JVC announces end for VHS....well, almost

TOKYO, Oct 27, 2008 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- VJAPF | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating --

Victor Co. of Japan Ltd. (TSE:6792), better known as JVC, has stopped producing VHS-format videocassette players and will end global sales when existing inventories run out. Panasonic Corp. (TSE:6752) and others no longer make the once-ubiquitous machines, so JVC's exit rings the curtain down on major Japanese manufacturers' presence in the VCR market.

JVC will continue to meet the needs of consumers with videotape libraries by manufacturing and selling machines that combine a DVD recorder with a VHS player. And since July, it has been offering two models of the so-called 3-in-1 machines, which combine DVD and VHS players with a hard drive.

The company's production subsidiary in China that makes VCRs will be converted to a production base for camcorders, primarily for the Chinese market.

JVC rode the wave of popularity of the VHS-format VCR to great prosperity. Since debuting in 1976, more than 900 million VCRs have been produced worldwide, and JVC itself has sold more than 50 million units. Royalties from its VHS patents helped underpin the firm's performance at one point.

But the migration to DVDs spelled the demise of the VCR. Whereas 6.41 million VCRs were shipped in Japan in 2000, the number had withered to 280,000 units by 2007, according to the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association.