Internet Archive is not only a place to review old versions of popular websites such as Apple, Google, Amazon and many more. It is also a kind of tailor’s drawer in which you can find other very curious things. The last one is a collection of VHS recordings with which some of us are going to go back to when we were little.
20,000 digitized VHS tapes
VHS tapes are for many, especially those who are now under 20 or 25 years old, real strangers. But this analog support is for others, among which I include myself, the only way we had to see those contents that we liked as many times as we wanted or put up with that videotape.
With the advancement of technology, first with the arrival of the DVD and then with the internet itself, most of these VHS recordings went into oblivion and ended up being destroyed when the players broke down. Although, luckily, others kept them and took the trouble to digitize them to upload them to the internet . On platforms like YouTube you can find many of these recordings, although if you want a place designed exclusively for them you just found it within The Internet Archive.
The VHS Vault is this wonderful corner of the internet where you can find more than 20,000 VHA recordings that have been converted to digital format. And yes, some of them will have little value or be extremely strange. But, after being absorbed for a long time, I have to say that there are some that are really striking and interesting. It’s just a matter of inquiring and seeing what you find. Like this original spongebob pilot from 1997.
To facilitate the search, there are certain criteria that users who have uploaded the content have added to help in the selection. Thus, for example, you can segment by date, whether or not it is educational material, advertisements, if it belongs to chains such as MTV, Nickelodeon or even Japanese television. In the left column see all the filters you can apply and add to the classification by visualizations, title or date.
In addition, another interesting detail of all this material uploaded to The Internet Archive is that you can download it in different formats . For example, this video with one of the Dragon Ball Z episodes can be saved on your device as H.264 video, OGG Video or Quicktime. And it is not the only anime there is, Funimation (American company specializing in anime distribution) has uploaded more material.
In short, The VHS Vault is another one of those wonderful places on the internet where it is easy to know when you enter but not when you are going out. You start with random content that appeals to you and then you get hooked one after the other. After a good while you realize the time you have inside and decide to stop, at least until another day where you don’t have so many things to do.