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From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein)
Newsgroups: net.video
Subject: Re: VHS vs Beta (#'s please!)
Message-ID: <748@vortex.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 17-Aug-85 16:36:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: vortex.748
Posted: Sat Aug 17 16:36:46 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 23-Aug-85 21:09:43 EDT
References: <97300002@hplabs.UUCP>
Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles
Lines: 13

8mm ain't gonna replace Beta or VHS for home use.  Remember that the
original wars were fueled by pushes for longer and longer playing
times--which now run up to 6 hours or so.  It is unlikely that people
are going to settle for 2 hours for new machines (and that is still
down the path a ways for 8mm; the current generally available top
is 90 minutes).  There are limits to how thin a tape you can use
before tape jams and print-through become significant problems.
The small size of the 8mm package severely limits the amount of tape
that can go into the cassette.  It'll do GREAT for portable operations,
but people will still want larger formats for recordings made at home,
particularly typical time-shifting of commercial broadcasts and movies.

--Lauren--