Format wars - we recently saw blue ray video players win as the successor to the venerable DVD player. Format wars and changing standards are nothing new - think back to the early 1980s when video cassette recorders (remember VCRs?) first appeared. We had two choices; VHS and Betamax, side by side comparisons would reveal that Betamax had a better picture. However, VHS technology had deeper marketing pockets and became the winner. Think about the last time you saw a Betamax VCR in a store; 1984? 1985?

Maybe you are one of the poor souls out there who bought Betamax camcorders back then and now have only a pile of home movies that you can't watch, because your Betamax camcorder was given away during a relocation move, etc., and you haven't seen the movie of your kids when they were little in over 20 years. Guess what? You can now rejoice!