We gave containers full of vhs tapes sitting for decades in a storage unit.
Probably aren’t useable now.
I remember George Legal in “Blackbird” a Sam Spade spoof. Unavailable on DVD. Hilarious.
That’s the interesting thing about magnetic tape, it degausses and goes bad over time. Can’t imagine there’s many of these that have readable data — especially in the 480i format they were in.
Biggest problem is the innerds of the VCR. The belts, pulleys, mechanical stuff has aged. I had 6 of the same model JVC vcr from the 1990s. None of them will load a tape and play it. If I take the cover offer, I can get a few to thread the tape, but then won’t eject.
So be prepared to do a complete overhaul to get any to work for you.
You might be surprised.
I boxed up a ton of tapes from the 80s and 90s while cleaning out my parents’ house. Since most were unlabeled, I had to go through and view them so I could write up a label before giving them to a friend who collects old tech. Very, very few of them had gone bad...many were in fact crystal clear like they had been recorded yesterday.
My wife actually has a VHS of Yentl. Oooh that’s scary.
Just dumped quite a few. The tape does deteriorate.