🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <5dalhn$q...@tor-nn1-hb0.netcom.ca>, John Savard
<URL:mailto:sew...@netcom.ca> wrote:
> 
> Iain Wilkie Logan <iain...@enterprise.net> wrote:
> 
> >Or VHS versus Betamax - a case of a
> >poorer technology becoming predominant, which is relatively unusual. Perhaps
> >it was a victory by 'marketing' over 'product worth'.
> 
> Actually, no.
> 
> VHS was poorer than Betamax in some respects, but better in others
> that were more valued by more consumers.
> 
> Beta mode  L-500 time L-750 time   Equivalent VHS mode     T-120 time
> 
> Beta I     1 hr       1 hr 30 min   Standard Play          2 hrs
> Beta II    2 hrs      3 hrs         Long Play              4 hrs
> Beta III   3 hrs      4 hrs 30 min  Extended Play (EP/SLP) 6 hrs

European readers of this might be a bit mystified because on this side
of the pond, Beta machines only had _one_ speed: an L-750 tape played
for 3 hours 15 minutes. The equivalent VHS tape (E-180) played for 3
hours exactly. Hence you got more on a Beta tape than you did on VHS.
And the picture quality was better (or it seemed that way to me when I
did an A-B comparison back in 1979).

The reason for VHS succeeding in the UK had absolutely nothing to do
with the relative technical merits of the formats: put simply, JVC did
an exclusive deal with Thorn EMI (who ran the Radio Rentals, DER and
Multibroadcast chains of TV rental stores). Hence on day one, JVC had
90% of the rental market sewn up.  Few people could afford the 750 UKP
needed to buy a video recorder, but a lot could afford 25 UKP per month
to rent one. When they went looking for a machine to rent, they would
have had to hunt high and low to find a Beta machine, but VHS was
available from 3 different high street stores (part of the same chain,
but they weren't to know that). So they made the obvious choice.
The large number of rented video recorders had a knock-on effect on the
sale/hire of prerecorded tapes, with inevitable results.

So there you have it. A triumph of marketing, certainly.

stuart

-- 
Stuart Painting (stu...@zedtoo.demon.co.uk)