It wasn't that Sony wouldn't license the technology. They wouldn't, at
first, but then they made it expensive, so few others were willing to pay
for the privilege of making the machines. It kept the cost of Betamax
format machines high; much higher than for VHS equipment.
Licensing of the technology was but one reason Betamax failed. In some
ways a more important factor is that Betamax was a superior recording
format. That superiority was a problem for the studios. Worried about
piracy, commercial video tape producers used "Copyguard" to prevent
tapes from being duplicated. This process, in essence, recorded a very
bright light in the spaces between "frames" (there aren't actually frames on
video tape the way we think of them on film but there were "effective
frames", to more or less match the original). VHS, being an inferior format,
was completely flummoxed by this area of bright light. VHS machines
were unable to deal with it and it overbalanced the images that you wanted
to see (the images from the movie). It made for an almost unwatchable
viewing experience. Betamax, on the other hand, was quite capable of
recording those bright lights and not interfering with the main image. So
studios aggressively supported VHS and worked to get rid of Betamax as
a format. They more heavily produced VHS copies, gave preferential
pricing on VHS, etc.
It was the combination of expensive equipment (because Sony wouldn't
license out the technology) and the studios supporting the other format that
doomed Betamax. (It should also be noted that Beta, the commercial
format used by TV crews continued to be used for many, many years. It
was a variant of Betamax and because it was superior -- it kept the color
components separate, for example, for better balancing and mixing -- the
studios and networks wanted it. They just didn't want the public to have it.)
Craig.
Who represented several studios during this period.
At 12:46 PM 3/1/2008, Patrick Michael Tupy wrote:
Exactly, Doug, and that's why they allow licensing of the format
unlike the proprietary ownership they held with the Betamax format.
No one made Betamax but Sony. VHS was inferior to Betamax but
available for any manufacturer to make.
Ipods from Apple are a glaring exception...for every rule, there is
an exception...or two.
Patrick
On Mar 1, 2008, at 12:24 PM, Doug Taylor wrote:
Profile
MoPo List
[<mailto:mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Behalf Of Saul H. Chapman, Ph.D
Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 2:06 PM
To: <mailto:MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: Re: [MOPO] DVD RECORDERS -- BLUE RAY
<http://my.earthlink.net/article/tec?guid=20080219/47ba6250_3ca6_15526200802191110856345>http://my.earthlink.net/article/tec?guid=20080219/47ba6250_3ca6_15526200802191110856345
----- Original Message -----
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Franc
<mailto:MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Saturday, March 01, 2008 12:42 PM
Re: [MOPO] DVD RECORDERS -- BLUE RAY
i want to buy a DVD recorder. my first.
they are cheaper than 100.00 BUT the Blue Ray technology is closer to 700.00
since i would be recording primarily the classics of the 40s and
50s off TMC channel etc...... is the extra blue technology worth it????
of course, i really do want that HI DEF and GREAT SURROUND when i
record the habdful of current stuff.
----------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Miller Wolfmill Entertainment [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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