Just looking at the first page of this thread, with a couple of folks wondering about Beta vs VHS, in case anyone's still wondering twelve years later, there's an excellent YouTube channel called Technology Connections that delves into this question in glorious full-blooded Aspie detail.
My folks bought a Video 2000 player. Don't know if that was because they'd done some research (technically, it had several advantages) or simply that was the horse the local vendors had backed and it was in stock.
Just looking at the first page of this thread, with a couple of folks wondering about Beta vs VHS, in case anyone's still wondering twelve years later, there's an excellent YouTube channel called Technology Connections that delves into this question in glorious full-blooded Aspie detail.