Not another war.

Anyone who reads the news knows that the HD DVD and BlueRay DVD war is over. In elephant / mouse like fashion Blue Ray has stomped HD. The Falklands of technological battles. Toshiba announced today that it was leaving the war and will stop making HD DVD's. Sony, maker of the BlueRay system must be thinking back to the original "tech war", the VHS vs BETA battle.

In 1974 Sony came up with the Beta video cassette system and planned on marketing it manufacturers starting in 1975. JVC had other ideas. They made the VHS (for Video Home System) cassette. Laser Discs were available too but though far superior in picture quality, they lacked recording capabilities.


Both tape systems could play video but the neat thing was that they could record stuff also. Either with a camera or direct form TV. It started a cultural shift that is still felt today.

Sony had pioneered video cassette technology with the U-Matic video system which came out 5 years earlier and worked with other manufacturers, including JVC, to establish industry standards. The U-matic cassette was the basis for their BETA system.

When JVC entered the fray in 1975 their VHS cassette could record up to 2 hours. BETA could do 1 hour. BETA's picture quality was superior, in part due to shorter run times, but 2 hours was seen as an advantage. As the battle progressed, both Sony and JVC addede record time to their tapes. But that means more tape in the case which means slower record times and that adds up to poorer quality. In the end VHS could just top 10 hours on one tape while BETA could do 5. The consumer could buy 2 of those for every one of JVC's. Seems obvious where this was going to go.