The 33 1/3 LP
1948-mid 1990's
The rotary phone
Appx: 1920's-1980's
Posted on 11/27/2006 1:02:05 AM PST by Dallas59
After a long illness, the groundbreaking home-entertainment format VHS has died of natural causes in the United States. The format was 30 years old.
No services are planned.
The format had been expected to survive until January, but high-def formats and next-generation vidgame consoles hastened its final decline.
"It's pretty much over," concurred Buena Vista Home Entertainment general manager North America Lori MacPherson on Tuesday.
VHS is survived by a child, DVD, and by Tivo, VOD and DirecTV. It was preceded in death by Betamax, Divx, mini-discs and laserdiscs.
Although it had been ailing, the format's death became official in this, the video biz's all-important fourth quarter. Retailers decided to pull the plug, saying there was no longer shelf space.
As a tribute to the late, great VHS, Toys 'R' Us will continue to carry a few titles like "Barney," and some dollar video chains will still handle cassettes for those who cannot deal with the death of the format.
Born Vertical Helical Scan to parent JVC of Japan, the tape had a difficult childhood as it was forced to compete with Sony's Betamax format.
After its youthful Betamax battles, the longer-playing VHS tapes eventually became the format of choice for millions of consumers. VHS enjoyed a lucrative career, transforming the way people watched movies and changing the economics of the film biz. VHS hit its peak with "The Lion King," which sold more than 30 million vidcassettes Stateside.
The format flourished until DVDs launched in 1997. After a fruitful career, VHS tapes started to retire from center stage in 2003 when DVDs became more popular for the first time.
Since their retirement, VHS tapes have made occasional appearances in children's entertainment and as a format for collectors seeking titles not released on DVD. VHS continued to make as much as $300 million a year until this year, when studios stopped manufacturing the tapes.
But it's true, the RIAA/MPAA/TV industry are rabidly fighting this trend and I don't have a lot of confidence in our representatives resisting them.
I don't have a use for that personally, but when I buy a CD or DVD now, I immediately burn a copy of it, and only use that. I learned my lesson when my car was broken into, and they stole a brand new copy of "The Lord of the Rings" unabridged audio book, and I hadn't even gotten a chance to listen to it. I still have the box and receipt at home, and thinking that I had licensed the content, I sent the company a letter, and photocopies of the box cover, the receipt, and the police report. While this might sound silly, IIRC, I paid around $150 for that audiobook, and my auto insurance doesn't kick in with coverage until the loss is $500 (plus I really didn't want to turn it in to my insurance). Basicly, I hoped that I could buy another copy at a discount. I never received a reply. And ever since then, I've burned copies of my media for myself. And I do the same thing with my DVDs... It also motivated me to get a car CD player that understands MP3s, so now I can cruise in my car for 7 or 8 hours at a time without having to change the CD... Of course, I have to fill the gas tank about every 5 hours or so...
Mark
I'm sitting on about 1000 worth of disney dvds and wondering if hd dvd or Sony's Blu Ray will be the next big thing. Does anyone want to guess which one will come out on top?
Excellent. More cheap chinese crap for the landfill.
Well, that's also the porno connection. . .
It IS, after all, all about how long it is. . . .
(diving for cover, grinning like hell)
They now have DJ systems that replicate the sound of doing that with a record digitally .( without a record )
We have a little TV-VCR combo in my twins' room. It's pretty easy to find kid vids on tape still, and it's easier for 3-year-olds to handle tapes over DVDs, which would be destroyed in mere moments...
The Djs don't seem to like the digital thing. But most of them are a half-generation removed from young people who grew up with iPods, etc.
Buggy whips will always have a niche market, silly. Now, rotary phones and 78 rpm records...
Yep, sure was. And you had to walk uphill both ways to get there! In the blinding snow. Year round! And we liked it that way!
DVD killed the VHS star.
BTW, aren't we about five years away from the complete cessation of standard TV broadcasting? What will happen to the billions of regular TV's when those who can afford to finally buy up to cheap HDTV's?
Ditto. I do it for the "youngin" problem. My niece has a tendency to trash DVDs. I buy a movie, immediately rip/re-author just as the main movie. Put the movie in the player and it starts immediately.
As to your issues with the Audio book theft, I'd suggest seeing if it makes it up onto a torrent somewhere. You've certainly got a right to it in my opinion.
I'm thinking Mecca. Bury it under a pile of old televisions, 100 feet deep.
Try using the "Skip" button instead of the Fast Forward. It doesn't always work, but a lot of times it will.
Regards, Ivan
The 33 1/3 LP 1948-mid 1990's
The rotary phone
Appx: 1920's-1980's
unplug it
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