TNG Paramount exclusive VHS tapes

[Matthew Swindell]

Hey!!

I used to work in Blockbuster Video where they had 2 sets of TNG video tapes as Paramount exclusives that had 4 episodes per tape rather than the usual 2. One set was rented out, I bought the other set.

Never seen them for sale anywhere else and interested to know if anyone else remembers this set at all, or indeed knows anything else about this version of the tapes.

I would love to hear if anyone else remembers these sets as I've searched online and come up empty so far.

Cheers.

Matt

 

[BillJ]

used to work in Blockbuster Video where they had 2 sets of TNG video tapes as Paramount exclusives that had 4 episodes per tape rather than the usual 2. One set was rented out, I bought the other set.

More episodes per tape means lesser quality.

 

[saladdays]

I believe you would only be able to fit 2 whole TNG episodes on one VHS at the highest quality, right?

 

[BillJ]

I believe you would only be able to fit 2 whole TNG episodes on one VHS at the highest quality, right?

For a T-120 VHS tape, that is correct.

 

[Matthew Swindell]

You could be right about that. I just thought they were unusual more than anything as I've never seen them anywhere else.

Appreciate the comments, thanks

 

[Tosk]

More episodes per tape means lesser quality.

You could slap 4 eps on a 3 hour tape no prob, same quality as two eps on a 90m tape. Two eps per tape means more money for the studio.

I don't know if commercially sold VHS ever used LP or EP in the U.S. but here in Oz I believe releases were always in SP. (Not least of all because a lot of players didn't even have variable playback speeds.) But a three hour tape in SP would be just fine.

 

[Trek Survivor]

Hey!!

I used to work in Blockbuster Video where they had 2 sets of TNG video tapes as Paramount exclusives that had 4 episodes per tape rather than the usual 2. One set was rented out, I bought the other set.

Never seen them for sale anywhere else and interested to know if anyone else remembers this set at all, or indeed knows anything else about this version of the tapes.

I would love to hear if anyone else remembers these sets as I've searched online and come up empty so far.

Cheers.

Matt

I remember these, we had them in the UK. I brought a number of them as "ex-rental" purchases. The cases were bigger, and they didn't match the rest of the CIC collection, but 4 episodes a tape was a great deal!

They were rental exclusive, never sold at retail (except, as with me, as ex-rental sales).

 

[Matthew Swindell]

Glad someone remembers them. Was beginning to think I was the only one.

Thanks for responding, much appreciated

 

[tomswift2002]

For a T-120 VHS tape, that is correct.

Here in North America the maximum run time of VHS tape was T-240, and could hold 4 hours in SP, but those were extremely scarce tapes (most I've seen have been of the DF-480 variety that were marketed during the D-VHS era).

But considering that most TNG episodes, without commercials were about 43 minutes in length, you could fit four episodes on a T-180 at SP mode, unless they used a T-90 in LP mode or T-60 in the SLP/EP mode. And there were commercial releases issued here in Canada in the LP & SLP/EP mode. I remember back in the 90's one of my siblings getting for Christmas a couple of toys that included a VHS in each toy of a cartoon. There was only one cartoon on the tape at about 22 minutes in length, and I remember one tape was a T-10, so the cartoon was recorded in SLP/EP, while the other tape was a T-15 with the cartoon in LP. But here in Canada the most available commercially pre-recorded tapes available in the LP or SLP/EP modes were ones that featured Public Domain movies and cartoons, and you always had to fiddle witht the tracking during the movie, with the occasional "current" kids cartoon getting a release on a LP and SLP/EP tape. So if it was an NTSC tape it was probably a special one for rental, or maybe a special release through a certain club.

But over the in Europe, PAL/SECAM VCR's could record up to 5 hours in SP on one E-300 tape, as the LP speed usually wouldn't work from one VCR to another. It is usually PAL tapes that I have seen that have had 4 broadcast-hour-long episodes on E180 tapes (E180's are equivalent to the NTSC T-120).