The World's Last VCRs Will Be Produced In Japan This Month

[tomarin]

I need to go and buy one, got all kinds of tapes (really good Disney films) but no VCR

You could also transfer the tapes to a digital format.

 

[tomarin]

Japan is so nostalgic! They still produce a super cute instant camera, Fuji, and have instant camera film with different frames. They did such a great job of packaging and making the product great again that I really, really, really want to get one!

Although it sounds like these vhs players were being produced for the North American market, Japan is well known for stubbornly hanging on to technology that is considered obsolete by the rest of the world (such as fax machines).

 

[Edmundus1581]

I remember the VCR fondly. It was a part of my childhood. We did not have a DVD player until 2004. I used to watch Toy Story a lot on VHS.

In our house it was The Princess Bride, The Last Unicorn and Abba - Gold!

 

[truetofaith]

I’m still in the Stone Age…That being said …

I’m a big fan of the original “Miami Vice.” In October they are releasing all 5 seasons on Blu- ray, discs.

I have my VCR tapes plus the 5 seasons on the original DVD collection. I don’t need Blu-Ray.

It’s nice to grab a disc, pop it in my player and watch it on my couch on TV!

 

[twf]

My VCR just died last week. We have tons of VHS tapes because my kids don’t care about high definition, and nothing to watch them on!

I had no idea they were still making them. Even if they’re soon to be done, maybe I can snag a cheapie on Craigslist before they become collectible and expensive.

(I do love cloud storage and streaming, though. As it is I store our DVDs and CDs in binders rather than their boxes. The boxes are in a closet.)

I didn’t know anyone under 80 still kept VCRs in the house! . I’ve never owned one. My parents certainly had one when we were kids but they haven’t had one in their house for 15+ years I seem to think. My 80 year old grandma still has hers but I doubt she’s used it in years. We were invited over to a friend’s for lunch the other day. When I stumbled across her collection of VHS tapes it brought back a rush of childhood memories. Hadn’t seen a tape in many years.

 

[twf]

I think you are right, people thought the same thing about DVDs in the past, they would last forever, but they dont, and I doubt the cloud will either, it may be popular and eventually the only way to access this kind of stuff, but it certainly wont be the last thing, something else will come along about 10-15 yrs down the road, and the teenagers today will be calling the cloud a dinosaur when they are in their 30s.

I think eventually biology and technology are going to merge, it will all be mental or something similar, and there will no longer be any physical devices, not even cell phones or ipads/ laptops, etc. I imagine at some point down the road, when a person is born, they will ‘install’ some kind of data link/ USB and ‘wire’ it into our brains, it will just be normal to have this done, of course everyone will have their own EID number stamped onto them too! LOL We will become the device.

Definitely. Not too long ago I read an article about a disabled woman who successfully navigated the Internet using mental commands via a chip installed in her brain. She wasn’t receiving a direct feed to her mind (that will come), but her thoughts were converted into electronic signals that told the computer what to do… We’re almost there.

 

[twf]

We are on the same page. I don’t trust the cloud.

And who’da thought audiotape would come back!!!

ICXC NIKA

I listen to audiobooks from a cloud based service. I download audiobooks from my cloud library to my phone for commuting.

 

[revert_jen]

I didn’t know anyone under 80 still kept VCRs in the house! .

One of the hardest things for a lot of people to learn is “Everyone’s not like me.”

I still have a VCR. There is one show I like to tape, and I’m not spending the money for a DVR just for that. If the thing breaks, I wouldn’t be trying to replace it, though. And I only use it for stuff recorded off TV–I don’t have any commercially-produced VHS tapes any more.

I just don’t watch enough TV to make it worth getting a DVR, especially since the cable company keeps increasing their rates. My TV doesn’t connect to the internet, so if I want to watch something on TV at some time other than it was broadcast, I don’t have a lot of options. Why should I pay a fortune for a new TV and DVR service from the cable company?

Sometimes it makes sense to be a “dinosaur.”

–Jen

 

[revert_jen]

Where did DVDs rise to popularity in the early 90s?

AFAICT, nowhere. According to Wikipedia, the format was developed in 1995. According to other places I saw on the net, the first player wasn’t released until 1996 in Japan, 1997 in the US (and probably Canada), and later in Europe and elsewhere.

–Jen

 

[mikekle]

Definitely. Not too long ago I read an article about a disabled woman who successfully navigated the Internet using mental commands via a chip installed in her brain. She wasn’t receiving a direct feed to her mind (that will come), but her thoughts were converted into electronic signals that told the computer what to do… We’re almost there.

Yes, once they understand how the brain works, I think there will be a huge leap forward in technology, it will probably happen quickly too.

I like how the guy in the movie Ex Machina put it, he said “there is hardware, software, but now an entirely new class of tech called ‘wet ware/ bio-ware’”.

It will be amazing to see all we can do when this happens, and I think someone seeing this technology in use for the first time, it will look like real magic.

Im waiting for the days when instead of just watching a movie on a screen, you are basically ‘inside’ the movie, it will be like a simulated reality, the ‘movie’ will be going on all around you, and will look like its all real and really happening…Im guessing this type of technology is about 50-60 yrs away.

 

[revert_jen]

Im waiting for the days when instead of just watching a movie on a screen, you are basically ‘inside’ the movie, it will be like a simulated reality, the ‘movie’ will be going on all around you, and will look like its all real and really happening…Im guessing this type of technology is about 50-60 yrs away.

I hope it is that far away, because I will probably be dead by then. I perfer real reality to the virtual kind, and do not look forward to living in a world where people have been taken even further from it.

–Jen

 

[twf]

One of the hardest things for a lot of people to learn is “Everyone’s not like me.”

I still have a VCR. There is one show I like to tape, and I’m not spending the money for a DVR just for that. If the thing breaks, I wouldn’t be trying to replace it, though. And I only use it for stuff recorded off TV–I don’t have any commercially-produced VHS tapes any more.

I just don’t watch enough TV to make it worth getting a DVR, especially since the cable company keeps increasing their rates. My TV doesn’t connect to the internet, so if I want to watch something on TV at some time other than it was broadcast, I don’t have a lot of options. Why should I pay a fortune for a new TV and DVR service from the cable company?

Sometimes it makes sense to be a “dinosaur.”

–Jen

Maybe its a regional thing. Here any cable package includes PVR/DVR service at this point. I don’t think you can get cable without PVR service. Its not a separate device, its just built into the cable box that they provide free of charge when your service is set up. Here in Vancouver there are two main competitors so they are always offering deals. When I signed up, they gave us the “full package” for half price for a year, a $150 initial rebate, free set-up, etc. etc. And the more you seem reluctant the more perks they’ll throw in. They even offered me a free TV but that would have been in lieu of the half-price service offer so didn’t go with that.
I find that sometimes its a matter of “harassing” customer service. I realized some time ago that I was paying a relative fortune for my cellphone compared to everyone around me. I was still on an old plan. So I called them and asked why they were offering the same service (or better) for like half price to everyone else and it was adjusted.

 

[revert_jen]

Maybe its a regional thing. Here any cable package includes PVR/DVR service at this point. I don’t think you can get cable without PVR service. Its not a separate device, its just built into the cable box that they provide free of charge when your service is set up. Here in Vancouver there are two main competitors so they are always offering deals. When I signed up, they gave us the “full package” for half price for a year, a $150 initial rebate, free set-up, etc. etc. And the more you seem reluctant the more perks they’ll throw in. They even offered me a free TV but that would have been in lieu of the half-price service offer so didn’t go with that.

Here I believe there is only one company that has access to each market (on the county level or so) and to get the franchise they have to offer an economy service, which would not have a DVR. Actually, a quick look on the web shows me that you can get a non-DVR service in Vancouver as well (at least from Shaw).

And cable boxes aren’t free here, either. They charge you a monthly rental, and that rental is higher for the HD ones with DVRs than for the cheapo ones like I have.

Anyway, I don’t actually want or need a DVR. The cable company wants me to have one. They are best served if I watch lots of TV, but I am best served if I do not watch lots of TV, but instead watch a bit of TV and also do things like talk to people, cook (NOT in the microwave, I mean), read books, etc. I like TV for background noise, but you don’t need to record shows for that.

–Jen

 

[JimG]

My brother still has not one, but two VCR’s. One is hooked up to a TV in his basement, the other is hooked up to his upstairs TV, along with a DVD player, a Betamax (!) player, a TIVO, and an antenna (name removed by moderator)ut. No cable service. But he does have a techie son in law to do all the connections for him and also added an Apple TV (name removed by moderator)ut. But there are enough broadcast channels to satisfy him, he seldom uses the Apple TV. And he also has a record player. Gotta love analog.

 

[Edmundus1581]

Where did DVDs rise to popularity in the early 90s?

I bought my first DVD player in about 2002. At that stage there was a mixture of VHS and DVD in the video stores.

And there was a video store in every suburb!

In the mid 90’s, just before DVD came out, there was a new format on a large disc, like an LP, which was meant to replace VHS. There were some expensive players and hi-fi buffs started switching to it, but it never took off and was overtaken by DVD.

 

[Melodeonist]

It really doesn’t matter all that much since there are probably already tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of VCRs in the world. If you ever wanted one, you could probably just go to a tag sale or a thrift store.

 

[andrewstx]

I put my reel to reel tapes on cassettes, then on mini disc…then on CDs now I must put them on I pod.
Movies on VCR tapes then on DVDs …what next

Technology is going too fast…I’m falling behind in transferring everything!

Blue Ray of course

 

[Peter_J]

Im waiting for the days when instead of just watching a movie on a screen, you are basically ‘inside’ the movie, it will be like a simulated reality, the ‘movie’ will be going on all around you, and will look like its all real and really happening…Im guessing this type of technology is about 50-60 yrs away.

Like the holodeck (or “Shore Leave”)?

 

[didymus]

No I very much doubt you’ll buy physical media in 20 years (or less). I certainly never do. Actually I don’t know anyone who does (though someone must as Walmart still sells DVDs for cheap). I guess there are still blue-Ray enthusiasts out there, but it never became mainstream the way DVDs did. The cloud is definitely the future. We will see more and more paid services. We have cable, but many of the channels now offer complimentary streaming services where you can catch their programs any time of day or night with a click of your cable remote. Various streaming services through cable or online are becoming increasingly popular. Services such as iTunes or Amazon allow you to buy individual shows, movies or entire series to forever reside in your personal cloud library. Physical media is basically for a) those living in the Stone Age and b) collectors/enthusiasts.

You can keep the cloud. Call me a Stone Age primitive but when I buy something I want to own it. When you pay iTunes or Amazon for music or a TV series you may enjoy it under their TOS. You can’t give it away or sell it or donate it to the library nor leave to collection to your heirs. I wouldn’t call myself a collector but at least an accumulator & probably two-thirds of my CDs are from library sales & thrift shops. I suspect the plan os to make sure we can only get “content” fro the megacorps who run the cloud.

 

[twf]

You can keep the cloud. Call me a Stone Age primitive but when I buy something I want to own it. When you pay iTunes or Amazon for music or a TV series you may enjoy it under their TOS. You can’t give it away or sell it or donate it to the library nor leave to collection to your heirs. I wouldn’t call myself a collector but at least an accumulator & probably two-thirds of my CDs are from library sales & thrift shops. I suspect the plan os to make sure we can only get “content” fro the megacorps who run the cloud.

Eventually CD, DVD players and the like will no longer be manufactured. Existing machines will die. Our society is moving towards the cloud and I doubt that trend will change now. My children won’t know anything else. I imagine consumer demand will provide additional options in the future such as digital exchanges of content you own (equivalent of buying or selling a used disc).