• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

R.I.P. Video Cassette Recorder

Homerboy

Homerboy

Lifer
http://mentalfloss.com/article/83427/japan-will-make-its-last-ever-vcr-month

Funai Electric, the last remaining Japanese company to make the units, has announced that the company will cease production on its VCR units, due to declining sales and difficulty acquiring parts.

Their VCRs are made in China and sold in many territories, including North America, under brand names like Sanyo, but last year’s figures reported just 750,000 sales worldwide.
Click to expand...
 
No point rewinding the tape, I guess.

Edit: I skipped VCRs entirely, never owned one. Our wedding video was on tape so we had to get it transferred to CD to watch it. I think it is on CD, not DVD, anyway.
 
Last edited:
These are movies that feel too cleaned-up on DVD and Blu-ray, as if they were never meant to look that good,” explained one collector. “You can see the mistakes they made and the bad makeup and everything. Watching them on VHS is closer to the old drive-in or grindhouse theater, the way the director intended it to look.”
Click to expand...

I can relate to this. I have two or three Twilight Zone dvd box sets, and the video looks too hard edged and unnatural. It looked better on analog tv.
 
Oh finally! I have junked my VCR from 1987 last month but it has not played any tape since 2003, that stuff is beyond obsolete.
 
lxskllr said:
I can relate to this. I have two or three Twilight Zone dvd box sets, and the video looks too hard edged and unnatural. It looked better on analog tv.
Click to expand...

Console emulators have effects to basically crappen up the onscreen content to match old CRTs. I bet you could easily do the same with video and a MadVR pluggin. I don't know why you would through, just upscale it better.

I have never met a 480i video that cannot be upscaled properly with enough GPU power thrown at it.
 
Last edited:
poofyhairguy said:
Console emulators have effects to basically crappen up the onscreen content to match on CRTs. I bet you could easily do the same with video and a MadVR pluggin. I don't know why you would through, just upscale it better.
Click to expand...

I always thought a vinyl filter for digital music would be a fun gimmick. Add imperfections to digital music to simulate old records.
 
lxskllr said:
I always thought a vinyl filter for digital music would be a fun gimmick. Add imperfections to digital music to simulate old records.
Click to expand...

That's what AAC is for. 😛

I have CDs of old blues music from the 1920s-40s. The CD producers suppressed a lot of the static and popcorn. When I ripped them to AAC, the compression process amplified the popcorn preferentially.
 
is this the last VCR manufacturer or the last JAPANESE VCR manufacturer (who happens to outsource to China anyways)
 
I haven't used my VCR in a few years ever since I bought a home theater PC. But, I still have two VCRs with the intention of one day putting the tapes that I have onto the PC (mostly Dancing with The Stars tapes of just the dancing portions that can't be easily found online). I've just been too busy to do so.

After that, then the VCRs are going to be recycled.
 
Good riddance. Pieces of shit. When DVDs started becoming mainstream, we still used VCRs. We went through like 1 a year, got 2 in a cabinet still, 1 we threw out a few years back -- funny considering that the technology was essentially at it's peak. The tape loaders kept jamming -- tapes wouldn't go in, they came out fine.
 
The movie, R.I.P.D. headquarters exits out into a VCR repair shop in Boston.

Nick: You ever think about hiding this place a little better?
Roy Pulsipher: When was the last time you got a VCR repaired?
Nick: [eyeing the shop clerk] Point taken.
 
gorcorps said:
worldwide

I can't imagine many of them would be sold in the US.
Click to expand...
Still, 750,000 for a technology from the 1970's that isn't seeing a resurgence (a la the turntable). Must be all bought by government agencies (law enforcement), etc.

How many Atari 2600 were sold last year?
 
Sheep221 said:
Oh finally! I have junked my VCR from 1987 last month but it has not played any tape since 2003, that stuff is beyond obsolete.
Click to expand...

I still have two VCRs stored away in case we need to see our family tapes. But I haven't used any of them in years.
 
dullard said:
I haven't used my VCR in a few years ever since I bought a home theater PC. But, I still have two VCRs with the intention of one day putting the tapes that I have onto the PC (mostly Dancing with The Stars tapes of just the dancing portions that can't be easily found online). I've just been too busy to do so.

After that, then the VCRs are going to be recycled.
Click to expand...

That seems like a weird thing to archive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top