SilverWook said:

Walmart had bins of cheap VHS movies too, as did other stores back in the day. And VHS decks hovered around $50 in their final years, although late models often were pretty cheapo on the inside and more plastic than metal.

Video companies such as Goodtimes even specialized in bargain bin releases, often recorded at inferior slower speeds. I was pretty surprised they made the transition into the DVD era, although they are defunct now.

I paid $29.99 for a brand new 4-Head Hi-Fi VCR, that was the last VCR I ever bought. That was in December of 2005. I bought my HDTV in September of 2008 and the VCR died around that same time.