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In much the same way Blu-ray hopes to eventually ‘kill’ the inferior DVD, DVD has finally buried VHS.  “Old news!” I hear you cry, and yes, I appreciate that the VHS has been facing this impending doom for a while, but the day has finally come where we can officially say that it is a thing of the past.

Up until now JVC, the developers of VHS, have been the only major company to still make standalone VHS players, with companies like Panasonic blaming the obviously empty market for them stopping production.  The last film to be released on VHS, “A History of Violence,” was released in 2006, completing 30 years of VHS dominated home visual entertainment, which started with “The Young Teacher.”

But as of Monday they have stopped any further manufacturing and are moving their production towards camcorders for the Chinese market.  Although this will take a while to filter through the shipping and sales process, another chapter in the illustrious history of the VHS book has ended.  You can’t help but feel a twinge of nostalgia when you remember the VHS days of old.

It is true that they were of limited quality, and that the DVD and Blu-ray are far superior, but its introduction in 1976 was one of the great advances for technology in the home and it will take in important part in the history of technology.

I think one of the main points that this demise demonstrates is how quickly (and exponentially) technology is growing.  In the 70’s we had VHS, in the 80’s we had VHS, for 70% of the 90’s we had VHS, and in the 00’s we have had video, DVD and Blu-ray.  Does anyone think that DVD’s will still be around in 2027?  I doubt it. 

But all is not lost for the VHS, various models combining VHS with DVD, hard drive and Blu-ray are still in production, and will continue for a while; but I don’t know about you but it’s just not the same!  So, make the best use of your VHS while it still works, for its days are now well and truly numbered.

Source [Trading Markets]