Another tape tech format era closes: VHS

Alas, one more dying gasp of popular 80s technology -- the VHS tape. A quote from an LA Times article describing the last VHS distributor in the US:

After three decades of steady if unspectacular service, the spinning wheels of the home-entertainment stalwart are slowing to a halt at retail outlets. On a crisp Friday morning in October, the final truckload of VHS tapes rolled out of a Palm Harbor, Fla., warehouse run by Ryan J. Kugler, the last major supplier of the tapes. "It's dead, this is it, this is the last Christmas, without a doubt," said Kugler, 34, a Burbank businessman. "I was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it, and I'm done. [....] Just before Halloween, JVC, the company that introduced the Video Home System format in 1977 in the United States, announced that it would no longer make stand-alone videocassette recorders. The electronic manufacturer still produces hybrid VHS-DVD players, but it's not clear how long that will last.[1]

I've seen the 8-track come and go, the cassette, and now the VHS tape. Kugler also goes on to prophecy about the life-span of the DVD. An interesting article on the overview and epilogue of the VHS tape.

REFERENCES

[image] 3Critical (Accessed 12/22/2008)

[1] Geoff Boucher "VHS era is winding down" Los Angeles Times Dec. 22, 2008

[ & ] Some excellent cut-aways of the VCR tape mechanism can be found here and here.

[ & ] Although in Russian, and Japanese, a similar look at the mechanism of the casette tape can be found here and here.

[ & ] And, of course, the groovy 8-track should also get its due.

O.