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Bye-bye
VHS?
Couch
potatoes everywhere have been wondering when the day
would finally come when all of their dozens, if not
hundreds, of movies, TV shows and sports events recorded
on VHS cassettes would be in jeopardy. That day is now.
In
a headline-grabbing move that has jarred the movie-watching
world, Richmond-based Circuit City Stores Inc. has declared
venerable VHS cassettes obsolete. The tapes have been
the staple of home entertainment since they were introduced
in the late 1970s. But in mid-June, Circuit City said
it would no longer sell VHS cassettes of movies in favor
of more modern DVD movies.
Circuit
City will still sell VCRs that play VHS cassettes along
with blank tapes, but VHS movies will be banished from
the chain's 605 stores worldwide. "We're just responding
to what our consumers want," says company spokesman
Bill Cimino. Eliminating VHS will free up more space
at the stores for newer items.
Dumping
the tapes has not been met with universal applause.
Rival chain Best Buy Co. hasn't decided what to do about
VHS. Critics complain that Circuit City might have moved
too soon. One problem with the DVD systems is most current
versions can't record programs from televisions and,
while the digital quality is supposed to be of a higher
grade, that may not always be the case.
Cimino
says that DVDs keep getting better and better. "The
picture resolution is twice that of VHS and the sound
is CD quality," he notes. "If you rig these
up to a digital TV you might have a leap in quality."
Meanwhile, he says, movie buffs with big VHS collections
can still buy dual DVD/VHS players from Circuit City
for about $170 and watch to their heart's content. Maybe,
but the handwriting is on the screen and all of those
boxy video cassettes may soon end up in the closet with
those eight-track tapes and Farrah Fawcett posters.
-
Peter Galuszka
Return to Virginia Business - August
2002
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