The last Japanese VHS manufacturer prepares to leave tapes behind

Funai Electric, the country of Japan's last remaining manufacturer of VHS hardware, is preparing to wind down its VHS division over declining adoption rates and the limited supply of parts.

Despite the advancing of online streaming during recent years, VHS players have still been produced in select parts of the world. Though the rise of the DVD and eventual Blu-Ray formats have become very affordable there are markets that still opted to manufacture and sell VHS players due to their dirt-cheap production costs and wide adoption. For Japan, the VHS era is about to come to a close as the country's final manufacturing company prepares to abandon VHS products entirely.

Funai Electric, the sole manufacturer of VHS hardware in Japan, is said to be ceasing production of its older hardware due to increased difficulty in obtaining parts to assemble them. Some might ask if people even buy VHS players anymore and the answer is: absolutely yes. Funai Electric sold over 750,000 units last year but the company is seeing declines in sales and doesn't expect any sort of rebound.

With companies working to bring internet to even the most rural parts of the world, it's likely that even DVD will eventually go the way of VHS, making online streaming become the world standard. The final VHS units made by Funai Electric will ship next month before the company closes the book on the technology permanently.

Source: Mental Floss