Beta versus VHS all over again

What a sense of déjà vu. Over the last few days, I have been looking at buying a replacement for the DVD player in my home entertainment system. The one I have is quite old, and was never really all that good to begin with.

Being a geek and a gadget freak, I am of course looking at upgrading to a new high definition player. As many, if not all, of you know there are currently two competing, entirely incompatible format for high definition DVDs.

Now, I am not in much of a position to argue the detailed technical merits of the two formats, nor do I have any interest whatsoever in being in such a position.

What strikes me here is that, once again, we have an industry showing a complete lack of respect for its customers, encouraging a large number to invest in a technology which not survive. Then, anyone who has invested in the losing technology will not only have to invest in new hardware, but will potentially have to invest in replacement copies of any media which have been purchased in that format. What a windfall for the media owners – almost like they could have planned it that way, if one believed they were smart enough.

Really, I think this whole business of an industry which cannot get its act together to agree on a single high definition DVD format is absurd, and shows that this industry cannot learns from its mistakes.

Can I do anything about this stupidity? Probably not. The only option I have right now is the same one all of us have – i choose not to spend one thin dime on this crap until the industry gets it head out of its, well, you know.

Get with it people.