Last manufacturer pulls the plug on the VCR
 

The last remaining manufacturer of VHS machines will discontinue production by the end of the month:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/83427...ever-vcr-month

Must say like in the comments, I'm surprised this is happening now and that it didn't happen years ago.

I'd go and buy the last of the VCR's, but they are crap. Funai never made anything good to write home about.

Funai machines were crap even in the 80s heyday of the VCR. I can't imagine how crappy newer ones must be....

We have a Funai built DVD/VCR combo (DVD recorder, "high end" model). It played 4 tapes before dying.. Returned, got another, that one made it 3 tapes in, and destroyed my baby video tape. Yea, I was pissed, and what did they offer me? "Using old tapes is not garanteed for playback quality". No apology or anything, just a big FU.

So would that be FU-nai?

Those Funai combos, never did play tapes well or record well. The DVD was passable, nothing special. I friend bought two and returned two, always some fault. They were Funai products, either Magnavox or Sylvania.
She paid the difference and bought a Samsung. It seems to be OK yet.
I've repaired several VHS tapes. They're easy to take apart and splice. You only lose a little bit and most of the time, they work well. :scratch2:

If the tape has not been stretched badly a gentle pull through your fingers will flatten the lumps so it is semi-playable in the damaged spot...Otherwise I splice them.

"Funai" was quite popular in Romania becuase of cheap price, otherwise the qualgty was crap.
I dind't know that somebody still made V.C.R.'s.

dieseljeep and Electronic M, I have since spliced the tape, but it ate through the part where my first birthday candle was being blown out. That's pretty hurtful. I have the part of the eaten tape somewhere in a box. Kept it in case one day it could be fixed, but it's stretched and wrinkled.

Funny part about that is Nai as used in Japanese is sorta equivalent to Not in English. It is often found at the end of Japanese sentences as say something is not the case in a similar way that young folks here will say 'this is the case, NOT!'

You know it occurs to me that funai being the last VCR maker must be the VCR equivalent of what it would be like if the last new cars to be made were Yugos...

Yeah sure. Just take a proper Videophile format like Laserdisc and leave it out in the rain you uneducated twits.

I have a Panasonic VCR, but I don't use it very much since getting an LG Blu-ray player a few years ago (I have one older Memorex DVD player in storage, but bought the Blu-ray when that format was becoming popular; turns out to be one of the best things I ever did). I use the VCR strictly to play back old VHS tapes (I have about 60 such cassettes), mostly old ('60s-'80s) TV series and movies. The rest of my favorite shows are on DVD.

The VCR is used so seldom I expect it to last at least a few more years. My Panasonic PV-4022 VCR has no belts to stretch or break (strictly gear drive), so that's another reason I'm thinking the unit will last me quite a while; yet a third is that I am slowly replacing my VHS collection with DVDs.

I see a day coming when the only VHS tapes I'll have left will be those of programs or movies I cannot find on DVD or Blu-ray. My Blu-ray player may (probably will) get very light use from now on anyway, since my Roku player allows me access to Netflix; just click on the Netflix icon on the home screen and, if you have a subscription to the service (as I do; I've had such a subscription for some time, and I use it often), you can watch any title in their library at will.

I was not surprised to see, on ZDNet.com, the announcement that the VCR (and the VHS video format) was just about dead, and in fact will be after this month. VHS was an excellent format in its day, but time and technology march on, making it obsolete. Most existing VCRs are probably being used these days just to watch old tapes, not to record, since VCRs cannot tune to DTV digital subchannels without a cable box.

Recording TV programs is not yet illegal, but the manufacturers of VHS/DVD players are required to omit RF tuners so that TV programs cannot easily be recorded. There is a law on the books now, the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), which was enacted to stop illegal recording of TV shows (where the intent is to sell the tapes after they are recorded).

Long before the DMCA was enacted, there was an announcement TV stations used to make at sign on and sign off that stated, in no uncertain terms, that TV shows must not be recorded or otherwise copied, or that monetary charges, i. e. admission and/or cover charges, must not be made for viewing of such programs in public places such as bars, taverns, etc. The announcement went (in part) like this: "The programs broadcast by this station may not be used for any purpose except exhibition at the time of their broadcast . . ." This means, of course, that the shows were meant to be viewed only at the time the TV stations or networks aired them; time shifting, using VTRs (video tape recorders) was not allowed. If you missed a show, too bad.

The omission of RF tuners on all new VHS/DVD players is meant to force people to buy the DVD of any program they want to keep. The goal is to eventually stop home recording of television programs, which could be a violation of copyright laws. With just about everything being trademarked these days and movie/TV production companies becoming increasingly protective of their products, I would not be one bit surprised if recording TV programs is eventually declared illegal.

Im amazed they stayed in operation this long!! (I didnt realise anyone was still making em)

I first read about this on Steve Hoffmans site.....

Yea .Sad news. caught this article over on ARF. Can blame the press and Hollywood.Globalists and the digital numnuts .Stupid public got bought up in with the digital DVD crap like they did when the CD came out 30 years ago plus the content is online too..Hollywood does not want you to record their programs on any medium which DVD recorder and blank DVDs suck .Those of us that can watch and free download content online is a plus which I dont mind.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techno...d=ansmsnnews11

I guess we are sitting on a gold mine that have loads of VCRs in our storage area/Basements and garages.Is Funai low in the barrel for quality.Walmart still stocks the Magnavox combo VCR/DVD deck there. Now you got to order blank VHS tape online at Walmart since they pulled the Memorex tapes off the shelves in the stores.Maybe it will turn around like vinyl has done.People will wake up when they loose their digital photos/home videos/movies/TV shows and favorite music when their computer and other digital device fries. In the analog world that crap does not happen and it will be there for your lifetime and some.

Honestly this is still far, far better than what's likely going to the near future for the mainstream. Practically no physical media exists (maybe an esoteric format like 4k UltraHD Blu-ray), everything is streamed, no way to keep hold of anything. All power in hands of the studios. That lesser-known movie you love not on Netflix, Hulu, whatever? Better have an old physical copy or you're screwed. Want a wider selection of content? You have to subscribe to several services for that. More $$$ for the bigwigs. Netflix drop a group of movies for months or years from the service? Screwed again. That's the future.

Ya its all very sad :(

Got a point there.Its all geared for the Hollywood industry elites I'll stop here.

Local TV news had a story today about the last VCRs made, and used this Panasonic European model F55 commercial as video for the story. Apparently was originally shown on MTV Europe channel judging from the ID bug. Nice looking VCR never saw one like it here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqfhrlWNFF8

They were all DVD/VCR combos being produced?

The combo DVD/VHS units or VHS player only machines were the only ones I have seen in stores in recent years. The play only units being aimed at people who want to get content off their old tapes and onto a digital format, I guess...

I don't want to run a damaged spot through the heads. It seems, the oxide sheds and fouls the rotating head. :sigh:

The one or two tapes I had to do that with were ~2004-7 era blanks, and they never fouled the heads on the players...Perhaps some of the older tape stock had those problems after being wrinkled and smoothed.:scratch2:

I agree.They copy their home videos to DVD and 4 years go by and find out the DVD are flaking ,scratched,corrupted and by that time they got rid of their home videos of their loved ones .How sad is that.Those Magnavox decks I've mentioned probably are Funai made.When I make copies of home videos like I'm doing now is I make a copy for myself and give another to my sister and rip a copy to my computer and move it onto my backup external drive and save the VHS master tapes.There is to much to loose of those memories of family home videos and photos due to the unstable world of digital.It really burns me up when people dump their home videos and photos.

Yea .bad tape could do a number on the VCR.I have a couple of decks put aside for checking questionable tapes before I put them into my good decks.To this day I probably only rented 3 tapes since they started renting videos because who knows how clean and the condition was on the last deck was.

The other day I happen to go through some boxes here and found some 1980's Video Review and Video magazines .I miss those days looking at the magazines when they arrive in the mail.Drooling over while looking at the new Beta and VHS VCRs,Video cameras and later VHS camcorders.

I still use VHS to record off the TV.

I'd still be using 110 film if anyone around here sold or developed it anymore.

There's a Garfield and Friends episode called "The Record Breaker" in which almost no one knows what a record player is. Such a parody of the digital audio world seems surreal these days.

I think V.H.S. haves more fan then D.V.D.

Me too every day.Blank DVDs suck.

Yes .Its hard to find people who still develop this format.I think B and H Camera in NYC still does it . I still have my 110 camera here and its right here in front of me on this desk.Nothing high class since its a Ansco Tele Motor 900 from Kmart.It work great at concerts before I got my 35mm setup.

I agree.

Update.Walmart has the Sanyo combo's there as I saw 4 on the shelf.Don't see the Maggie combo any more.

A lot of people like the combo units. Since they've disappeared from retail shelves (I haven't seen any recently, though I haven't been looking hard) I've noticed an increasing demand for used ones.

We did get a couple of models here with digital TV tuners and HDMI upscaling. These are especially sought after. Most of them were playback only on the VHS side, but I did play with a Panasonic unit that recorded digital TV straight to VHS (and the tape left in the machine suggested the previous owner was using it as such).

Unfortunately the Panasonic combos are prone to the U61 error that effects a lot of their DVD recorders and the digital tuner is SD MPEG2 only. Most channels here are still SD MPEG2, but the transition to H264 has begun.

I would not mind finding a DVR that I can record the shows and let me take them off the DVR and transfer them to my computer for I can move them onto an external HD.
I know Hollywood would kill me for doing it with their copyright BS but Oh well.It will be like the Betamax case over again. If I can get a system to do that.I can stop worrying about the VHS blank tape supply's drying up.

I managed to snag an S-VHS machine right B4 the curtain fell. Played it practically not at all.

I couldnt agree more....... Its more natural,more warm,etc...........

I love analog soooooooooooooo much guys :)

My parents bought me a Sony VCR/DVD for Christmas 2007. It does not record to DVD though, only to VHS. But it doesn't have it's own tuner. I forget how I recorded on it, must have fed it from cable box. In fact it's been so long that I used it I can't remember IF I ever recorded with it. lol

I saw a VHS/DVD combo one time..... It was horrible!!!

VHS playback was aweful......... (It had noises in it,etc)

VHS with DTV Tuner
 

Toshiba made a few combo models with DTV tuners in them and had HDMI sockets on 'em too.

I know--Because Ive got one at work...:D