We've still got a VCR. It's sitting in the rack not doing anything other than filling a hole to keep the hot and cold side air from mixing. As far as I know it still works. Not that I've got anything that'll display a PAL video signal, unless you count an oscilloscope (which isn't a very exciting way to watch videos) or an MPEG2 encoder card that struggles to stay locked to VHS output.
Are Betamax and Betacam tapes different? Wait, it's Sony, of course they are. The latter would have an excuse for hanging around this long...