I don’t have a fancy VCR with TBC unfortunately… 
It’s a Sharp VCH710X, 6 head, stereo sound. As for digitising - I just use a handcam with analogue to digital pass thru - Canon MVX430.
I have actually just been considering what capture cards I could instal in my Mac Pro to do the job of the handcam - and to include TBC - but seems they still hold high prices…
I had a colleague years ago (early 90’s) who’s Dad owned a Video Store in Geelong (don’t remember the chain). Their busiest day of the year was Christmas day, people would be lined up out the door to rent something rather than watch whatever the hell was on Christmas night.
I haven’t done anything to try cleaning the footage up yet… but just came across this from one of my VHS tapes, circa 1991, and felt this thread calling me:
For some reason I had taped Sale of the Century’s “Champion of Champions” competition (at least 1 episode), and found it contained therein. As such, I’d place it from I think 1998. It is announcing the arrival of the Civic Video chain to Darwin, including a competition for a trip to Bali! (Only a few bucks travel from Darwin…!)
For some strange reason I thought Civic Video were around longer. But I remembered that the one in Malak before Civic Video was actually Video Connection. That was a huge store. Probably the biggest in Darwin (or close) It dwarfed the Video 2000 around the corner.
Ahhh, actually my above figure was wrong - tape was from 1994. Confirmed by a competition date on another ad. 
Video 2000 Casuarina was huge… think Centrelink moved in?
My last local one - Fairview Video in Fairview Park, SA - has announced it’s closing down as well.
Went in there this afternoon. The store is apparently still profitable; I think it covers its operating expenses at least, but the owners have decided it’s time. They would prefer to sell it and keep it open of course, but there aren’t many potential business owners looking to invest in the video rental business these days.
I’ll admit, I seriously considered it. A profitable, still operating video store with a regular and diverse clientele? The last remaining rebranded Blockbuster in Adelaide? Where do I sign?
But it would, without a doubt, be a labour of love. You’d do it as something you enjoy. You’d need to downsize a little, reduce the floorspace and some of the overheads. Thinking longer term, perhaps diversify from being solely a video rental store and introduce other aspects of the business appealing to other niche demographics like pop culture, nostalgia and film aficionados as well.
Another one of those “if I had a couple o’ million dollars” kind of things. I’d buy it tomorrow if I did.
(Or a few thousand and a much bigger rec room. I’m already thinking about picking up some extra Blockbuster wall banners and fixtures.)
It would be the perfect place to have a mini Minotaur / Popcultcha store - although you’d really need to work out what would be good sellers with limited space… Can only imagine I’m not the first to think of the idea.
I’m thankful to be old enough (but not too old) to have memories of video stores and VHS tapes. I even remember Betamax… There are so many films from the 80s that never made it to DVD or to any online or streaming service.
You would think that the magic of streaming should open up some of those “lost” titles for rediscovery, as you only need to prepare the title for the digital era, and clear all the copyrights / actors fees etc… (and then find a streaming service to take it on)
Interesting article about a Cairns store doing well:
