The Biggest Failures in Consumer Audio/Video Electronics History

[Wayne]

Interesting read - I had not heard of some of the inventions (not that it means much)!

http://www.audioholics.com/editoria...s-in-consumer-audio-video-electronics-history

Enjoy....

 

[Jorj]

Interesting! I have heard that the actual reason VHS won was the companies hawking it licensed the porn producers while Sony refused. Not true of course, but fun bar conversation regardless.

 

[Dialectic]

The account of the laser turntable's failure is mistaken. Laser turntables are available from a Japanese company called ELP, which acquired Finial's intellectual property.

The authors of the article should have checked Wikipedia.

 

[Wombat]

Maybe it is just a very slow demise?

http://elpj.com/

 

[Sal1950]

Interesting read - I had not heard of some of the inventions (not that it means much)!

http://www.audioholics.com/editoria...s-in-consumer-audio-video-electronics-history

Enjoy....

I owned most of them. LOL

 

[Dialectic]

Maybe it is just a very slow demise?

http://elpj.com/

I was curious about pricing a couple of years ago and heard from them promptly after I inquired.

 

[bobhol]

The audio companies will always try to come up with the next great breakthrough. So that article will need constant updating. I suspect there were some grand schemes before the days of the transistor and stereo that could be added. Also there were format wars with radio: AM stereo, early FM stereo formats, HD radio. And I suspect they will eventually be able to add MQA to their list.

 

[Fitzcaraldo215]

Interesting read - I had not heard of some of the inventions (not that it means much)!

http://www.audioholics.com/editoria...s-in-consumer-audio-video-electronics-history

Enjoy....

Yes, I read it. I am in general agreement, but some stuff is so obscure and never actually got off the ground, like Elcaset. Really, is that worthy of mention on the same scale of flop as Betamax, 3-D video or Quad Audio?

I also notice audio writers for over a decade have been consistently in a big hurry to write off SACD as dead, lumping it with the failed DVD-A. Surely, it failed to meet Sony's initial expectations financially, but it ain't dead yet. His obscure point about lack of bass management was solved well over a decade ago. And, no, Bluray has not come remotely close to supplanting it for music, as he alleges. And, no, there is no big movement toward BD audio/video music releases, as he says. He also fails to take note of the many millions of Universal disc players sold that support it.

Yes, I agree it is a small niche, however there are no separate industry sales numbers for SACD. If one is a rock music lover with tunnel vision, I can see where disc availability seems mighty skimpy, almost comatose. But, in the classical niche, it is a different story. It is tiny compared to CD, no doubt. But, are many thousands of classical releases, and they keep on coming. It remains unquestionably the leading medium for music in the Mch niche.

 

[sergeauckland]

Interesting read - I had not heard of some of the inventions (not that it means much)!

http://www.audioholics.com/editoria...s-in-consumer-audio-video-electronics-history

Enjoy....

Interesting article.
In the case of VHS/Betamax, in the UK, the explanation was that as at the time there was a significant rental market for both TVs and VCRs, JVC did deals with all the rental companies and that pushed out Sony who didn't. The availability of VHS machines then stimulated the video tape rental market, so far fewer tapes were available for rental on Betamax, maxing VHS even more attractive.

How much of that is true, I don't know, but it was the most common explanation I heard for the UK situation. (Better still was the Philips P2000 system, but that got nowhere.)

I still have Quadraphonic LPs which I play regularly, and recently bought a Sony SQD2020 decoder to better my DIY build.

As to Minidisc and DAT, both had a much longer Professional life than as consumer products, MD especially. Elcasette and DCC both went nowhere.
I think that once the portable MP3 player became available, the reason to have MiniDisc, DAT or DCC went away. Most consumers don't do live field recordings, only need portability for playing music in the car, whilst jogging etc.

S

 

[JBNY]

I don't think Laserdics were really a failure, the format lasted a long time. I really enjoyed them when they were around. A few places near me you could rent them so they were readily available. The soundtracks were in digital format, I remember Dobly AC3 (eventually Double Digital) Laserdiscs sounded great, all my friends would come over for movie night to watch them at our house with a good surround system. The Criterion Collection versions were awesome with the alternate audio tracks, so you could have the director and actors taking over the film about how scenes were filmed or what they meant. I really enjoyed them for the 10 years or so that I got out of the format.

 

[DonH56]

The Biggest Failure in Consumer Audio/Video Electronics History

Common sense?

 

[RayDunzl]

Common sense?

There is certainly some evidence for that.

I think I'm still OK, for the most part.

 

[bobhol]

As I always say one persons Common Sense is another persons Lunacy.

 

[sofrep811]

I remember back in the early 2Ks I was helping a buddy’s startup that took movies that failed in renewing the copyright, editing them, and packaging as DVDs. Porn was the bank roll that allowed him to invest heavily into this operation. Anyway, I remember trying to acquire many BetaMax Recorders. No idea why, but the ones he needed were $1k to $2k. We were always fixing them. Transfer VHS or Reel tape to Beta, then edit and burn. Stupid titles like Billy The Kid Vs Dracula. Doubt it’s possible anymore, as any studio knows all titles can bring in something.