I believe that the legal progresses that were made in the 80s when the first VCRs came out allowed people to record on a physical object, and own, copyrighted media (TV shows, films, documentaries, etc), legally.
Today, modern technology usually rules out using VCRs (or DVD recorders) to capture a work while it's being broadcasted, which has numerous downsides such as losing your recordings whenever you upgrade, difficulty to share with friends, publishers removing their own content, etc.
If someone installed a TV in their house and plugged in a recording device such as a VCR or DVD recorder today, would it be legal for them to record media and share their tapes with their friends?
Or did the law remove this right from the users at some point?