Global Video officially shuttered its 12-year old VHS duplication facility Friday, when 450 duplicating machines were shipped to an environmentally sound scrap recycling plant in Chicago, and five staffers were retired, reports Global president George Marton.
It took a month dismantle the service. Eighty machines were retained to accommodate small orders.
Marton said Global processed more than 100,000 tape dubs this calendar year, adding that most of the orders flowed in at the beginning of the year and then faded away. “The expense of retaining the service was too great.”
Global’s sister company, Master Images, continues analog dubbing for corporate communications clients.
VHS duplication had become a matter of diminishing returns, says Marton. “The cost of tape stock soared and the demand sunk and clients were unwilling to pay more for the service.”
Offsetting VHS’ demise is steadily increased business for Global’s new technology services. Two shifts are required to process steady orders for digital archiving, Video Dailies and the Virtual Tape Room. “They are doing very well,” Marton says.
