Show's over for the video recorder

"Video recorders have taken a step closer to extinction after Britain's largest electrical supplier said it would stop selling VCRs to concentrate on their successor, the DVD.

Dixons said on Monday demand for video cassette recorders had fallen dramatically since the mid-1990s while sales of DVD players, which cost as little as £25 ($46) had grown seven-fold in the past five years.

The chain said sales of higher-quality digital DVD players now outstripped sales of VCRs -- with their clunky tapes and habit of chewing up valuable recordings -- by a ratio of 40 to one."