Kids today don’t know how good they’ve got it. When we were growing up, there was no TiVo. We couldn’t skip ahead in a movie, let alone television commercials. No, we had to wait minutes upon minutes for video tape to physically rewind and fast forward. In fact, it was such a pain that video rental stores had signs that read: “Be kind rewind.”
YouTube is celebrating the anniversary of the VHS (Video Home System) with a “tape mode” button that simulates the experience, complete with snow, horizontal lines and vertical scrolling but thankfully no rewinding.
A Google+ post explains:
Not too long ago, the video tape was the media of choice for living rooms around the world. In celebration of the 57th birthday of the first commercial video cassette recorder, check out a fun VHS mode for the YouTube player to relive the magic feel of vintage video tapes. On select videos, you’ll find a VHS button in the bottom right of the player–just click to turn back the clock and enjoy the static and fuzzy motion of the VHS era.