JVC ends VCR production after 32 years

[Chris Hurd]

The inventor of the VHS format has finally ceased VCR production:

JVC ends VCR production after 32 years

[Carlos Rodriguez]

Gnarly. I'd imagine they would still license the technology to other manufacturers who would want to use it...

[Jeff Turkali]

I snatched up a few extra Mitsubishi SVHS decks (and did a good clean/lube) so I'm set for the format for many years. I think the 1990 to 1993 models rival JVCs better units which are considered tops.

Every editor should have a couple units on hand that work perfectly.

[Shaun Roemich]

Darn it! It was JUST about to make the jump to VHS from 2" quad!

Like Jeff, I own a pair of Panasonic S-VHS industrial machines for playback and still have 10 functioning Sony VHS consumer recorders IF I ever need to print to VHS again, although it's been 3 years since I've had to deliver a single VHS tape.

[Perrone Ford]

I just got asked yesterday for VHS recording. First time in many years. I have 4 Mitsubishi SVHS units, and Panasonic SVHS unit. I think that should cover me before VHS tape finally goes away.

[Bob Diaz]

Originally Posted by Shaun Roemich

Darn it! It was JUST about to make the jump to VHS from 2" quad!

Like Jeff, I own a pair of Panasonic S-VHS industrial machines for playback and still have 10 functioning Sony VHS consumer recorders IF I ever need to print to VHS again, although it's been 3 years since I've had to deliver a single VHS tape.

Here's a shot I took of a 2" Quad Machine at KLEW back in June of 1989.

I'm sure it's long gone, but it would be cool to have a working unit just for show...

Bob Diaz

[Jeff Kellam]

I read a few other articles and it seems they will still make 2-way (VHS-DVD) and 3-way (VHS-DVD-HD) machines for a while, but Im sure that won't last too long.

I still have near new JVC S-VHS and D-VHS machines to hold me for another 10 years.

The D-VHS machine is still a pretty advanced piece of equipment IMO. It just uses the archaic HDV video codec.

[Shaun Roemich]

Bob, that's AWESOME! Thanks for the nostalgia. Refresh my memory, did you need to burnish 2" tape before you could use it or am I getting my archaic formats confused?

[Jason Lowe]

They must not have made many of this final unit. We've been scraping the bottom of the VCR barrel for classroom use for the last year. Can't phase them out completely due to the number of faculty members with large tape libraries from 20 years ago.

[John Vincent]

Kinda sad really. Not great looking, they were at least pretty reliable - and everywhere.

Sniffle.

john

[Tim Bisley]

According to the LA Times VHS is officially dead.

VHS era is winding down - Los Angeles Times

[Christopher Drews]

Betamax has company. Long live Betamax.
-C

[Erik Phairas]

I love my VCR, had it since the late 90s. Never needed a Tivo or anything.

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by Christopher Drews

Betamax has company. Long live Betamax.

Betamax actually does continue to live on... in the form of HDCAM and HDCAM SR (same tape width, shell size etc.). In fact, some HDCAM decks will play back Betacam tapes. Betacam never really went away, it just morphed into something newer.

(The same thing was supposed to happen with VHS, remember the D9 / Digital-S format? But it lost out to DigiBeta in the mid-90's and then briefly reappeared as D-VHS, as Jeff notes above).

[Shaun Roemich]

The specs on D-9/Digital-S were UNREAL at the price point when it came out. I remember agonizing over whether to take a chance on the format back when I was looking at purchasing my first camera. 1/2", 50mbit, 4:2:2 colour in a 1/2" camera with lens for under $7000 if memory serves.