I think reports of the demise of the video are probably premature. I imagine eventually the video will go the way of the vinyl disc and record player. But have you seen all those catalogues that fall out of the Radio Times advertising stylishly retro record players that even play 78s.
I suspect that that is a brief comeback, as people wake up to the fact that they can relatively easily transfer vinyl to CD via their PCs. I can't be bothered, because almost all of my meagre vinyl collection is already on cassette.
Ah, cassette! I guess nobody ever buys pre-recorded cassettes these days - it's probably only garages that sell them. But stereos are generally sold with one, if not two, cassette decks.
I have about 150 cassettes in my collection. A few have been upgraded to CDs by spending money. I daresay in time more will be. Or maybe not.
But the video? I have hundreds of videos. A lot of football ones. Irreplacable. Not watched in years, of course. In the mid-Nineties I bought the Manchester United video 'magazine' every six weeks - news and goals, with lots of star features and interviews (and lots and lots of the very telegenic Lee Sharpe...)
Also in my video collection are my two, and my brother's one, appearances on Fifteen to One. I'm sure everybody has videos of themselves, or family, or friends on TV. The explosion of public participation shows coincided with the era of video.
Apparently the days of the DVD are also numbered. I would be surprised. I know all the companies are putting out opera DVDs, some dating from the 70s, at a rate of knots, and I suspect strongly that all other niche markets are doing likewise. Not to mention mainstream film and TV.
Hard disc storage is all very well, but my Sky+ box only stores 40 hours of TV. Sounds a lot, but that's just three operas, three films, and the transient 'timeshift' TV - okay, we record a lot for later watching because Jimmy goes to bed at eight, but even so...
The video has been around a long time. I personally didn't get one until 1990, but there were rich kids at school who had them in 1983 or 1984.
