Time Winding Down for VCR's

[Brian]

Time winding down for VCRs?

Movie sales outlets, big rental chains moving to DVDs


By Kathryn Balint
STAFF WRITER

June 29, 2002


VCRs have been with us through some of our most memorable video moments: the "General Hospital" wedding of Luke and Laura, "Star Wars' " bizarre bar scene, our babies' first steps.

They've entertained us for hours. They've challenged us with their impossible-to-program clocks. After all these years, is it time to finally pull the plug?

Circuit City and Borders Books said recently that they're phasing out sales of movies on videocassette in favor of DVDs.

The big rental chains, while not eliminating VHS movies, are decreasing their inventory of them. And, for the first time, DVD players, which were introduced in 1997, are expected to outsell videocassette recorders this year.

The DVD player has caught on faster in the United States than any other consumer technology ever. About one in four U.S. households own a DVD player.

"VHS has been dying for a while with the advent of new technologies," said Mark Shapiro, editor of San Diego-based Internetvideomag.com and a writer for Camcorder and Computer Video magazine.

But "those who are writing the obituary for VHS are premature," said Sean Bersell, a vice president of the Video Software Dealers Association, a trade group that represents video stores.

And though not everyone has a DVD player yet, nine of 10 U.S. households own a VCR, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.

By most predictions, videocassettes and videocassette recorders have a decade or so of life left in them.

According to the Video Software Dealers Association, consumers rented nearly 1 billion VHS movies, almost three times the number of DVD film rentals, in the first six months of this year.

In addition, anyone who wants to record a TV show or watch home movies is more likely to dust off the old analog VCR than turn to new digital technologies.

"Frankly, as long as people have their wedding videos, their kids' videos and their home movies on videotape, they're going to have a VCR," Bersell said.

Even Circuit City isn't abandoning VHS tapes altogether. It said it will continue to sell VHS movies on its Web site, and will sell blank tapes and VCRs at its 622 stores nationwide.

Borders said it will continue to sell sports and exercise videos on VHS.

The VHS format, an analog videotape that can be recorded and played on a VCR, has dominated home video entertainment for a quarter of a century.

But just as eight-track players lost out to cassette tape decks, and vinyl records fell victim to compact discs, VCRs are succumbing to DVD players and other digital technologies.

Sales of DVD players have skyrocketed, from 349,000 in 1997 to 15.5 million projected this year. Since 1997, sales of VCRs have dropped from 16.7 million a year to a projected 13.3 million this year.

Dan Ballister, who works for Time Warner Cable in San Diego, relegated his VCR to the garage six months ago.

"I have no need for it anymore," he said.

Ballister watches movies on DVD or rents them over cable TV through a digital, video-on-demand service.

DVDs, or digital versatile disks, store video in a digital format on CD-size discs. They offer sharper images and better sound than VHS tapes.

What's more, with DVDs, there's no rewinding, twisted videotape or mangled plastic cassette when it has been left in the car too long.

Movie studios often include extra footage on DVDs, such as movie trailers, interviews with the stars and behind-the-scenes video.

Video-on-demand is another up-and-coming digital technology being offered by cable TV companies. It allows cable TV subscribers to rent movies for 24 hours with a click of the remote.

Cox Communications began offering the service in April to its 170,000 digital cable customers in San Diego County. Time Warner plans to roll out the service to its 60,000 digital customers here next month.

It's all part of a digital revolution that, like it or not, aims to replace grainy analog video with clear digital images.

Personal video recorders, such as TiVo and ReplayTV, which allow viewers to digitally record television programming, are still relatively new to the market. And DVD recorders – considered the most obvious successor to the VCR – are pricey, with some topping $1,000.

"Until you see DVD-recordable devices coming down into the, say, low-$500 price range, the VCR is still going to be the primary way people record shows," said Tara Dunion, spokeswoman for the Consumer Electronics Association, a trade group of electronics manufacturers.

Given how rapidly technology advances, it's a certainty that even DVDs will one day slip into obscurity.

"DVDs are just an interim step," said Shapiro, the Internetvideomag.com Web site editor.

He foresees the day when movies come on small holographic memory chips, and TV shows are recorded onto digital televisions' huge hard drives.

"It's all based on existing technologies," Shapiro said. "This is all stuff that's coming."


What do you guys think about that?

[Plata]

Originally posted by BJL
Given how rapidly technology advances, it's a certainty that even DVDs will one day slip into obscurity.

"DVDs are just an interim step," said Shapiro, the Internetvideomag.com Web site editor.

He foresees the day when movies come on small holographic memory chips, and TV shows are recorded onto digital televisions' huge hard drives.

That stuff about memory chips sounds alot like Mimority Report. I suppose Sci-Fi films show a bit of a glimpse into the future of films. But, I still hope that VHS stays around for quite a long time still. But, if DVDs ever do become less popular and come to a point when they aren't sold anymore, I plan to be one of the only people still with a VCR and video cassettes, just so I can say I will have a sort of an antique in my house later on in life.