World's last VCR manufacturer to cease production

[Wahesh]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/...-manufacturer-ends-production-funai/87413962/

SAN FRANCISCO - For everyone who's still got a stash of old VHS tapes tucked in a box somewhere, watch them quick. The world's last producer of home-use video cassette recorders is ending production at the end of the month.

Funai Electronics in Japan cited declining sales and difficulty finding parts as why it's ending production of the once revolutionary machines, Japan's Nikkei reported Thursday.

Once upon a time Funai sold up to 15 million VCRs annually, but in 2015 that was down to 750,000 units.

The paperback book-sized magnetic tapes were first introduced in Japan in 1976 and arrived in the United States in 1977.

They represented the beginnings of the home entertainment revolution. For the first time consumers could watch movies at home, whenever they wanted to. They also could tape and watch television shows, freeing them from the schedule of the networks and allowing them to fast-forward through commercials.

Known as VHS tapes, for "video home system," the tapes allowed viewers to break with the constraints of media gate keepers, laying the groundwork for today's streaming media.

 

[Wahesh]

I must say, I'm surprised. I thought the VHS stopped being produced eons ago. I guess I was wrong.

Well then, it's certainly the end of an era. I remember as a kid, walking around Civic Video in Campsie and, making my way through the popcorn scented aisles, looking at all the great movies that were released and deciding which one to watch.

Seriously back then, that was a cool way to spend the Saturday night.

RIP to the old VHS.

 

[bulldogsfan_88]

Ah the good old VCR- no such thing as skipping chapters haha. I still remember the day I bought my first VCR it was Star Wars episode 4 & it was my prized possession!!! They were the days

 

[CroydonDog]

Copying porn as a teenager in the 90s.

Kids of today have no idea how good they have it.

 

[dogluva]

Don't waorry about VHS I still have a beta cord. ( and it still works) Will have to get to copying my tapes I want to keep to dvd.

 

[Bad Billy]

Ahh VHS. Good for a teenagers memory, having to remember how far in, your favorite porn scenes started in a video.
Or
Throwing a VCR out because it ate a porno and you were too embarrassed to take it in for repair with "double stuffed honeys" stuck in it.

 

[south of heaven]

Ahh VHS. Good for a teenagers memory, having to remember how far in, your favorite porn scenes started in a video.
Or
Throwing a VCR out because it ate a porno and you were too embarrassed to take it in for repair with "double stuffed honeys" stuck in it.

Or stealing your dads porn and watching it while they are out and they tape chews and at that momment they pull in the drive.
Luckily a handy chopstick in that little hole help release the tape so you could take of the heads and do a mad scramble to return the porn

 

[Hacky McAxe]

Or stealing your dads porn and watching it while they are out and they tape chews and at that momment they pull in the drive.
Luckily a handy chopstick in that little hole help release the tape so you could take of the heads and do a mad scramble to return the porn

Or stealing your dad's porn tapes then taping Macgyver over the last half of it.

 

[south of heaven]

Or stealing your dad's porn tapes then taping Macgyver over the last half of it.

Bahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahaha

 

[Memberberries]

Good Ol VHS.
I still have old my old tapes, don't know what to do with them?
I've heard somewhere that they only have a lifespan of 30 years?

 

[Bad Billy]

Or stealing your dads porn and watching it while they are out and they tape chews and at that momment they pull in the drive.
Luckily a handy chopstick in that little hole help release the tape so you could take of the heads and do a mad scramble to return the porn

You could tell your dad's favorite scene, because the most used section of tape was always little more sketchy.

 

[Bad Billy]

Good Ol VHS.
I still have old my old tapes, don't know what to do with them?
I've heard somewhere that they only have a lifespan of 30 years?

You can do digital conversion on your computer. or send them to an expert, Not likely to do that with "Skye's slumber party though "

 

[CroydonDog]

You could tell your dad's favorite scene, because the most used section of tape was always little more sketchy.

Like when you rented Basic Instinct and the tape was all warped at the infamous "leg crossing" scene.

But the first time I ever saw beaver on TV (I think) was watching 1984.

 

[Bad Billy]

Like when you rented Basic Instinct and the tape was all warped at the infamous "leg crossing" scene.

But the first time I ever saw beaver on TV (I think) was watching 1984.

I re-wound the fuck out of that video.

 

[Mr Invisible]

LMFAO @ this thread...

Gahhh lucky I no longer on the entire video VHS collection of Gumby or Thomas the Tank Engine. Come to think of it, it'd be worth a fortune to a collector probably these days

Or stealing your dad's porn tapes then taping Macgyver over the last half of it.

Or just on the money shot?

Actually there's one thing worse than porn on VHS....

EARLY PLASMA TV's and hooking your laptop up to them to watch porn "on the big screen"!!!

Because if you paused for too long, the bloody image burned into the screen, and normally it was just as your folks pulled into the driveway or called to say they were on the way home and 10 minutes away.

 

[Alan79]

Vhs and cassette tapes seemed wonderful back then. I used to sit for hours listening to the radio hoping to tape songs I liked. It always made me angry when the radio dj would start talking before the song ended.

In the teenage years I'd scope the ratings for all the SBS movies in hopes of seeing an S or N rating. I probably still have a half dozen relics in a box in my spare room. In those days it was exciting to just see nipple. With the rise of the Internet it's become way too easy for kids/ teenagers to access sine very graphic content.

 

[Mr Invisible]

Vhs and cassette tapes seemed wonderful back then. I used to sit for hours listening to the radio hoping to tape songs I liked. It always made me angry when the radio dj would start talking before the song ended.

In the teenage years I'd scope the ratings for all the SBS movies in hopes of seeing an S or N rating. I probably still have a half dozen relics in a box in my spare room. In those days it was exciting to just see nipple. With the rise of the Internet it's become way too easy for kids/ teenagers to access sine very graphic content.

Before the internet we had 2400 baud modems, and Bulletin Boards!!! and that's where you got your latest porn from..... in glorious 256 colours, to display on your top of the line 15" Goldstar / LG CRT monitor..

WOOOOOOW!!

 

[CrittaMagic69]

So you had to watch the same porno over and over again? Or did dads meet up and trade pornos with each other or some shit? Sounds troublesome.

 

[N4TE]

So you had to watch the same porno over and over again? Or did dads meet up and trade pornos with each other or some shit? Sounds troublesome.

Yeah same porno and yeah having to remember the spot your Dad left it and rewind back.

In later years I realised he would have had no clue where he left it and all the frantic rewinding as you watched the street for a surprise return of a parent was all for nothing.

 

[coach]

Try nearly get caught having a pull, n ripping tape out of vcr player, only for the tape to get stuck and ruin a good porno.....