Dixons pulls the plug on VCR sales

High Street electrical retailer Dixons has pulled the plug on the VCR, and announced today video recorders will disappear from its shelves before Christmas.

The move follows a boom in the popularity of newer rival DVD technology and a corresponding fall in sales of VCRs – so ending a 26-year love affair with a gadget that has delivered the most radical change in home entertainment since the invention of the television.

Sales of DVD players have grown seven-fold in the last five years and are currently outstripping sales of VCRs by 40 to 1. With newer innovations like portable and recordable DVD and hard disk drive recording catching the public's imagination, Dixons has decided to focus on the next generation of home entertainment systems, bringing an end to a generation of rewinding and ejecting.

John Mewett, marketing director at Dixons, said: "We're saying goodbye today to one of the most important products in the history of consumer technology. The video recorder has been with us for a generation - and many of us have grown up with the joys - and occasional frustrations - of tape-based recording. We are now entering the digital age and the new DVD technology available represents a step change in picture quality and convenience."

The VCR first came to public prominence during the mid 1970s and three companies were to woo the consumer with a trio of incompatible videocassette formats. Sony had created its Betamax system, JVC had VHS, and later Philips tested the market with the V2000. A bitter battle ensued between the two dominant formats, but by 1988 Sony had finally conceded and ceased Betamax production in favour of VHS VCRs.

The first VCR to go on sale at Dixons was a piano key operated top-loader with a red LED digital clock/timer. It hit the shelves in 1978 costing £798.75 - which is £2,021 at today's prices. At the time a 30-minute videotape would have set you back the equivalent of £20.

Dixons has sold millions of VCRs in the last 26 years with demand for the technology hitting a peak in 1993 – and by 2002 almost 90% of UK households owned one.

(gmcg/sp)