of a BBC program. It’ll be curious to see if I can even make out an accent or the bad teeth.

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