If in 2016 you had no idea that VCRs were still being manufactured, join the club. Nevertheless, those crude yet nostalgic home entertainment systems we Generation Xers grew up with are soon to wiped from existence because the last brand-new VCRs (imagine that – a “brand-new” VCR) will be rolling off the assembly line this month.
According to Geek, the last remaining manufacturer of VCRs, Funai Electric Corp., is calling it quits. They sell VCRs all over the world, mainly through the Sanyo brand, shipping around 750,000 units last year. Obviously due to the prevalence of DVD, demand for their product has dropped off dramatically.
From Geek:
VHS and VCRs were slowly replaced by DVD during the 2000s, but it remained popular for home recording for the simple fact it was simple. When DVD recording arrived there were multiple recording standards, discs that could be recorded to repeatedly, but also others that couldn’t.
Then there was the cost, with recorders initially costing around $4,000 and the media also being expensive. Finally, recording was limited to around 120 minutes, where as VHS could handle 210 minutes.
https://twitter.com/DwayneMendez666/status/756344760764342272
Now, thanks to the advent of USB sticks and file sharing, even recordable DVD technology is starting to seem outdated. Either way, it will be interesting to see what technology’s demise our children will be waxing nostalgic about.
Featured image via Wikipedia
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