Oddity Archive: Episode 266.1 - Archive Thrifting #25: 3M (Moderate Minnesota Madness)
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2023
- Celebrating the 25th OA Thrifting video by doing one in Minnesohta, doan ‘cha know?
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UPDATES/SPOILERS:
1. The NEC deck will get a quick(ly made) diagnostic video next week (8/10/2023) while I continue working on this year's Record Ripoffs episode (slated for 8/17/2023).
2. The Magnavox DVD Recorder works beautifully. The remote I already had didn't. A machine-correct remote has since been fleabayed...and it works just fine.
3. The Blockbuster blank turned out to have material already on it. In this case, an uninterrupted (SP mode) Thursday Night recording from the NBC station in Rochester, MN from November of 1994. I'll probably transfer and post the ads when we get a little closer to the anniversary date.
4. I've had zero luck opening the Dual 8 editor to see what kind of bulb it takes. For the moment, it still works though.
5. The Alannah Myles album was a massive disappointment.
So, does the NEC do linear stereo? The only consumer (or pro-sumer) VHS linear stereo deck I've seen was my family's 1st VCR, wasn't hi-fi, I think VHS hi-fi had only been out a year then and was $$$. Looking forward to that episode.
No idea. Need to find the manual. Some other NEC VHS decks do, so, hopefully...
Hopefully you can resurrect this VCR. Sounds like a fun deck to have.
@@OddityArchive Sadly I don't see the Dolby System logo on this one. I had an NEC with linear stereo for several years but threw it out as it kept having problems and eventually chewed up a tape. A cool thing it could do was digital freeze-frame, so you could be watching the TV tuner and freeze whatever was onscreen. That was my main TV tuner because of that, but that feature had to be disabled later just to be able to play tapes. Your VCR may still have that feature, though many modern TVs can also freeze frame now.
Hate to tell you that Magnavox DVD recorder is likely a Funai. The one I've used the past few years is a Toshiba Funai and works OK but you can judge that by my videos. I actually have that SV2000 one also, got it for 50 bucks at Walmart as a backup. Problem with that is it senses Macrovision and stops recording even when it isn't really there. I even had it do that on a few Beta TV recordings I was transferring. I had to keep backing the tape up and getting that section to capture, then seamlessly edit it back to normal on the computer. Got sick of that real quick and found the Toshiba. Need to learn how to capture stuff on the computer but also watch it in decent quality on the TV at the same time. (I had one of the first DVD recorders from Philips, paid about $400 which was a steal as they originally sold for about $700 but it died quickly and was cast off, my friend had bought one at full price with the same fate. Recordings from that have some quality issues on top of that.)
Man I miss when I'd buy "blank" VHS tapes at thrift stores only to find that they were most definitely used. You have no idea how much soft and hardcore porn I'd run across (ain't my bag, so I usually just wiped and reused them). I still remember when I bought what I thought was a tape with "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie" recorded on it, only for it to be hardcore porn from the '80s. The dude in it had the most triangular haircut I've ever seen in my life. Sadly (for the more perverse among us...not me) I ended up giving it to a buddy of mine who wanted it for the "entertainment" value.
Radiant Pearls looks like quintessential OA-ery. Surprising and impressive that they put that Erwin Suess album out on CrO2 tape. The 8mm viewer/editor puts me in the mood for another 8mm episode. And I'm too much of a sucker for reel-to-reel to pass up that Wollensak... even though I have too much R2R already (and all my decks need repair).
The "DIC special" you came across is Super Human Samurai Syber [sic] Squad. DIC's petty attempt at trying to make their own Power Rangers and strike some passive aggressive blow at Saban, a company they've been feuding with at the time. They even bought up rights to a Japanese show called Gridman, trying to mimic Saban's show, but poorly. Someone had a video about it, I think Secret Galaxy (formerly Toy Galaxy) covered it. The story of why it was made is infinitely more interesting than the show itself. As for the Gremlins records, I'm sure I saw someone dump them on YT if you're curious. They're... well, a little strange, but in a dull sort of way.
My usual observations: In the early 2000s, my high school science teacher had a very similar, if not identical, GE microwave like the 50-cent one at Twelve Baskets. If only such old vintage appliances weren't so heavy and massive. I'm just fine with my 1987 Sharp Carousel.
The McFlurry Maker reminds me of Christmas 1999. I got a similar fast-food themed toy.. The Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Maker, a glorified Easy Bake oven that only makes very tiny pizzas. It actually worked and it also came with it's own pizza-making ingredients, and I think the instructions even had recipes for using your own ingredients after you used up what came with the pizza maker.
I wondered why 3M stopped making Scotch blank VHS by the mid 1990s. Nowadays they seem to be among the best blank VHS tapes you could buy and they hold up very well. However, my parents would just buy whatever was cheapest at Pamida, which meant either "Laser" or "Gemini" VHS blanks, but that iconic screen-printed Scotch label above the record tab would still make an occasional appearance.
That Magnavox DVD recorder... wasn't Magnavox a label used by Funai around the time it was made? That means it's likely very much the same as that SV2000 DVD recorder in terms of features and components.
The Dreamcast has an interesting proprietary AV-out port. Not only can it do composite video, but it can be connected to an external box to enable VGA output, with some games even having progressive scan support. That Dreamcast RF switch you found also appears to indicate that it's AV-out port can also pass an RF signal with the same connector. That RF switch plugs directly into the AV-out port rather than a separate RCA jack like on earlier Sega systems.
Laser brand tapes... that brings back memories. In the mid-80s when my parents' bought our first VCR, I wanted to record lots of stuff, and having only allowance money, I bought the $1-cheaper-than-name-brand Laser tapes. I still have them boxed up in storage, but I'm not optimistic about their condition.
This thrifting episode and comments has really turned out to be a nostalgia motherlode.
I remember watching Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad (the tape at 14:05) on TV back in the 90s; it aired on the weekends in syndication here in Los Angeles. It’s only really notable for being one of the myriad of shows attempting to cash in on the popularity of Power Rangers (it actually managed to get a fairly decent toy line into the stores) and the fact that the villain was voiced by Tim Curry.
Another obscure Tim Curry role: he was Slagar the Cruel in the second season of the Redwall cartoon
14:05 The fact Benny Boy is able to recognize DiC and its iconic logos (complete with a impression of the Kid in Bed logo's voiceover) brought a smile to my face
14:28 They were also doing this years after the Gremlins' films' height in popularity with a electronic Gizmo promoted as a "Friend of Furby", which was basically Tiger Electronics and Warner Bros. responding to the comparisions of Furbys to Mogwai with a hearty "Of course!"
Whst some people cannot recognize theDiC logo? Really?
@@michaelcarpenter2498 I was trying to say that I'm surprised HE recognized it, as I don't think I've heard him mention DiC or it's productions before
My mother was a dealer of radiant pearls in the 90's! Its craft embossing powder, for scrapbooking n such
I remember seeing ads for that McFlurry Maker and I always wanted to buy one and make my own frozen treats. My parents shut that down with "We have ice cream and a blender, why do you need all of that plastic junk?" I guess they had me there. 1973's Beach Boys in Concert is a great album, probably their best live work.
It's like how badly I wanted a PXL-2000 camcorder, and my mother kept shutting me down over and over on that. Good thing too. One, I had "bad thoughts" of using it to spy on the girl next door, and two, Benny-boy here clearly showed us how much of a noisy piece of shit the thing really was.
Minnesota is a great place to use a humidifier. Humidifiers are good to use in the winter as furnaces tend to dry out the air in ones home.
Oh man, I'm so glad you picked up that NEC deck! I have a similar unit from Hitachi from the late 1980s, and it's a joy to use... er, was a joy, before the capacitors started leaking on it.
About 10:55: appears to be an Apex AD-660. That was a very versatile deck, regardin' what it could play. And it's optical drive was IDE, so it was possible to swap it out w/ a PC one.
That Genesis album at around 9:30 is worth it for "Mama" and both parts of "Home By The Sea"
My local Goodwill used to charge $1 for vinyl, but sometime last year it was raised to $2.49. They also recently introduced these ultra-sticky security price tags that are nearly impossible to get off jewel cases, so it would surely ruin an LP sleeve. They used to not even put stickers on media, but started to once the security ones came out.
Of course, we are still talking about a selection of mostly Manilow/Alpert/Streisand/Conniff fare, also like that one store in this video. I'm not sure if these tags and the $2.49 vinyl rate are exclusive to Goodwill stores in my area (Trenton), but maybe someone else here can give more info.
My local Goodwill in Morristown, TN, is now charging $4.99 for albums and $2.99 for 45s. Let's just say that they have a plentiful collection of Gospel music, Guy Lombardo, and Floyd Cramer.
@@shawn.the.alien423 That's insane, especially $3 for 45s. Most of these things are sleeveless nowadays, and are of course scratched. Does the store put price tags on them?
@@laganrat8996 you have no idea how many times I've seen thrift stores put a price tag on the tracks. The Goodwill a few towns over does this with those anti-theft tags that are almost impossible to remove.
Just a little note. Randy Meisner did recently pass away.
An omen 🤔
I acknowledged it was gonna make that bit of this video a little awkward on Facebook and Twitter earlier this week. I loved Randy's music.
A couple things I forgot before - "something I've already got at home" - you just 'we already have *x* at home' mom'ed yourself. And that 16mm projector has me absolutely craving a 16mm OA episode. I'm *just* old enough to have experienced 16mm films/projectors in early elementary school. I was fascinated by them, but never got to run one. If I happened across a projector and films for sale, or just films, I wouldn't be able to resist. And the older it is, the more interested (and glutton for punishment) I am.
And... on the AM stereo redux episode, after you got sunburned, I thought it'd be appropriate if you'd branch out in the Darden 'family of restaurants' from Olive Garden to Red Lobster. Well, hope the soreness faded soon and the food was great.
I'm old enough myself to also have "film strips" in school, and I also recall being the only one in my class who knew how to run one. You know, unlike the ones who don't know to turn to the next picture when the sound goes off (just like in a book and record) leaving us at least one or two pics behind the narration. I recall more than once soon after us all but yelling for the operator to "turn it"! The only thing I ever did at first was forget briefly which way to turn the dial, but that was it. After that I ran that thing like a champ.
@@JL-sm6cg Oh yeah, now that you mention it, I remember those too. I think those stuck around later than 16mm, all the way thru elementary school for me. And for the audio, the ubiquitous Califone record players. I've seen a couple of videos, I think they were Shango066's, about them.
And I just now noticed the 3M part of the episode title. Nice. Considering 3M/Scotch's foundational presence from the very beginning of reel-to-reel tape in the US, I have a soft spot for 3M. As in, I find historical data on all the different Scotch magnetic tape catalog product numbers going all the way back to the original Type 100 paper-backed tape fascinating. Haven't been able to find any of those extremely rare tapes for my collection, but do have one of the very first design metal reels that those came on.
That, and 3M is Minnesota-based (Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing).
@@OddityArchive I learned at such a young age (I think pre-school), from seeing it on the Scotch tape reels, that 3M was Minnesota Mining + Manufacturing, that I mentally read both when I read 3M in the title, and thought that was actually in the title. (I'm pretty sure I knew 3M = Minnesota Mining + Manufacturing before I knew what Minnesota is. And we lived in Iowa at the time.) Biological computers are strange.
Happy Oddity Thursday! 📼📼📼📼📼📼📼📼📼📼📼📼
I'm watching the saga of that NEC deck with great interest. I found a Mitsubishi S-VHS deck suffering from similar symptoms and I have no experience in VCR repair. Was able to get the tape out, and lo and behold it was a copy of Dr. Strangelove, possibly an original issue. No sleeve, but it's my favorite movie so it was still a welcome surprise. From what limited material I've been able to find, I think/desperately hope that mine just has a bad bulb or sensor.
23:35
I nearly did a spit-take from laughing.
Quintessential OA moment...
So, the state of Minnesota is not only the home of Target, Scotch tape, MST3K and all those nuggets of Midwest goodies, it is also the venue of thrift stores already four times the size of the Oxfam warehouse in Oxford (and that place is pretty huge, albeit using the British definition of "big").
I hope you get that NEC deck working, that looks pretty potent with all those tantalising buttons to play with...
Man, the mafia VHS box set looked sweet! I would of definitely snagged that. And non of the thrift shops near me ever have reel-to-reel recorders. I try to check from time to time and never get lucky.
My mom has\had one of those under the kitchen cabinet radio\cd player combo units, like the one seen at 11:02.
It was used as a regular stereo & not mounted underneath any kitchen cabinets.
My mom also has one of those 1930's style stereos, like the one at 20:32, as well!
I think that I have that 2 VHS tape Twisters video, seen at 22:14, or at least something similar to it.
There are at least three tracks I've never heard of on that Magnetic Charm 8-track. From research: "Lookin' Through the Windows" appears to be one of the Jackson 5's more obscure hits; "Automatically Sunshine", originally from the Supremes, is a Northern Soul hit (meaning, as usual, a big hit in England that petered out on the lower reaches of the pop chart here). And "Move on Up" is one of Curtis Mayfield's. Was surprised by the discovery that some thrift stores managed to stock a Black Sabbath 45; any chance that Minnesota might also have a Grateful Dead 45 in one of its thrift stores?
I have the same model Magnavox DVD recorder and in checking I found out it was also made by Funai. I also have two Toshiba DVD recorders that were also made by Funai. The Magnavox has some problems, but it's the oldest of the three, and both the Toshibas are still working great.
Yeah, most of the Magnavox DVD recorders were really just branded over Funais. This includes the final batch of DVD recorders with VHS decks and DVD Recorders with hard drives that they produced. Only the menus they authored were designed differently than other Funai DVD recorders.
Recently did a thrift store run last week in Knoxville, TN. From three thrift stores, I got 11 cassettes (highlights include Wall of Voodoo's second album "Call of the West", the first two Jerky Boys albums, the "Greatest hits" of B.J. Thomas and Charlie Daniels, two albums from the Psychedelic Furs, plus more. Also found a vintage cassette recorder from the '60s with mic, power adapter, and leaky batteries from the mid-70s, and a VHS tape that is literally 40mins of fart gags. The coolest thing I found though were two reel to reel tapes: The Mamas and the Pappas at the Monterey Pop Festival, and a "various artists" tape released by Warner Bros in 1970 that has a lot of decent hits on it.
Looking forward to seeing what's hidden on the mystery tape in that VCR 👀 Also, Sega sold an RF connector for the Dreamcast but specifically did not recommend it due to the quality difference from the composite/S-video connectors; I got my Dreamcast at the midnight release party at a shopping mall in the midwest that is now literally an empty field, hard to believe it was almost 25 years ago. And is Erwin Suess' tuba synthesized? That's some very flat beer indeed..
That whole Alanah Myles cd kicks ass !
fun fact: the Ace Frehley solo album has the hit single "New York Groove", (cover, written by Russ Ballard), it was the most successful of the four Kiss solo albums
Looks like you got some good stuff there. I have that exact Genesis album, I think on cassette as well but I haven't been able to find it. And I have that Andy Gibb album on vinyl. You're right, he could do a lot more than just disco. As for that address you showed, you're probably OK on that. Since it has a "Unit" number it's probably some kind of business, either an old UPS store or maybe a distribution company of some kind. I don't know how those work, but maybe he was paying some business to produce and sell his tapes. I even tried Google Maps on it but couldn't find that exact address. The one it did return appeared to be just businesses, so I figure that's what's in the area.
I've only ever had it on CD. Most of my Genesis vinyl is Gabriel-era. Only have And Then There Were Three and Invisible Touch to represent the Collins era.
I had two of those Funai DVD recorders back in the day and they lasted forever and were great, value-pried workhorses. I bought them back when they had hit Wal-Mart for $75.00. They had the lowest disc failure rate of any DVD recorder I have owned (a dozen, with the highest failure rates belonging to a SONY-branded DVD recorder I owned, ironically). I never owned a Funai VCR, but that specific DVD recorder - two of the best I've ever owned.
I had those Gremlins books/records as a kid. They were great.
If that Dreamcast RF modulator is anything like the Nintendo 64 one from the same brand, there is something Dreamcast specific to it; not necessarily in a good way. The cable with the appropriate AV connector for the console is hard-wired into the modulator box.
Kind of surprised you saw that much electronic stuff in Goodwill. Usually, all that stuff gets sent to their auction site.
That Webcor R2R would be tempting just for the vacuum tubes.. I 'harvested' a nice pair of Webcor branded 12AX7's that were in fact made by Mullard in the UK.
Neat, I never thought I'd see local stores in a thrifting video.
I've pretty much given up on the Goodwill in Waite Park. It always seems picked out whenever I go there, I haven't found anything good in years.
I do like stopping at that Savers whenever I go out, as well as an indoor flea market that's nearby.
If you ever want an AM Stereo car radio, look for a Delco radio from the late 80s and early 90s.
Hey! That "stylish" microwave was mine in the late 80s.
Al Jarreau puts me into a blind rage.
I'm always nervous doing thrifting and fleabay when there are cardboard boxes involved. A friend put the bug in my ear that its a favorite place for bedbugs to hide. Pun intended. Still I don't know if its a legitimate problem or if the horrific stories of the cost fumigate them has my mind working overtime.
Great looking hifi deck by the way, had a Sony SLV(?) I absolutely loved, jog shuttle on both unit and remote.
I live in New Zealand but even I can identify with a lot of that stuff. You can find dead video players and old projection film machines in our op shops here (Dove, Vinnies, Sallies - yes we dumb down long names here like Australia). The same with music, not 8 trax as they never caught on here, but all types of tape and Vinyl albums - lots of country and western and easy listening rubbish too, and most vinyl singles from the ops are usually scratched to buggery. My gimmick is buying old Atlases and old 78 records and sometimes I come home and think "Why did I buy that crap?" Locally made tapes and CDs from like 1995 are common too - not really polkas, but we have a lot of barrel organ stuff and guys playing like old steam calliopes and stuff. Candlelight Piano playing is big along with religious themed albums and the rest. Here we have a lot of fans of people like Englebert Humperdinck, Charlie Pride, Tom Jones etc.
My best buy was a sleeveless copy of the Bay City Rollers geatest hits from 1976, despite being nude the record played well. Only thing wrong, was it was the Bay City Rollers and it was awful music! My Aunty told me she loved them in the 70s so I gave it a chance.
what a lucky find!
Lol I grew up an hour from Fairmont. This surprised me.
Radiant Pearls is a craft product this likely being an instructional video.
Am I the only one who was yelling at the screen telling Ben to buy that NEC VCR when he was umming and ahhing over it?
Same, I had a few NEC decks over the years and they were always excellent.
Same
That St. Cloud Good hasn't had much of anything good outside of clothes for a while. Makes me wish More4Less was still around.
25:15 Hang on tight! We're going to CCM Hell.
Probably from Puddy's personal collection.
Funai VHS were real shady stuff in the early 90ies, ok during the time they purchased the vhs business of Philips. And bare basic after 2005(?).
Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad! Yes the YT bots would probably kill it although I did see one channel on here make it through with a retrospective (Toy Galaxy now Secret Galaxy) it was on along with VR Troopers from 5-6pm weekdays on WPIX (New York) another imported Japanese superhero series to cash in on the Power Rangers, why wouldn't I eat it up?
It sounds like the Erwin Suess stuff is all done Wendy Carlos style on a synth. But I seriously doubt it is a Moog or a Mini-Moog.
If Ben gets more Polka music, maybe a Record Ripoff Polka edition episode will be in order! I'd be up for that!😁👌
Oddity Oktoberfest? Odditytoberfest? We are starting to get towards that time of year.
@@OddityArchive Hey that's right, that's not far away!
...but will anybody watch? Feels like a bit of self-sabotage to me.
@@OddityArchive I will... of course I watch every episode, but I'm in favor. Of course I'm an oddball (to put it mildly), but I suspect that's not a minority in OA-land. Between a polka record or 2 my Grandma had, and Weird Al, I kinda like polka. Of course, with 11 years of OA production under your belt (or should that be behind/in your box?), I'm sure you know best what works.
The other day I found a uk or euro region multifornat VCR at a thrift store. I could tell it was foreign because it had the weird European antenna connector. I didn't grab it.
Also if you want a home hd radio set up if you can't find at all anything else, a rtl-sdr set up with something called nrsc5 can do the decoding. Since they share the same band with FM radio, any antenna for that purpose will do fine.
Interesting haul, Ben. Can't wait to see what you can do to resurrect the NEC deck - that is the most advanced deck a plebian like myself has ever seen...and now you've got me wanting one...LOL! and what's wrong with the Alannah Myles? I never did buy the full album, but everything by her would seem dull after "Black Velvet"...heh heh
Alas, the album was pretty dull after the hit.
I don't think the U.S. upper-midwestern accent has taken with me, so my Canadian is definitely off.
I'd love to see you cover Gridman. Tokusatsu shenanigans ahoy.
The VHS tapes at 10:15 look to have British covers based on the PG classification label, though the sticker on the tapes looks more bootleg - you would usually also see the classification label on it as well as any copyright smallprint, which the tape in this video lacks. I don't think the US or Canada, unlike many other countries such as the UK, Australia and most of Europe, have a statutory video classification system so there is generally no prominent classification label on NTSC releases (you will sometimes see the voluntary ratings in the smallprint on the back). Annoyingly it's more difficult for stores to sell North American NTSC VHS/DVD releases in the UK than vice-versa in the US, despite British TVs being able to play NTSC content fine (whereas I think even modern American TVs struggle with PAL/50Hz content), because stores are technically prohibited from selling non-BBFC classified content (ie releases intended for the British market) under the Video Recordings Act (basically a 1980s censorship law that was the effort of Britain's Moral Majority equivalent), although the rules are not particularly well enforced and you can still find Region 1 DVDs fairly easily on eBay. There are some DVDs that have only received a North American NTSC release, and in addition the PAL versions of material that was originally NTSC tend to be 4% too fast due to the framerate difference so I prefer NTSC DVDs for any US content that is not available on Blu Ray (which is usually the correct speed internationally).
I've often thought based on videos and what people say that American thrift stores have a better range of goods and often at lower prices than British charity shops. There are some good ones in the UK but more often than not a lot are not very good. There seemed to be some decent vinyl LPs in that video for below $3 but in a UK charity shop most of those would probably sell for in the region of £5-10, although CDs tend to be pretty affordable like in American charity shops (generally between 50p and £2). I don't think I've ever come across one in the UK with as many old electronics as in this video (which may be due to the burden of Britain's PAT testing requirements for secondhand electronics sold by anyone aside from an individual on somewhere like Facebook or eBay), and I think it is less common to see obsolete formats like VHS and 8-track, probably because British stores tend to occupy less floor space (and I don't think 8-track was ever as popular in the UK).
@13:12 never knew The Hollies were on the Capricorn label...
They weren't. Someone just reused a Capricorn sleeve. That tape was on United Artists (which did a lot of the U.S. issues of EMI product at the time).
Quick note for that projector- did a little digging and that thing is just XGA (1024x768). If it were 1080p or better, I would've been interested but as it stands... it's a pass.
What no Irwin soundbite on that Erwin Suess tape?
Is “Electric Funeral” the bside of that 45?
Yes.
that's not Motley Crue's "Kickstart My Heart" on the Alotta Miles album is it?
It is not.
Did the DVD recorder work? What X-level? 4, 8 or 16?
Final writing speed? No idea.
Records from 1 hour (best quality) to 8 hours (worst).
That Dylan CD infidels will not disappoint
All those DVD players and not one Nuon deck? Could be another episode in it if you ever find one, though you'll need Nuon discs too...
I have yet to see a Nuon-capable DVD player in the wild.
@@OddityArchive I have the Nuon Tempest game disc but it does absolutely nothing in a regular player. The Bedazzled remake has some Nuon features on it also.
Absolutely no one needs any Black Velvet in their lives ever. They just don't want to admit it.