I'm not sure I buy that. Maybe from a technology underpinnings perspective, but from the perspective of the mainstream consumer, things changed radically from ~1985 to the present (give or take a few years).
PCs weren't really mainstream in 1985 (though C64s and the like were relatively common)
Hardly any consumer PC could connect to the pre-WWW Internet. And I'm not sure a lot connected to online services in general. (As I recall, a service like CIS had hefty per-minute charges at the time.)
So relatively few consumers had email or any way to get information online.
VCRs existed but I'm not sure how widespread they were; I know I didn't have one until the late 80s so there was relatively little timeshifting. Cable TV was fairly widespread though.
Few had mobile phones and air charges would have been significant. Answering machines were readily available but I don't know what the penetration was.
Anyway, my basic point is that the mainstream consumer would find the pre-eighties and the post-eighties to be enormously different world from a technology perspective, especially with respect to communications. I frequently think if I were to go back to my job in 1986, I'd throw up my hands in horror at my inability to do my work--given the difficulty of getting information and generally communicating (though we did have internal email).
A C64 was a PC (sensu latu) and the latest Dell/Compaq octo-core gaming rig is a PC, so same-same. Name hasn't changed, so the massive technical advance is hidden.
The BBS networks were networks and the Internet is a network, so they're the same. Never mind the fact BBS networks were lucky to get email across the country in a few days whereas Internet users can chat real-time with full voice and video around the world.
Cell phones existed in 1985. Cell phones exist now. Guess which devices can access global databases in a fraction of a second and which devices were bags which had handsets wired to them so people could make and receive phone calls from their cars!! Again, though, the name remains the same.
People in 1985 had cheap cameras. People in 2015 have... cell phones.
People in 1985 had little black books with phone numbers in them. People in 2015 have... cell phones.
People in 1985 had really nifty digital watches. People in 2015 have... cell phones.
(Really, though, the fact cell phones have kept the same name is pretty amazing, given how radically the devices themselves have changed.)
Cost makes all the difference. In the 1980's, a long-distance phone call was still a big expense. Being in a big city like New York gave you substantially more access to information than being in the rural USA. Knowledge of skills and techniques were siloed within big firms and academia, and sourcing goods would require the discovery of either local retail, or a phone or mail-order service. It's astounding that anything got done with such high costs of doing business.
Now we think nothing of calling somewhere, as long as somewhere is "within civilization" - even if it's a materially poor, remote area. It's easy to find goods online, even relatively obscure ones. And if we have a question about a specialized field, we can usually find some online source that can point us in the right direction.
What we haven't really done yet is reorganize the economy to make good use of all these new efficiencies. We still manufacture and market as before, just using some additional channels.
Maybe not his specific VCR, but I found out that Roku has a remote control app (controls it over wifi).
But you just gave me a great product idea. Wifi accessible infra red remote controls that you'd mount in various rooms in the house that contain IR-remote controlled objects (TVs, ceiling fans, etc) along with an app to control them from your handheld.
PCs weren't really mainstream in 1985 (though C64s and the like were relatively common)
Hardly any consumer PC could connect to the pre-WWW Internet. And I'm not sure a lot connected to online services in general. (As I recall, a service like CIS had hefty per-minute charges at the time.)
So relatively few consumers had email or any way to get information online.
VCRs existed but I'm not sure how widespread they were; I know I didn't have one until the late 80s so there was relatively little timeshifting. Cable TV was fairly widespread though.
Few had mobile phones and air charges would have been significant. Answering machines were readily available but I don't know what the penetration was.
Anyway, my basic point is that the mainstream consumer would find the pre-eighties and the post-eighties to be enormously different world from a technology perspective, especially with respect to communications. I frequently think if I were to go back to my job in 1986, I'd throw up my hands in horror at my inability to do my work--given the difficulty of getting information and generally communicating (though we did have internal email).