On 06/19/2010 04:03 AM, Bill Davidsen wrote: > Patrick Bartek wrote: > >> --- On Tue, 6/15/10, Dale J. Chatham<dale@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> >> >>> On 06/15/2010 12:28 AM, Patrick >>> Bartek wrote: >>> [snip] >>> >>>> There was a similar problem 35 years ago with consumer >>>> >>> video recording and/or playback formats. Ultimately, >>> the consumer chose which format it preferred. They >>> will, again. It just takes time. >>> >>>> >>>> >>> VHS/Beta? >>> >>> I'm not sure the consumer actually chose. The porn >>> producers chose to >>> go with VHS and very little Beta porn was produced. >>> >>> The result is that we had VHS, even though it is arguably >>> not as good as >>> Beta. >>> >> The real reason VHS triumphed over Beta was the long recording times. That's what people wanted more that superior image quality. You could record a whole movie off the TV on a single standard play cassette, or on extended play, a whole evening of TV, 6 hours. Beta couldn't. >> >> Also, IIRC, VHS machines were cheaper than Beta ones. Cheaper. Longer playing. Sold! Consumers have spoken. ;-) >> >> > Any vendor could make VHS by getting a license. Only Sony could do Beta. Sony > kept all the beta profit for itself until there wasn't any. > Try to get your facts right. Anyone could licence Betamax from Sony, and several companies did. Sanyo, NEC and others made a *lot* of Betamax machine. The non-Sony Betamax machines were cheaper than VHS machines, and generally gave superior quality. Anyone could licence VHS from JVC, but not on a level playing field. JVC insisted on compromises in the design of machines made by anyone outside their own group. Steve -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines