Someone out there might think some of them are worth digitizing. Are these just old movies in standard boxes or are these taped copies? If there are any recordings of TV broadcasts, they may absolutely be worth saving. We only have access to some recordings of popular shows now because someone recorded the show once upon a time. TV studios didn't always archive and preserve broadcast shows because tape was expensive and no one in authority at the time thought they had any value to the future. The most notable example of this is Dr. Who. But, even mundane recordings of news broadcasts, shows, and commercials can have value to some. There are still some movies and things that never saw a later release on DVD or their original masters have been lost. You should catalog what you have and ask around the data hoarder communities, there may be someone willing to pay you to ship them select tapes.
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Also check if your local library has a digitizing station. Some of them have setups for it
Yeah I'll look through them and sort out which are recordings and look online. The majority are just movies without their cases though so I wont hold any hopes. Anyways even if I do miss one, it's looking more and more likely I'll just leave them at a thrift store (if they accept them)
People even want to make an archive of TV commercials, don't undersell what you have. You might have the only known copy of a particular commercial that somebody wants. Check out sites like my80stv.com to see one of the ways archived old commercials are used.
Most thrift stores around me don't even keep CDs, Books, DVDs, or Vinyl around in the store anymore. I think they just sell them online or wholesale them to people that do. If you leave VHS tapes at a thrift store, chances are they'll just end up in the trash anyway. It would honestly be an expensive waste of shelf space in anything but an antique store at this point. I hope you find something interesting. It's probably mostly junk, but sometimes there's real treasure in junk piles.
If you are into 3D printing you could create filament out of it ... https://hackaday.com/2020/12/16/3d-printing-with-vhs-tape-filament/
That is neat as shit and I really regret getting rid of my huge ass collection of VHS tapes a dec..wait as I type this I remember I got a huge rubbermaid tote with the original Star Trek TOS VHS run they released back in the 90's sitting in storage somewhere..
..fuck I'm gonna buy a 3D printer now..
Well I love em, so if there's anything good you can mail em to me! Lol
If there are not many of them, you can check them on torrent trackers. Some movies got re-edited or re-voiced after initial launch. Chances aren't that big, but in my country there's a hunt for audio-translations from the 90s, ones people are nostalgic about. Maybe your versions are unique in some way and currently inaccessible.
You could ask if a retirement home wants them?
What are they exactly? Are these commercial releases or are they recordings onto blanks? Some VHS are worth quite a bit, even used blank tapes are worth a bit of money, depending on what they are.
if you have a Hi-Fi audio capable VHS recorder, you can back up your music in excellent quality on it.
if not, you still can use a PCM encoder for the recording like the ones Sony made back in the day (today I guess you can get away with some pc software and a cheap USB S-Video card/stick)
VHS recorder
VCR my friend
Some movie are more "valuable" than other but in general for collection the box has to be in decent state. As for recycling yes it should be possible but it might be a separate process , i dont know how it work in your country. It bring me some nostalgy these big plastic box