Another Media War: Remember VHS vs. BETA?

[dustin_clark]

My elders told me one time ago, there was a format known as "Beta", which was similar to JVC's VHS. There was a massive war between these two formats. Hollywood chosen VHS as the video standard.

There was more to this media war then what many had thought, there were the cassualties. You could also call them the consumers.

Here we are again today, in the midst of a heavy battle between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. It will most likely be Hollywood to decide. My suggestion to Hollywood is to hurry the f-up!

I want to see a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray format be on the market ASAP so I will find them cheap ASAP. I do not want to buy a DVD-Recorder, only to find out that the next gen format will be a out and popular next year.

Also, I hope there is no Blu-Ray "player" bullcrap. Just go straight to the recorders for the HDTV consumers.

Out of both formats, I am hoping Blu-Ray will prevail. It has a larger capacity then HD-DVD.

How do you feel about the media war?

[Rob]

The reason vhs prevailed (as I understand it) was because JVC was prepared to liscence the technology for other companies to make their own versions. Sony on the other hand were greedy and did not. Even though the Betamax format was superior to vhs.

This time Blu-Ray has massive support, with 3 BLu-Ray machines from 3 seperate companies to be out in Japan by the end of this year, with 2 already out. The only advantage that HD-DVD seems to have is in the production of media. Apparantly Blu-Ray discs will need new plants, HD-DVD can use existing dvd plants. But if that cost can be absorbed in the short term in the longer term, production costs of media should be similar to dvd.

[tron3]

Lower cost was a MAJOR factor in the VHS/Beta wars. I worked retail, and most people wanted something cheap that does what they want. Most did not care or know the difference between quality. Heck, they wanted to record their favorite TV shows. Movies were hardly a factor at the time.

As for the production issue of BD's. It's been addressed already. They have a machine that makes the discs very fast and brings the production cost to about the same as HD-DVD. Cost is moot.

I think a "player-only" model is not bullcrap. It helps people have an emotional tie-in as to what kind of recorder format to support. Much in the same way I want my DVD-R discs to work other people's DVD players.

Face it, a player-only is cheaper and less complicated to use. That is also a factor to reach the techno-phobe market. "I only need it to do one thing."

[chans]

[quote="dustin_clark"]My elders told me one time ago, there was a format known as "Beta", which was similar to JVC's VHS. There was a massive war between these two formats. Hollywood chosen VHS as the video standard.

There was more to this media war then what many had thought, there were the cassualties. You could also call them the consumers.

Here we are again today, in the midst of a heavy battle between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. It will most likely be Hollywood to decide. My suggestion to Hollywood is to hurry the f-up!



yeah, i agree that hollywood should hurry up. but at the same time, i'm
worried they'll choose the wrong format(hd-dvd), instead of blu-ray(tho
that's not likely to happen at this stage; thank goodness).

sad thing about media war is that politics and economics play such a huge
role, possibly bigger than technology itself. and the biggest players are
consumers and studios. unfortunately, the consumer mass generally
aren't that tech savvy enough to know or *care* about the formats. so if
the WOW factor is good enough, they'll look for low cost. the studios know
this, and they want to save money too. and producing hd-dvd's is cheaper
than blu-ray.

technology can only advance as far as the demand for it exists. it would
be a great thing if consumers everywhere were more in tuned and share
the same desire for cutting edge stuff. but alas, that's a small percentage
people. we can see this in different societies around the world. compare
the consumer electronics climate in Asia and the US. big difference.

but i'm encouraged with the progress that blu-ray is making. at its pace,
its economic value would be competative with hd-dvd.

cheers.

[thunderhawk]

don't forget Philips had 'Philips 2000' too


But the companies DID learn something from that war
Otherwise Sony and Philips and Panasonic , ..... would all have their own format!
Now they are united! Thats a big difference...