What the HELL Were You Thinking? artwork

Episode 372: Video Home System Killed the Betamax Star

What the HELL Were You Thinking?

English - August 01, 2022 09:00 - 32 minutes - ★★★★★ - 12 ratings
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Previous Episode: Episode 371: The Dog's Name Was Harvey (Pt 2 of the Summer of Sam)
Next Episode: Episode 373: David and Eddie Had Had It Already by the Summer of '85

Episode 372: Video Home System Killed the Betamax Star

This week Host Dave Bledsoe gets all nostalgic with some old home videos only to discover something unspeakably horrible on a tape labeled “David’s 12th Birthday” (Actual footage of his 12th birthday, god he was a fat little kid!) On the show this week we tell the tale of the most brutal conflict of the 1980’s, the war between VHS and Beta (So…Much…Blood)

Along the way we discover why Dave isn’t allowed in any movie theaters anymore. (It would be better if it were a Pee Wee Herman thing) Then we dive right into the creation of home video, from its absurdly British beginnings to the mighty Titan that was Sony striding across the land. (Spoiler: Sony loses). Then we dig into General Curtis LeMay’s porn preferences for reasons never truly explained, only to veer back on topic with the tale of two tape formats and the brief but bitter fight over which one would dominate the world. (It turns out to be the one that is slightly cheaper.) We wrap up with a delightful but completely irrelevant tangent on why people called Montgomery Ward department stores Monkey Ward. (Are there monkeys involved? You’ll have to tune in to find out, or, you know, Google it.)

Our Sponsor this week is Mondo Fast Eddie’s Home Video, we got the tapes, you gotta have the machines. We open the show NEC’s brand new video cassette machine and close with Lucy May Walker eulogizing the Radio Star.

Show Theme: https://www.jamendo.com/track/421668/prelude-to-common-sense
The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast
The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/
The Show on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ
www.whatthehellpodcast.com
Give us your money on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast
The Show Line: 347 687 9601
Closing Music: https://youtu.be/-6WWO6c7ud8
We are a proud member of the Seltzer Kings Podcast Network! http://seltzerkings.com/

Citations Needed:

The quest for home video
http://www.terramedia.co.uk/media/video/telcan.htm

Sony CV Series Video
http://www.smecc.org/sony_cv_series_video.htm

The Decline and Fall of Betamax
http://keyboardaerobics.blogspot.com/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-betamax.html

Wikipedia: VHS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS#VHS_development

Porn industry may be decider in Blu-ray, HD-DVD battle
https://www.macworld.com/article/179767/pornhd.html

Wikipedia: Videotape format war
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotape_format_war

Uncited Additional Reading: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videocassette_recorder

https://www.mediacollege.com/video/format/compare/betamax-vhs.html

https://www.thrillist.com/vice/how-porn-influenced-technology-8-ways-porn-influenced-tech-supercompressor-com

https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/christmas-shopping-for-a-vcrdvd-1981-vs-2009/#:~:text=Cost%20of%20a%20Sears%20VCR,%247.42%20(total%20private%20industries).

https://keepthatshort.com/how-much-did-a-vcr-cost-in-the-80s

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/07/22/rip-to-the-vcr/

https://kodakdigitizing.com/blogs/news/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-betamax-tapes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax

https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/sonyhistory-d.html
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Episode 372: Video Home System Killed the Betamax Star


This week Host Dave Bledsoe gets all nostalgic with some old home videos only to discover something unspeakably horrible on a tape labeled “David’s 12th Birthday” (Actual footage of his 12th birthday, god he was a fat little kid!) On the show this week we tell the tale of the most brutal conflict of the 1980’s, the war between VHS and Beta (So…Much…Blood)


Along the way we discover why Dave isn’t allowed in any movie theaters anymore. (It would be better if it were a Pee Wee Herman thing) Then we dive right into the creation of home video, from its absurdly British beginnings to the mighty Titan that was Sony striding across the land. (Spoiler: Sony loses). Then we dig into General Curtis LeMay’s porn preferences for reasons never truly explained, only to veer back on topic with the tale of two tape formats and the brief but bitter fight over which one would dominate the world. (It turns out to be the one that is slightly cheaper.) We wrap up with a delightful but completely irrelevant tangent on why people called Montgomery Ward department stores Monkey Ward. (Are there monkeys involved? You’ll have to tune in to find out, or, you know, Google it.)


Our Sponsor this week is Mondo Fast Eddie’s Home Video, we got the tapes, you gotta have the machines. We open the show NEC’s brand new video cassette machine and close with Lucy May Walker eulogizing the Radio Star.


Show Theme: https://www.jamendo.com/track/421668/prelude-to-common-sense

The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast

The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/

The Show on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ

www.whatthehellpodcast.com

Give us your money on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast

The Show Line: 347 687 9601

Closing Music: https://youtu.be/-6WWO6c7ud8

We are a proud member of the Seltzer Kings Podcast Network! http://seltzerkings.com/



Citations Needed:


The quest for home video

http://www.terramedia.co.uk/media/video/telcan.htm


Sony CV Series Video

http://www.smecc.org/sony_cv_series_video.htm


The Decline and Fall of Betamax

http://keyboardaerobics.blogspot.com/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-betamax.html


Wikipedia: VHS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS#VHS_development


Porn industry may be decider in Blu-ray, HD-DVD battle

https://www.macworld.com/article/179767/pornhd.html


Wikipedia: Videotape format war

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotape_format_war


Uncited Additional Reading: 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videocassette_recorder


https://www.mediacollege.com/video/format/compare/betamax-vhs.html


https://www.thrillist.com/vice/how-porn-influenced-technology-8-ways-porn-influenced-tech-supercompressor-com


https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/christmas-shopping-for-a-vcrdvd-1981-vs-2009/#:~:text=Cost%20of%20a%20Sears%20VCR,%247.42%20(total%20private%20industries).


https://keepthatshort.com/how-much-did-a-vcr-cost-in-the-80s


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/07/22/rip-to-the-vcr/


https://kodakdigitizing.com/blogs/news/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-betamax-tapes


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax


https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/sonyhistory-d.html

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