VHS, RIP

Yeah, not exactly news, but now we have a sure date: Christmas. Wal-Mart will stock vid tapes for the 2005 holiday season, but after that it is the slow death of the remainder bin.

Farewell, old friend.

Comments

[smacky]

I'm going to start up a hip, post-New Wave band called VHS or DVD? .

[Lazlo]

Wal-Mart is already denying the story. Even so, it's inevitable -- I'm surprised it didn't happen a couple of years ago.

Personally, I still own LaserDiscs I haven't watched yet. Another ten years, baby, and bam! eBay for the lot of 'em!

[NoStar]

I mourned for Beta (better picture and sound).
To VHS I say good riddance.

[Stretch]

Good riddance.

Of course, now I can go buy all the crappy VHS tapes I want. As far as selling them in the future goes, well, how expensive are 8 tracks now?

http://search.ebay.com/8-track_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8

[Lazlo]

Try sorting that eBay search by price. (If you've got any old Quad-format Pink Floyd 8-Tracks now may be the time to drag them out.)

[Sandy]

Does that mean they'll not sell blanks? Because it's still way cheaper than TiVO. But there's no reason to watch prerecorded video tapes anymore.

[Dynamist]

If you don't buy TiVo or DVD-Recordable, you're just helping the terrorists. And, if Kerry had won, VHS would be preserved under a civil right to time-shifting.

[David Woycechowsky]

It is getting harder to find audio recordable CDs for use in my old (but still regularly used) Pioneer brand CD recorder.

[Phil]

Does that mean they'll not sell blanks? Because it's still way cheaper than TiVO

Just buy a bunch of prerecorded ones at rock-bottom prices from the remainder bins, then put a piece of tape over the notch at the top and record over them.

[panurge]

Actually, Wal Mart is probably smarter to keep the VHS tapes on the shelf. Many have followed DVD's in using the widescreen format, and there are still a lot of consumers who don't really care that much about the extras that appear on the DVD's. Since VHS tapes are much cheaper (I think the average price for one at Wal Mart is $9.99 or slightly less), most people won't mind purchasing something slightly archaic if it saves them money.

[David Woycechowsky]

Panurge,
What if the same people who manufactured dvd's also are the same people that manufacture VHS. Couldn't these copyright owners set the pricing on VHS tapes to discourage their use? What if they are going to simply cut off the VHS supply to force customers to switch to the pricier, DRM DVD format? What if WalMart somehow found out about this secret plan?

[Old Perv's Ex]

RIP, VHS

Has someone told the porn industry yet? They are still cranking out VHS's as fast as people can buy them. The old perv down the street probably won't switch to DVD until at least half or more of the porn stock at Video Blue is DVD.

[Demand Drives Markets]

Smacky:
Your first song should be "Digital Killed the Analog Star".

David W.:
Are we down to one producer of VHS tapes? Is there no competetion left, even for a niche market product? Maybe Wal-Mart will stop carrying VHS, but you should still be able to buy VHS tapes for another 20 years. Maybe they'll be priced at $50 each in 20 years, and available only from a specialty mail-order outfit, but they should still be available.

[David Woycechowsky]

1. The market in movie copyrights, at least the type of miovie WalMart sells, is rather consolidated. Co-ordinated action by the big players, whether by accident or design, seems pretty possible to me.

2. I generally agree about your prediction for the future of VHS. There is no substantial advantage to this consolidated "industry" to completely banning the thing, and that would be bad PR.

3. Besides, the copyright owners would be expected to only really want high margins on its own products and DRM on its own products. It would matter little whether indepent, small copyright owners distributed their products freely.

4. I would go so far as to argue that studio owned movies don't even compete truly independent films. If an independent film has any commercial potential, it is usually bought by one of the big players, at least I always assumed this. I just don't think that Titanic or even Blair Witch are substitutable for Mondo Video or Bumfights in any meaningful sense. I don't even think the Olson Twins are substitutable for porn, but to each his own, ya know?

[AP]

They forced the market to casettes from LPs, I find this talk of VHS and bad PR or what have you to be wishful thinking. The companies don't give a flying fuck in France what you think, your family doesn't make up a voting bloc or shareholder percentage point.

[sam]

now, in 10 years, all the hipster kids are gonna get together and watch really grainy movies on vhs and feel superior to their peers.

it'll be awesome.

-sam

[kwais]

I hate to keep bringing this up, but has anyone figured out how to rig a DVD player so it will fast forward and or skip the parts you don't want to watch, such as the FBI warning and such?

I hate sitting there with MY dvd, in MY dvd player, and hitting FF, and a little icon appears on screen that says I can't do that. It makes me angry.

[David Woycechowsky]

Kwais:
Stop watching dvd's. Read all the Lessig books instead. they are fascinating and will help you connect to a larger community of folks frustrated in similar ways. It doesn't solve the problems, but less lonely feeling with "the Future Of Ideas" or "Free Culture" or "Code."

[drf]

"And, if Kerry had won, VHS would be preserved under a civil right to time-shifting."

Dynamist, go to your room. Don't make Thoreau come up there in his GG outfit with the BIG HAND from the EVERLONG video and give you a spanking worthy of the castle Anthrax.......

[E-Rock]

kwais - It varies from device to device and even DVD to DVD, but here's what I normally do: Press stop. From your "Welcome to DVD World" or whatever you get, press your Root Menu button. This is the best, when it works.

[tomWright]

True or not, CD/DVD will disappear even more quickly.

With USB Drives and flash memory sticks/chips, etc, passing the 2 Gigabyte mark, up to 8GB or so they will take over as soon as the price goes down.

See:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211311

I already know a few people keep entire PC systems on them, (small ones, true, with only email, browser and basic software), just plug into a PC and reboot.

Which would you prefer, a small chiclet sized device with no moving parts, or a relativly fragile, easily scratched disc that needs a large box with electric motors, lasers, and other junk, just to play?

We are getting closer to the day that electronic media will be as easy and convenient as the printed page, but as engaging as anything else like movies, etc.

Tom

[keith]

To VHS, I say "So long!" It wa sa crummy format from the beginning. To computer-only movie files, I say, "eh." I don't really care for them, but that's probably because they're a pain to acquire and I don't like watching movies on my computer, unless I'm in the bathroom, in which case I enjoy popping in a dvd on the laptop and hanging out for a while. There is something very fitting about watching "House of the Dead" on the toilet.

[My Name is Bob]

Anybody seen this?

http://www.popgadget.net/2005/06/holographic-versatile-card.html

30 GB and only a buck each!!! But the reader/writer is $2000.

DVD is gone, baby!

or maybe not.

MNiB

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Though I stop buying VHS movies long ago, I still have a rather large collection of tapes. I've already bought some "must have" DVD versions, but mostly get DVDs of movies I don't have.

I figure by the time I completely replace my tapes, another fucking format will come out.. bastages!!