Originally published December 1 2005
VHS may be totally obsolete in the near future
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
With the advent of basic unit DVRs for less than $100 and video on demand, the VCR is on the brink of extinction. Many newly released movies are now only for sale on DVD, and all movies may soon be exclusively digital.
The videocassette recorder (VCR), whose flashing "12:00" has glowed in living rooms for nearly three decades, is about ready to retire to the home entertainment hall of fame.
They begin with the now ubiquitous digital versatile disc (DVD) player, continue with next year's high-definition DVD players, and may end with no special player at all - your content will be stored digitally on a hard drive or online.
As recently as 2003, more VHS tapes were being rented than DVDs.
In the first six months of 2005, DVDs accounted for more than 84 percent of the rental revenue for Blockbuster Inc., the video store chain.
Sales statistics are even more dramatic: Last year DVDs rang up more than $15 billion in sales, while VHS tapes accounted for less than $1 billion, according to the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA).
"Within 12 months or so, or sooner than that, we must expect that new [movie] releases will be exclusively digital," predicted Crossan Andersen, president of the VSDA, in a state of the industry speech last July.
One Blockbuster outlet in Ashland, Mass., did offer a handful of VHS rentals, but only in the children's section.
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) estimates that more than a million will be sold this year, along with another 4.6 million combined in a single unit with a DVD player.
The VCRs are "a replacement device," says Sean Wargo, director of industry analysis for the CEA, the trade group for the home entertainment industry.
Now that DVDs have established themselves as the dominant home video format, they're about to be challenged themselves.
Some observers foresee a messy format fight, akin to the 1970s battle between the Sony Betamax and VHS videotape formats.
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