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What was the first episode you videotaped and when?

Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:58 pm
by 308GTS
After reading through various threads about flubs and videotaped episodes from the 80's I just got nostalgic. So, can you remember what episode or from which season you first videotaped MPI?

For me, it was Italian Ice, taped around April or May (Spring anyhow) of 1982. It was taped using a JVC HR7700 VCR (top of the line back then) using a Maxell VHS tape. I do believe that my mum may still have the tape somwhere too...!

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:28 pm
by Frodoleader
It was "Letter to a Duchess", on our first VCR. I have no idea what brand it was. Except that it was a gift. We could not afford to buy our own at the time.

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 4:30 pm
by N1095A
I didn't buy my first VCR until 1989. $400 at Sears. I believe it was a Zenith.

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:49 pm
by Steve
I recall taping "Limbo" when it first aired. Funny thing was, I was living in a High Rise on Lake Shore Drive at the time and our local CBS Station was notorious for coming in fuzzy. The Station's microwave signal aimed towards the antenna's on top of the John Hancock building were blocked by Water Tower Place (Where Oprah lived until a couple of years ago). Being up on the 48th floor of my building, the CBS Station in South Bend, Indiana would skip across Lake Michigan and come in clearer so I had to tape the show off of that channel. I haven't looked at it in a while, but it is funny when I do seeing commercials for the local South Bend, Indiana news........

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:20 am
by MPS
We bought our first VCR in 1987 for about $200 (the bottom of the line).I think it may have been a Magnavox. I started taping the middle of season 7, because there was talk of there being no season 8. I still have Limbo labeled as "last Magnum PI" on the tape box. Wow, that was a long time ago.....

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:24 pm
by Dervish
I never taped an episode! I didn't become a fan until last year. And I only managed to catch the show on Sleuth for 1-2 days until they took it off. :( I can't remember what the first episode I saw was, maybe that one where they go to England. I was like "aww, I wanna see Hawaii!"

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:51 pm
by Carmen
Can`t remember which one was the first, but I started to tape them in 1986 (bought a VCR in the year we married) , so every wednesday morning I watched some minutes before I went to work, I remember that very clearly, cause I always had to run to catch the train on wednesdays :wink:

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:51 pm
by Miss Q
VCR - are you kidding me....

I was living at home with my parents when it originally airred, they didn't get cable until 2001, lets not even talk about a VCR.

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 2:00 pm
by Carmen
*BG* Miss Q, like mine...

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:14 pm
by 308GTS
Some of us are beginning to show our age here as a result of this thread. You young whippersnappers have no idea how good you've got it what with DVD's, HD, NetFlix etc etc.

Way back in the heyday of the show you had to wait until the show was aired to tape it and sit there and hit pause to edit out the TV ads... :lol:

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:46 pm
by ConchRepublican
Exactly 308GTS . . . I'm ecstatic about the DVDs. I have a box full of VHS tapes downstairs with Magnum episodes I used to tape of daytime TV reruns.

I got a old hand-me-down VCR in the 90's when I was going to college and would set the timer to record Magnum during the day while I was at class. I don't know how many episodes I actually watched, I just liked knowing they were there.

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 7:46 pm
by IKnowWhatYoureThinking
I can't remember taping episodes. I always had a knack for rearranging my schedule for Magnum, then came WGN/Sleuth and Tivo, and finally the DVD sets for which I am very grateful! It is so nice to see any episode I want at any time!

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:01 pm
by 308GTS
The DVD's are an absolute godsend. I remember in the days when we had the VHS tapes, we'd frantically search around for all the best bits. Now, of course it's easy to find the best bits, the great clashes with Higgins, arguments over the wine cellar, use of the tennis courts and the Ferrari and of course Robin's VCR etc etc. Back in those days having a VCR was heaven on earth.

I just wonder if the show will ever get a Blue Ray release...?

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 9:11 pm
by IKnowWhatYoureThinking
And just think if Magnum had Tivo instead of a VCR tape for the Army/Navy game. I'm sure Magnum would've loved Tivo, especially with the time difference in Hawaii.

Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:57 am
by J.J. Walters
IKnowWhatYoureThinking wrote:And just think if Magnum had Tivo instead of a VCR tape for the Army/Navy game.
With Magnum's luck, he probably would have received the dreaded "tuner is unavailable" message.

For the life of me, I can't remember the first episode I taped. I'm pretty sure it was in '83, so it must have been a Season Three episode.