Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

The end of Xtra-vision?

Options
245

Comments

  • Options
    #32
    mickydoomsux
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4,290 ✭✭✭mickydoomsux


    I hope they don't close because they give the best trade in value on videogames.


  • Options
    #33
    about blank
    Closed Accounts Posts: 54 ✭✭about blank


    OutlawPete wrote: »
    Xtra-vision holds many good memories for me.

    I haven't been in one since in almost five years but even the name being said makes me feel quite nostalgic.

    I remember the first shop opened in Swords around '88 and back then, it took six months for a film to go from cinema to video.

    Before they arrived, the little family run video shops used to have feck all of a selection and you had to put your name down for new releases and could be waiting weeks for your turn to come round.

    Although, they were better for porn flicks and usually had a little black folder full of the box covers to leaf through ;)

    When Xtra-vision arrived, there selection was amazing in comparison and I often spent two to three hours deciding which five vids I was gonna take out.

    Course, I would then hook my video up to my mates and make copies of everything I ever rented.

    Had a collection of a few thousand films at one stage.

    The only issue was the 'tracking'.

    Getting the tracking right when duplicating VHS tapes was aricky affair and needed great skill.

    Twiddling those buttons to the precise position so that the tracking lines would disappear just off screen as an art, one which I like to think I mastered.

    My 'tracking' adjustment skills were well known and I was renowned for them for many a year.

    In the right circles today, people still discuss how I managed to adjust one very particularly tricky pirate of Big Trouble In Little China that had been very amateurishly duped over at LP Speed on a Maxell 180 Min tape :rolleyes:

    People like that should never have been allowed to own such complicated equipment.

    Leave it to the pros guys :cool:


    This should be Post of the day (tomorrow) :rolleyes:


    Love it


  • Options
    #34
    OutlawPete
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,689 ✭✭✭✭OutlawPete


    about blank wrote: »
    This should be Post of the day (tomorrow) :rolleyes:


    Love it

    Cheers, but I don't think there are that many old people on Boards that know what the hell I was on about or what "tracking" even is :p


  • Options
    #35
    strokemyclover
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,198 ✭✭✭strokemyclover


    OutlawPete wrote: »
    Cheers, but I don't think there are that many old people on Boards that know what the hell I was on about or what "tracking" even is :p

    I'm looking it up on my Atari 800XL........Take a minute!


  • Options
    #36
    Skinback
    Closed Accounts Posts: 107 ✭✭Skinback


    Shogun Puca wrote: »
    With Blockbuster filing for Chapter 11; it made me think, if the inevitable happens and Xtra-vision is wound up, would you miss them?

    In the era of torrents and streaming is the neighborhood video store just an unnecessary throwback to the days of Betamax or would you be inconvenienced?

    I constantly wonder how Xtravision stays in biz considering the complete
    ****e that masquerades as films these days.
    I could scan the shelves for an hour and not find a fillum I fancied as an adult who requires adult entertainment.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #37
    RoundyMooney
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,910 ✭✭✭✭RoundyMooney


    OutlawPete, God be with the days! (Certain people won't like me mentioning God, fcuk 'em)

    My first dubbing efforts were with Ferguson toploaders (yes kids, that's where they got their name) co-ax linked.

    Two RF converters, plus tracking differences made for a painful copying experience, but SCART was a godsend (ooh, there I go again!).

    I also remember this on LPs (my teenage nephew asked me what I was doing with all those big black CDs the other day)

    http://www.dreamfoundry.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Home-taping-is-killing-music.gif


  • Options
    #38
    about blank
    Closed Accounts Posts: 54 ✭✭about blank


    Roundy & Pete

    why not start a thread on this??

    I would love to read peoples memories and such regards the old video 'tracking' days.


    Mods : Sorry for the trolling :o


  • Options
    #39
    RolandIRL
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,924 ✭✭✭✭RolandIRL


    JONJO THE MISER wrote: »
    :eek: Im pretty sure everywhere now has Broadband, my cousin lives in remotest west cork and has broadband.
    i'm in rural sligo. no broadband exchange near us. all we can get is mobile "broadband" with speeds of up to....20kbps...that's right folks, 20kbps :cool:


  • Options
    #40
    HavingCrack
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,847 ✭✭✭HavingCrack


    You can buy DVD's in HMV for as little as 3.00 (for In Bruges) these days so the market for rentals has just disappeared to be honest..


  • Options
    #41
    OutlawPete
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,689 ✭✭✭✭OutlawPete


    RoundyMooney wrote: »
    My first dubbing efforts were with Ferguson toploaders (yes kids, that's where they got their name) co-ax linked.

    I was lucky enough to be the first of all my mates to have a vcr.

    My Dad picked it up at a Garda auction of all things.

    It a Telefunken, can't find a good pic but it looked a lot like this.

    I remember the day he got so well, it was around 1984 (I was eleven).

    It came with two VHS tapes, Outland and The Private Lives Of Sherlock Holmes.

    I nearly fell over myself with excitement.

    To actually be able to control the picture on your TV was hilarious.

    I remember pausing the video and getting everyone around the TV to show them that I could control when the film started and when it stopped :cool:

    The first trip to the video shop did not go well.

    My mam drove me down and she went shopping and left me to pick some movies.

    It was £20 to join :eek:

    VHS tapes cost a small fortune back then, from what I remember.

    I think it was something like £80 for each film, maybe that's bull, but that's what the guy in the video shop told us and I was too young to really check myself, so I guess I always believed it.

    Anyway, I picked Mr.T The Toughest Guy In The World and Trading Places :cool:

    Didn't happen.

    He said he'd ask my mam and I said fine.

    He then told my mother that Trading Places was very unsuitable for an eleven year old and had very explict sexual content.

    /mortified

    And he even asked her was the Mr.T video okay as it was PG and I couldn't rent it without her permission .. tosser :mad:

    That was a minor mishap as I had older brothers and what they rented, I watched :D

    Plus, there was another small video shop in Swords, upstairs in the attic of a doctor's surgery and they let you rent pretty much anything at any age.

    Porkys, Revenge Of The Nerds, Confessions Of A Window Cleaner, Mad Max, Evil Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre .. is it any wonder I'm not right in the head :p

    There was only one rule with the vcr.

    If we were gonna watch videos at night, we had to make sure it was rewound before my Dad went to bed as the noise of it rewinding, used to wake him.

    Says it all really :D


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #42
    RoundyMooney
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,910 ✭✭✭✭RoundyMooney


    about:blank, no bother, start away and we shall join in.

    Here's a retro forum, but it's more along the lines of 70s/80s/90s pop culture

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=253

    I just reread my post, and am slightly bewildered by the fact that I put forward Toploader as contemporary, when they were last in the charts seven years ago!

    Back on video shops, as they were, anyone else remember going behind the velvet curtain (oo-er missus) or the reflective wall (one way mirror-so one could see the wife comin' atcha) for the real goodies?


  • Options
    #43
    flahavaj
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,235 ✭✭✭✭flahavaj


    strokemyclover wrote: »
    I'm looking it up on my Atari 800XL........Take a minute!

    Spectrum FTW.


  • Options
    #44
    bricky06
    Registered Users Posts: 381 ✭✭bricky06


    Chaotic_Forces wrote: »
    You mean the place that charges a tener for a 4 year old game to rent for a week? That's after renting five films...

    No, it'll be a good thing.

    any game older than about 6 months is €4.95 for a week - exaggeration can be a good means of making a point but not when its blatantly incorrect!


  • Options
    #45
    bricky06
    Registered Users Posts: 381 ✭✭bricky06


    Biggins wrote: »
    I noted one local Xtravision store closed today in our town.
    I wonder is it related!
    (I know they are known as Blockbuster Elsewhere)

    Xtravision are no longer affiliated with blockbuster, they are separate businesses. Xtravision has also had large investment in the form of a new top end, nationwide computer system from their new owners.
    i.e. they're not going anywhere for a while!


  • Options
    #46
    RoundyMooney
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,910 ✭✭✭✭RoundyMooney


    OutlawPete wrote: »
    I was lucky enough to be the first of all my mates to have a vcr.

    My Dad picked it up at a Garda auction of all things.

    It a Telefunken, can't find a good pic but it looked a lot like this.

    Ah, if it was like the Fergie, it had a wired remote, and cost 3 quid a week to rent. 3 quid would have got ya a pint or two, a bag of chips, and Sally O'Brien looking at you that time, for us, it would have bought a ball of Swizzers sherbet, and a sugar high, or indeed a weeks worth of 50p a night goodness.

    Said wired remote was the talk of the town. Dad could freeze Rocky getting a punch from Mr. T, or the Terminator driving in the door of the copshop. More likely he freeze framed other scenes, but the joys of tracking bars and a curfew meant I never got to see 'em.

    When he came in after a few and tripped over the trailing lead, he tended to forget the advantages himself.


  • Options
    #47
    Dave!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,857 ✭✭✭✭Dave!


    Good. I hope it burns down.

    /disgruntled former employee


  • Options
    #48
    pappyodaniel
    Registered Users Posts: 5,725 ✭✭✭pappyodaniel


    This morning in my old bedroom I found one of those gift vouchers they sell (you know the one's that look like an ATM card) and brought it down to extravision to buy a game. It was given to me over a year ago and i forgot about it. Anyway the guy at the counter scanned it and he told me it was out of date since May and it was no longer valid. I checked the card for a date of expiry but there was none. There was a list of terms and conditions on the back but it didn't mention anything about out of date cards. I mean if your atm card expires does that mean your savings are lost and go to the bank?

    Raging over this, and pissed I didn't question the staff more. Has anyone any consumer advice for me?


  • Options
    #49
    imme
    Registered Users Posts: 3,200 ✭✭✭imme


    No, I shan't miss them, they did employ me for one week though, back in the dim and distant past.:o

    Their place can be taken by the machine in supermarkets that discharges DVD's for 1 or 2 euro. Not stuff that's been released today, but pretty recent stuff and some older stuff.


  • Options
    #50
    RoundyMooney
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,910 ✭✭✭✭RoundyMooney


    ITT: People who don't remember videoshops dispensing videos. Or life pre Xtravision.

    ITT (was what Nokia used to be).


  • Options
    #51
    bricky06
    Registered Users Posts: 381 ✭✭bricky06


    pappyodaniel wrote: »
    This morning in my old bedroom I found one of those gift vouchers they sell (you know the one's that look like an ATM card) and brought it down to extravision to buy a game. It was given to me over a year ago and i forgot about it. Anyway the guy at the counter scanned it and he told me it was out of date since May and it was no longer valid. I checked the card for a date of expiry but there was none. There was a list of terms and conditions on the back but it didn't mention anything about out of date cards. I mean if your atm card expires does that mean your savings are lost and go to the bank?

    Raging over this, and pissed I didn't question the staff more. Has anyone any consumer advice for me?

    if you ring HO and tell them the story (try sound a little pissed about not being told) they will send you out vouchers or a replacement card to the balance of the original card. Happy shopping!

    - a wiley employee


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #52
    pappyodaniel
    Registered Users Posts: 5,725 ✭✭✭pappyodaniel


    bricky06 wrote: »
    if you ring HO and tell them the story (try sound a little pissed about not being told) they will send you out vouchers or a replacement card to the balance of the original card. Happy shopping!

    - a wiley employee

    Now that's why I love boards! :D


  • Options
    #53
    Absurdum
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,445 ✭✭✭Absurdum


    Back in the day, my local Xtravision in Artane would rent 18s movies to us kids if we had a note from our mammies to say it was ok

    Naturally there were many forged notes successfully used to procure movies with a booby or two in 'em

    In fact Return of the Living Dead Part 1 was where I saw my first female full frontal nudity shot, a young one dancing on an altar or grave if I remember right. You couldn't even make out a pube on her such was the quality of the thing, but back in those days the Sunday World was pretty much the only source of filth in this great nation (unless you had connections). Anyway I rented that tape out based on a forged note one summer afternoon, it was incredible.

    Kids nowadays have no flippin idea how much of a diddy drought it was back in 1980s Ireland.

    That reminds me of how I used to get sent to the shops to buy cigarettes for my next door neighbour as well, the government of the day were having a bit of a crackdown on kids smoking so I had to get a note off the lazy neighbour saying it was ok to purchase the cigarettes for her, I was probably 6 or 7 at the time. I think they were like 60p for 10 Johnny Blues or something crazy like that. Ahhh memories :)


  • Options
    #54
    about blank
    Closed Accounts Posts: 54 ✭✭about blank


    Still recruiting for staff :

    http://www.xtravision.ie/jobs/wexfordsm.aspx


    http://www.xtravision.ie/jobs/greystoneswicklowsm.aspx

    I always loved the smell of the video cassettes & boxes they came in, nothing better than heading around to the video store and spending ages choosing one each from the following ;

    action,
    comedy,
    horror.

    ahh, those were the days :)


  • Options
    #55
    Absurdum
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,445 ✭✭✭Absurdum


    about blank wrote: »
    I always loved the smell of the video cassettes & boxes they came in,

    lol yeah, it was kinda like caramel


  • Options
    #56
    hypervalve
    Closed Accounts Posts: 90 ✭✭hypervalve


    Absurdum wrote: »
    Kids nowadays have no flippin idea how much of a diddy drought it was back in 1980s Ireland.

    I can't say 1990's Ireland was much better, at least pre-internet 1990's. Even at that we were waiting a good 10 minutes for a decent picture of boobs to decrypt itself.

    I don't know what I would have done if my 13 year old self had access to the kind of sordid, lurid things that go on on the internet now a days. Probably a lot more masturbation.


  • Options
    #57
    bricky06
    Registered Users Posts: 381 ✭✭bricky06


    about blank wrote: »
    Still recruiting for staff :

    http://www.xtravision.ie/jobs/wexfordsm.aspx


    http://www.xtravision.ie/jobs/greystoneswicklowsm.aspx

    people on this thread seem to think that renting from xtravision is a thing of the past?!

    as an employee (not a promoter by any means), there is still a huge amount of business being done. Weekend nights can be insane! From the addition of Blu-Rays to allowing people to rent a game for a week or 3nights rather than dish out €50 straight to buy it - business is pretty good!


  • Options
    #58
    Absurdum
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,445 ✭✭✭Absurdum


    hypervalve wrote: »
    I can't say 1990's Ireland was much better, at least pre-internet 1990's. Even at that we were waiting a good 10 minutes for a decent picture of boobs to decrypt itself.

    I don't know what I would have done if my 13 year old self had access to the kind of sordid, lurid things that go on on the internet now a days. Probably a lot more masturbation.

    I still have the first unbanned issue of Playboy in Ireland, Pamela Anderson extravaganza. I also remember buying it, I was wearing a bicycle helmet and a scarf over my face to hide my utter shame.


  • Options
    #59
    diocane
    Registered Users Posts: 31 ✭diocane


    Grimes wrote: »
    Overpriced and huge late fees for years. No
    you are damn right;)


  • Options
    #60
    poisonated
    Registered Users Posts: 2,277 ✭✭✭poisonated


    I used to rent a movie every week. I don't anymore because it is just not worth it. If they kept that offer of 1 euro per night I would probably still rent a good few off them.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #61
    about blank
    Closed Accounts Posts: 54 ✭✭about blank


    bricky06 wrote: »
    people on this thread seem to think that renting from xtravision is a thing of the past?!

    as an employee (not a promoter by any means), there is still a huge amount of business being done. Weekend nights can be insane! From the addition of Blu-Rays to allowing people to rent a game for a week or 3nights rather than dish out €50 straight to buy it - business is pretty good!

    Sorry what was that, was too busy downloading the new wall street movie :rolleyes:;)



    Xtra Vison late fees = Should have gone to Specsavers :D


Advertisement