Last known VCR maker stops production, 40 years after VHS format launch
Source: Ars Technica
40 years after the first VHS video cassette recorder rolled off the production line, the last known company making the devices is ceasing production. According to Japanese newspaper Nikkei, Funai Electric, a Japanese consumer electronics company, will give up on the format by the end of the July after 30 years of production.
Declining sales, plus a difficulty in obtaining the necessary parts, prompted Funai Electric to cease production. While the Funai brand might not be well-known in the west, the company sold VCRs under the more familiar Sanyo brand in China and North America.
Funai Electric began production of VCRs in 1983 following the unsuccessful launch of its own CVC format in 1980. While CVC had its strengthsits quarter-inch tape made its machines smaller and lighter than VHS machines, which used half-inch tapeVHS and Betamax were strong competitors.
At its peak, Funai Electric sold as many as 15 million VCRs per year, but last year only sold 750,000 units. That VCRs were behind sold at all still comes as something of a surprise, not only because VCR has been superseded by two far superior formatsDVD and Blu-raybut hard disk-based personal video recorders have rendered its one advantage, the ability to record content easily, obsolete.
Read more: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/07/vcr-vhs-production-ends/
tonyt53
(5,737 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)News outlets always used BETA (hence the term B-roll) for their field work.
Wilms
(26,795 posts)There was the Panasonic M2 format, for one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MII_(videocassette_format)
Plus, the home "Betamax" and professional "Betacam" systems are different.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betacam
Finally, B-Roll refers to neither.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-roll
MADem
(135,425 posts)And the formats (before recording them) were interchangeable:
It's all based on SONY tech, even the Panasonic copycatting.
I completely concede the point on B roll, though! News outlets used to use ... FILM. Hence the term "Film at Eleven."
NWCorona
(8,541 posts)I still rock my laserdisc player from time to time
Wilms
(26,795 posts)What do they say now? "Playout the file"??
MADem
(135,425 posts)It is funny, the announcers/hosts/presenters on TV closer to my age still say TAPE...which is a tell, I guess!
47of74
(18,470 posts)We actually had some blank Betamax tapes sitting in the electronics department, marked down to maybe a dollar or two per tape. This was about a decade after VHS won that battle. I think they had been sitting there for a very long time. I don't know what happened to those tapes, if someone eventually bought them or the store eventually wrote them off and threw them away.
MADem
(135,425 posts)They were big in Japan back in the day (SONY, of course).
By the time I bought a VCR, VHS had won the day in USA, so that's what I bought--but plenty of people (most, actually) were in BETA mode, and I did think their pics were better.
I was getting scads of Over-The-Air television sent to me from USA, though, so I was happy with my VHS. This was before the days of internet and satellite, and before cell phones, too. I was also very popular because I'd let other people watch my tv shows after I was done with them! I probably did more to advance VHS sales amongst my circle than any ad campaign would have done!
hardluck
(640 posts)My dad won a Sony Betamax in the early 80s so we were a Betamax family. My grandfather had one as well. I remember taking ours over to his house so we could make copies of movies recorded from HBO. I think one was Blame it on Rio. Would rent our tapes from the Warehouse or Federated. Yeah, those were the days. It was amazing to be able to records TV to watch later. What a fascinating modern age we lived in....
Trying to explain all this to our three kids is impossible. They've grown up surrounded by technology and the ability to watch tv and other media whenever and wherever they are. The idea of just staring out the window and watching the world go by as you drive the I-5 up through the Central Valley is foreign to them.
scscholar
(2,902 posts)this is sad. Probably half of my VHS tapes aren't available on DVD. This is just Hollywood requiring to to buy things twice. They want us to pay again for what we already bought.
Coventina
(27,172 posts)seabeckind
(1,957 posts)from their profit obsession.
The VHS was copyable.
A couple years ago I tried to some up with a way to capture my old movies. Unless I went deep into the piracy world,
no easy solution.
chrisau214
(235 posts)Not only can they be copied but they can be copied much faster and with much less hassle than copying a tape.
Copying a tape two hour tape took two hours.
Copying a two hour DVD or Blu-Ray takes only a few minutes and a couple of quick clicks.
It's also quite east to transfer the contents of a VHS tape to DVD or Blu-Ray. There are many low cost products on the market that allow you to transfer your old tapes to newer formats. Under 'fair use' guidelines it is generally legal to format shift your old tapes to newer formats so long as it is being done for personal use.
MADem
(135,425 posts)You still have to buy another machine, though! There's also software where you can hook up your vhs to your computer and transfer the material that way. Pain in the ass, though.
BumRushDaShow
(129,447 posts)That's what I ended up doing.
But then I wanted to be able to go from VHS to DVR and then DVR to DVD so I could deploy edits before burning the DVD, so ended up with that too.
Have a long bucket list of tapes to transfer! Still have tapes from 1985. They look awful on a HD TV though.
MADem
(135,425 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)You freed us for the 8 o'clock spot.
By sliding a tape in your 2x8 slot.
Threes Company, Happy Days all they could wait.
The VCR freed mankind for a Friday night date.
Thanks VCR for letting me tape the Olympics, Carol Burnett (my dad wanted to watch A-Team or BJ and the Bear or some ridiculous program so without the VCR I never would have got to watch Carol) and for allowing us all to load up at blockbuster for a movie night. Cheers!
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)I was hooked on "Happy Days" too!
Crowman1979
(3,844 posts)Unlike LPs, cassettes were never easy to fix. Especially if they didn't have screws on the corners.
seabeckind
(1,957 posts)Then dropped off the player at Goodwill.
Did the same with the vinyls. Use the USBs in the cars.
Still do the vinyls when I want authenticity.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,214 posts)I said something about getting rid of it and a co-worker snapped it right up.
We had an old stereo at another office that had an 8 track. The teenage son of one of my co-workers saw it and said in amazement "Is that an 8 TRACK?!" like it was some ancient relic. Of course it was
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)Some of us can't afford to "convert" all our old video cassettes to digital.
so I guess we're now shit out of luck when our old VCRs stop working.
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)Now I need my stepson to help me with the cable.
47of74
(18,470 posts)The plane had just landed at the local airport. I called my mom as she was going to give me a ride home. What's the first thing she wanted to know when I called when the plane landed? How to go about recording shows on the DVR? She couldn't wait until I was home to find out how to do that. I had to get her to wait until we were home and I could refresh my memory beforehand.
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)47of74
(18,470 posts)I remember when my parents first got one in the mid 80s. It was an old Sears VCR like this one.
Apologies on the small size, this was the only image I could find.
Back then it was over $300 for a VCR. This one had a remote but it could only stop, play, rewind, fast forward, record, and pause. VCRs with remotes with channel changers were over $500. I remember this VCR was set for channels 2 to 13 but we wound up changing several of them so we could tape some of the UHF channels we had. There was the door on top of the chassis that had the dials you used to tune each channel. It had a sheet with all the channel numbers which you could put in the little tray that displayed the channel numbers.
Despite all its shortcomings it allowed us to tape different things and to rent movies to watch instead of having to wait for the edited for television versions to be aired every once in a blue moon.
I was so glad when we got a new VCR a few years later for about 1/2 the price that had a remote you could change channels on but now I miss that old VCR a bit.
We still have a couple VHS VCRs. There's a combo VCR/DVD in my office and my mom has a TV with a built in VCR/DVD combo built in. I think I used it a couple years ago to watch the fan made MST3K episode on Star Trek V before I was able to make a DVD copy of the movie.
happyslug
(14,779 posts)It is easy to copy a VHS to a DVD or other format but you need a VHS machine to do it. Thus the few buyers of today tend to be people slowly converting their VHS tapes to DVD or other format. Most people did this years ago, but some people are slower then others. Most remaining VHS tend to be home made movies no one wants to throw away or other non commercial tapes that people want to retain (evidence of criminal activities caught on a VHS tape is one such reason to keep a VHS machine around, even of the tape is 20 years ago). You have the tape, you want to retain the ability to play the tape thus the low but steady demand for VHS machines.
I suspect this is mostly in the US. Japan and Europe, the rest of the world was a little late in adopting the VHS format and most thus went straight into DVD recordings. Again most home movies were converted years ago, most use of these machines is by corporation that retain tapes of activities done years ago, or the criminal justice system for the same purpose.
Chicago1980
(1,968 posts)So much of my childhood is on VHS.
It's now going the way of the 8track.
Omaha Steve
(99,709 posts)Weighed a ton.
First movies we rented were American Graffiti & Alien. Only one place that rented then and was 1/2 way across town.
Then Fotomat got into rentals and saved on that driving since it was just down the street. They actually paid the studios a per rental fee. Only one that ever did that that I know of.
We just started recycling thousands of tapes about 2 weeks ago.
We got cable in 83.
47of74
(18,470 posts)I think early 80s. He had a camera too so he had one of those portable deals where half the VCR could be taken off the base and hauled around.
There was a place next to the local K-Mart that we first went to for rentals. After they closed we then used a local gas station near our house that offered some movies. We then went to Blockbuster as they had a nice selection.
We live outside the area that cable services. We got satellite in 1999. That was back when you bought the equipment at Wal-Mart and put it in yourself instead of leasing it as people do now. Once the equipment got down to about $200 we finally went ahead and got it. Dad wasn't sold on the idea of satellite until he saw the History Channel. Now the parental units can't live without it.
gopiscrap
(23,765 posts)auntpurl
(4,311 posts)DVDs, blue rays, CDs...why would anyone buy physical things you have to store and move? Download everything and store it all on one disc that takes up the space of a deck of cards.
moose65
(3,168 posts)This post reminded me that my parents still have a VCR on one shelf of their entertainment center, even though no one has used it in years. The remote has long since been lost, and the clock is blinking at 12:00. Since there's no remote, I can't figure out a way to manually set the clock! I know they should throw it away, but for some reason they've kept it, even though they have a wide-screen TV and a blu-ray player as well!
Wednesdays
(17,408 posts)all the interesting things that got stuck into the VCR slot, inevitability leading to the eating up of VCR tapes. For one, my nephew decided the slot was a sandwich and cookie chute.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)I had a class taught by some big shot with Coca Cola marketing exec who had us identify a new, relatively unheard of, product we thought would change the future. I selected the VCR. The hot shot marketing dude dismissed the whole idea and didn't see how anything like that would change the world. OK dumbass -- probably the same guy who promoted New Coke.
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)record them on DVD and your old porn is safe for posterity. They run about $180.00 on one of the shopping channels.
AgadorSparticus
(7,963 posts).....Don't be a hater.
Jimbo S
(2,960 posts)in working order
sofa king
(10,857 posts)Yavin4
(35,445 posts)Bye bye VCRs.