Last major VHS supplier ejects from tape biz

[Robbien]

Source: Reg Hardware

Although closing credits for VHS finished rolling years ago, the once-standard home movie format is just now reaching the very end of its tape. The last major American VHS supplier is ditching the tape biz completely at the end of this year - just over a week away.

For most mainstream retailers, the gig was up shortly after A History of Violence, the last major Hollywood movie to be released on VHS, came out in 2006. Retail space was needed to punt more DVDs, which had steadily been cannibalizing the VHS market once the players became affordable.

But as shops unloaded their unwanted VHS inventory, Florida-based Distribution Video Audio was there to scoop up the refuse and make a tidy profit. Distribution told The LA Times it sold more than four million VHS videotapes during the last two years.

Its clients are mostly bargain stores, outlet malls, truck stops, and mom-and-pop operations - places that don't exactly cater to the bleeding edge of technology. Public libraries, military bases, and cruise ships were also buying VHS tapes, although nowadays are mostly only interested in DVDs.

Read more: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/12/23/last_major_vhs_supplier_ends_tape/

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It is sad to see them go.

[Ian David]

1. Don't forget to rewind. n/t

[Ian David]

2. I still have a BetaMax in my storage unit.

Unfortunately, not one of the professional-quality BetaSPs, but I need it when I finally get around to copying my Bar Mitzva tape onto DVD.

[1monster]

4. We have one too... purchased in the mid to late seventies and not used for

neaerly thirty years.

Maybe we can donate them, along with the Beta tapes to the Smithsonian? :D

[Ian David]

9. I was the first in my 1st grade class to have one.

Nobody believed such a thing existed when I described it to them.

I actually invited someone to my house for a sleep-over just so they'd all stop calling me a liar.

[raouldukelives]

3. I've had a Sony Betmax machine

Since 1982. Still works perfect. Had about three VHS machines in the same timespan. In the last 8 years... Five DVD players. They don't make em like they used too.

[TomInTib]

5. I was in Baja for Thanksgiving.

The gift shop in our hotel had cases of VHS tapes for sale.

It was surreal.

They also had the biggest display of Skoal (smokeless tobacco) I have ever seen, and I am from Texas.

[BayjanDem]

6. Ah...I remember my 1st porn tape...

Where has the time gone.

[Ian David]

10. Me too. We found them in my parents' closet. They were hidden better than their pot was. n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

20. it just slips through your fingers

:)

[sakabatou]

7. My TV has a VHS tape holder

[Pastiche423]

8. Does anyone know if you can still record

from digital tv w/a VHS tape?

[Tesha]

22. For broadcast TV, you can use the same sort of "TV Converter" with a VCR that you use with a TV.

And if your cable-box/satellite-box/etc. has a yellow "RCA Composite
Video Out" connector, you can still hook your VCR up there and record
what comes out. But your VCR can only record the same thing it could
ever record: standard-definition TV. It can't record a high-definition
signal in high definition.

Tesha

[MichaelHarris]

11. that's an incredible blow to the

porn industry

[Triana]

12. I still have a VHS player and lots of tapes and an analog teevee...

...I don't have cable or HDTV and don't want it. My television is strictly for watching DVDs and videos. It's not used for much else.

I'm not ABOUT to spend $1000+++ on a damn HD tv. Heck, my analog television set hasn't been turned on in a year (except maybe to watch a video).

Pfft! Fark that mess.

[grilled onions]

14. Same Here

I consider tv a dvdtv. No cable,dish,bunny ears. I seem to find a wonderful vareity of old movies,documentaries,concerts with the monthly bill or constant ads. It is sad to see the VHS go to the graveyard of of 8 track player,vinyl records etc.

[originalpckelly]

16. Records have an underground following...

oddly some audiophiles think they sound better than digital music.

[jmondine]

13. Au Revoir, Smearvision

NTSC = Never Twice the Same Color

[Starbucks Anarchist]

15. It's funny, but young kids won't have any concept of VHS.

[Donnachaidh]

17. hell, my son was blown away when we showed him an old 78 record album

Those old HARD vinyl albums. He couldn't believe that recordings were made back in the 1920'a LOL! Now he's turning into a bit of a vinyl junkie.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

21. And I bet kids born recently won't know what a CD is.

:rofl:

[Penance]

25. Good

VHS was an awful medium. It had tracking issues, it degraded quickly and it was relatively low quality. It was the worst of the worst when it came to quality and ease of use. ("Be kind, rewind"???) The only thing worse I can think of may have been non-digital audio tapes. There's a reason that DVD spread as quickly as it did and why BluRay and HD DVD haven't come close to displacing it. My generation (30 and younger) thinks of 8-track as a punchline. Hopefully VHS and the term VCR will be the same.

[Endangered Specie]

18. *tracking* *tracking* *tracking* *tracking*

[PfcHammer]

19. This is when it's painful for the early adopters...

When the stuff goes obsolete.

[Duer 157099]

23. Try finding a place to recyle those old tapes

It's harder than you'd imagine. Nobody wants 'em.

But now that they'll be "officially" dead, they just may become a collector's item.

I've heard that they eventually lose their signal, but I've got some really old tapes that still seem to work fine. It'll be finding the players that will become the problem.

[Tesha]

24. The Salvation Army (and other charities?) will take pre-recorded tapes.

You know, factory-produced movies. They turn around and sell them
for $3.00 so you can take a $3.00 tax deduction for each videotape
you donate. As we've moved our collection to DVDs, we've "retired"
several dozens of VHS movies in their direction.

Tesha