Millions of consumers eager to purchase their first VCR back in the 1980s faced a difficult decision: VHS or Betamax? Betamax videocassettes were smaller than VHS tapes and produced superior picture quality, but the VHS format ultimately won the day. Betamax became obsolete in a few short years, and VHS became the standard for video playback and recording.

Decades later, the time-honored VHS cassette has nearly reached the end of its lifespan. Best Buy and Circuit City pulled VHS tapes from stores last year, and now Wal-Mart and Target are cutting down on VHS inventories and replacing them with DVDs. Writing the obituary for the VHS may be premature, but, given that Wal-Mart stores account for approximately one-third of the entire home video market, it's likely that VHS will soon join Betamax in the graveyard of obsolete media.

The increasing popularity of DVDs has long implied the eventual demise of the VHS format. Consumer demand for the former video standard plummeted in recent years, and distributors slowly dropped the product. Today VHS titles are becoming increasingly scarce on Web sites, though some retailers still maintain a healthy online selection.

Analysts say the switch to digital video entertainment is similar to what consumers encountered with cassette tapes and CDs back in the '90s. Like the old audiocassettes, the VHS is being replaced by digital technologies that offer greater options and convenience. And as the data show, consumers are hastening the transition: An estimated 90 million homes have DVD players, and retail sales of DVDs reached $15 billion in 2004--up more than 30 percent from the year before.