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Circuit City Phases Out VHS

Posted by timothy on from the we-join-this-plummet-already-in-progress dept.

Rashan writes: "Video Business Online is reporting that Circuit City is becoming the first of the mass merchants to state its intent to discontinue sales of the aging video format."

2 of 478 comments (clear)

  1. Forcing the market change by M_Talon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is just the next step in the evolution of the format. Now that it's gained customer acceptance, the stores can get rid of the inferior technology (VHS) and concentrate their business. It happened with audio cassettes (vinyl was killed), and it happened with CDs (bye bye cassettes).

    As far as being a premature move, everyone that I talk to nowadays either has a DVD player or plans on getting one within the year. Sounds like the perfect opportunity for the stores to push those last few stragglers to DVD by eliminating the VHS market for new releases.

    Besides, wouldn't you rather have more room on the shelves for the latest anime imports? ;)

    --
    Electronic Frontier Foundation for online civil rights information
    1. Re:Forcing the market change by foobar104 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This is interesting. There's a new type of Ludditism. Instead of rejecting technology prima facie, you're rejecting technologies based on what you call "copyright gestapo restrictions."

      For a contrary opinion to that popularly expressed by Slashdotters, head over to the avsforum.com HDTV recorders posting board. There you'll find lots of people enthusiastically supporting copy protection methods like JVC's D-Theater format. Why? Because they know that without those sorts of protections-- or restrictions, if you prefer-- the studios will never release their movies in 1080i format on any medium. A movie recorded in high-bit-rate 1080i is very close, when viewed on consumer gear with a slightly forgiving eye, to an HD master. Studios simply won't release near-master-quality tapes or discs unless they're confident that those movies won't be copied like crazy.

      I like owning and watching high-quality movies; that's why I've invested in a high-definition TV, a DVD player, and a collection of DVDs. I'm not interested in making copies of my movies, so the fact that I'm (a) not allowed to, and (b) prevented from doing so doesn't bother me in the least.

      So I vocally support copy protection-- or restriction, or prevention, or whatever you want to call it. Without it, I won't be able to watch movies in high definition, and that'd be disappointing. Every time somebody pirates a video, CD, or DVD, they make it ever so slightly less likely that I'll be able to get the kind of entertainment I want in the future.