Have you ever re-invented the wheel ?

[johninderby]

19 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

There have been a few battles like this, odd thing is that Betamax was by far the better system in my view.

Alan

Betamax was deleoped for the broadcast industry hence it’s technical superiority. 

In the end VHS won simply as while it was the inferior product it was a lot cheaper to produce. Techies  preferred Betamax but the average consumer wasn’t as fussy and just wanted the cheapest. 

Many, many years ago did a VCR repair course and once you’ve taken a Betamax apart then a VHS you realised what a cheap and nasty system VHS was. 

Edited December 22, 2019 by johninderby

[fozzybear]

there used to be a high street chain Ferguson I think in the uk that kicked of vhs that then took over the market and killed betamax  I can remember the top loader with huge buttons well more like fingers to press back in the 80's you rented it as cost' d a fortune  and the video camera like a pro

[johninderby]

Many would be surprised to learn that the Betamax broadcast recording camera system Betacam was in production until 2018 and is still used by some smaller broadcasters.

Edited December 22, 2019 by johninderby

[fozzybear]

you can't beat cine 8mm or super 8 for nostalgia with the patina  shame as have reels from my youth yet no means to view nowadays just keep for prosperity for the young one's to figure out.....

[fozzybear]

1 minute ago, johninderby said:

Many would be surprised to learn that the Betamax broadcast recording camera system Betacam was in production until 2018 and is still used by some broadcasters.

never knew that

[Alien 13]

8 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

you can't beat cine 8mm or super 8 for nostalgia with the patina  shame as have reels from my youth yet no means to view nowadays just keep for prosperity for the young one's to figure out.....

I had a super 8 projector and a copy of the original Star Wars movie and used a house across the street that had white walls to screen it once.

Alan

Edited December 22, 2019 by Alien 13

[johninderby]

Have an 8mm projector in the loft. Need to transfer a load of old family movies onto DVD someday. 

Edited December 22, 2019 by johninderby

[niallk]

2 hours ago, Alien 13 said:

There have been a few battles like this, odd thing is that Betamax was by far the better system in my view.

Alan

Yeah technically superior.  There's that old urban legend of course that the adult film industry adopted VHS 😂

When I was working on the first 3G phones, my boss used to say it stood for 'Girls, Games and Gambling'.  He used to joke that he was trying to figure out what the next G's were going to be for 4G & 5G.

[Alien 13]

I wonder what an Alien race would think of us when we have hundreds of different kettles/toasters/cars etc when a single item would do the job at a fraction of the price and with a massive saving in recourse..

Alan 

[Rusted]

Isn't the same multiplicity our strength rather than a weakness?
We don't usually allow a complete monopoly in any one thing.
This means we can usually survive a critical bankruptcy or factory fire.

Competition for survival, within any commercial sector, usually ensures progress.
It usually means lower costs even if it takes time for trickle down to occur to the masses.
There must have been some really leaden feet because so many businesses went bust.

Communism was formerly the prime example of industrial weakness through deliberately restricted choice.
Yet China took several centuries of Western technological progress and ran with our balls.
Now you find Chinese names on a great many scientific and engineering breakthroughs.
They produce more engineers and scientists than the rest of the world put together.

Humanity constantly invents new things because it provides adequate education.
It seems inevitable as previously powerful dampers, like religion and gender, are removed.

Just imagine what "we" can achieve when Sub-Saharan Africa is freed from our historical yokes.
Given a proper education, fed properly and relieved of the daily theft of their resources.
Freedom to invent and improve is often despite crippling restrictions like hunger or gender.
Petty monarchies, barons and warlords no longer control the freedom of ordinary people to imagine our future.

[markse68]

15 hours ago, johninderby said:

Many would be surprised to learn that the Betamax broadcast recording camera system Betacam was in production until 2018 and is still used by some smaller broadcasters.

I used to get cast-off betacam tapes from work thinking they’d be high quality for my old Betamax machine- wrecked the head with their fancy “metal” tape 🤦‍♂️