After two decades of home theater dominance - followed by a decade of torturous decline - VHS movies are finally headed for the dustbin. Pronouncing this "the last Christmas, without a doubt," the format's sole remaining major supplier, Burbank-based Distribution Video Audio Inc., is shipping the remainder of its inventory to a landfill after the holidays and closing up shop. The company is essentially VHS's last stand -- in the past few years, says the L.A. Times, "If you bought a Clint Eastwood movie at the Flying J Truck Stop in Saginaw, Mich., or a "Care Bears" tape at one of the H.E. Butts Grocery stores in Texas," Distribution Video Audio probably put it there. But Hollywood has moved on: the last major film released on VHS was "A History of Violence" in 2006. And even this year's Jack Black comedy, "Be Kind Rewind," about an all-VHS rental store, is only available on DVD and Blu-ray.
Read it at The Los Angeles Times
