cheapo vcr wanted

[Floid]

weirdami wrote:
Can someone recommend to me an inexpensive VCR machine and which store in the USA to go to to get it? I'm talkin less than $30.

Also, is there a really cheap device thing that I can connect to my TV to get all the cable channels I'm supposed to get on my basic cable but don't because my TV and VCR only get 2-35 and 98-99? I'm interested in 36-97 because the Scifi channel and Cartoon Network are in there and I'm dyin' out here. :-)

Go to a 'dirt mall' ("flea market"), and you should be able to find a reasonably recent one for under $30 -- aim for anything with stereo output, or "'90s styling."  Even if the tape movement is broken (unlikely, though it might want a cleaning tape), it should serve fine as a cable box, supporting all the currently-standard channels... unless you've got a realllly weird cable system in your area.

Or you could, er, try to find a cable box.

You can get something decent enough at K-Mart for like $40 these days, if you want to buy new.  I'm a little gun-shy of Wal-Mart, because where K-Mart (and lately, Sears, Best Buy, Circuit City, pretty much anywhere) will have cheap Chinese stuff at various degrees of markup, Wal-Mart will have cheap Chinese stuff, with or without an "American" brand slapped on it, usually missing a few features (like stereo, or component input on a TV) to shave $3 off the wholesale price.

[Floid]

weirdami wrote:

Or you could, er, try to find a cable box.

I figure if I'm going to spend that much money, it should at least play tapes or something besides just flipping channels. Then I could finally keep circulating the tapes. :-D

Well, I was, again, talking a used one.  I actually have one sitting here that miiight work; it dates from 1980-something and looks like it was made in 1950-something, but was in use by a relative until about 3 years ago...  Want to pay shipping on it?

Seriously though, nearly any old broken-or-not VCR should do it.  Or you could consider a TV/Composite -> VGA tuner box, most of which include cable-ready tuners, and probably run $40 now on eBay or Pricewatch... could come in handy if you want to hook up your C64 to one CRT through a KVM.

No VCR-laden Goodwill around?  (Just make sure you can match up the remote...)