Re: OT: Question for Anim

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 3/12/2024 12:02 AM, anim8rfsk wrote:

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 3/11/2024 9:06 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

Anim, as someone who has worked in the TV/Film industry I'd like your
serious opinion on something.  Elsewhere I'm involved in a discussion
where we are wondering how Apple can get away with the prices it charges
and is there anything it actually does better than a high-end PC.
Someone suggested video and audio (music) work.

So my question is what would you use now for video and/or FX work?  And
why please?

Well, I've been retired for a few years now and just doing consulting and
kibitzing so I really can't speak to what I would use if I were going to
start over.

But in my day, the people that actually did the work did it on Macs or
Linux and the people who thought they did the work, but were  just in the
way used windows.

There's a school of thought that "cheaper is better" regardless
of anything else. And those are the people that always wanted us to
use windows. They would buy a PC for $1000 and say see this is way
better than your Mac that cost 1500 but then they would have to go
out and add a whole bunch of stuff to it and end up out of pocket
$2000 and still not have half the computer the Apple guys did.

Compare this thinking to beta versus VHS. There's absolutely no doubt Beta
was better in every measurable capacity, but VHS was better at promotion
and underhanded pricing deals. So it won.

I thought it was because Betamax wouldn't allow their format to be used
for porn.

No. At the time, a good friend of mine was working at Fred rated and took
me through the store and showed me how all the various spiffs (perks and
kickbacks) worked which I found really interesting. For instance, if they
could get you to buy a knock off Walkman instead of a namebrand Sony
Walkman the salesman got $7.50 on a $50 sale. A pair of Panasonic D
batteries would get you $.50 all by themselves!

Sony with the Japanese mindset had a really different incentive plan than
Americans are used to. They paid kickbacks on the beta units, but only once
a year at Christmas/New Year's. Meanwhile the VHS units paid kickbacks at
the time of sale. So would you rather get 50 bucks now for convincing me to
buy a VHS or take your chance that you were still going to be at the store
at the end of the year and get a lot more money in one lump?

So the salesmen are telling all the customers to get VHS based entirely on
the kickback, not the actual performance of the unit.  Guess what sold
best?

 

Ah, that sounds familiar.  I may have heard that before but forgot.

I still think porn had something to do with it though.  ;)

Hahahahaha

Sony forced Hollywood studios to pay high licensing fees to make use of
the Betamax patents. Is it possible that this was unaffordable to the
tiny studios producing pr0n? My recollection is VHS required no
licensing fee for distribution of content on home video.