I certainly do. Beta format was clearly superior. The video quality was apparent to anyone who had vision better than 20-40, and the tape path through the machine was better, allowing gentler handling, and thus longer life.

                               Did you make the wrong choice?

Next was the HiFi audio added to the tape formats. Once again Beta HiFi was superior. The signal-to-noise ratio was about 20 decibels higher, meaning that on a good recording, there was no noise above the level of the preamplifier you happened to be using.

So twice Sony had the superior product, and twice the product went down in flames, for no technical reason. So much for the market gravitating to quality.

I would like to get an high definition player, but I know that the least of the problem is the player itself. Once the habit to purchase gets going, the expense goes up in a way that makes the cost of the player pale.

I have looked at the trade papers, and some of the talking heads are of the opinion that the ‘format wars’ may continue through 2011. It was not clear why that date was chosen, but that would be a long time to be buying movies, only to find that the format was being discontinued.

While it can be argued that every format eventually gets discontinued, it would be nice for the better technical format to win once, and then continue in popularity for a couple of decades.

I have been on the losing end a couple of times, buying a Beta HiFi machine that was very nice, and having it fail suddenly with about 100 tapes that languished for years before I gave them away.

Ever see one of these? It was very cool in the ’80s. Quality that would max out the picture resolution of any television or television monitor at the time. The disc itself was the size of an LP.

I also purchased a Pioneer LaserDisc player, and purchased about 150 discs, only to have them be discontinued and some of them suffer from laser rot. The player is currently in storage, and when put there worked fine. I plan to pull it out to see some of the Japanese LaserDiscs I have.

Wouldn’t it be nice to get to a format that when the media was purchased you could know it would physically last, and that it would be possible to pass the purchases to progeny, as they would still be useful?

Tags: pioneer laserdisc player, sony, betamax, beta hifi, blu-ray, high definition formats