Videotape format war

[Weez_Dawg]

I was checking out wiki just now looking up "videotape format war" and this is what I found and it is quite interesting and different from what everyone else has been saying. Maybe it will resolve the whole HDporn issue once and for all.


"Many theories regarding why Sony's Betamax failed have arisen over the years. One of the more amusing (and false) is that Sony refused to allow pornographic material on their system. A quick perusal of the Betamax library reveals that adult entertainment was readily available. For example, Playboy Industries released their videos in a dual format, both Betamax and VHS, for most of the 1970s and 80s (and can be confirmed with a quick search through Ebay's adult section, or other used video markets). Second, the adult industry is too small to have any lasting impact on standards selection. According to Forbes.com, adult video income is approximately $1 billion. "The industry is tiny next to broadcast television ($32.3 billion in 1999), cable television ($45.5 billion), the newspaper business ($27.5 billion), Hollywood ($31 billion), even to professional and educational publishing ($14.8 billion). When one really examines the numbers, the porn industry — while a subject of fascination — is every bit as marginal as it seems at first glance." [2]"

[Proteus]

I actually explained all this in quite some detail in another thread on here.

It's absolutely true that porn had nothing to do with Beta's demise. It was the lack of manufacturers for Beta (basically, Sony held Beta as proprietary so only they could make the devices for it). Sony versus the UNIVERSE didn't exactly pan out so well... Thus, the weaker format won.

Blu-ray is the first thing that Sony seems to have truly abandoned this strategy on; however, that could be because Blu-ray is actually more Panasonic and Phillips than it is Sony so I imagine they had more say.


Edit: Found my original post about it here: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=15638&page=3

[Weez_Dawg]

Thanks, sorry to repost something you already talked about

[Proteus]

Oh, I'm glad you posted it!

The more attention this inaccuracy of human psyche gets the more people will realize why choosing Blu-ray is by far the safest choice to make right now.