Farewell to VCRs as Japan maker pulls plug

It has been on life-support for some time.

The Funai Corporation of Japan, which sold 750,000 VCRs past year and claims to be the world’s only manufacturer, says it can no longer source parts. Sony discontinued production of Betamax cassettes in March of this year.

VHS – short for Video Home System – was released by JVC in the mid-1970s and within a few years, had beaten Sony’s competing Betamax format to spawn a huge ancillary network of distributors, stores, lending libraries and pirates.

VCRs were the precursors the HDDs, CVDs and DVRs.

Funai began making videotape players in 1983, and videotape recorders in 1985.

Despite falling sales, the company still shipped 750,000 units previous year, mainly to China, according to Japan’s Nikkei newspaper. In 2000, it made 15 million. A Gallup poll several years ago found that 58 percent of Americans still had one in their home.

A spokesman, who requested anonymity citing company practice, said Monday production will end sometime this month, although it declined to give a date, because key component makers are pulling out, due to shrinking demand for VCRs.

The Japanese newspaper suggests that most people still buying VHS players are replacing equipment that has failed, and yet still have VHS tapes that they want to view. But a time may come when all such options also disappear.

Funai has been overwhelmed with calls from desperate Japanese VCR tape owners who had not transferred treasured recordings of weddings and other special occasions on to other formats, he added.