10-09-2012, 02:42 AM
Betamax is technologically superior to VHS, that part of the format wars was lost to marketing.
The biggest "next big things" were: DVD over tape, and "digital"/"HD" broadcast (including satellite/cable). Subsequent technologies are not as much of an improvement, and definitely aren't as good a value, especially when you factor the "overhead" of things like key revocation, "protected path", and compatibility.
Seriously: most people can't tell the difference between a DVD and a BluRay, especially when the "46-inch class" "1080 class" display is doing such a crappy job. That same "most people" don't have (or aren't willing to spend) the money on a home theatre system that will really take advantage of the BluRay. And yet the marketing people are pushing BluRay as the "next big thing"... notice how quickly they started including "free digital copy" (a DVD) in the BluRay package?
The biggest "next big things" were: DVD over tape, and "digital"/"HD" broadcast (including satellite/cable). Subsequent technologies are not as much of an improvement, and definitely aren't as good a value, especially when you factor the "overhead" of things like key revocation, "protected path", and compatibility.
Seriously: most people can't tell the difference between a DVD and a BluRay, especially when the "46-inch class" "1080 class" display is doing such a crappy job. That same "most people" don't have (or aren't willing to spend) the money on a home theatre system that will really take advantage of the BluRay. And yet the marketing people are pushing BluRay as the "next big thing"... notice how quickly they started including "free digital copy" (a DVD) in the BluRay package?