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Upon seeing this last month, I thought this would be a good watch for everyone else in the SitcomsOnline community so they could see if they ever dealt with any of these formats themselves... or maybe something that would make Dude111 get riled up given his infatuation with obsolete technology.

In the 90s and 2000s, tech corporations weren't just selling products, they were selling "formats". They wanted to own the way you watched movies and listened to music, forcing you to buy your entire collection all over again. Today on BeforeWiFi, we are exploring 15 pointless media formats that wasted billions of our collective dollars.

From the infamous "self-destructing" DivX discs and the Sony UMD "prison" to the $100 million failure of HD-DVD and the endless, overpriced variants of the Sony Memory Stick. We take a nostalgic look at the gadgets that promised the future but delivered only empty wallets and drawers full of useless plastic.

According to retail data, the average tech consumer spent over $1,200 on formats that vanished in less than 3 years. Let's find out why "convenience" was sometimes just a corporate trap.

Thank you buddy!

My 2 favourite Media formats are VHS and Videodisc (CED)

When I was at salvation army the other day I saw some BETA cassettes!!

If I put the beta tape into a VHS cartridge and try to play it on my VCR,will it play does anyone know?? (Im curious if the 2 are compatible video formats)

Thank you buddy!

My 2 favourite Media formats are VHS and Videodisc (CED)

When I was at salvation army the other day I saw some BETA cassettes!!

If I put the beta tape into a VHS cartridge and try to play it on my VCR,will it play does anyone know?? (Im curious if the 2 are compatible video formats)

No, the formats aren't compatible. Compare the size of a VHS tape to a Beta tape. A VHS tape is big and clunky and a Beta tape is slightly more compact.

To put it simply, it don't fit.

One of the reasons Beta "lost" was slightly longer record time for VHS. To me you don't want to use SLP mode anyway, due to the decrease in quality. With VHS and DVD recorder, I've always used SP.

Thank you buddy!

My 2 favourite Media formats are VHS and Videodisc (CED)

When I was at salvation army the other day I saw some BETA cassettes!!

If I put the beta tape into a VHS cartridge and try to play it on my VCR,will it play does anyone know?? (Im curious if the 2 are compatible video formats)

No, the formats aren't compatible. Compare the size of a VHS tape to a Beta tape. A VHS tape is big and clunky and a Beta tape is slightly more compact.

To put it simply, it don't fit.

One of the reasons Beta "lost" was slightly longer record time for VHS. To me you don't want to use SLP mode anyway, due to the decrease in quality. With VHS and DVD recorder, I've always used SP.

Oops, sorry, I reread the question. I doubt that would work due to the difference in technology. But if you like to tinker you're welcome to try, however the tape might jam in the VCR.

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Well, the Youtube video answers the question--the tape formats aren't compatible.

Another media format that wound up a big-time bust: "Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED)" -- or "Movies On Vinyl".

I have also seen a few YouTube videos on the CED and how it ended up being a huge failure. A few factors included:


Its release (in 1981) being 17 years after it was first conceived by RCA (in 1964) because of internal mismanagement and technical hurdles
A complete lack of recording capability (being playback-only unlike VHS)
Cumbersome playback (the discs can only hold 60 minutes per side and a particular movie had to be split into multiple parts, or even multiple discs entirely)
Fragile media and stylus wear (CEDs were read with an incredibly fine stylus—much like a traditional phonograph record. The grooves were so delicate that human oils could destroy the video, and even a single speck of dust could cause skipping)
Fierce competition from magnetic-tape formats and LaserDisc (which were already dominating the home-video market)

A great website about the CED format: https://cedmagic.com/

Thank you Dream for that video!!

Its interesting isnt it buddy??

I have absolutely no use for Blu-ray but I like VHS and DVD. I still have working VCR's and DVD machines that play and record.

Wow you have a DVD recorder??

Ah man!!

Yes, I have two of them. When recording, I use DVD-R media.

One thing that I'm currently not able to do is record CD's for music. My stereo system has a cassette player/recorder, but the CD unit only plays CD's, it doesn't record. I have one of those Crosley stereos that plays and records CD's, but the record function stopped working properly some time ago.

Yes, I have two of them. When recording, I use DVD-R media.

One thing that I'm currently not able to do is record CD's for music. My stereo system has a cassette player/recorder, but the CD unit only plays CD's, it doesn't record. I have one of those Crosley stereos that plays and records CD's, but the record function stopped working properly some time ago.

I don’t have an optical media player anymore, but I did most of my CD and DVD burning on my computers. I never had a standalone CD or DVD recorder.

Of the dinosaurs mentioned in the video the only ones I ever owned were a DivX player, a laserdisc player and video CD recorder. I never used the DivX and the VCD was good for TV shows, but you could only get 3 half-hour episodes on one disc. The laserdisc player and my Twilight Zone discs were eventually sold on eBay, the VCD stopped working entirely and the DivX is sitting in a storage shed gathering dust.

The Panasonic DVD recorder (2005) was a great item to have. It has an integrated hard drive which allows editing before copying to a recordable DVD.

I still have one hooked up but it's becoming increasingly irrelevant. The only tuner I can record from anymore is an old Comcast DTA (Digital Transport Adapter) box. It's from around 2010, a little after the digital TV conversion.

I don’t have an optical media player anymore, but I did most of my CD and DVD burning on my computers. I never had a standalone CD or DVD recorder.

My desktop computer has a CD/DVD drive, but I haven't used it to try burning CD's or DVD's. I've always used the standalone devices.

Not a big priority for me right now, but eventually I may try shopping on Ebay for a used CD player/recorder that's in good working order.

The Panasonic DVD recorder (2005) was a great item to have. It has an integrated hard drive which allows editing before copying to a recordable DVD.

I still have one hooked up but it's becoming increasingly irrelevant. The only tuner I can record from anymore is an old Comcast DTA (Digital Transport Adapter) box. It's from around 2010, a little after the digital TV conversion.

One of my DVD player/recorders is a Panasonic, it's one of those VCR/DVD combo units. It works good, bought it used from Ebay a few years ago.

Being able to make a lossless CD copy, or burn your own lossless CD compilation, was such a revolution.

The Panasonic DVD recorder (2005) was a great item to have. It has an integrated hard drive which allows editing before copying to a recordable DVD.

I still have one hooked up but it's becoming increasingly irrelevant. The only tuner I can record from anymore is an old Comcast DTA (Digital Transport Adapter) box. It's from around 2010, a little after the digital TV conversion.

A little added info.--at some point, Comcast will probably discontinue devoting space to standard definition on their cable system (they probably don't like having to convert signals from HD to SD anyway). That would mean, exit my DTA and exit my DVD recorder. Due to a complaint from WTHR (which is the MeTV affiliate here, via a digital subchannel), Comcast recently converted their SD MeTV channel to HD (which means it appears twice, once in HD on the SD tier and on the HD tier), which nixes MeTV on the DTA.

Long term, I can see Comcast totally discontinuing SD. Even longer term, it's probably going to be, exit legacy cable channels. If we see any major cable networks cease (like the Viacom networks), that will signal it's starting, IMO.

Comcast has SD still??

God bless them........

Spectrum forces thier HD crap on everyone I think... So if you only want SD,the picture is way too wide!!

One time when DirecTV was trying to force people to change to thier stupid newer HD box that was crap compared to my self owned RCA BOX.. Someone from DTV was talking to me about HD and I said "I dont want that crap.... I want SD like I always had" They wouldnt let me keep my box so I just cancelled.....

Now Dream Canteen might be mad at me but some of us dont want that garbage and like what he have always had!!

If you have an HDMI connection to their box, as I do, you automatically go to the HD tier. So you tell the remote you want A&E, and you get the HD version.

Probably, if you're using a coax connection, you go to the SD tier. In most cases, they're converting the HD signal to SD for that tier, which automatically puts it into a letterbox, with black bars on all sides, or depending on aspect ratio, widescreen, with black bars on top and bottom.

I doubt the SD option will last much longer. I also doubt SD makes you too happy; it's still digital TV and has been since 2009.

I doubt anyone is "mad" at you -- you certainly can like what you like. But at some point, we're all forced to upgrade, or not have TV anymore. At some point, the old TV or VCR won't work anymore.

Yea I know buddy,its really very sad.....

Yea I know buddy,its really very sad.....

If you know, then you should not be so sad as going from SD with only 480 line of resolution to HD with 1080 line of resolution mean picture quality will be twice as sharp. With more saturated vivid natural colors and higher picture dynamics (deeper Blacks and more bright Whites) :)

But it doesnt look as natural..

I prefer a CRT Golden and SD for the picture as I think it looks the nicest...

I have seen widescreen stuff and to me it doesnt look as nice....

I have seen widescreen stuff and to me it doesnt look as nice....

Could you give us example of what widescreen or HD programs you saw and what type of TV you watched it on that didn't look good to you. That might help our conversation better rather than just saying "SD look better to me than HD".

I knew it--no reply. The crickets are chirping.

Now Dream Canteen might be mad at me but some of us dont want that garbage and like what he have always had!!

I’ve never been mad about the analog thing.

Baffled? Yeah.

Annoyed? Sometimes.

Suspicious this is all just a bunch of Dunning-Kruger hot air? And how!

I’ve never been mad about the analog thing.

Baffled? Yeah.

Annoyed? Sometimes.

Suspicious this is all just a bunch of Dunning-Kruger hot air? And how!

Could you give us example of what widescreen or HD programs you saw and what type of TV you watched it on that didn't look good to you. That might help our conversation better rather than just saying "SD look better to me than HD".


"You want specifics? Uh...well..."

I should have figured this out sooner.

I’ve never been mad about the analog thing.Im glad your not mad at me buddy!!

"You want specifics? Uh...well..."

I should have figured this out sooner.

I really don't think Dude like to get into specifics as he might be afraid truth might come out as he must be one in 8 billion people (whole world population) that think SD look better than HD. Remind me of a scene from the movie A Few Good Men where Jack Nicholson told Tom Cruise: "You can't handle The Truth".

I knew it--no reply. The crickets are chirping.Ah man!!

Ah man!!

We ask for specifics and that's the response we get. So will remind of this post next time you mention SD or HD :D

I just like SD thats all :)