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

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Atlas Obscura:
**The World’s Last VCRs Will Be Produced In Japan This Month
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**All good tech must come to an end. Funai Electric Comapany—the last known producers of Video Cassette Recorders, or VCRs—have hit “stop” on manufacturing, Japanese newspaper Nikkei reports. VCRs (and their good buddies, VHS tapes) first hit the shelves in the 1970s and quickly rose to dominance, acting as the centerpiece technology for endless sleepovers, late night TV recordings, and screenings of shakily filmed Little League games. By the 1990s, 95% of American households had one. Just ten years later, though, DVD players were successfully muscling in on this territory, and producers of VCRs and VHS tapes slowly began to give up.
The last holdout was Funai, which built their recorders in China and sold them in North America under the Sanyo brand. According to Nikkei, Funai is stopping production this month, citing a shrinking market and the difficulty of finding parts.
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I had no idea they were still being produced. I do have a combo DVD/VHS player and probably 3-4 dozen movies on VHS.
 
I need to go and buy one, got all kinds of tapes (really good Disney films) but no VCR
 
adamhovey1988 said:
I need to go and buy one, got all kinds of tapes (really good Disney films) but no VCR
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And don’t forget home videos.

(Of course, technically you only need a VCP not a VCR, but I’m guessing the distinction has no bearing on the above article.)
 
I wonder why, of all places, Japan will be producing the last ones.
 
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 :confused:

Technology is going too fast…I’m falling behind in transferring everything! 😦
 
Peter_J said:
And don’t forget home videos.
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👍

Yes, easy to forget that VCR’s produced a whole change of lifestyle when ordinary people could produce cheap home videos. The cameras weren’t exactly “cheap”, but they were affordable - whereas 16mm and Super 8 films were very expensive and the whole recording and playing process was a job for dedicated hobbyists. Home clips were usually only a few seconds, because the film was so expensive (IIR, something like $10/sec).

*Funniest Home Videos *dominated Saturday nights for more than a decade!

And then there was the bashing of Rodney King caught on home video, and the glut of “real police” TV shows :yawn:.

I too was surprised by the headline - I assumed they hadn’t made new VSR’s for years.

A nice little curiousity! 🙂
truetofaith said:
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 :confused:

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

:sad_yes:
 
truetofaith said:
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 :confused:

Technology is going too fast…I’m falling behind in transferring everything! 😦
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Well, really DVDs should be close to being extinct by now too, they rose to popularity in the early 90s…its now 2016. I know streaming and cloud has been taking over lately, but Im curious what the next thing will be, after streaming/ cloud storage based?

I believe they will still have to produce it on some type of physical media, so they can put them on store shelves, and offer them for sale, I thought mini-disc was going to be big, and it does seem like this would be a good choice, as people will have to buy a mini-disc player, the discs themselves, if music and movies are only available thru internet or cloud, no one has to buy any ‘player’ or device…they can just use their current cell phone…doesnt seem like a good idea marketing wise?

I still keep my old VCR for one movie I was given as a gift years ago…the 80s movie ‘Rad’, my sister found it on Ebay for $120. back in 1997. Best gift ever! We used to rent that movie from video village about 5 times a week when we were kids!
 
mikekle said:
Well, really DVDs should be close to being extinct by now too, they rose to popularity in the early 90s…its now 2016. I know streaming and cloud has been taking over lately, but Im curious what the next thing will be, after streaming/ cloud storage based?

I believe they will still have to produce it on some type of physical media, so they can put them on store shelves, and offer them for sale, I thought mini-disc was going to be big, and it does seem like this would be a good choice, as people will have to buy a mini-disc player, the discs themselves, if music and movies are only available thru internet or cloud, no one has to buy any ‘player’ or device…they can just use their current cell phone…doesnt seem like a good idea marketing wise?

I still keep my old VCR for one movie I was given as a gift years ago…the 80s movie ‘Rad’, my sister found it on Ebay for $120. back in 1997. Best gift ever! We used to rent that movie from video village about 5 times a week when we were kids!
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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.
 
twf said:
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.
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I still buy movies on dvd/bluray…never have stopped…

My parents have a mini van with a dvd player…when we travel, since I am a passenger and not driver, it comes in handy. Batteries on kindle fires die after so many hours and need recharged…so the dvd player provides entertainment…

There are also several movies not yet in the Amazon video store or Apple iTunes store…(like the 1994 Angels in the Outfield or any Hallmark hall of fame movies…try finding a digital non dvd of Sarah, Plain and Tall…it’s not available.)

I stopped using a vcr after mine ate a tape while recording a t.v. show.

Btw, I am not living in the Stone age…:eek:
 
jediliz said:
I still buy movies on dvd/bluray…never have stopped…
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Me, too. For me it’s a privacy issue. I don’t wish to have companies recording what I watch and when. Also, I have a portable DVD player that I can use even when the power goes out or my internet goes down or whatever.

I suppose eventually movies won’t be offered on physical media, but hopefully by then I’ll have a large enough collection that I won’t care. 🙂 And unlike VHS tapes, DVDs last a really long time.

The world can go to the cloud without me. I’ve worked in the software industry too long to believe that anything is going to reside in the cloud “forever” or that any information that is collected digitally is 100% secure.

–Jen
 
revert_jen said:
Me, too. For me it’s a privacy issue. I don’t wish to have companies recording what I watch and when. Also, I have a portable DVD player that I can use even when the power goes out or my internet goes down or whatever.

I suppose eventually movies won’t be offered on physical media, but hopefully by then I’ll have a large enough collection that I won’t care. 🙂 And unlike VHS tapes, DVDs last a really long time.

The world can go to the cloud without me. I’ve worked in the software industry too long to believe that anything is going to reside in the cloud “forever” or that any information that is collected digitally is 100% secure.

–Jen
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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.
 
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.)
 
mikekle said:
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.
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Ever read the book Feed? :eek:
 
revert_jen said:
Me, too. For me it’s a privacy issue. I don’t wish to have companies recording what I watch and when. Also, I have a portable DVD player that I can use even when the power goes out or my internet goes down or whatever.

I suppose eventually movies won’t be offered on physical media, but hopefully by then I’ll have a large enough collection that I won’t care. 🙂 And unlike VHS tapes, DVDs last a really long time.

The world can go to the cloud without me. I’ve worked in the software industry too long to believe that anything is going to reside in the cloud “forever” or that any information that is collected digitally is 100% secure.

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

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

ICXC NIKA
 
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.
 
Entwhistler said:
I wonder why, of all places, Japan will be producing the last ones.
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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!
 
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