In some ways I’m pleased that Sony has won the latest format wars. Why? Because they should’ve won the first format war of JVC’s VHS tape format with Betamax. The Sony tape format was far superior and became the backbone of the professional video production industry for over 25 years as the BetaCam derivative.
So what has the cost been to the environment? The good news is that this HD format war has been won quickly and high definition player sales have so far, been disappointing. The bad news is that there could be over 50,000 units sold in Europe – all potentially destined to be dumped. Let’s hope they all get recycled!
