Final Rewind: The VHS Tape Has Breathed Its Last
According to the Los Angeles Times, Distribution Video Audio in Burbank, Calif., shipped its final truckload of VHS tapes in October -- the last time it plans to make VHS shipments, and the last major VHS distributor in the country to do so.
Distribution Video Audio is a $20 million business focusing on pop culture esoterica: obscure albums, direct-to-video cult classics, and whatever else collector hounds look for.
"It's true -- one man's trash is another man's gold," Ryan J. Kugler, president and co-owner, told the Los Angeles Times. "But we are not a graveyard. I'm like a heart surgeon -- we keep things alive longer. Or maybe we're more like the convalescence home right before the graveyard."
When the VHS tape began its final death rattle is a matter of opinion. The last major Hollywood movie to be released in a VHS format was, according to the Times, 2006's "A History of Violence." Big-box retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart had begun phasing out their VHS inventories years before, and from that stash, Kugler bought back tapes and redistributed them to grocery stores, rest-stop outlets and other smaller operations around the country. Kugler told the LA Times he estimates 2 million tapes are still available in his clients' outlets.
The "official" death of VHS comes at a time when movie studios and business executives alike are trying to quantify how fast Blu-ray technology -- current spearhead of the digital-movie-format revolution -- is taking hold.
Most observers agree sales of Blu-ray players in 2008 weren't mind-blowing, despite significant growth in the format and, according to market analytics Web site Futuresource, significant uptick of both players and Blu-ray disks in European markets. Japan-based software developer Pony/Canon, has also announced plans to release a Blu-ray/DVD hybrid format in February, compatible with both current DVD and Blu-ray players.