100%. Nothing else like it. Your own controllable media and DVR with full control.

Nah, the peak was in the 2000s with DVDs. Then streaming services started, and the HD disc format war and price hikes for HD discs didn’t help.

VCR let you record anything. Something on TV you wanted to watch later? Set the timer, it recorded on that channel at that time.

A DVD might have been peak consumer, but it didn't have nearly the versatility of VCR. Hell, I could record 6 hours of content on 1 tape!

I guess it depends on how you define peak. With regard to sales of prerecorded media, DVDs were the peak. For TV recording, DVRs were so much better quality-wise and more convenient than VCRs.

Enshittification already started with DVDs with all the "you can't do that" stuff blocking fast forward etc for parts of the video.

Yeah, I was lucky to have DVD players with a mod chip that defeated those restrictions.