Funai to end VHS VCR production this month

The last japonese VCR manufacturer is finally ceasing production of this relic of the past century. The VHS tape era is finally over - though we'll probably keep hearing about it for decades to come.

If you lived in the 80's and 90's it's hard not to have fond and nostalgic memories of VCRs and the ability to watch any movie we wanted, provided there was a copy available at the nearest video club. Those times are long gone (hint: Blockbuster) and most japoneses manufacturers had already stopped their VCR lines. But Funai kept its VCRs rolling... until now.

Funai says VCR sales are at an all time low, and it's getting harder and harder to source the parts needed to keep the production lines running. This being told, it was still selling 750k VCRs per year, which is over 2000 units sold per day - proving there's still quite a legion of people out there that, either by choice or due to some other factor, still use VHS tapes.

So, if you still keep a collection of VHS tapes (beware, some rare editions can fetch over $1000 among collectors!) you better hurry up transferring its contents into some digital format, as it will get harder and harder to find a VCR you can play it on.

Though I have fond memories of those times, I sincerely think is more than time to let VHS fade slowly into the darkness. There's simply no way we can endure its horrible video quality when we're just a few clicks away from streaming Ultra HD 4K content from Netflix or other provider (though streaming won't allow you to cover your walls with a hard-earned collection of thousands of VHS, CDs, DVDs, that can be accessed even if your internet connection is down - not to mention you'll be able to lend it/give it to anyone you like, unlike the streaming services where you get nothing the moment you stop paying for it.)