VHS era is winding down

Los Angeles Times ^ | December 22, 2008 | Geoff Boucher

[ConservativeStatement]

Pop culture is finally hitting the eject button on the VHS tape, the once-ubiquitous home-video format that will finish this month as a creaky ghost of Christmas past.

After three decades of steady if unspectacular service, the spinning wheels of the home-entertainment stalwart are slowing to a halt at retail outlets. On a crisp Friday morning in October, the final truckload of VHS tapes rolled out of a Palm Harbor, Fla., warehouse run by Ryan J. Kugler, the last major supplier of the tapes.

"It's dead, this is it, this is the last Christmas, without a doubt," said Kugler, 34, a Burbank businessman. "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."

[ConservativeStatement]

I bought a VHS-DVD combo unit to record on both formats, maybe 4-5 years ago, and it lasted no more than three months without breaking...replacement units lasted even shorter amount of time.

[jrp]

Quick, we need a bailout for the VHS industy

[freespirited]

We still have our old beta machine. It works better than our VHS.

[lnzog]

I thought VHS was already dead...

[ClearBlueSky]

I LIKE VHS- I have a ton of movies on tape that you can’t get on DVD. And they are watchable at 20 years old, try to find a DVD disc that is playable 20 years from now. One scratch or blip and they are useless.
VHS tapes were made to last. DVD discs are planned to be obsolete and unusable with the least amount of damage. I’ve got VHS player/recorders and backup machines. When all my favorite films are available on DVD at REASONABLE prices, I’ll buy them. The picture quality is better, but you can’t record to a disc inexpensively yet either; and I like taping from tv.
So- I have no problem with technology marching forward, I’m very ‘geeky’ that way, but don’t take away my choice or make good equipment I have completely unusable. It’s not necessary- and it makes me M-A-D.

[A. Patriot]

VHS is good for small children. They don’t scratch. There are a billion kiddie tapes making the rounds from family to family. I think they will be around a while longer for the younger set.

My kids have been watching VHS tapes of the Rankin/Bass Christmas classics this week.

[2banana]

I still think 8-track tapes will make a comeback...

[CE2949BB]

I still have Beta tapes!

[unkus]

LOL

[jim35]

“One scratch or blip and they are useless.”

I also liked VHS tapes better, I am so sick of renting DVDs and having them “freeze” one or more times during the movie.

[HamiltonJay]

I bought a DVD/VHS combo several years ago, still going strong. When it dies and I replace it, I’ll replace it with another.

Really only care about the VHS for home movies at this point, that I will eventually convert to DVD.

[Publius Valerius]

DVD discs are planned to be obsolete and unusable with the least amount of damage

DVDs are finicky and don't often play right when they are scratched, but I've found that often, if the disc is cleaned with liquid soap and water, it will play correctly.

[BulletBobCo]

I think DVDs are not far behind. I’ll bet that the flash drive format will be here soon. No moving parts.

[Paleo Conservative]

If you have any VHS tapes whose content you’ll want to watch in 20 years, transfer them now to digital formats. Don’t bother transferring material that is commercially available, because DVD’s an BD’s are much better. Just concentrate on tranferring home video.

[The Brush]

I'm waiting for the next phenomenon to show up.
I've gone from records to 8 tracks to cassettes to CD to MP3's. Where will it end?

I recently put all my money in nothing after getting a tip that nothing lasts FOREVER!

[Mr Rogers]

“VHS is good for small children.”

Yes. Mine used them to tie each other up, or see how long the tape inside really was. They had a lot of fun with VHS tapes...

[weegee]

“but you can’t record to a disc inexpensively yet either”

You used to be able to. But the industry backed away from that road.

I had a DVR/DVD-recorded. It had an internal drive with hundreds of hours of storage. You could edit the commericals out, add chapter stops, menus, etc.

You could set the record speed and it even had TV Guide’s free alternative to Tivo, no registration or subscription needed.

It could even record dual layer DVDs (although you couldn’t set where the layer change occurred).

90 minute compression was good. 2 hour was too. Obviously the 60 minute/DVD (or layer) was the highest quality.

But you can’t find them on the market today (I bought mine for $400 2 years ago but it ran into a booting problem).

All you can buy today is something that will record live to disc (and if there is a problem with the burn you have a drink coaster and lost the program) OR a DVR box (but no way to output those programs TO disc).

The technology to replace a vcr exists, the industry is withholding it from market.

[BallyBill]

Was looking for a VHS recorder to record TV shows after mine died a few months ago. I realized it was a waste and built a PVR out of my Dell 4400 I was going to replace. All I needed was TV Card to hook up to the satellite.

Now all I need is an old VCR to transfer my home videos to DVD. I have to be careful asking people for their old VCR's. I'll end up with a dumpster full of junk.

[A. Patriot]

“VHS is good for small children.”

Yes. Mine used them to tie each other up, or see how long the tape inside really was. They had a lot of fun with VHS tapes...

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Mine would only do that once. So far at ages 6 and 4, they haven’t tried anything like that with the tapes.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

I have a ton of VHS movies and tried to donate them to our local library - Guess what? They only accept DVD’s now... sheesh, you can’t even give the things away.