50 years of soaps: An All-Star Celebration (1994)

[Gray Bunny]

 

Same; I've got 2 moving boxes full of VHS tapes I always intend(ed) to convert, first to DVD but now just straight to digital. On my To-Do bucket list. It's mostly DAYS and GL, along with the Daytime Emmys and Soap Opera Awards. 

[DramatistDreamer]

I was in Europe for school at that time, so I definitely didn't see this special.

*Gasps* find. them. please!

What years, do you remember?

[Soapsuds]

Just saw your post.  The years are from 1985-1994...then I believe I went to DVD recording. 

[victoria foxton]

Please Ron try to find them.

[DramatistDreamer]

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. That is an absolute treasure trove. Those 80s episodes need to be archived. Honestly, you could start your own version of a Vault! '85 is such a special year too. Julianne Moore's first year on the show, Steven Weber appeared, Marisa Tomei was even still on the show, for a bit. If you even had those fabulous July episodes surrounding the costume ball...

Just wow.

Maybe you may even have Kim's "Labor Day" episode, that nobody's seen in like...ages!

(*Blanche Devereux voice*) "Share with us Ron".

[Soapsuds]

I remember setting the vcr for the entire CBS lineup. I probably even have the cable cars episodes with Frankie and Daryl.  I know for sure I have lots of 1986-1987 season. Ill go digging for them. They been stored for over 25 years.

And at Blanche

[DramatistDreamer]

Of course, Blanche was talking about sex, not soaps but still,

"Share with us, Ron"

Would bribes work? 

Seriously, if you need assistance with equipment or costs associated with transferring to digital media, send us a signal. Maybe soap fans can crowdfund some help to help build a vault.

[YRfan23]

I really hope you find them!!!

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we’d love that so much! 

[BoldRestless]

If ANYONE here has VHS tapes that you need help digitizing, please send me a PM or email (same username as here at gmail). I've done it for people before, for free. You just have to pay the postage to mail them. 

For those who have a VCR and want to do it yourselves, you can purchase a kit on amazon for under $20 that will connect the VCR to your computer. It's easy. I have this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XP159GX/ 

I myself have a few that I bought on ebay and never went through. @SFK  @Soapsuds @Gray Bunny we should all commit to doing it by Christmas!

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Edited October 1, 2021 by BoldRestless

[vetsoapfan]

OMG, I wish I had known about the existence of these devices years ago. I used to video-trade and collect for decades, and had a huge treasure trove of old soaps on Betamax and VHS (mainly from the 1950s, '60s and '70s). Unfortunately, most of the tapes had deteriorated and turned to dust before I got around to making back-up, durable copies of the episodes of them. I had previously transferred most of my stash to VHS for other collectors, however, and one of them was smart and patient enough to digitize everything important, just for safe-keeping. (He is a GODSEND! I will be eternally grateful that he did all the hard work.)

Anyone who has a collection of old tapes, I urge you to digitize them as fast as you can, because from my own experience, videotape just does not last. I'd hate to hear than other SONers also waited too long to convert their material, and found their episodes to be in terrible shape and unwatchable. 

[BoldRestless]

Oh, that is so painful just to read! I can't imagine how it felt. You had mentioned losing videos on flash drives? Do you still have them? There are companies, like Drive Savers, that can recover the data, but they are very expensive. It's a matter of what those videos were worth to you. The prices are based on how large the drive was, so if it's a smaller capacity USB drive that would be much cheaper than a 2TB external hard drive or something like that. There are usually discount codes too if you get referred by a computer shop. 

Does that mean you have the CBS soaps as of 1995 on DVD?

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 Did you save the shows every day?!

[vetsoapfan]

I was really devastated, and furious at myself for waiting so long to start digitizing my material (well, transferring everything to DVD-Rs, because I had no idea how to save Betamax or VHS material to the computer at that point).

Another thing that I deeply regretted was getting rid of all my old soap magazines from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s when I moved into my latest apartment. I did not have the space to keep them all, and I foolishly thought the that soap press would continue to publish new and vibrant stuff for decades, and that I'd always have more and more magazines to buy. Little did I know that most magazines would fold, and the few that survived became too poorly produced to buy. Now, I would KILL to re-read my vintage copies of Daytime TV, Afternoon TV, Daily TV Serials, etc. Thank God I did keep some extra-special issues of those publications, at least. I do eBay search for magazines like Daily TV Serials, but $24.99 for an issue plus another $25.00 for shipping? Nope, not gonna happen.

I did consult a few places about trying to salvage the material that had been corrupted on my flashdrives, but the repair guys told me that either it was unlikely the material could be retrieved, or it would be overwhelmingly expensive. I ended  up throwing the USB sticks away in frustration, and began the process of replacing everything I had lost. Again, I will be eternally grateful to the friend who had saved all the material that I had copied and sent him years ago. And thanks to his generosity, youtube and the internet archives site, I have recovered most everything that had been really important to me.