Best Buy is dropping VHS after Christmas (1 Viewer)

[Steve Kuester]

I was going to post this a couple weeks ago, but I forgot.

I was in BB a buying FOTR and Clones. I bought FOTR online for an in-store pick up at the service counter. A manager rang up my purchase (his tag said "Operations Manager" I think.) Without my asking, he price matched Clones with the deal Toys R Us had going for $9.99 (bonus!!) and jokingly I said something like all DVD's should be this cheap. We started talking a bit and he said "We will be dropping VHS after Christmas" He said he wasn't sure how soon after, but he thought it would be pretty soon based on what he was hearing from the people above him.

We knew it would happen sooner or later, and who knows, maybe the guy just lied to my face. But it's interesting anyway.

 

[Jedrek]

At last, the end of VHS, DVD takes the throne, allowing HD-DVD to be its heir in the future.

 

[Brian E]

For the last year they've been looking at carrying only the "top 20" on vhs.

 

[Thomas H G]

Maybe they'll have the Indy Tril for cheap!

Who knows when that one will be coming to dvd.

 

[Steven Good]

with the final dumping of VHS, can segregated "fullscreen" and widescreen sections be far behind, then?
i can see the signage now:
"WANT DVD'S THAT LOOK LIKE THE VIDEOTAPES YOU'VE ALWAYS ENJOYED? THEN THESE FIVE ROWS ARE WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR!"
"WANT THAT WEIRD LETTER-SCREEN / WIDE-BOX FORMAT BECAUSE YOU HAVE ONE OF THOSE FUNNY-SHAPED TV'S WE HAVE AT THE BACK OF THE STORE (BUT KNOW LITTLE ABOUT)? THIS ROW-AND-A-HALF IS FOR YOU..."
:frowning:

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

They still have a VHS section? I never noticed.

Bruce

 

[Clinton McClure]

Picked it up about 6 months ago for $25 widescreen.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

VHS is dead when Wal-Mart drops it. A minimum of 5 years and probably more like 10 away.

However, the fact that Best Buy and Circuit City have now dropped it is a major step.

 

[Ted Todorov]

VHS is dead when Wal-Mart drops it. A minimum of 5 years and probably more like 10 away.

I give it 3 years, tops... The thing is everyone up and down the food chain has a reason to want DVD: they take up less space per unit, cost less to manufacture, and probably have a lower defective return rate as well. VHS is dead...

Ted

 

[Tom Boucher]

VHS will truly fade away when you can get a DVD record for your TV that doesn't cost $799. Also the media needs to come down in price. Unfortunately I don't think Digital PVRs are going to take off unless something changes dramatically in the market over the next year. I love my TiVo, and the people I've convinced to get it love theirs, but I don't know a lot of people.
DVD-R is in the initial VHS stages. I remmeber our first RCA VCR Dad got at Macy's for $700 in something like 1985 I think it was. It was a VHS one. I'm thinking DVD-R is in those stages. People identify with recording onto something they can put on a shelf, they don't easily identify with a 'Now Showing' list on a PVR, because they can't 'take it' anywhere even though I'd bet 95% of the 'taped' shows are watched on the device they're recorded on.
Tapes were expensive, we had four of them and those original four are still floating around the house
my $0.02

 

[Paul McElligott]

I think the future is in those DVD-recorders with the built-in hard drive. They'll let you record then only commit what you want to keep to DVD-R.

 

[Jerome Grate]

Hope there's a clearance sale, I can use some kiddie shows for my son in his bedroom. Too young for DVD and the t.v. is high up anyway o he can't reach it hence the reason why I won't put a DVD player in there.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Before we get too excited keep in mind what this really means.

It means that DVD has replaced VHS...which means all those people who used to be the market for VHS are now the market for DVD.

This is exactly why the studios have been moving towards P/S releases.

Hopefully HD-DVD will get here soon enough to serve the videophile/cinema phile. We can then leave DVD to the masses who've embraced it (who have no interest in HD software and likely won't for a long, long time).

-dave

 

[Joshua Clinard]

Yes, but every day there are new Widescreen Converts. I think it is somewhere close to 60% right now, according to sales anyway. Eventually it will climb towards 80%. Remember once someone learns the truth about widescreen and accepts it, they never go back. In other words, there are no Pan & Scan converts.

At least I have never heard of such a case. In any case, we need to continue to teach our friends and family about WS. Use Widescreen Advocate.

 

[Ted Todorov]

VHS will truly fade away when you can get a DVD record for your TV that doesn't cost $799. Also the media needs to come down in price.

DVD-R media is down to 84 cents per disk. Click here for cheap DVD-R info. How much lower do you need it to go??? I don't have a clue on blank VHS prices, but I doubt they are any lower.
I'm also not up to date on DVD-R machine prices, but I bet you are misinformed on their price as well. I do know that DVD-R/CD-RW "Superdrives" are down to $200 (at least that's what the online Apple Store charges to add one to you machine purchase), so if you use your PC as a PVR, the upgrade is cheap. But I can't imagine that stand-alone recorders won't near that price level within 12 months.
But really, how many VCR owners actually use them to tape stuff anyway? Every VCR owner I know has a big flashing 12:00 on their piece of junk.
Ted

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Absolutely. The real future of the VCR repalcement is the combo DVD/HD component, only burning off what you want to keep.

 

[Dan Keefe]

and you guys thought that Best Buy was EVIL
HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL!!!
dan

 

[Patrick McCart]

5 rows of P&S-only would amount to roughly 35 copies of each title released that way.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

? THIS ROW-AND-A-HALF IS FOR YOU..."

Who, the customers or the Best Buy employees?

 

[Brenton]

Who, the customers or the Best Buy employees?

I interpret it as the Best Buy employees. They can be pretty dumb about their electronics.
As a matter of fact, I was at Costco a few days ago, and there was a widescreen TV showing off a widescreen copy of Attack of the Clones. Unfortunately, the player was set for display on a 4:3 TV, leaving the image squished vertically.
Strangely, none of the customers seemed to notice the squishing, as a flock began to build to watch the Clone War and Yoda/Dooku duel in amazement.