Monday
22Dec2008
VHS Officially Dead
Monday, December 22, 2008 at 5:59PM
Trivia question: What did VHS stand for?
Answer: Video Home System.
"It's dead, this is it, this is the last Christmas, without a doubt," Kugler told the Los Angeles Times. "I was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it, and I'm done. Anything left in warehouse we'll just give away or throw away."
The rise of DVDs officially supplanted VHS as the top format in 2003, but the Times reports that even until 2005, VHS still managed $1.5 billion in business. The last major studio film released on VHS, though, was A History of Violence in 2006, and if there's no product, there's not much hope for your future. The advent of digital video recorders, like TiVo, also cemented the fate of video tape.
Still, don't feel bad for VHS; it was never better than Betamax, anyway. And it had a good run, a longer one than standard DVDs will enjoy, thanks to the rush of Blu-Ray technology.
The only thing left to count down is how long new blank VHS tapes will be sold, and whether or not the electronics manufacturers who make those awful DVD/VHS hybrid machines will sever their links to the past.
Reader Comments (8)
So, does that mean we're one of the only families left with a VHS system? Don't get me wrong; we're lagging in the technology department. We do have a dvd player, but we still watch VHS, especially considering we live with some who knows how to fix them, no matter how terribly broken they may be. And, we have a laptop with windows vista, an i-phone, a Wii, a PlayStation 2, as well as an N64, a Super Nintendo, PlayStation, multiple bunny ear tv antenna's, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advanced, DS Light, Desktop computer, Gamecube, and more.....................
I meant to say we are NOT lagging in technology.
It means you'll use it until it breaks, like 8-tracks. Then you buy new stuff. Just go ahead and get the Blu-Ray now and save yourself the extra hassle.
Blueray is the entertainment industry's version of colorful money with big big heads. But at least I won't have to watch those dang "you wouldn't steal..." trailers before my movies.
By the way, I recommend the Netflix set top box. Awesome.
Vinyl was supposed to go away too, about twenty years ago, but it's still hanging around. I wouldn't write VHS's eulogy too soon...
Dvd's still have plenty of time left. Yes I own Bluray but come on not everything needs that picture quality I am not going to enjoy the Adam West Batman flick any more because of the stunning picture quality I can't get on a regular dvd.
DVDs won't go away until Blu-Ray discs come down to 20-25 bucks standard. Which may not happen ever.
The difference with vinyl is that a lot of albums sound better in analog. Technically, they all do, source to source, because digital recording flattens the sound so much. If you put the right record on now, it still sounds better than CD.
And standard DVDs will go away when distributors want to eliminate the cheaper option.