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VHS: When did it stop?

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Entry posted by atari2600land · January 8, 2015

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I remember when the first Jackass movie came out and I wanted to get it. I went into a now-long-gone Suncoast location and asked the lady working there where it was. She pointed me to the DVD display. At the time, I didn't have a DVD player, so I got the VHS version. The movie has a copyright date of 2003, so it must have been the year I did this. Which brings me to today, where I was watching an old tape from 2002 and they advertised movies on VHS and DVD. So I am wondering: When did movies stop coming out on VHS tapes? Couldn't have been much longer after 2003, could it? Because now, everything is on DVD and there are no movies on the poor VHS format. Although, they still sell blank VHS tapes, so someone out there must still be using them besides me. I guess because DVD recorders are still expensive? And the VHS version still has extra features. I wonder if other VHS tapes from then did that too? I like VHS tape movies because you can pause them right where they are and then come back right where you left off. No stupid wondering what "scene" you left off at. I guess I just have a short attention span that's why I like VHS tapes.

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EricBall 182

Posted January 8, 2015

From http://www.mediageek.net/2009/01/rumors-of-vhss-death-are-greatly-exaggerated/

the last major Hollywood release on VHS was 2006’s “The History of Violence.”

Blank VHS tapes are still sold because people still have VCRs - although I suspect due to the move to broadcast digital TV / HDTV and the rise of PVRs for HDTV that the home market has declined pretty steeply. However, there's probably still a decent market for VCRs recording surveillance cameras. (Although, again, that market is going digital.)

There are VCR-like DVD recorders, but they aren't that common. PVRs (e.g. TiVo) provide same or better quality, more storage, and features like the ability to pause live TV. The one advantage of the DVD-recorder is the ability to take the DVD with you, although there were TiVo models with built-in DVD recorders for this reason. These days there are other options for transferring or streaming the recording to other devices.

Resume from last viewing is a pretty typical feature of DVD players (e.g. PS3) and you don't have to rewind the tape to go back to the beginning or skip to your favorite part.