My Blog Really Isn't Better Than Yours, Better is a Subjective Term Anyways.

I probably thought about what to write about for this blog longer than its going to take me to actually write it, maybe thats a problem, maybe its not. Either way, you're gonna get an awesomely thought about topic instead of a spur of the moment one, i guess thats cool.

Today i'm ranting about how history keeps repeating itself in stupid ways in the technology world.  Many of you probably know about the recent death of HD-DVD, vanquised by its fierce competitor Blu-Ray Disc. Was this a justified death? not really, an inevitable one? by far. 

Back in the days of VHS vs. Beta-Max i guess Beta was actually better and stored more information or something, at least thats what my dad says, the master of getting hyped up on formats that die (the idiot bought a minidisc player quite possibly a month before ipods and mp3 market blew up, i'd be suprised if you could even find those things outside of the internet nowadays, oh how quickly the minidisc died.... 

...but back to my main point at hand, not my father, Beta max died out due to a lack of support, bad advertising, and bad image, VHS was by no means better, but the "normal people" whom knew nothing of the technology simply believed what was forced into thier heads by the advertising that was rampant in the day and age, if a poster in an electronics store said something was better, and thier neighboor had it and "it does everything" for them, then it was better. there was no blogs or internet reviews or widespread communication systems to unveil the real truth.

Now, with the huge demand for HD Entertainment, the video industry is pushing the next big transition, the death of DVD's and the birth of Next-Gen Discs (aka Blu-Ray, now that HD-DVD has given its wilhelm scream). But why Blu-Ray? why not use HD-DVDs, those seem more realistic, i mean arent they just like regular dvds but with more lines of resolution?

Not exactly, despite Blu-Ray's out of the blue name (oh dear lord i really didnt intend that pun) or or HD-DVD's more straitforward, simple name, both discs rely on new, untested, and unrefined laser technology, neither have reached thier full potentials, and neither have any huge advantages above the other at the moment. I could go on about the minute complexities and differences, but ill forgo that and just post a link here.

So in the end, Blu-Ray is victorious today, and honestly, it had nothing to do with any of its capabilities, and possible refinement to become better than HD-DVDs and store more. It is a simple repitition of history that successful widespread marking, flashy names, and big business support will make or break a new technology. It's sad but true, Blu-Ray won this battle simply due to money and investment, Sony knew what they were doing when they pushed it, with flashy commercials, big investments, huge contracts with movie companies, and a plethora more deals with third party electronics manufacturers. Toshiba had thier heads in the right places, but became mere children compared to the big bad boys at Sony, and thus HD-DVD is now nothing more than a relic, which is sad because i love my Toshiba Laptop.

The HD-DVD player attachments for the xbox are on clearance now for 50 bucks at my work (best buy). Maybe i'll buy one so i can be "that guy" and insist on owning and collecting a dead format, hell, i already collect vinyl, hell, maybe there already an underground HD-DVD culture spawning, collecting cult movies that those stupid mainstream blu-ray kids wouldnt even appreciate. And since capitalism brought about the ultimate end of HD-DVD, i would totally be fighting the man if i did, and for future reference, i am pro-fighting the man. wrar.