Japanese electronics maker Funai Electric Co says it's yanking the plug on the world's last video cassette recorder.
A spokesman, who requested anonymity, said on Monday production will end sometime this month, although it declined to give a date.
The move was prompted by key component makers pulling out because of shrinking demand for VCRs.
He said the company had wanted to continue production to meet consumer requests, but can't.
Many families and libraries have content stored in the VHS format. Such tapes can still be converted using VHS-DVD recorder-players made by other companies.
Last year, Funai made 750,000 units of such devices that played or recorded cassette tapes.
In 2000, it had made 15 million of them, 70 per cent for the US market, according to the company.
