TechTV, the 24-hour technology-oriented cable channel was a never ending source of inspiration to me when I was growing up. Back then, TechTV was only available in my area on digital cable, a newfangled platform that people didn’t want to pay the extra money for. By the time I had ditched analog cable, TechTV was long gone, absorbed into G4, with any programming carried over reduced to a shell of its former self.

Back in the heyday (2001-2002 for this example), TechTV decided to release direct-to-video VHS tapes of various one-off programs and specials designed as something of an informational/instructional reference. I remember these being advertised, and the concept excited me as it was a way to get TechTV content without needing the cable service. That said, I never got to view a single one of these tapes. Unfortunately, they were priced a just a little too high. It was a big financial investment for an hour of content.

Over a decade later, a few of these tapes have made their way online. By my research, I can find that TechTV produced six (Maybe more?) VHS tapes, three of which some kind souls have digitized and put on YouTube or The Internet Archive. But, that means that there are three other tapes out there which I or anyone else have a hard time getting at unless we want to spend a bunch of money working our way through Amazon resellers. Not something I want to do. To add to this, the digitized videos available online are not the best quality. Again, thanks to the kind souls who went through the trouble, but I would really like to see the maximum quality squeezed out of these bad boys. Over the years, there have been many efforts to find old TechTV recordings from over-the-air, but these tapes remain mostly lost.

Let’s try to fix that.

I’ve created a project page to track as much information as I can on these tapes and am looking for any people who can create digital rips themselves or send these tapes my way to rip. I can’t offer any money to buy them, but you’ll be doing a good service getting these videos out there. Once again, I would like to find fresh sources for each of the tapes listed if possible.

The titles I can find existing are as follows, let me know if I missed any:

  • TechTV’s Digital Audio for the Desktop (2001)
  • TechTV’s How to Build Your Own PC (2001)
  • TechTV’s Digital Video for the Desktop (2002)
  • TechTV Solves Your Computer Problems (2002)
  • TechTV’s How to Build a Website (2002)
  • TechTV’s How to Build a Website (2002)