RE: [CH] Why different formats?

PBurke@mpi.mb.ca
Wed, 26 Mar 2003 14:03:57 -0600 

<delurk>

if I remember correctly....this has nothing to do with VCR's at
all...this is because of the formats established with televisions long
before there was such a thing as vcr's  - beta, vhs or otherwise. Also I
believe there are 3 formats available...Pal, NTSC and SECAM....the
formats were created first with televisions and then they had to be
adapted by the tape format manufactures....

if I remember correctly


<back to lurking>



-----Original Message-----
From: Brent Thompson [mailto:brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 1:02 PM
To: Margaret Lauterbach
Cc: Chile-heads@globalgarden.com
Subject: Re: [CH] Why different formats? 

> Does anyone know why the mini-brains decided to use different formats
for 
> videotaping and DVDs between Europe and the U.S.?  They probably
designated 
> a third format for Asia.
> ...
> Can't even buy a DVD player with European format from amazon.co.uk for
shipment to U.S.

I understand the DVD issue is purely a business decision by The
Recording
Industry, that the world was carved into several regions with separate
codes to restrict access for marketing purposes, and big money gets its
way.  E.g., the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was released in
Asia
by 1998, then on DVD no later than 1999, but released in USA only in
2000.
Think of the money that would have been lost if people in USA had had
access to DVD version of that film before 2000?  (I'm sure it must be
irrelevant to ask, "Think of the money that would have been made if that
film had been released in USA in 1998, concurrently with Asia release,
instead of waiting two more years").

In contrast, the VHS issue is purely technological, I believe.  I have
been
told that NTSC is inferior to PAL -- significantly lower video quality.
I
suppose NTSC was the first type of VHS available, when VHS use was
ramping
up in USA, when it was dueling with Betamax, so it got the large
installed
base, so it continues to predominate in USA.  Maybe VHS usage in Europe
began growing somewhat later, and by then PAL had been developed, and it
would be reasonable for the superior solution to be more popular, so it
predominated there.  Presumably ditto for the 2-3 other formats in use
in
different regions around the world, not that I know the intro dates of
any
of these formats nor merits, either, aside from NTSC/PAL comparison
mentioned above.

 ---   Brent