TiVo Inc. bade farewell to the VCR in a ceremony Friday at the Digital Life trade show in New York.
The digital-video-recorder vendor gave away hundreds of its 40-hour “TiVo Series2” units to attendees who traded in old videotapes and subscribed to its service.
The company’s “memorial service” featured a mock funeral, including a eulogy and a casket overflowing with VCR tapes.
“Today, we're officially saying farewell to the VCR, goodbye to the flashing 12, sayonara to a product that broke new ground in home entertainment when it came to playing movies but fell far short of making it easy for consumers to record and play back television programs," TiVo vice president of consumer marketing Katie Ho said in a prepared statement.
“TiVo delivers on the promise of the VCR, and then some,” Ho added. “Only with TiVo can consumers easily find and record all of their favorite entertainment at the touch of a button, ensuring that they'll never again feel like there's nothing good on TV.”
