Re: Git
Not sure why this was downvoted as it makes a perfectly valid point. The original versions of Beta only held one hour, which wasn't enough for (e.g.) a film, many sports games, etc. That negates many of the things people would have wanted video recorders for.
They got round that later, but only (in part) by introducing a half-speed LP mode which also reduced the quality, compromising what was Betamax's much-vaunted advantage in the first place.
If- at the time of Beta's release- there had been a video cassette format that was better-than-broadcast-quality and the size of an audio cassette but it only held five minutes of video, would the Beta fans have bought that?
If, as I'm almost certain, the answer is "no", then we've established that even *they* agree with the principle there's always a tradeoff between quality, size and practicality. None of us liked the bulkiness of VHS, and better quality would have been nice, but in real terms there were legitimate reasons to prefer it.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
