The Japanese manufacturer of electronics Funai announced on Friday (22) decided to close the production of videocassettes, which made it the only company in the world that still manufactured these devices.
Funai Electronics manufactures video recorders since 1983, both under its own brand as well as the logo of other companies such as Sharp, Toshiba, Denon or Sanyo.
The company was the only one who continued to manufacture recorders and players to an audiovisual format considered obsolete, VHS, after Panasonic has closed its production four years ago.
Missing piece
According to Funai, a vendor will no longer produce a key component of the VCR, forcing the company to shut down production, although there is still demand. Most VCRs Funai is sold in the United States, many of them with the Sanyo brand, possibly for people who have large collections on VHS.
The company, based in Osaka, western Japan, it sold about 15 million VCRs a year during the period of greatest popularity of the product, from the mid-1980s and 1990s, but in 2015 sold only 750,000. Currently, the units are produced in China.