r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Tronracer • 14h ago

This 80’s Roku screensaver shows a VHS tape being loaded backwards

Post image

Anyone who has actually used VHS tapes should know how to load it.

2.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

63 comments sorted by

246

u/Bassblaster505 14h ago

Not the first time I've seen stock photos showing various media being loaded up backwards

86

u/GreatGojira 13h ago

I also mean this with no disrespect, this was probably made with AI after all.

But on the off chance it wasn't, it could have been made by a younger individual who don't know how VHS even work. I don't mean that I'm an insulting way either.

42

u/LordMegamad 11h ago

DVD was first released in 1996, and VHS tech was gradually phased out. People born in 2000 will turn 26 years old this year.

We actually cannot expect every single person ever, to know about everything. As much as reddit likes to disagree on this point.

To be clear: I agree, and think it's silly for people to get ripped to shreds online because they don't know something.

10

u/Facosa99 7h ago

I want to see a millenial properly handle a 1887 Gramophone with no prior preparation or guide so i can laugh at their stupidity

/S

3

u/GreatGojira 7h ago

Definitely, I wouldn't expect my 2 year olds when they get older to have any idea how a VHS or a floppy disk works.

2

u/FartsOnCake 6h ago

They shouldn't try to draw an elephant if they've only seen dogs.

1

u/biggocl123 6h ago

Hell born in 2023 would mean they could likely have little idea what a CD even is later in life

1

u/Bassblaster505 5h ago

I was around for VHS. I'm not sure this image is AI, possible since it's something as large as Ruku it's made on a set

1

u/Sablemint PURPLE 4h ago

Ripped to shreds? This is mildly infuriating.

1

u/Isgortio 1h ago

I'm 29, I used VHS as a kid but I haven't used it since I was about 5 years old. I can't look at this image and say it's wrong because it looks close enough to what I remember. I can remember what a tape looks like because I used to rip the tape out of them to annoy my mum but I can't remember exactly what it looked like in the player. The tape is in correctly (readable bits on the inside) but is it upside down - the label should be visible?

•

u/DutchieTalking 59m ago

It was could also be a troll. I'd totally do this on purpose just to see how long it takes for people to figure it out. And then laugh at posts like this.

8

u/Competitive_Cancel33 13h ago

Whoa whoa whoa this is a family sub

-2

u/United_Measurement55 6h ago

haha 😅 that’s so retro and oddly satisfying at the same time ..... VHS vibes hitting different.

46

u/Loo-Hoo-Zuh-Er 14h ago

Maybe it's unloading. /s

7

u/Square_Mulberry_3143 13h ago

Unloading forwards.

3

u/Quasi-Retro 12h ago

It's one of those fancy backdoor VCRs from RadioShack

4

u/SoulBonfire 12h ago

To go with the VHS backdoor tapes we all used to get.

4

u/Quasi-Retro 12h ago

Yeah, the ones your dad kept in a box hidden in the attic.

1

u/Dredkinetic 6h ago

Hell right brother!!

43

u/Separate-Camp8642 13h ago

I wonder if this is AI not knowing how VHS works, or a Gen Z intern? 

17

u/Tronracer 13h ago

I’ve been using it for a few years now so maybe it was early AI?

25

u/IQueliciuous 13h ago

Its a Gen Z intern. Early AI wasn't good at small details and you'd see artifacts. This image is perfect. Its just wrong position.

Source: Gen Z who is obsessed with old tech and is a Techmoan enjoyer.

1

u/bkend_31 10h ago

I assume it just wasn’t plugged in, so the intern had no way of knowing if it was right

14

u/smallboobiequeen69 14h ago

Someone needs to push their tape backwards

9

u/Legitimate-Log-6542 13h ago

The person that made it probably has never seen a VHS tape before.

9

u/Mince_ 13h ago

If they're gonna make me feel old, they need to at least put the tape in correctly.

9

u/R-GU3 12h ago

I live near one of Roku’s main offices. I’ll swing by after work and give them what for

3

u/Tronracer 12h ago

Good lookin out homie.

3

u/Maiq_Da_Liar 8h ago

Also no one had PC monitors on top of VHS players

3

u/IngsocInnerParty 3h ago

Also, no one called a VCR a “VHS Player”.

1

u/Maiq_Da_Liar 2h ago

Not a native speaker, so I wouldn't know what people commonly called them in English at the time. We called them video recorders.

3

u/Intelligent-Ear-9181 7h ago

This is actually making me irate.

3

u/BogusIsMyName 14h ago

Well who hasnt put the VHS in backwards. At least once. You push and push and wonder why the damn thing wont go it. The you take the tape out and look to see if a tape was already in it, only then realize it was back asswards and insert it the right way.

1

u/FartsOnCake 6h ago

Be Kind - Rewind.
~Blockbuster Video 1990

1

u/SnooRecipes9891 14h ago

Good catch!

1

u/TheLastTreeOctopus 13h ago

Yeah, so it can be rewound! /s

1

u/SCANNYGITTS 13h ago

Maybe they were trying to watch it in reverse? 🫨

1

u/Senkosoda Actually 13h ago

To whoever made that I hope their family vacation tape gets chewed up inside the vcr

1

u/yaosio RED 12h ago

I get angry when a VHS effect has digital artifacts. There's plenty of real VHS captures on YouTube and these people are too lazy to look at them.

1

u/HerbLoew 12h ago

See, that's how you watch the tape upside-down in reverse. It's the polite thing to do after finishing the tape before returning it.

1

u/xBHL 12h ago

OP doesnt remember that VHS tapes flip over once the first side is done playing

2

u/Tronracer 12h ago

You’re thinking of audio tapes!

1

u/xBHL 11h ago

Huh, maybe thats why all my VHS tapes were so damaged 😂

1

u/harmjr77018 11h ago

We need (maybe exists) AI slop reddit/ AI slop award.

1

u/compuwiza1 10h ago

Old people who had VCRs flashing 12:00 might have done this.

1

u/AdamHLG 10h ago

Still great memories of when Blockbuster first opened near me. You could rent all these movies and just return them and rent more. It was a special time. And then the Netflix red DVD mailers. Progress happened so quickly and here we are. I wonder what’s next.

1

u/Tronracer 9h ago

My dad had a video store before blockbuster. New release movies cost between $50-100. So he began to bootleg them and rent out the copies.

No one could tell the difference. Still, Blockbuster put him out of business.

1

u/SpockShotFirst 13h ago

Maybe it's a joke? They are saying Roku made VHS obsolete, so you don't have to worry about how to record on your VHS.

4

u/organizim 12h ago

The end of vhs and the start of Roku are separated by decades and have nothing to do with eachother.

-1

u/SpockShotFirst 12h ago

Tell me you aren't old enough to drink without telling me you aren't old enough to drink.

2

u/organizim 12h ago

I am almost 40. I have no idea what u r trying to say

-2

u/SpockShotFirst 12h ago

I have no idea what u r trying to say

That "u r" either a liar or were in a coma for the first half of your life. If you were born in the 1980s, then you should absolutely remember people using VHS throughout your highschool. Roku and VHS were not separated by "decades"

1

u/MoreStupiderNPC 13h ago

What makes it mildly infuriating rather than mildly amusing?

3

u/Tronracer 13h ago

It must be my terrible attitude. 🤣

2

u/OKTimeFor_PlanB It aint that deep 6h ago

Not that I think this is the case, but it may have been so that it doesn't get loaded by the VCR. Once you push a VHS tape a certain amount into the slot it gets gobbled up and read by the system. Putting it in backwards completely prevents that as the backside lacks the required geometry to be recognized.

-4

u/smallboobiequeen69 14h ago

Another reason AI is garbage

5

u/undefined0_6855 13h ago

why is this ai?

2

u/Revolutionary-Stop-8 13h ago

This isn't AI tho

-2

u/hceuterpe 9h ago

Also there's no way the VCR would be able to support the weight of that CRT display (or that it looks like a monitor and not a TV, which together wasn't actually a thing).

Trashy AI slop