https://dfarq.homeip.net/first-dvd-player-announced-sept-26-1996/
On September 26, 1996, Toshiba announced the first DVD player, the Toshiba SD-3000. It was released in Japan in November 1996 and initially cost ¥77,000, equivalent to about $770 US. It was the first consumer DVD player in the world, and of course, DVD became the successor to VHS. Ironically, the first DVD player was announced very close to 20 years after the first VHS VCR.
Problems with VHS
VHS had a good run, and in 1996 it still had about a decade left, but it was showing its age. It didn't record at the full resolution of either NTSC or PAL video. Arguably in 1976 few people noticed because screens were comparatively small and the VCR connected over RF, causing signal degradation anyway. But by 1996, TV tubes were higher quality, most TVs had at least composite connections and many had higher-quality connections like S-Video or even component video.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by linuxrocks123 on Saturday October 03, @12:56AM (1 child)
That is all.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 03, @03:13AM
I swear, internet pedants are the fucking worst.
(Score: 5, Touché) by visiblink on Saturday October 03, @05:36AM (2 children)
> Arguably in 1976 few people noticed because screens were comparatively small and the VCR connected over RF, causing signal degradation anyway.
This comment completely misses the point.
We were amazed that you could record TV! No one I knew was complaining about the quality of video recordings in the late 70s.
"Bob, if you slide the tinfoil wrap up the rabbit ears another two inches and keep your finger pressed on the v-hold knob, we might be able to catch the rest of Real People."
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday October 03, @01:34PM
In 1976 how did you know your neighbor made a LOT more money than you? They had not only VCR players, but camcorders.
At a time when our house cost $30K, the 1972 V6 BMW in the garage cost $10K when we bought it new, one particular neighbor was glassholing around with at $1500 cam-corder.
🌻🌻🌻🌻✌️ [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by owl on Saturday October 03, @02:39PM
It also helped that, at the time, TV's were both small enough (they topped out about 19 inch diagonal) and low resolution enough that the recorded VHS signals looked mostly similar to how the picture looked live watching broadcast.
When you could not see the degradation, you would not complain about a degraded picture.
It took tv's growing in size beyond 19 inch diagonal (which magnified the imperfections in VHS recordings) and the TV's tubes and driving circuits becoming more accurate, before the signal loss from recording to VHS was clearly visible.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday October 05, @04:15PM
Remember the first "Fast and the Furious" movie? A minor plot/subplot was criminals hijacking semi trailers full of $1000 DVD players. Each semi trailer full of DVD players would be "worth" multiple millions of dollars, back when the screenplay for the movie was written. Surely prices will never fall and the audience will be excited at the idea of a semi trailer of DVD players being worth more than an armored car full of cash.
Those prices dropped during the filming of the movie LOL.
I remember watching the movie a couple years after it came out, and realizing those $1000 DVD players were more like $39.95 at walmart and now essentially all of them are in landfills, which is weird to think about. "Why would they steal a semi trailer full of DVD players, the tires on the trailer are probably worth more than all the DVD players put together so steal the trailer when its empty". Like stealing a semi full of bottled water or a semi trailer full of bags of garden compost LOL.