Walmart to stop Selling VCR's in 2006

[Bodyslide]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/13/news/fortune500/walmart_vhs/index.htm?cnn=yes

[BJ_M]

hmm - little sooner than i expected

[Darth Paris]

Why are they still selling them?

[lordsmurf]

Walmart VCRs suck. No loss.

[Bodyslide]

They will also stop selling VHS Tapes.....

[awhitney]

Walmart VCRs suck. No loss.

Amen to that, LOL! POS vcr's

[CaptainVideo]

This is news...

[Nilfennasion]

Philips have already stopped making the things, and they are certainly not going to be the last. It's not like VHS will be missed that much.

[waheed]

Not suprised. Dixons or Cuurys (one of thes in UK, cant remember which one) has also stopped selling VCRs.

[roadster3043]

Are there any news as to when all companies will stop making vcr's?

TIA

[thecoalman]

Are there any news as to when all companies will stop making vcr's?

TIA

I'd imagine someone would make them for quite a while yet, there will be a maket albeit a small one.

[Cole]

Not suprised. Dixons or Cuurys (one of thes in UK, cant remember which one) has also stopped selling VCRs.

It's Dixon's, but they do still sell Combo DVD/VHS units.

I still use a Panasonic VCR to time shift (but no too often latley), but I don't think that I will be replacing it for a while as it is only eighteen months old.

However, AFAIK mainstream DVD Recorders (except expensive High End Sony) don't come with Digital receivers in them, only analogue. Once they do, I may consider getting one but not before. After all, it isn't worth shelling out for a DVD recorder to capture the grainy alalogue signal in my area.

[Nilfennasion]

Even the companies that have stopped making VCRs as of now will be honouring warranty and service requirements for some time. The Philips rep basically said that even though they were not making new ones anymore, they would still make parts or other bits and pieces in order to meet such commitments. But as they stop being sold, and consumers find it is cheaper to just buy a DVD recorder, the VCR will rapidly dwindle in homes. I expect by 2020 at the latest, the only place one will be able to look at a VCR is in a curiosity museum like one I saw in the Blue Mountains a few times.

I suspect also that either they will standardise DTV signals so the tuners can be integrated into settop DVD recorders, or a smart commercialist will start a buy-one-get-the-other-free deal. Necessity being the mother of invention and all, once that deal with VCRs becoming too expensive to repair, and the cessation of analogue (whenever that really happens) take place, commercial pressure will force a rethink of specialisation in appliances.

[ROF]

Are there any news as to when all companies will stop making vcr's?

TIA

Probably never. RCA still manufactures 8 Track players, and most phonograph companies still produce turntables. The VCR may have disappeared, but it will probably never be dropped entirely.

Surprisingly enough, there are still people who have VCR's.

[bugster]

Not suprised. Dixons or Cuurys (one of thes in UK, cant remember which one) has also stopped selling VCRs.

It's Dixon's, but they do still sell Combo DVD/VHS units.

Actually its Dixons AND Curry's. They are both part of the same group.

[shelbyGT]

VCR is almost becoming a niche group, but I'd say right now there are still a good number of people who use them that don't want to pay for TiVo-like services (I'm one of them).

[Xylob the Destroyer]

my main concern with this is that I use a VCR for changing the channel (tho I do time shift with it as well), as the tuners in my TV's really aren't all that great and I have them basically hooked up as "monitors" -- the cable company's coax goes into my VCR and from the VCR it's an S-Video to the TV and RCA's for audio to the receiver.
I haven't really looked into the DVD recorders... Do they have decent tuners in them? cable ready & all that good stuff? is the audio out digital?

[canadateck]

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Wal-Mart Stores will continue to sell VHS tapes for as long as its customers want them, a spokeswoman for the world's largest retailer told CNN/Money.

"While it's true that there is stronger growth in demand for DVDs, many of our customers have VHS recorders and therefore still want VHS tapes," said Karen Burk, spokeswoman for Wal-Mart. "We will continue to sell the VHS tapes as long as there is a demand from our customers."

Burk categorically denied a Sunday report in the Hollywood Reporter that cited industry sources as saying that the discount behemoth planned to follow the lead of other big electronics sellers and exit the VHS business by early 2006.

According to the article, sources said VHS tapes will still be available through the 2005 holiday season but would disappear from Wal-Mart (Research) shelves soon after February.

The publication said in the report it was unable to confirm the matter with Wal-Mart.

The story said Wal-Mart rival Target (Research) had announced that it will phase out VHS sales by September, while electronics retailers Best Buy (Research) and Circuit City (Research) said they will no longer sell VHS tapes.

[shelbyGT]

I can see the actual VCR not being sold (being more of a niche now), but not the tapes? How many millions of working units are out there? Target/BestBuy/CircuitCity I would have thought would still sell tapes.
Wow.

[BJ_M]

VHS is used in a shitload of schools and business's -- and they don't have the money or reason to switch out anytime soon --

players will be made im sure for a VERY long time ...

[spiderman2k1]

Good I hate VCR's now and I hate people that buy them and I really hate people that buy movies on VHS. make they cheep basterds buy a dam DVD player.

[smearbrick1]

Good I hate VCR's now and I hate people that buy them and I really hate people that buy movies on VHS. make they cheep basterds buy a dam DVD player.

My aunt is a big VHS holdout. She buys 90% of her movies on VHS and the 10% on DVD (fullscreen). When asked why she does this, her answer is simply "I have too many VHS tapes to go back now."

I keep trying to stress to her the advantages of widescreen dvd over full screen vhs (this is not a debate, by the way.) and she just doesn't seem to get it. Funny how stubborn people can be. Of course, she still wears polyester on a daily basis.

Her 31 year old man-child son (who lives with her, I might add... he'd probably fit in well around here...) has a different take. He says they buy VHS because he likes some movies on VHS better than DVD and that he enjoys the quality (or lack thereof) of VHS.

Will this be the next thing? Instead of people hanging on to LPs because of the superior sound quality, will people hang on to VHS for nostalgia? Kind of like hanging on to old films rather than digitizing them?

[BJ_M]

Wal-Mart: Hey, we're still selling VHS


NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Wal-Mart Stores will continue to sell VHS tapes for as long as its customers want them, a spokeswoman for the world's largest retailer told CNN/Money.

"While it's true that there is stronger growth in demand for DVDs, many of our customers have VHS recorders and therefore still want VHS tapes," said Karen Burk, spokeswoman for Wal-Mart. "We will continue to sell the VHS tapes as long as there is a demand from our customers."

Burk categorically denied a Sunday report in the Hollywood Reporter that cited industry sources as saying that the discount behemoth planned to follow the lead of other big electronics sellers and exit the VHS business by early 2006.

According to the article, sources said VHS tapes will still be available through the 2005 holiday season but would disappear from Wal-Mart (Research) shelves soon after February.

The publication said in the report it was unable to confirm the matter with Wal-Mart.

The story said Wal-Mart rival Target (Research) had announced that it will phase out VHS sales by September, while electronics retailers Best Buy (Research) and Circuit City (Research) said they will no longer sell VHS tapes.

The Hollywood Reporter could not immediately be reached for comment.

[Darth Paris]

Good I hate VCR's now and I hate people that buy them and I really hate people that buy movies on VHS. make they cheep basterds buy a dam DVD player.

Somebody is bitter. J/K I feel the same way when I see someone at blockbuster that complains to the guy that they only have one VHS copy of some stupid movie and it is out. I have seen DVD players on sale for $15. Damn if they would ask me I would buy one for them just so they would shut up. Then they complain about the picture being cut off by those stupid black bars.

he'd probably fit in well around here...

That's harsh.

[Cole]

Not suprised. Dixons or Cuurys (one of thes in UK, cant remember which one) has also stopped selling VCRs.

It's Dixon's, but they do still sell Combo DVD/VHS units.

Actually its Dixons AND Curry's. They are both part of the same group.

Currys still appear to be selling VCRs. There was a formal announcement that Dixons would cease to sell VCRs and have done so appart from the DVD/VCR combo units.

I know that Comet still sell them (well, up to a month ago) and seeing as Comet and Currys are the nearest rivals, if one does then so will the other.

Good I hate VCR's now and I hate people that buy them and I really hate people that buy movies on VHS. make they cheep basterds buy a dam DVD player.

I have moved on and have three DVD players, but my VCRs still have their place. I have two - one for timeshifting (as said previously, I will get a DVD recorder when the budget priced ones have digital recievers in them) and the other for my VHS to DVD conversions.

But why hate something that has served us well for the last thirty odd years. It served its purpose and was the only medium to home record for years.

Oddly I was having this exact conversation last weekend - about people saying that old technology is rubbish etc. 78s, 45s, LPs, Reel to Reel tapes, Cassette Tapes, CDs; VHS/Beta, Laserdisc, DVD. There is always a natural progression, but there is no need to hate something because it has been surpassed. Looking around, we all have some kind of MP3 player, but (space allowing) how many of us would love an old Wurlitzer in our living rooms?

Mind you, you are right when a DVD player is cheaper than some DVDs there is no real excuse not to have one

[ROF]

Good I hate VCR's now and I hate people that buy them and I really hate people that buy movies on VHS. make they cheep basterds buy a dam DVD player.

Hmm . . . quick check. VHS Tapes are more expensive then DVD Discs. VCRs are more expensive then DVD players. A good VCR is more expensive then a DVD Recorder.

I think a re-evaluation of whose being cheap and who isn't is in order here.

[KenJ57]

I can't resist jumping in here.

I will replace my VCRs with DVD recorders when they operate BETTER than VCRs. I know they have a better, less noisey picture and great stills. But the transport controls suck! I haven't yet found any DVD player that handles play - search handling nearly as well as any cheap VCR. And I can interrupt playback, watch something else, pop the previous tape back into the VCR and continue watching from where I was previously. Try doing that with any DVD!

Costs? Costco sells TDK 8-packs with each tape costing less than a dollar. A bargain.

[AlecWest]

The one problem I see in the eventual phaseout of VHS is that there are some films released in VHS that have never been released on DVD ... and may never be released on DVD. Sometimes, backing up a VHS tape is the only recourse to archiving a film or program that might otherwise be lost to junkheap of (ahem) "progress." FWIW, I'm planning on buying a "new" VHS VCR and more blank VHS tapes (while I still can), primarily because I have a full-sized VHS camcorder that is still in perfect operating condition ... and plan to use it until the innards can no longer be repaired or replaced. And also, if I find rare films/programs that the industry's marketing subgeniuses decided "weren't good enough" for DVD release, I'll archive them on DVD by capture (because I have the equipment to do it with).

[shelbyGT]

And I can interrupt playback, watch something else, pop the previous tape back into the VCR and continue watching from where I was previously. Try doing that with any DVD!

While my DVD player doesn't do "exactly" this, I can switch between any of the DVD's in my player at one time and it will ask me to "press play to resume" from previous spot. So, while I can't take it out and put it in, I can kind of do what you say.

But then again, it doesn't take too long to find chapter points using a DVD versus fast-forwarding with a VCR.

[dvdguy]

Well at least you dont have to rewind a dvd. Thats the biggest killer of vcrs, that and excessive play. And dvds dont get chewed up like vhs tapes do.