By@Vancouvercomicjunkie and L.E Collectibles
I was 10 years old during the fateful holiday season of 1983, when I first truly tasted Santa’s love like I was Mrs. Claus at Lookout Point. Way back in 1983, the holidays brought me more than presents. It brought me true, pure home-movie magic.
It was better than finding a gnarled alien and riding around town with it in a basket on my Schwinn. Better than my own light saber; and even cooler than when Nazis forget to close their eyes when the Ark is opened.
No, it was something far more important to my growth as a human for the balance of my existence.
You guessed it; I’m the guy whose dad bought the family…a Betamax player.
Let me put that into context so you can understand just what a momentous occasion this really was:
Keep in mind that in 1983, owning a VCR or movie player of any sort in my tiny hometown was like being one cousin removed from royalty. I was no longer Chris; I was “The guy with the Betamax player” at the ONE time in history that it was most cool to be such a thing.
Betamax Players cost anywhere from $599 for the “it’s better than nothing” model to well over$1,000 for the more advanced and reliable machines. Remember however, that 1,0001983 dollars would be about $3,227 in today’s money. Good Lawd.
That was an impressive hunk o’ change just for the right to watch movies on your schedule under your own roof!
I came from a blue-collar, middle-class family. Dropping that kind of loot for such an extravagant item just wasn’t in the cards for us… until somehow; It was!
That’s right- I came home one night and sitting next to my family's sprawling 13-inchcolor television was the biggest, baddest iron rectangle I’d ever seen. And what was it? Well, that iron rectangle was the Sanyo 4000 Betacord Betamax Player!
This mysterious machine was all metal and wood-paneling. From within, a continuous and mystifying sound of crunching metal that seemed to echo from the charred bowels of hell beneath its Nemean hide.
My family had just entered the future. AND we had a new and vast selection of two movies with which to herald our arrival in Tomorrowland.
1983 found Paramount Home Video trying out ‘value-pricing’ on a few movies. Thankfully, they picked some real bangers like, “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” and “Star Trek 2:The Wrath Of Kahn”. Both were $39.99, which was not cheap, but it was also not the$109.99 that the other movies were going for at the time.
At this point, I began to worry. This was almost too good to be true.
My only guess, about how my VERY average family owned this VERY high-tech setup was that my dad had made some kind of demonic pact with either the mafia or the devil. Maybe even both. I had visions of him waiting impatiently at across roads behind a line of blues guitarists to talk to Satan about a Beta Player. Be that as it may…it was movie time!
While Captain Kirk battled mutant hair metal bandmembers, I obsessively held and examined the tape of the other movie. I took in all the details. These Betamax tapes were tiny. They had (for the time in home video) a truly incredible picture quality and seemed oddly heavy for their size. The aesthetics of the brightly colored covers blew me away. I began to truly know these home videos-along with all their details and intricacies.
Betamax became my new normal - until one day I wandered into our local video rental shop and discovered its little brother: VHS.
In retrospect, Betamax had already lost the format war. VHS was taking off. Already in 1983, the VHS section was slightly more popular than Beta, and the disparity was growing quickly.
Sony had created the superior Betamax format but wouldn’t license the rights for others to make players as VHS developers had done. As a result, the prices of VCRs dropped precipitously and became hot ticket items even though VHS was a substandard format.
Now, times were a-changing, and the average family could comfortably afford to watch movies on VHS. Rental store VHS sections over took the Beta shelves, and in the end, Betamax slowly suffocated.
Finally, in 1996, Paramount released the first Mission: Impossible movie on Beta format. That would prove to be the final Betamax ever released.
Cut to today… (picture a cool “Present Day” graphic if it adds something for you).
We are all here because we collect movies, and VHS is a format that we all want for our collections. Why wouldn’t we? The format dominated from 1983 until the millennium.
However, I am here to tell you that it is imperative to include Betamax when putting together your collection. Why, you ask?
1. The Exact Same Collectible Aesthetic as VHS
Betamax is usually a bit smaller than VHS, but many are about the same size. VHS and Beta have the same covers and identical first print characteristics. Apart from a matter of size, it would be impossible to tell one from the other at first glance. Really the only difference between these two collectibles is the internal format of the tape.
2. Betamax Can Be Your Only Hope, Obi Wan Kenobi
When I sat down and realized I was ‘all-in’ on collecting movies, I drew out a list of all the films and prints that I’d like to own. Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, Halloween…we all have our list of what we are hunting. However my list may have differed slightly from yours as for me, a movie called “Megaforce” was close to the top.
Yes, I said, “Megaforce.”
Now, I know Megaforce isn’t a good movie. In fact, it’s terrible. However, it hit me at just the right age for it to make a significant imprint on my psyche. I adore it for all the wrong reasons, and I absolutely love the poster art.
I began my search to no avail… but a VHS collector embraces the hunt!
Eventually, I found the 1984 CBS/FOX slipcase VHS copy with the most desirable early white watermarks. It was oddly harder to find than other Fox titles of the era, just for the record. It was an exciting find, but a VHS collector is never satisfied with just one print. What I wanted, or more honestly…NEEDED, was a 1983 CBS/FOX drawer-box VHS copy. That edition is the true first print of this movie.
I hunted for years. I overturned rocks in every corner of this continent and still couldn’t find anyone who had even SEEN a true factory-sealed copy. Much less had I found the owner of one from whom I might be able to lure it away.
I was starting to realize that it may just be one of those titles that I’ll never get to own.
Then—BOOM!
Ebay opened its beautiful legs and delivered a beautiful little bundle of joy. Without the misshapen heads like the ones the hospital had always given me. That’s right; a 1983 Betamax drawer-box Megaforce had just popped up on the Bay.
The offering was in auction format, and I wasn’t going to lose this bad boy: no matter what. In the end, I won it and became a proud owner of one of the only sealed 1983 copies of Megaforce known to exist. It is a glorious sight to be hold.
Say you're putting together a run of horror titles. Finding a sealed VHS 1981Paramount Gatefold copy of “My Bloody Valentine” is going to be a seriously difficult tape to dig up. They exist, but you're up against a line of collectors who are after the same VHS grails.
However, we have an option other than just pouting and refreshing eBay all day. The equally cool alternative, Beta, presents just as beautifully on your shelf as VHS. It’s the same age, print, box and tape as the VHS, just a little smaller. The same goes for a lot of titles. There is no reason for Beta and VHS to be thought of differently in terms of value or quality. Which reminds me…
3. BETAMAX IS COOL AS HELL!
This smaller format offers nostalgia and important additions to your media collection, whether sealed or not. After hosing them off, go dip your toes into the pool of eBay Betamax titles. You’ll quickly discover a treasure trove: reasonably priced first prints, titles you never knew even existed, and titles unlikely ever to be found on VHS.
4. Last Call For Betamax! All Aboard!
BETAMAX copies are generally cheaper than VHS in the current market. This presents an excellent collecting and investing opportunity. Unless we’re talking about the rarest of the rare, you can currently acquire BETA pieces for a little less than half of what their VHS counterparts would cost. So that means you can grab double the cool stuff for your collection.
As time goes on and the hobby grows, Betas are being snapped up and becoming much harder to come by. These Beta tapes are not necessarily more plentiful than VHS and many times, the opposite is true. The big tapes are exceedingly rare; it’s just lucky for us that some of our hobby’s collector-base hasn’t caught on fully. Now might be the time to dive in before Beta prices quickly rise to 75% - 100% of VHS prices.
5. “BETA IS BETTER!”
The truth is that back in the day, Betamax was amazing technology. Its picture was significantly better, and the cases were smaller and easier to store. For a short time, they seemed primed to win the format war. Obviously, that didn’t happen, but whenever I see a Beta tape, I hear those stupid words that Sony’s marketing team jammed into my cranium as a kid— “BETA IS BETTER!”
6. “Wrap It Up, Chris”
Betamax will always hold a special place in my heart. It is the format that launched my obsession with movies.
Do I collect Beta as part of my VHS collection? Proudly.
Do I think Beta is a great investment? I absolutely do and I back it up with my spending.
This may very well be the last chance to get in on Beta at a semi-reasonable price structure. As our hobby grows and collectors broaden their range, logically prime Beta will continue to creep up until it matches VHS prices.
My Dad was right to buy Beta when he did; it was THE format to own, and it brought incredible joy to our family. I am so happy that I get to enjoy that feeling again every time I hold one of my favorite sealed Beta tapes. They bring you right back to the movie theater- the exact same way that a VHS does. Nostalgia is a beautiful thing.
And so is Betamax.
And so is family.
Thanks, Dad.
By@Vancouvercomicjunkie and L.E Collectibles
Hold on just a second, if you don’t mind.
Let me see if I understand this correctly. People are collecting old video tapes?
You can’t mean those dusty, plastic bricks that old guys used to watch movies on when they were kids. You can’t mean… VHS!
Yes, VHS; the videos with the terrible picture quality. The tapes that you had to rewind after each viewing, lest you be designated “Unkind” by your local video rental store. The beat-up boxes in a Jenga-like stack, teetering in the far corner of every third-rate flea market. The ones priced at a quarter apiece just so the seller can save himself a trip to the landfill.
VHS as a collectable… have you gone mad, sir?
Why in the world would I waste my claw-machine quarters on VHS? Granted, I never get anything out of the claw machine (don’t get me wrong, I remain optimistic). More specifically, why would I waste my hard-earned cash on something that is a dime a dozen.
The answer is that sometimes things are a dime a dozen… until they aren’t.
Let’s explore that concept with an example. For instance, take the movie, “Halloween.” We can all agree that John Carpenter’s slasher opus remains one of the most iconic movies in cinema. Killer poster art, an unforgettable theme and a frightmare of a plot. Maybe you have a personal connection to the film that engendered a phobic fear of William Shatner. That’s what it did to George Takei. Anyway, we can agree that a nice copy of Halloween would be an amazing display and conversation piece for anyone to own. So, let’s start there.
We’ve decided we want to own a VHS copy of Halloween to display over by the graded comics or games on the “collection shelf”.
Simple, right? …Well, let’s find out.
A cursory glance at eBay should do the trick. There we go! Thousands of Halloween VHS tapes for sale. Pretty simple, if you ask me.
Some copies cost only a few dollars in addition to a meager shipping fee. You’re probably thinking to yourself… tons of copies, no real market, all supply - no demand. It’s just NO Trare, right?
WRONG!
There is a myriad of variances between these copies that differentiate one from another. Since we want the nicest copy we can get, let’s start adding some search parameters.
First, we are going to look at our wide selection with the idea that we only want a factory-sealed copy. In VHS and Beta, sealed tapes are more desirable and collectible.
BOOM goes the dynamite!
The screen doesn’t look the same anymore.
That simple search knocks off about 85% of the results right off the bat.
Now, we are down to maybe eighty listed copies of factory-sealed Halloween VHS tapes. Obviously, still a lot, but this is where it gets fun.
We can end the search right here and purchase a factory-sealed copy of Halloween printed in the 1990s or 2000s. With a little luck, we may only be looking at an investment some wherein the $25-$100 range. However, that’s probably not the investment we want to make. You will discover that the later prints of Halloween are still cool, but relatively common.
Wait, prints with an “S”?As in plural?
Yes, much like comic books and video games, many of the most desirable VHS and Beta tapes were printed in waves. The first were distributed to video stores about a year after their theatrical releases. As a film ages, it may receive multiple print runs. Halloween has tons. Widescreen releases, digital sound releases, you name it. However, as collectors we see that the earlier the print, the rarer the print.
So, now things have changed for us a bit. As collectors and investors, we are now on the hunt for the earliest print of Halloween-known in the hobby as a “first print”.
So, let’s eliminate all the 1990s and newer tapes from our search.
Wait a second, now. This is getting good. With our new search, FAR fewer prints pop up, don’t they?
Time to buy?
No sir; we came for the best copy, we are not remotely finished here!
Lucky for us, we’ve done our research, and we know that there is an amazing 1981 copy in a black slipcase from Media Entertainment. Go ahead, run our search, partner! Now that we are zeroing in on a true super-rare printing of Halloween, what did you find?
Did you even find one?
Forget finding one for sale; did you even find a SOLD listing?!
Probably not. Why, though?
A sealed 1981 Media Halloween is an incredibly tough find. It can be done, of course- they exist. However, in all the years I’ve spent in the hobby, I’ve seen maybe… four. That’s right, only four. These would make a superb addition to any collection.
So out of the thousands of tapes in our original Halloween search, we are now discovering that almost none were anything close to what we are looking for. We are now looking at a0-result search for a tape with a known population in the single digits. I wouldn’t even want to know how much it would take to pry a copy from an owner's hands. Now, that's F***ing rare, right there!
Now… let me really blow your mind.
This isn’t even the first print!
There was an earlier Halloween print released in a yellow-edged 1979 Media Box. You can search for it if you like, but don’t hold your breath. The only known copy of the 1979 Halloween was a beautiful Betamax copy that sold in the five-figure range.
Attaining a 1979 sealed Halloween print is a near-impossible task, but also an incredibly thrilling one for a collector. Well, at least for the one collector who was successful so far.
This is one hobby where some of the holy grails are about as rare as, well, The Holy Grail.
Okay, article over! I think I’ve properly explained the rarity and desirability of first prints, and I wish you the best of luck finding one.
Except… that’s STILL NOT the first print.
In 1978, Meda (the precursor to Media) entered the burgeoning VHS market with a series of now iconic VHS and Beta tapes. The prints boasted a striking, yellow-edged case bordering the cover art, with the now awe-inspiring MEDA logo.
Now, I dare you to find a sealed 1978 MEDA Halloween VHS. In fact, try finding an equally elusive BETA issue. Good luck. This thing is as rare as rare gets.
There are 0 (zero) known sealed VHS or BETA first prints of the MEDA Halloween.
In Comic Books, I suppose the closest equivalent to a Halloween first print would be Action Comics #1 or Detective Comics #27. These books go for millions in desirable grades. Even in ‘beat to hell’ condition (the official term, of course) the books command multiple hundreds of thousands. As a big comic book guy, this is great. It’s an indication of comic books receiving their just do. The excitement is warranted as comics have a massive appeal and a significant collecting history.
Action Comics #1 is extremely rare… but compared to many factory-sealed VHS it is utterly common.
There are approximately100 known copies of Action Comics #1 in various conditions. There are only 75known copies of Detective Comics #27. The point being that if you have the money- you can own one. It won’t be cheap, but money won’t stop you from attaining your goal.
Can you say the same thing about one of the pinnacle tapes of the sealed VHS hobby?
Let me interject here. “No” is the answer.
We started this little adventure with the simple task of owning a Halloween VHS tape. It’s one of the most popular movies in history. Thus, it may be a shock to discover that there is a strong chance no matter how much money you have to spend, you may never even SEE a first print copy of Halloween, let alone own one.
And THIS is why I love this hobby. The rarity, the tapes… and the hunt is everything!
Everyone has a favorite movie.
My father was a huge “Wild Bunch” fan. My best friend Matt? He’s all about Friday the 13th Part 3. My older brother? Star Wars all the way. Ask anyone about their favorite movies and most will have a laundry list of interesting films that truly mean something to them. Movies are important: everyone has a moment when a film touched them in some deep and profound way. (Editor’s Note: For me, it’s when I found ‘Deep Throat’ in my dad’s college stuff).
When I made the connection that I could combine my two favorite hobbies (watching movies and collecting rare copies of them) fireworks lit up in my brain. They singed my synapses, but I’m okay, thanks for your concern. As a true collector at heart, sealed VHS appealed to me on a deep, structural level. I instantly developed a drive to collect the rarest copies of my favorite films, and to uncover the next great VHS previously thought to be lost to time.
Fun fact: I have always loved the movie, “Revenge of the Nerds”. Once again, there are tons of factory-sealed copies of this movie to be found. However, finding a first print from 86 with back white CBS/Fox Watermarks is surprisingly difficult (but not remotely impossible). Add in the fact that even in this nascent stage of the hobby, I’m not the only collector trying to add a copy to my collection. That kind of scenario very quickly raises the price. Who knew?
There are so many VHS and BETA movies like this; the hobby is truly full of treasures. A 1982 Star Wars first print broke six figures at Goldin Auctions. The first prints of the Rocky movies have sold for tens of thousands and are some of the most desired tapes in the hobby. The Goonies first print has touched mid five-figures as mass nostalgia drives a demand that can never be sated by the scant supply.
Superman draws in a vast array of collectors from other hobbies seeking a sealed copy and prices of later prints increase significantly in the process. Horror VHS collectors are some of the most hardcore around, and they are in a hobby where there is only one known first print of “The Thing” and one known first print of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”.
From the first Magnetic Video to the last commercial VHS (A History of Violence) and the last exclusive VHS (“Cars”) collectors embark on a thrilling hunt for the rarest and earliest prints of their favorite films.
A tape doesn’t even have to be a grail to become someone’s treasure! Hell, even “Uncle Buck” is sought after by many collectors who can’t wait to display one in a graded slab on their shelf. Because it means something to them. This is a hobby that brings the best of cinema to the best of collectibles. A treasure hunt with no borders and thousands of incredible prizes to be had.
After collecting for awhile you’ll discover that certain company’s tapes are so deadly rare that no matter what the title, it becomes a feat just to own any movie they put out(I’m looking at you Magnetic Video and WCI). There are also a multitude of different strategies with which to collect…
Some people go after all their favorite Horror movies and discover how many insane titles they never even knew existed.
I know a few collectors who collect sealed tapes for their poster art exclusively.
One can go after all the biggest Betamax titles (equally hard to find). I personally had to own every David Lynch movie in the earliest print I could get. Finding an actual sealed first print of Eraserhead is still one of my favorite moments in a lifetime of collecting. I felt like I’d found a piece of history no one else had seen in 40 years.
I know collectors who are attempting to find the biggest actors first appearances on VHS. My favorite example of this is Leonardo DiCaprio in the little-known “Critters 3”. Or maybe Denzel in “Carbon Copy”? How about Tom Cruise in “Endless Love”?
If you find the more modern tapes too common for your taste, then you can instead collect sealed promo, advance, or Academy screeners. In that world, one quickly discovers true rarity in modern movies you might think would be an easy find. Simply put, this hobby is growing, and there are endless possibilities for a collector's approach.
I’m going to end this article with a dare.
I dare you to go out and hunt down your favorite movie, doesn’t matter what it is. I don’t care if it’s “Blade Runner”, “Deer Hunter” or even “Dumb and Dumber”. Go hunt it down. Take your time. Find a cool version, or your favorite print of that movie. Get it mailed to you and hold it in your hands. Look at the seal on it. Feel the weight of it. Enjoy the cover artwork and then put it up on your shelf so you can appreciate and admire it.
I’m willing to bet it won’t be the last sealed VHS you buy.