6 ms·

Yea I was going to mention that as well. Wasn't porn the deciding factor in both 'format wars' (VHS vs. BetaMax as well as, years later, Blu-Ray vs. HDDVD)?

by stryk 9y ago

ZenoArrow 9y ago
I'd suggest it's not clear cut what role porn played in the VHS vs. BetaMax format wars. People often bring up that BetaMax was the superior format, but overlook that it was only the superior format in one regard (picture quality). In other metrics, VHS was either the superior format (recording length) or roughly equal (audio quality). I'd also suggest there was also a key factor accelerating the growth of VHS over Betamax, which was one of cost. VHS was supposedly cheaper than Betamax at the launch of VHS, and the price difference would only have increased as its market share grew and the effects of scaling up mass production were in place.
- cr0sh 9y ago
  IIRC, VHS was cheaper for the rental market. Beta format tapes had higher licensing fees (or something like that), and brand new movies were extremely expensive. Sony essentially controlled it. VHS - with it's longer length (meaning more films could be distributed as a single tape) and lower fees (the format was done by a consortium of manufacturers - IIRC, Panasonic and JVC were the main drivers?) meant that rental stores didn't have to pay so much for a film to rent out. At the time, VHS movies cost around $100.00 per tape (I remember this well, because as a kid parents made sure that they returned them properly and in good shape, because the cost to buy a replacement tape was insane).
  - k__ 9y ago
    lol, now everything makes sense. I didn't really understand why renting films was a big deal back in the days,
    - stryk 9y ago
      Aw, dude! I'm assuming you're a little younger sorry if I'm off the mark, video stores had a culture all their own that is just gone now, never to return, and it's a shame. There was a certain magic about them that is just lost with time now. They were everywhere - franchise chain stores (Blockbuster, Family Video, Hollywood Video, etc.), as well as neighborhood mom & pop shops [these could be hit or miss, but when you found a good one you were virtually a lifetime customer]. Hell, you used to be able to rent tapes at the grocery store! Even more important than that, they were a cultural and societal staple. Everyone went to the video store; you met up with friends there (some even had arcades in them!), you ran into people you hadn't seen in a while there [this was before cell phones, so that mattered a lot], you looked forward to going there on friday/saturday afternoon to rent a tape to watch that night. It was a great way to discover new movies you hadn't heard of before or obscure titles that didn't have budgets for TV or cinema ads -- this is why box art was important and distributors fought over retail/rental shelf space. A lot of this stuff is all but irrelevant these days. You have to keep in mind this was before everything went digital/streaming. 800x600 desktop resolution on your PC was considered higher end, so your typical video file was something like 480x320 or less and the quality was crap (think MPEG-1, old school QuickTime, and gasp RealVideo). It didn't matter much for movies anyway, there wasn't bandwidth or storage space like we have now. I still remember the first time I saw a movie on DVD it was an honest Holy Shit! moment. Sorta-high bitrate MPEG-2 with a good 5.1 surround sound audio track on disc in your home was nothing short of revolutionary.
      - k__ 9y ago
        Oh I'm not that young, haha. I had these stores in my childhood, till I was 16 or something. My mother even worked in one when I was smaller. They had billiard tables, snacks and stuff there. I always rented games for PSX back then, because one would cost 30-40€ and I was a poor child, hehe. Well, the stores were kinda like you said when I was in my teens, but it seemed to me that not so many people were renting anymore. And yes they had the expensive games, which was good for poor children, but the movies weren't 100€ a VHS for long time anymore, so most people probably simply bought them.

Yea I was going to mention that as well. Wasn't porn the deciding factor in both 'format wars' (VHS vs. BetaMax as well as, years later, Blu-Ray vs. HDDVD)?

by stryk 9y ago

Yea I was going to mention that as well. Wasn't porn the deciding factor in both 'format wars' (VHS vs. BetaMax as well as, years later, Blu-Ray vs. HDDVD)?

ZenoArrow 9y ago

I'd suggest it's not clear cut what role porn played in the VHS vs. BetaMax format wars. People often bring up that BetaMax was the superior format, but overlook that it was only the superior format in one regard (picture quality). In other metrics, VHS was either the superior format (recording length) or roughly equal (audio quality). I'd also suggest there was also a key factor accelerating the growth of VHS over Betamax, which was one of cost. VHS was supposedly cheaper than Betamax at the launch of VHS, and the price difference would only have increased as its market share grew and the effects of scaling up mass production were in place.

cr0sh 9y ago
IIRC, VHS was cheaper for the rental market. Beta format tapes had higher licensing fees (or something like that), and brand new movies were extremely expensive. Sony essentially controlled it. VHS - with it's longer length (meaning more films could be distributed as a single tape) and lower fees (the format was done by a consortium of manufacturers - IIRC, Panasonic and JVC were the main drivers?) meant that rental stores didn't have to pay so much for a film to rent out. At the time, VHS movies cost around $100.00 per tape (I remember this well, because as a kid parents made sure that they returned them properly and in good shape, because the cost to buy a replacement tape was insane).
- k__ 9y ago
  lol, now everything makes sense. I didn't really understand why renting films was a big deal back in the days,
  - stryk 9y ago
    Aw, dude! I'm assuming you're a little younger sorry if I'm off the mark, video stores had a culture all their own that is just gone now, never to return, and it's a shame. There was a certain magic about them that is just lost with time now. They were everywhere - franchise chain stores (Blockbuster, Family Video, Hollywood Video, etc.), as well as neighborhood mom & pop shops [these could be hit or miss, but when you found a good one you were virtually a lifetime customer]. Hell, you used to be able to rent tapes at the grocery store! Even more important than that, they were a cultural and societal staple. Everyone went to the video store; you met up with friends there (some even had arcades in them!), you ran into people you hadn't seen in a while there [this was before cell phones, so that mattered a lot], you looked forward to going there on friday/saturday afternoon to rent a tape to watch that night. It was a great way to discover new movies you hadn't heard of before or obscure titles that didn't have budgets for TV or cinema ads -- this is why box art was important and distributors fought over retail/rental shelf space. A lot of this stuff is all but irrelevant these days. You have to keep in mind this was before everything went digital/streaming. 800x600 desktop resolution on your PC was considered higher end, so your typical video file was something like 480x320 or less and the quality was crap (think MPEG-1, old school QuickTime, and gasp RealVideo). It didn't matter much for movies anyway, there wasn't bandwidth or storage space like we have now. I still remember the first time I saw a movie on DVD it was an honest Holy Shit! moment. Sorta-high bitrate MPEG-2 with a good 5.1 surround sound audio track on disc in your home was nothing short of revolutionary.
    - k__ 9y ago
      Oh I'm not that young, haha. I had these stores in my childhood, till I was 16 or something. My mother even worked in one when I was smaller. They had billiard tables, snacks and stuff there. I always rented games for PSX back then, because one would cost 30-40€ and I was a poor child, hehe. Well, the stores were kinda like you said when I was in my teens, but it seemed to me that not so many people were renting anymore. And yes they had the expensive games, which was good for poor children, but the movies weren't 100€ a VHS for long time anymore, so most people probably simply bought them.