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I don’t think the analogy of “VHS vs Beta” works here. It is click-baity. The author has chosen to purchase various “formats” and then expecting it work across

I don’t think the analogy of “VHS vs Beta” works here. It is click-baity. The author has chosen to purchase various “formats” and then expecting it work across systems. Just the way you can’t play an Xbox game on PlayStation - the physical format being the same. VHS and Beta, Blu-ray and HDDVD, etc were battles about the Universal standards. It’s a shame your car has a DVD player, if it had a HDMI port, you damn can play anything you want. What a useless rant!

ddorian43 8y ago
Come on, why you gotta be that guy ? You mean you can't render a `jpeg` but only `png` ?
- JudgeWapner 8y ago
  The point system on HN is really a tally of how many ackchuallys the user has declared.
echelon 8y ago
To a degree, VHS vs Beta was about lock-in, which is exactly the issue we face with steaming services.
- spectramax 8y ago
  Yes, but the author wants to burn those movies into a really old format - DVD and then complaining that he/she can’t. I am not defending the DRM bullshit, but this rant is making an analogy to formats and the whole discussion is framed incorrectly. It bothers me when people title their post with a hook to lure you in but then you’re sorely disappointed that it’s not about what the title said. Click bait. Edit: DVD burning is a hack to get around the fact that the car doesn’t have an HDMI port.
  - omg_ketchup 8y ago
    That's pretty nitpicky. The DVD-burning is a hack to get around the lock-in, not their actual problem.
  - pushpop 8y ago
    I feel your pedantry is misplaced on this occasion. While you do technically have a point, the blog article was about was about his frustrations with platform incompatibility. In many ways his arguments is more valid now than its ever been because the incompatibilities are entirely self-serving with each platform being conceptually the same as the last. Where as in the Betamax days it was at least down to differing hardware standards- each offering their own distinct advantages over the other.
    - spectramax 8y ago
      I agree with some of the things about today's digital distribution and the DRM enchilada, my gripe with articles like this is about the title. I believe if the author talked about DRM, we'd have a better discussion than falling back to VHS vs Betamax in a clickbait article.
      - Jgrubb 8y ago
        I kid you not, I wrote and posted this whole thing in less than 5 minutes this morning after having bought the TV yesterday. The word "clickbait" is giving me too much credit, yet here we are.
      - pushpop 8y ago
        Naming things is hard - that goes for blog posts as well as a software projects. If all you’ve got to contribute is an ad hominem attack on an article you ostensibly agree with anyway then you really need to ask yourself who is more in the wrong here.
- daveFNbuck 8y ago
  But this isn't worse. Roku and Fire TV are much cheaper than VHS and Betamax players were. And you can still stream all the services supported by these devices on/from your phone/laptop/tablet.
  - hatsix 8y ago
    But AppleTV isn't. There's no lock-in for Roku or Fire TV... You can't buy anything from Roku, and Amazon has apps out for all TV boxes. Apple is Sony here, one company that won't allow interoperability. Just like betamax, it often has superior specifications, but won't let anyone else play in it's walled garden. Apple might sell more than any other single competitor, but it's still losing the war. The brand is built on "quality costs more", which is great for companies that don't need to interoperate, like watches and knives and even cars... It can't compete on price because it will hurt the brand... So they're stuck making more money than they can spend, while losing the war. Not a bad place to be in, better than betamax, but their tech will suffer the same fate, unless they open their walled garden.
    - scarface74 8y ago
      Apple does allow interoperability. You can sync movies purchased from iTunes to other providers - Amazon, Google Play and Vudu through Movies Anywhere. Four of the six major studios allow it. Blame the other two studios. Apple is already supporting a few TVs with AirPlay and announced support for the Roku.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]

ddorian43 8y ago

Come on, why you gotta be that guy ? You mean you can't render a `jpeg` but only `png` ?

JudgeWapner 8y ago
The point system on HN is really a tally of how many ackchuallys the user has declared.

echelon 8y ago

To a degree, VHS vs Beta was about lock-in, which is exactly the issue we face with steaming services.

spectramax 8y ago
Yes, but the author wants to burn those movies into a really old format - DVD and then complaining that he/she can’t. I am not defending the DRM bullshit, but this rant is making an analogy to formats and the whole discussion is framed incorrectly. It bothers me when people title their post with a hook to lure you in but then you’re sorely disappointed that it’s not about what the title said. Click bait. Edit: DVD burning is a hack to get around the fact that the car doesn’t have an HDMI port.
- omg_ketchup 8y ago
  That's pretty nitpicky. The DVD-burning is a hack to get around the lock-in, not their actual problem.
- pushpop 8y ago
  I feel your pedantry is misplaced on this occasion. While you do technically have a point, the blog article was about was about his frustrations with platform incompatibility. In many ways his arguments is more valid now than its ever been because the incompatibilities are entirely self-serving with each platform being conceptually the same as the last. Where as in the Betamax days it was at least down to differing hardware standards- each offering their own distinct advantages over the other.
  - spectramax 8y ago
    I agree with some of the things about today's digital distribution and the DRM enchilada, my gripe with articles like this is about the title. I believe if the author talked about DRM, we'd have a better discussion than falling back to VHS vs Betamax in a clickbait article.
    - Jgrubb 8y ago
      I kid you not, I wrote and posted this whole thing in less than 5 minutes this morning after having bought the TV yesterday. The word "clickbait" is giving me too much credit, yet here we are.
    - pushpop 8y ago
      Naming things is hard - that goes for blog posts as well as a software projects. If all you’ve got to contribute is an ad hominem attack on an article you ostensibly agree with anyway then you really need to ask yourself who is more in the wrong here.
daveFNbuck 8y ago
But this isn't worse. Roku and Fire TV are much cheaper than VHS and Betamax players were. And you can still stream all the services supported by these devices on/from your phone/laptop/tablet.
- hatsix 8y ago
  But AppleTV isn't. There's no lock-in for Roku or Fire TV... You can't buy anything from Roku, and Amazon has apps out for all TV boxes. Apple is Sony here, one company that won't allow interoperability. Just like betamax, it often has superior specifications, but won't let anyone else play in it's walled garden. Apple might sell more than any other single competitor, but it's still losing the war. The brand is built on "quality costs more", which is great for companies that don't need to interoperate, like watches and knives and even cars... It can't compete on price because it will hurt the brand... So they're stuck making more money than they can spend, while losing the war. Not a bad place to be in, better than betamax, but their tech will suffer the same fate, unless they open their walled garden.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Apple does allow interoperability. You can sync movies purchased from iTunes to other providers - Amazon, Google Play and Vudu through Movies Anywhere. Four of the six major studios allow it. Blame the other two studios. Apple is already supporting a few TVs with AirPlay and announced support for the Roku.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]