The Next Format War ...

This time, the fight will be over DVD Primacy. The loser last time (show of hands, who actually owned a Sony BetaMax?) is trying to position itself to be the winner this time ... with Blue-Ray DVDs. The competing format is HD-DVD, from Toshiba.

Sony is trying to put a lock on the market by putting their Blue-Ray into PlayStation 3 units, and there is already an agreement on the table with Dell to put Blue-Ray Drives into their machines.

Oh, and there's a reassuring statement at the end that both HD-DVD and Blue-Ray will be backward compatible to currently available DVDs.

My HS history teacher had several Betamax VCRs...he spent part of a class lamenting Beta's downfall.

He was a character...

Well i never personally owned one, but i am guilty by association. All of my early childhood video are in beta. We just recently had them converted to dvd.

I was always of the understanding that BetaMax was by far the superior videotape format as far as quality, but Sony made the "Apple mistake" by developing a proprietary format that they wouldn't let any other company produce. Anybody who made VCRs could use the VHS format, so they were able to be price competative and outsold the Sony line. That Sony has already started developing licensing agreements for the use of their format is putting them in a better position this time out.

Sony has a long history of its own formats, most of which sucked badly, betamax being the exception. I hope this fight is nicer than the DVD+R/-R+RW-RW mess that confused everyone for a while.

(raises hand) I owned a Beta unit once upon a time. The video WAS superior to VHS, but has less recording time. They should have heard of open-licensing back then...

We'll see if this time is different and Sony learns from past mistakes.

judging by the recent spectacular failure of that ATRAC rubbish they tried on, the desire for control is still there.

Bullitt wrote:

Well i never personally owned one, but i am guilty by association. All of my early childhood video are in beta. We just recently had them converted to dvd.

OK In my early child there was no video, play stations, tv, & ETC. And just maybe the world was a better place. IMHO

On a somewhat related note, our neighborhood Blockbuster announced that, as of January, they will stop carrying VHS tapes.

I have a Betamax. I adopted it from my parents at least. And it still works :D Good thing too, because once I get me a decent DVD-burner, I'll be able to rescue a ton of movies I've got on Beta before the tape disintegrates.

busterb wrote:

OK In my early child there was no video, play stations, tv, & ETC. And just maybe the world was a better place. IMHO

Yeah. :thumbsup:

So...how many Betamaxes do you own, Bruce? 3? 4?

Another entrant tosses its hat in the ring:

A 20 GB Red Laser, High-Definition Reflective Multi-layer Disc (MVD) recently demonstrated by New Medium Enterprises has, it's claimed, several advantages over emerging Blue laser light standards Blu-Ray and HD DVD.

Capable of storing at least 3 hours of High Definition video in its 20GB format, the company is also set to launch into production and sales of 15, 25 and 30 GB discs and drives by around the third quarter next year.

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx?NewsId=11515

sycamore wrote:

So...how many Betamaxes do you own, Bruce? 3? 4?

1 Beta, 4 VHS including 2 Go Video dual decks. :cool: