The end to the VCR (Video Cassette Recorders) era has arrived. Last week, Japan company Funai Electric announced that it would no longer manufacture VHS (Video Home System) after July. With the production of betamax video tapes being stopped last year, VHS was the lone survivor of the VCR era, a title that has been short lived, and just like video killed the radio star, DVDs, On Demand and high definition have killed the VCR.
History of the VCR
The VCR debuted in 1975 with the introduction of Betamax. Two years later, VHS came on the market and by 1987, VHS controlled 90% of $5.25 billion VCR market, which it dominated for 20+ years. The DVD player, which was the next wave of technology to sweep over the home entertainment system industry, appeared in the early 1990s. However, it did not become mainstream until the early 2000s when, in 2001, DVD sales surpassed VHS sales.
Today, there is a whole generation of adolescents and teenagers that have never even seen a VHS cassette, let alone could they figure out how to get a VCR to work. For a closer analysis about the history of the VCR and it’s impending demise, please see a recent article posted in Forbes. Continue reading The VCR: Good Riddance or Sad to See it go??