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From: stassen@trwspp.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.video
Subject: VHS vs Beta - future considerations
Message-ID: <577@trwspp.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Sep-84 13:25:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: trwspp.577
Posted: Thu Sep 13 13:25:08 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 01:54:19 EDT
Organization: T R W, Redondo Beach, CA
Lines: 53


[]

	I have my clunky old VHS machine.  You have your zippy Beta machine.
We're both happy....  how long will it last?

	I was looking at VCR's (before I got one as a present), and in all
the stores I visited, I asked how sales were.  Most stores said VHS outsold
Beta more than 10:1, some as high as 25:1, and some as low as 4:1.

	How will this effect you?  Well, believe it or not, all of the
companies that produce VCR's want to *make money*.  They will invest in
and research the more lucrative markets.  So, if you're a producer of
VCR's, and you can pick to revolutionize the video market with a brand
new, wonderful, microprocessor-controlled VCR, which one are you going
to make?  Right... VHS.  Why?  Because there is much more of a market for it.
Commercial companies only research if it will *pay off*, and the more,
the merrier.

	Now, ten years down the line, your old Sony-whatever breaks down,
and its time to buy a new VCR.  Your whole 1,000 tape library is in Beta
format, so you have to buy a Beta machine.  You look around you, and see
that all of the engineering time and effort has gone into improving VHS
machines, and that Beta machines have all but stagnated.

	How can I make a prediction like this?  Well, look at the 8-inch
floppy drive.  Yes, they're still around, but they haven't been improved
and worked on like the 5-1/4 inch drives have simply because THEY ARE NOT AS
POPULAR.  You can get (*now*) quad-density 5-1/4 inch drives, and research
is going in to making the magnetic fields "vertical" (rather than horizontal
as they are now).  8-inch drives have only been improved as a result of 
improvements in 5-1/4 inch drive technology which could be transferred.

	VHS machines may be clunky, and slow, and not have the sound
quality that Beta machines do (for the same price), NOW.  Wait five to
ten years, then come back and we'll have another comparison test...
including tape prices and such.  I'm willing to bet (I am "betting"
several hundred dollars by owning the machine) that VHS will be a much
better investment than Beta in the long run.

	And I'm not about to invest several hundred dollars in something
that is going to cause me to have to copy several dozen tapes whenever
Beta falls off the market.  There are rumors now that Sony is planning
to drop their line of Beta recorders (the prices plummeted here in L.A.).

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The opinions expressed in this document are my own.  They are not intended to
reflect the views of my employer - TRW - or anyone else.  Intelligent and
responsible commentaries should be directed to me;  Flames to the bit bucket.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christian W. Stassen	[decvax!trwrb,vortex,ihnp4!vortex]!trwspp!stassen

	"If we knew what the hell we were doing, then it wouldn't be research."