As physical media has declined, the interest in VHS as a niche product has increased; some cinephiles collect old video tapes the way music lovers collect old vinyl. That won’t end when the production of new VCRs stops; if anything, it will only increase speculative demand for older titles.
VHS was the eventual winner, and its VCRs became a ubiquitous home entertainment furnishing throughout the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
Though effectively on life support for the last several years, this will mark the true and final death of the VCR, or video cassette recorder.
As the concept of a home video recorder became popular, two competing formats began vying for customers’ dollars: Betamax, developed by Sony, and VHS (or “video home system”) from JVC.