Beta to the MAX

Sony Betamax

   
  Many years ago I shopped for a VCR. In the late 1980's the VCR was still an emerging technology. At the time these devices were expensive with a price tag of three or four hundred dollars.

     There was some confusion over just what exactly was a VCR . Sony introduced the Betamax in 1975 and in it's initial advertising campaign called it "The Time Machine" because you could record a television show and watch it at a later time. There were people who bought this product who later tried to sue Sony because they thought that the Betamax would actually enable them to travel through time.

     I did extensive research over what product I wanted to buy. I had seen demonstrations of many different models. I came to the conclusion that the picture quality of the Sony Beta machine was much sharper and clearer than even the most expensive VHS units.

     I had heard that the Beta format did not have the wide acceptance that the VHS format did. There were not as many prerecorded tapes available for the Beta format.There were not many video stores that rented Beta tapes. However, there was a video store near my house that carried both formats and I never came across a time when a title I wanted to see was not available in Beta.

     Sony also produced a handheld video recorder that supported the Beta format. Because the Beta cassette was smaller than the VHS cassette it could fit inside the unit instead of having to end up in a separate unit that was tethered to the camera with a cable.

    I had a friend that was in the VCR repair business and he told me that the Beta unit was more reliable than the VHS unit. He explained that the tape path in the VHS unit was more complicated and as a result lots of times the VHS unit would "eat tapes".

   Esquire magazine publishes an annual list of whats in and whats out. That year they said "Beta is in,VHS is out"

    I ended up buying a Beta machine. It served me well for many years. I rented many tapes and also recorded many shows off the air. The device was fairly easy to program. You just had to remember to leave it turned on.

    As time went on however, market forces squeezed the Beta out of existence. The video store that rented the Beta tapes went out of business and the big stores like Blockbuster didn't carry Beta tapes.

    VCR's came down in price so much that I was able to afford to buy a VHS machine. I used the VHS machine to watch prerecorded tapes but still used the Beta machine to record programs off the air since the picture quality was still better.

    I knew that Sony was throwing in the towel when it announced that it would produce it's own VHS recorder. It was soon after that that the Beta machine was discontinued altogether.

    I guess this is a textbook example of a superior technology that entered the market ahead of all competition and still ended up failing in the long run.

    In hindsight we can look at Sony's inability to hold on to their dominant position in the market. Their unwillingness to let other companies use their format without charging a royalty fee is a major reason for that. The worldwide demand for the VCR was so great that Sony and the few companies that produced Beta machines could not produce nearly enough units. JVC and the other VHS producers flooded the market with VHS machines. As a result, the ancillary products such as tapes were also produced more for the VHS format.
     They also failed to cultivate relationships with the major movie studios.They also could have cultivated relationships with video stores.

     We all know how this ends. DVD's emerged as a superior technology and cable television boxes come equipped with the means to record directly off the air. The VCR has become obsolete.