On July 31st 2016 Japan’s Funai Electric the world’s last VCR manufacture produced its final VCR. The company only sold 750,000 units last year. The main reason is that the company is having a hard time finding parts to produce them.
The History of the VCR started back in 1959 with a company by the name of Ampex produced the world’s first commercially successful Video Tape Recorder that used 2 inch wide tape. The price for the unit cost $50,000 and was only affordable by the big television networks. It wasn’t until 1963 that a company by the name of UK Nottingham Electronic Valve Company produced the first home video recorder. Back then it cost about $170.00. That’s around $1,600 in today’s money! By 1975 the mass market for VCR’s started to gain traction and by the 1980’s the industry boomed with most American households owing a VCR by 1985.
VHS vs Betamx
VHS won the format wars back in the early 80’s against the Betamax even though the Betamax quality was superior to the VHS. Betamax’s main drawback was that the first tapes produced could only hold 1 hour of video. On the other hand the VHS tapes could record up to two hours, which was great for recording movies and home videos. Eventually, other formats such as Laserdisc and VCD players tried to take on the VCR. It wasn’t until the late the 90’s early 2000’s when DVD players took over the home video market. With its superior picture and sound quality it’s no wonder that the DVD was the first step in the demise of the VCR.
So gather up all your video tapes and bring them into Create A Video before its to late. Mention this post for a special discount.
