[Myrddin]

VHS won the popularity battle over Beta because the porn industry adopted VHS. The various approaches to making purchases online were also pushed to a consensus by online porn sales. Today we have a battle over HD-DVD vs BlueRay for high definition format. There doesn't seem to be a compelling player in the mix to push one format over the other yet. Movies are being issued in standard DVD, HD-DVD and BlueRay. The PS3 adoption of BlueRay might be enough to nudge that format into the lead.

[RWR8189]

VHS won out over Betamax for me when I found out the tape couldn't hold an entire football game.

[L.N. Smithee]

VHS won the popularity battle over Beta because the porn industry adopted VHS.

I thought the main reason was because you could only record two hours on a Betamax tape, whereas you could record six on VHS. If you were going out for an evening, you couldn't tape a night's worth of primetime on one cassette with Betamax.

[Sprite518]

When Beta and VHS were competing I always thought Beta had a better picture. Well that is when they were competing.

[DB]

VHS won because Sony owned the rights to Betamax and refused to let others make it without a steep royalty. VHS came out to get around Sony's patents. Several companies adopted VHS and prices fell well below what Sony was able to offered Betamax for and that's all she wrote.

[BigSkyFreeper]

VHS won the popularity battle over Beta because the porn industry adopted VHS.

VHS machines were cheaper too. Prior to digital tape, the only place I ever saw or used a beta machine was in a TV studio. Beta was actually higher quality. Able to do a side by side comparison, the difference between Beta and VHS were very noticeable. Video recorded to VHS appears more "smudged" than Beta, which appears more sharp, but over time, like audio cassettes of the time, they all begin to lose their quality, as the tape itself slowly deteriorates but if it's not handled properly that process takes less time.

Today we have a battle over HD-DVD vs BlueRay for high definition format. There doesn't seem to be a compelling player in the mix to push one format over the other yet.

Once the industry adopts a standard, one of the two will die the same death Beta did.

[marajade]

"The PS3 adoption of BlueRay might be enough to nudge that format into the lead."

Except that by the time Sony finally releases its first generation player, Toshiba will already have its second generation player out.

And who can afford a PS3 game system at 1,500 a pop?