Beyond Videodrome
No less than ten years after the introduction of DVD, we're already being presented with the choice of a new generation in the Second Format Wars. But do you remember the first time?
| 10 Jul 2007
Now that the almost Edwardian-titled Vertical Helical Scan (or VHS for short) has been hastily consigned to the bargain bin of history, it's perhaps not the most polite time to point this out, but frankly it was always a bit cack. Some say Betamax was actually the superior format (Grundig's short-lived SVR probably outstripped even Beta) but that it was struck with bad luck, not least the name. It turns out 'beta' actually refers to the Japanese word for the recording process, rather than the second Greek letter, which otherwise conspires to give Betamax the unfortunate translation of 'the best in second place'.
VHS seems to represent the eternal Jammy Dodger, a Homer Simpson to Betamax's Frank Grimes, who through either charm or inescapable cosmic luck, manages to stay on top without revealing any real justifiable skill. Betamax's picture was sharper, and had a DVD-ish picture search mode, but VHS's bulk meant it could reach two hours before Betamax did and so won. As a final insult, it was also suggested that it was Betamax's technological advances that 'inspired' the VHS team in ways to perfect their contender. It was even Betamax that had to go to court to prove home recording wasn't copyright infringement (it didn't help that they used pictures of Columbo and Kojak on the poster). They won though, arguing that what was going on was not illegal recording but rather 'non-commercial time-shifting', or the DeLorean Defense as it is now known. Like the Back To The Future car, Betamax's un-applauded advances were to affect the future for years to come, in that the decision of 1984's Betamax case is still refered to in defending online file-sharing.
For all of Betamax's contributions, it really missed a trick in over-developing itself when people were gasping for the product. It had been fifty years since the development of talking pictures and television, and the ability to capture what came out of the Magic Box, and decisively cinema's Magic Lantern, was what everyone had been waiting for. Quality was a luxury that hadn't even been considered by the public, and why should it? Recording TV was going to be great, but no one was thinking of keeping anything on tape for longer than a week.
Of course, things change. In these days of digital, everyone is a Pharoah entombing their collection of audio and video recordings in preparation for their own immortal digital transfer to perfect Hi Def. But HD simply isn't a technological leap that people are that fussed about. It seems that the Second Format Wars is a battle of two Betamaxes over technologies that both exceed and miss people's expectations. We loved VHS, many still do despite, and maybe because of, it's cackness.
There's something reassuring about fixing a ripped spool of magnetic tape with Sellotape, and then watching the film wear the tear like a scar, every successive recording retaining the few frames of Gremlins that originally chewed it up. Similarly, we've grown to like DVD. It's clearly inferior to the new discs on the block, but nobody appears that keen to give up on it just yet, in fact it almost seems unfair to. When Betamax was chosen as the default format for recording Videodrome (apparently its smaller size swung it, making it more easily compatible with human intestines) it mocked a gut attachment to the object of video that still vaguely persists. When Cronenberg's last film A History Of Violence was released as VHS's last new title, it was seen that the fight was over. Since then, Borat has become the definite last ever VHS new release.
In November 2004 Dixons speedily announced it was phasing out VHS players. In April 2006 Dixons was speedily phased out. People have been expecting VHS to die out for years, and it still hasn't, so how are they going to react to the premature obsolescence of its successor? The First Format Wars had an audience ripe for the picking, grateful for whatever they received. Perhaps the Second Format Wars isn't going to be as much of a spectator sport, but rather a war of attrition for the manufacturers to win us all over.
VHS seems to represent the eternal Jammy Dodger, a Homer Simpson to Betamax's Frank Grimes, who through either charm or inescapable cosmic luck, manages to stay on top without revealing any real justifiable skill. Betamax's picture was sharper, and had a DVD-ish picture search mode, but VHS's bulk meant it could reach two hours before Betamax did and so won. As a final insult, it was also suggested that it was Betamax's technological advances that 'inspired' the VHS team in ways to perfect their contender. It was even Betamax that had to go to court to prove home recording wasn't copyright infringement (it didn't help that they used pictures of Columbo and Kojak on the poster). They won though, arguing that what was going on was not illegal recording but rather 'non-commercial time-shifting', or the DeLorean Defense as it is now known. Like the Back To The Future car, Betamax's un-applauded advances were to affect the future for years to come, in that the decision of 1984's Betamax case is still refered to in defending online file-sharing.
For all of Betamax's contributions, it really missed a trick in over-developing itself when people were gasping for the product. It had been fifty years since the development of talking pictures and television, and the ability to capture what came out of the Magic Box, and decisively cinema's Magic Lantern, was what everyone had been waiting for. Quality was a luxury that hadn't even been considered by the public, and why should it? Recording TV was going to be great, but no one was thinking of keeping anything on tape for longer than a week.
Of course, things change. In these days of digital, everyone is a Pharoah entombing their collection of audio and video recordings in preparation for their own immortal digital transfer to perfect Hi Def. But HD simply isn't a technological leap that people are that fussed about. It seems that the Second Format Wars is a battle of two Betamaxes over technologies that both exceed and miss people's expectations. We loved VHS, many still do despite, and maybe because of, it's cackness.
There's something reassuring about fixing a ripped spool of magnetic tape with Sellotape, and then watching the film wear the tear like a scar, every successive recording retaining the few frames of Gremlins that originally chewed it up. Similarly, we've grown to like DVD. It's clearly inferior to the new discs on the block, but nobody appears that keen to give up on it just yet, in fact it almost seems unfair to. When Betamax was chosen as the default format for recording Videodrome (apparently its smaller size swung it, making it more easily compatible with human intestines) it mocked a gut attachment to the object of video that still vaguely persists. When Cronenberg's last film A History Of Violence was released as VHS's last new title, it was seen that the fight was over. Since then, Borat has become the definite last ever VHS new release.
In November 2004 Dixons speedily announced it was phasing out VHS players. In April 2006 Dixons was speedily phased out. People have been expecting VHS to die out for years, and it still hasn't, so how are they going to react to the premature obsolescence of its successor? The First Format Wars had an audience ripe for the picking, grateful for whatever they received. Perhaps the Second Format Wars isn't going to be as much of a spectator sport, but rather a war of attrition for the manufacturers to win us all over.