I'm an "Old School" trader from the late 1980's onward (So "Old School", I did BETA originally) and I'm considering getting back into trading after a few years. I have a collection of older quality recordings from film transfers (1st to 3rd generation) and TV recordings (off-airs to 2nd generation),done at SP VHS, SP VHS Hi-Fi,and SP Super-VHS with More recent archived material I've kept in DVD-SP.

So I'm looking to see if any pre-DVD "Old School" and "Quality" traders are out here. See if It might be good for me to put my toe in the water again so to speak.

One of the reasons I cut back on trading was the large number of poor quality recordings out there - people cramming old LP/SLP recordings onto 6 hour DVDs with artifacts and poor compression, recordings off of YouTube and other less than stellar copies.

So when I do post my have list and want list (Classic TV is primarily my thing 1950's-1960's), I'd be looking to find traders who took care when they put their stuff onto DVD (DVD-SP or good compression DVD-LP - Done right I've notice 4-hour DVD isn't too bad, especially on the later Panasonic Recorders with the full resolution close to S-VHS quality) or even had the foresight to keep their VHS tapes (I keep find most people didn't) But before doing this, I wanted to get a "feel" of who's out there for "old school" and "quality" traders. If i'm going to trade quality recordings, I'd want the return for the same.

I seldom trade anymore for the reasons you listed. When I recorded on VHS, I always used SP. Now that I record on a Panasonic hard-drive recorder, I always use SP. If something runs a little over 2 hours, I have found using FR still produces good quality. I don't use LP or EP/SLP and don't like to trade for DVDs with 4 or 6 hours on them. A hard-drive recorder lets me edit out commercials, make nice menus, dub to DVD, and enjoy watching the shows in the same quality as they were when I recorded them. I only collect Classic TV, not movies.

I like the old stuff, but I've never had any reels.

I think it's important to realize that vhs tapes are a lot different than dvd's, in that not only are they considerably more expensive, but they take up a lot more room. For those reasons, it just wasn't feasible for people to record a frack ton of stuff on SP speed on vhs tapes and save them in the days before dvd's. I certainly wouldn't suggest that they were lazy and uncaring because they used SLP mode. Obviously, all of us would like the best quality possible, but I'm not going to turn down something that's less than a perfect 10 if it's the only option out there. Sometimes you have to take what you can get.

I don't know who you people have traded with, but I never see people jamming 6 hours worth of stuff onto a disc or ripping things off of youtube. That kind of thing should have been typically discussed before the trade was finalized.

Considering this hobby is on life support as it is, when you greatly reduce the things you are willing to accept, you will greatly reduce the already low volume of things you're likely to receive.

I think it's important to realize that vhs tapes are a lot different than dvd's, in that not only are they considerably more expensive, but they take up a lot more room. For those reasons, it just wasn't feasible for people to record a frack ton of stuff on SP speed on vhs tapes and save them in the days before dvd's. I certainly wouldn't suggest that they were lazy and uncaring because they used SLP mode. Obviously, all of us would like the best quality possible, but I'm not going to turn down something that's less than a perfect 10 if it's the only option out there. Sometimes you have to take what you can get.

I don't know who you people have traded with, but I never see people jamming 6 hours worth of stuff onto a disc or ripping things off of youtube. That kind of thing should have been typically discussed before the trade was finalized.

Considering this hobby is on life support as it is, when you greatly reduce the things you are willing to accept, you will greatly reduce the already low volume of things you're likely to receive.

I've been collecting and trading video since 1987, and have encountered all types. I know there were people who for various reasons preferred to use LP/EP-SLP or BETA-3 but most serious, not casual folks in the hobby of collecting show and films used SP and Beta-2 for their own recordings and trading the same, which were the circles I traded in back in the days before the internet back when you'd find fellow collectors in "The Big Reel", "Movie Collector's World", "Classic Images" (Still around, When it was twice as big!) and a handful of other no-longer published publication.

I've taken the odd trade sourced from CLEAN LP and SLP/EP recordings, but that was generally for rarer material. I wouldn't take the same for a show that was in syndication or generally available for film transfers that someone else out there would most likely have in better quality.

Yeh, I have been offered stuff folks had it 6 hours to a disc, or rips from youtube. which I've turned down, and it's happened on several occasions, which is what soured me from trading last few years.

The point is, I have quality recordings, and I'm considering going back into trading and want to trade for similar quality material. It's a personal preference, no different than trading with someone who prefers a particular type of blank DVD or Grade of Tape.

I seldom trade anymore for the reasons you listed. When I recorded on VHS, I always used SP. Now that I record on a Panasonic hard-drive recorder, I always use SP. If something runs a little over 2 hours, I have found using FR still produces good quality. I don't use LP or EP/SLP and don't like to trade for DVDs with 4 or 6 hours on them. A hard-drive recorder lets me edit out commercials, make nice menus, dub to DVD, and enjoy watching the shows in the same quality as they were when I recorded them. I only collect Classic TV, not movies.

JMas493 - if you ever want to trade, send me a PM :)

PM sent.

Oh, I should mention the type of trader I am:

*I use professional grade Taiyo Yuden and Mitsubish Verbatim AZO
(as well as Verbatim CMC) The top brands - Although if someone has a
particular preference to another brand, I'm always open to it. I know some
folks prefer a particular brand based on how well it plays for them.

ON the subject of Disc Quality,dyes - http://www.digitalfaq.com/reviews/dvd-media.htm

*I supply blanks for both sides of the trade - always makes
it easier

*I send first - even after I've established a good trading relationship
this is something that is important - especially since I am sending the
blanks.

*Amount per disc,etc really depends on what and how is being traded. I am a little flexible in this area.

I am currently working on a want list and once that is available, I'll do a post of some sort.

Hey there RetroTVNitekatt. Let me just say that I totally get you on this quality issue. I started collecting in the 80's, and I quickly realized that EP (SLP) sucked bad. So I never taped anything unless I used SP. Sometimes that meant buying 160 min. tapes to get a longer movie and oftentimes I ran two VCRS set to overlap by 5 min to get mini-series and such. A lot of trouble but I'm sure you get it. Now that I archive to DVD, I really try to stick with the EX 1 hour mode. I sometimes use the 2 Hour, but NEVER any higher. Anyway, I don't know what all you are trading but if I have something you need I am sure we can deal.