I Have a Lot of Old VHS Tapes. Can I Still Watch Them?

VCRs aren’t manufactured anymore, but you can find used players online or in thrift stores

Edward C. Baig,

AARP

Comments

Published February 18, 2025

Photo Collage: AARP (Getty (4))

I have scores of VHS tapes I’d love to watch, including old movies and videos with my family. But I no longer have a functioning VCR, and I don’t want to spend a fortune digitizing everything. What are my options for playing them?

I’m like you. I have boxes of what now seem like prehistoric VHS tapes that I haven’t watched in several years, and the truth is I don’t remember what’s on half of them.

I frequently recorded major news, sporting events and TV shows back then, and I can readily stream much of it nowadays on YouTube or elsewhere. Who knew? I also have tapes of my younger self that, mercifully, are not on YouTube.

For those who don’t remember: In the late 1970s and early 1980s, VHS tapes, an acronym for video home system, prevailed in a format war against a rival video recording system known as Betamax. I’ve been toying with digitizing or converting at least a portion of my video collection, but the process can get expensive.

I’m lucky in one respect. I still have a working videocassette recorder (VCR), a combo machine that also plays DVDs.

But I haven’t hooked it up in quite a while because the modern televisions in my house lack the required analog inputs or connectors. More on that in a moment.

How to shop for a videocassette recorder

My first recommendation is rather obvious: Find a “new” VCR. But the last manufacturer to produce one, Japan’s Funai Electric, ceased production in 2016. More modern solutions for recording off a TV or watching movies at home emerged, notably digital video recorders (DVRs) and DVDs.

You can find used VCRs online or perhaps even in thrift stores. My recent search for “VCR player” on eBay yielded more than 15,000 results, practically all showing up as “pre-owned.” Many are around $50 or less, though some sellers report missing remote controls or cords.

Since a second-hand player always has the risk of not functioning properly, make sure you can return it.

I found several VCRs for sale online in places such as Amazon, Porter Electronics and Walmart, though they tended to cost more. Some were listed as “renewed,” but others apparently weren’t refurbished. I suspect these were inventory that never sold.

Check your TV’s connectors

Once you have a working VCR, you need a television with the proper inputs — connections to hook it to. If your TV has analog composite or component connections, you’re golden. Examine the back or side of the TV and look for color-coded circular inputs.

Composite inputs, the more common type of connector found on VCRs, are hooked up with what are known as RCA cables that have a yellow prong for video, and red and white prongs for audio. By contrast, component cables, which produce a superior picture, have red, green and blue prongs.

Don’t worry if your TV has these inputs but you’re missing the cables. They’re widely available and inexpensive.

You won’t be left in the dark if your TV has neither of these legacy connectors. State-of-the-art TVs have digital HDMI connectors, shorthand for high-definition multimedia interface. They are the standard for hooking up Blu-ray players, cable boxes, game consoles, streaming sticks and other digital devices.

You can purchase a compact RCA-to-HDMI converter adapter box for around $10, often brands you’ve never heard of. Choose one compatible with the VCR you have, composite or component.

Plug the colored cables from the VCR into the corresponding ports on the adapter, and plug the HDMI cable from the adapter to an available HDMI input on your TV. You likely will have to plug the adapter into a wall outlet, sometimes using USB cable and a charging block, and flip the power switch if it has one.

Using your television remote, select the proper input option on the TV, insert the tape into the VCR, hit play and start rekindling those memories.

What to expect in picture quality

In short, no miracles. VHS picture quality wasn’t great even in its prime. And you’ve been spoiled with the resolutions on current high-definition or 4K televisions.

If anything, the grainy artifacts of yesteryear will be accentuated, and the 4:3 screen proportions pale next to the 16:9 aspect ratio now in use.

What’s more, over the decades, magnetic videotape may degrade by 10 percent to 20 percent even if the tapes haven’t been touched much. The fate of my own tapes is iffy because my boxes are stored in the attic.

Trying to record to a VCR presents its own problems

While you can play VHS tapes with the proper TV and converter boxes, VCRs can’t record TV shows today. Videocassette recorders had built-in analog tuners.

Your smart TV is digital, and the signals are transmitted differently.

Ask the Tech Guru

“Recording with an old VCR is certainly possible, but the input has the reverse challenge,” says Dave Arland of Carmel, Indiana, an electronics industry veteran. “To record a digital over-the-air broadcast, you’d need a converter box that could output the RCA connections that could be accepted by a VCR with those inputs. Going the other way — HDMI to analog inputs — may or may not work.”

You wouldn’t be able to record off the HDMI connection from cable or satellite. And in the age of streaming, using your old VCR to capture a signal doesn’t seem practical.

Bonus tip: Apple TV opens up to Android smartphones

Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Netflix and just about all the popular streaming services have been available to users of both iPhones and Android handsets for some time. But not until Feb. 12, some five years after the launch of Apple TV+, did Apple make its Apple TV app available to Android mobile users. The app previously had been available on Android TVs.

The mobile version can be downloaded from the Google Play Store for Android phones, tablets and foldables. Whether on iOS or Android, you must still subscribe to watch Severance, Slow Horses, Friday Night Baseball and Major League Soccer, among other content on Apple TV+. Following a free one-week trial, plans start at $9.99 a month.

%{postComment}%

Edward C. Baig covers technology and other consumer topics. He previously worked for USA Today, BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report and Fortune, and is author of Macs for Dummies and coauthor of iPhone for Dummies and iPad for Dummies. Follow him on LinkedIn; Threads; and X, formerly known as Twitter.