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Veteran Member
Vito Pilieci
The Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, October 20, 2005
It's been a good run, but the Video Home System tape has had its day. Manufacturers have decided to stop producing VHS tapes in 2006.
Here's a real blockbuster: The digital revolution is about to kill the video cassette.
After 28 years, manufacturers have decided to stop making the tapes some time in 2006.
Nearly two decades ago, the North American TV room was the battleground for a bitter war between VHS and Betamax. VHS (It stands for Video Home System) won that war but next year, a new king of the TV room will have to be crowned.
As has been seen with the decline of technologies such as vinyl records, cassette tapes, floppy discs and photographic film, digital technologies are muscling in and taking over.
By the end of 2006, companies within the home video industry will phase out VHS technology, leaving only DVDs (formerly digital video discs, but now known as digital versatile discs) as the way in which people can buy or rent a movie.
The announcement detailing the end of the VHS technology was made at an industry trade show in July.
While giving his annual state of the industry address, Crossan Anderson, president of the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) which lobbies on behalf of the home entertainment industry, said "within 12 months or so, or sooner than that, we must expect that new releases will be exclusively digital."
"In my mind, there is no reason to mourn the passing of VHS. A quarter of a century of reliable service for consumers -- a medium that retail entrepreneurs drove to the position of consumer's first choice for watching movies," he told the crowd. "For me, it is a hall-of-fame product worthy of appreciative applause."
Both 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. studios have reportedly announced that they will stop manufacturing VHS copies of their new releases by the end of next year. Movie rental businesses, such as Blockbuster Video, have either already completely replaced their VHS collections with DVD copies, or are overwhelmingly onside with the digital format. Some stores, such as Circuit City and Best Buy in the U.S. have stopped selling VHS movies and many electronics manufacturers are no longer making VCRs.
With DVD players now in more than 80 per cent of Canadian homes, it's no wonder VHS is finally being tossed out.
The turning point for the technology came in 2002, when DVD player sales surpassed VCR sales for the first time.
"I am frankly surprised that it has hung on this long," said Jeff Leiper, director of Canadian market strategies for research firm the Yankee Group.
"They will just stop making (VHS) because no one wants to buy them anymore."
According to figures provided by the VSDA, VHS sales revenues have plummeted over the past five years. In 1999 people spent $5.5 billion U.S. on VHS movies.
In 2004, that figure dropped to $910 million U.S. On the other hand, DVD sales in 1999 were a mere $1.3 billion U.S. Last year, DVD sales topped $15.15 billion U.S.
"It has become very clear that DVD has supplanted VHS," said Brian Newman, executive of National Video Resources, a lobby group for independent film and video, adding that movie companies are having a tough time making a profit on VHS movies.
There are more than 97 million VCRs in homes across North America.
The VHS video medium skyrocketed to popularity after winning two battles in the early 1980's -- the first with Sony Corp.'s Betamax over which video tape technology would become the industry standard, the second was with the entertainment industry which argued the technology should not be allowed because people could breach copyright laws by taping their favourite TV shows.
It became a favourite of consumers because of its ease of use, durability and low cost.
"It has been around for so long for the same reason that audio tape was, it's a very durable format," said Mr. Newman.
"With an audio tape you could throw it on the floor of your car, stomp on it and you could still play it in your car stereo. A VHS is much the same way, unless you leave it on the dash and it melted."
Mr. Newman said some people have refrained from purchasing a DVD player until more recent years, as the movie discs can scratch easily, there have been problems with DVD movies not working on some players and, until 2002, the cost of the units was still high.
He said in recent years, all of those problems have been addressed. But, the biggest reason people are switching to DVDs is because of the picture quality the digital disc offers.
"VHS is not the greatest format in the world in terms of picture quality," said Mr. Newman.
Where VHS cassettes often offered a grainy picture and stereo sound, DVDs offer crystal clear picture, Dolby Digital 5.1 or better sound and a slew of bonus features including movie blooper reels, interviews with the cast and behind-the-scenes footage.
"People are willing to pay a premium for it over VHS, for the premium features," said the Yankee Group's Mr. Leiper.
"DVDs can charge a premium of $5, $10 or $15 because of the ease of navigation and the DVD bonus features."
The other factor that is forcing the home entertainment industry to close the door on VHS video cassettes is the emergence of two new video technologies next year.
In 2006, Sony Corp. will release its Blu-ray disc and Toshiba will release its HD DVD movie technologies. The new technologies promise even better picture and sound quality than what is offered on current DVDs.
Movie studios are spending millions to get ready to offer their new release movies on the two new technologies.
However, while fans of the VHS movie may have a tough time finding movies for their VCRs at the local video store, Mr. Newman said the VHS cassette may live on a little longer in universities and libraries where millions have been spent to build VHS movie collections over the past 28 years.
"They are going to be reluctant to spend money to buy the exact same titles in a new format," he said.
"They just don't have the funding of a Blockbuster."
chris
The Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, October 20, 2005
It's been a good run, but the Video Home System tape has had its day. Manufacturers have decided to stop producing VHS tapes in 2006.
Here's a real blockbuster: The digital revolution is about to kill the video cassette.
After 28 years, manufacturers have decided to stop making the tapes some time in 2006.
Nearly two decades ago, the North American TV room was the battleground for a bitter war between VHS and Betamax. VHS (It stands for Video Home System) won that war but next year, a new king of the TV room will have to be crowned.
As has been seen with the decline of technologies such as vinyl records, cassette tapes, floppy discs and photographic film, digital technologies are muscling in and taking over.
By the end of 2006, companies within the home video industry will phase out VHS technology, leaving only DVDs (formerly digital video discs, but now known as digital versatile discs) as the way in which people can buy or rent a movie.
The announcement detailing the end of the VHS technology was made at an industry trade show in July.
While giving his annual state of the industry address, Crossan Anderson, president of the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) which lobbies on behalf of the home entertainment industry, said "within 12 months or so, or sooner than that, we must expect that new releases will be exclusively digital."
"In my mind, there is no reason to mourn the passing of VHS. A quarter of a century of reliable service for consumers -- a medium that retail entrepreneurs drove to the position of consumer's first choice for watching movies," he told the crowd. "For me, it is a hall-of-fame product worthy of appreciative applause."
Both 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. studios have reportedly announced that they will stop manufacturing VHS copies of their new releases by the end of next year. Movie rental businesses, such as Blockbuster Video, have either already completely replaced their VHS collections with DVD copies, or are overwhelmingly onside with the digital format. Some stores, such as Circuit City and Best Buy in the U.S. have stopped selling VHS movies and many electronics manufacturers are no longer making VCRs.
With DVD players now in more than 80 per cent of Canadian homes, it's no wonder VHS is finally being tossed out.
The turning point for the technology came in 2002, when DVD player sales surpassed VCR sales for the first time.
"I am frankly surprised that it has hung on this long," said Jeff Leiper, director of Canadian market strategies for research firm the Yankee Group.
"They will just stop making (VHS) because no one wants to buy them anymore."
According to figures provided by the VSDA, VHS sales revenues have plummeted over the past five years. In 1999 people spent $5.5 billion U.S. on VHS movies.
In 2004, that figure dropped to $910 million U.S. On the other hand, DVD sales in 1999 were a mere $1.3 billion U.S. Last year, DVD sales topped $15.15 billion U.S.
"It has become very clear that DVD has supplanted VHS," said Brian Newman, executive of National Video Resources, a lobby group for independent film and video, adding that movie companies are having a tough time making a profit on VHS movies.
There are more than 97 million VCRs in homes across North America.
The VHS video medium skyrocketed to popularity after winning two battles in the early 1980's -- the first with Sony Corp.'s Betamax over which video tape technology would become the industry standard, the second was with the entertainment industry which argued the technology should not be allowed because people could breach copyright laws by taping their favourite TV shows.
It became a favourite of consumers because of its ease of use, durability and low cost.
"It has been around for so long for the same reason that audio tape was, it's a very durable format," said Mr. Newman.
"With an audio tape you could throw it on the floor of your car, stomp on it and you could still play it in your car stereo. A VHS is much the same way, unless you leave it on the dash and it melted."
Mr. Newman said some people have refrained from purchasing a DVD player until more recent years, as the movie discs can scratch easily, there have been problems with DVD movies not working on some players and, until 2002, the cost of the units was still high.
He said in recent years, all of those problems have been addressed. But, the biggest reason people are switching to DVDs is because of the picture quality the digital disc offers.
"VHS is not the greatest format in the world in terms of picture quality," said Mr. Newman.
Where VHS cassettes often offered a grainy picture and stereo sound, DVDs offer crystal clear picture, Dolby Digital 5.1 or better sound and a slew of bonus features including movie blooper reels, interviews with the cast and behind-the-scenes footage.
"People are willing to pay a premium for it over VHS, for the premium features," said the Yankee Group's Mr. Leiper.
"DVDs can charge a premium of $5, $10 or $15 because of the ease of navigation and the DVD bonus features."
The other factor that is forcing the home entertainment industry to close the door on VHS video cassettes is the emergence of two new video technologies next year.
In 2006, Sony Corp. will release its Blu-ray disc and Toshiba will release its HD DVD movie technologies. The new technologies promise even better picture and sound quality than what is offered on current DVDs.
Movie studios are spending millions to get ready to offer their new release movies on the two new technologies.
However, while fans of the VHS movie may have a tough time finding movies for their VCRs at the local video store, Mr. Newman said the VHS cassette may live on a little longer in universities and libraries where millions have been spent to build VHS movie collections over the past 28 years.
"They are going to be reluctant to spend money to buy the exact same titles in a new format," he said.
"They just don't have the funding of a Blockbuster."
chris