Video Asylum

"...ignorant consumers like you who adopted VHS in droves..." - Yeah, right, as if VHS failed to satisfy...

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: Yes, that was a Sony technology that lost out to the inferior technology posted by Jazz Inmate on December 16, 2007 at 00:16:27

... the public need for an efficient time shifting platform for scheduled programs and was such "inferior technology" that RCA, Matsushita, et al, failed to remain competitive and improve upon the technology to produce inexpensive multi-speed recorders all those years.
FYI, in it's fastest speed VHS was close enough to Betamax in quality that most consumers could rarely detect any difference. Also, VHS tapes were more readily available and there were fewer performance bugs with the consumer grade hardware (fast forward/reverse & still frame initially worked more smoothly on early VHS machines); THAT is why a ready for prime time format will usually succeed over a costlier, more elitist, gray poupon format with the general public.
Over time, VHS players became much lighter and much cheaper, tape quality greatly improved (dropping rapidly in price as well), recording times were extended and longer playing tapes were introduced; finally, Super VHS was developed to match the superior resolution of Laser Disc, surpassing NTSC standards. The bottom line: HD-DVD will eventually bridge the capacity differences that exist between the two formats and if the war persists it will be interesting to see how competitive Blu-ray can afford to be as prices continue to plummet.
>>> "...sticking us with the inferior format ... - How apropos that you'd bring it up." <<<
LOL! You really should quit drinking fan-boy Kool Aid. That snake oil you've been imbibing could produce blindness! ...Errrr, it may already be too late for an intervention. Have you considered a Braille screen and voice recognition software? ;0)
Your selective cognitive abilities aside, VHS had numerous advantages over Beta for the average consumer. Beta certainly had business and industrial applications and build quality, where capitol outlay isn't as critical a consideration to market incursion, but as that format war subsided I was left with the impression that the chips pretty much fell where they were going to regardless of SONY's best efforts.
>>> "Those who don't understand history are destined to repeat it..." <<<
Well, Jazz, format wars have come to pass long after George Santayana's passing, but in addition to spinning like a turbine in his final resting place I'm confident that he wouldn't have approved of your bastardized efforts to insert one of his most famous quotes in such an ignoble cause. Note: The actual quote is "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
In fact, under the circumstances it seems much more reasonable to apply another of his quotes to those who would cheer-lead one format exclusively using biased propaganda as a sales tool:
"Advertising is the modern substitute for argument; its function is to make the worse appear the better."
You are indeed an advertiser for Blu-ray, and your arguments when bolstered by self-serving industry bias, opinion supported more by conjecture than by visual evidence and questionable sales figures from sources of debatable reliability does little to elevate your cause.
Cheers,
AuPh
George Santayana: "To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood."

Edits: 12/17/07

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