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From: ben@moncol.UUCP (Bennett Broder)
Newsgroups: net.video
Subject: Re: LV players (and videophiles and Super Beta)
Message-ID: <311@moncol.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 22-May-85 10:39:28 EDT
Article-I.D.: moncol.311
Posted: Wed May 22 10:39:28 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 23-May-85 22:09:02 EDT
References: <1122@utcsri.UUCP>
Organization: Monmouth College, West Long Branch, NJ 07764
Lines: 39

>	Personally, I could care less if my tapes did not even fit, let
>alone play in, regular Beta vcrs. Is there any reason why they cannot
>build a 350 line res. Beta vcr that has a *switch* that would allow
>regular recordings to be made or played back? I have seen audio cassette
>decks with double speed (incompatible) switches which got good reviews.

You might not care, but it is VERY important to maintain
compatability.  Probably the primary reason that the audio cassette
has become the number one selling recording medium is that Philips
would only licence manufacturers who adhered to their very strict
guidelines for compact cassette specs.  It wasn't until the Philips
patents expired that manufacturers were able to do things like double
speed.  And if you'll notice, there are no double speed decks being
manufactured today.  Record stores only carry one type of cassette,
and it will work any deck built to the original Philips specs.
(Dolby encoded, chrome and metal tapes are all playback compatible
with the older decks, in fact, they spruce up the high frequencies, a
noted weakness of the original machines)

Sony has been trying for years to get the public to buy Beta, but it
continues to lose ground against VHS.  Even the latest development,
HIFI sound, which Sony claimed could only be added to Beta, has also
been adapted to VHS.  The result is that tape retailers and rental
outfits must keep two separate stocks of each movie, one for each
format.  Should Sony add a new format, it would mean tripling costs
for these merchants.  I believe that proliferation of formats has
been one of the biggest reasons for the marketing failure of video
disks, and may have done irreparable harm to the industry.  Who wants
to shell out big bucks for a machine, gambling that it won't be
obsolete in 2 years?

By the way, if you are not interested in prerecorded tapes, there is a
format called U-matic available from professional distributers.  It
uses 3/4" video cassettes and provide quality far superior to either
VHS or Beta.

Ben Broder
..ihnp4!princeton!moncol!ben
..vax135!petsd!moncol!ben