My first VCR was an RCA Selectavision with the big colored buttons, a dial tuner on the front for switching channels, and the remote could only pause the tape or start it again.
My first VHS purchase was VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. Along with Disney, Fox's videotape arm of the company was called Magnetic Video, and they sold inexpensive tapes of some of their hits. They were pan and scan copies, of course, but it was better than nothing.
Blank tapes were horrendously expensive back then: $15 a tape. I bought a case of tapes so I'd have enough to tape movies I loved. Buying by the case lowered the cost per tape to about $10.