Xref: utzoo rec.video:7040 sci.electronics:6896
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!decwrl!amdcad!diablo!phil
From: phil@diablo.amd.com (Phil Ngai)
Newsgroups: rec.video,sci.electronics
Subject: Re: S-VHS this generation's Beta?
Message-ID: <26267@amdcad.AMD.COM>
Date: 11 Jul 89 17:33:26 GMT
References: <2727@blake.acs.washington.edu> <692@lopez.UUCP>
Sender: news@amdcad.AMD.COM
Reply-To: phil@diablo.AMD.COM (Phil Ngai)
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 34

In article <692@lopez.UUCP> flash@lopez.UUCP (Gary Bourgois) writes:
|The problem *IS* the price.  When $199 will buy a standard VHS deck at
|GOOFY LENNIES, who in their right mind would spend a KILLOBUCK on a VCR.

I have seen Japanese S-VHS VCRs for $600. That's a very reasonable
premium over the equivalent quality without S-VHS. Remember, you get
Hi-Fi and a bunch of other goodies too. 

The problem is most consumers don't give a rat's ass about quality.
Lots of people won't even fork over the bucks for Hi-Fi! They are
hopeless and you are wasting your time to worry about them.

Anyway, I don't care if S-VHS catches on. I have mine, and unless it
breaks, that's all I care about. My VCR has compatibility mode for
sharing tapes with friends. For time-shifting, I don't need
compatibility. For rental, I have Laser-Discs. 

I don't expect to ever be able to rent S-VHS tapes nor do I want to. 

It's too bad they couldn't have done S-VHS in a compatible way, like
they did Hi-Fi. That's the only way a rental tape market could ever
have evolved. The way it is now, it will never happen, even if S-VHS
achieved say a 25% market penetration. Anyway, I'd much rather see the
LD rental market evolve.

|PRICE OF THE
|TAPES is another factor.  I have HUNDREDS of regular VHS tapes, but only
|about 25 SVHS tapes.  I use them strictly for camera recordings, and

Just get a good quality VHS tape (I like BASF) and drill the hole.
It works fine.
--
Phil Ngai, phil@diablo.amd.com		{uunet,decwrl,ucbvax}!amdcad!phil
"The government is not your mother."