Before you comment that "Beta didn't fail! It lived on for many many years in the professional world, with TV studios using Beta into the 2000s!" please note: *This is not Betamax.* Betacam is the format that was used in the professional market, and although it used the same basic cassettes and recorder design, it used component and later digital signals that were entirely unrelated to and incompatible with consumer Beta. Since Betacam is not and never was intended to be a consumer product, it's not mentioned in this discussion on the videotape format war.
@Takeshi357
7 жыл бұрын
It actually becomes tricky to figure out when exactly Betamax really "died" because commercial tapes and recorders were manufactured for years even after Sony effectively admitted defeat and manufactured their first VHS recorder. Apparently the last commercially released pre-recorded betamax cassette was Mission: Impossible, as late as 1996, and I think the machines were made as late as 2000 in Japan. But going back the other way, the _distribution_ of the commercial tapes changed, leaving the realm of retail and into mail order, but I guess the common cutoff point people like to use is 1989 when they stopped selling the devices in the States.
@warnerbrosanddisneyvhsdvdb9015
7 жыл бұрын
Tetsuron I like VHS better
@CoffeinshockDe
6 жыл бұрын
you could do a series about how history repeats itself. Betamx vs VHS is beat for beat a repetition of Edision cylinder vs Berliner Disc.
@Knightmessenger
6 жыл бұрын
What about Super Betamax? Wasn't that the equivalent of S-vhs which got some use by people who wanted to record tv in a better consumer format? I know someone who has recorded practically every University of Michigan football game on beta tapes until 2004 when he switched to a newer digital format. I assume at some point he switched to Super Beta.
@conanobrien1
6 жыл бұрын
isn't one of the myths why VHS prevailed, is because porn industry adopted it
@patrickderp1044
10 ай бұрын
well i can see why it failed, it wasnt called alpha max
@cooperschwartz318
3 ай бұрын
This deserves so much more than 18 likes
@scippatorediemozion1
3 ай бұрын
@@cooperschwartz318now it’s 20
@derekheeps1244
3 ай бұрын
it didn't fail any more than VHS did , both formats are now relegated to history .
@goopah
5 жыл бұрын
Airplane! And Fawlty Towers! Excellent choices, sir.
@jaffaorange3809
4 жыл бұрын
He used the airport parking directions from 'Airplane!' in his video about the ring sounds of the Western Electric 500 in movies and TV shows. He must be a fan!
@charlesml3
4 жыл бұрын
Bad News. The fog is getting thicker.
@mrpiggy001
4 жыл бұрын
looks like I picked the wrong week to not make comments on youtube
@jamesd362
4 жыл бұрын
charlesml3 and Leon’s getting larger!
@thehunterator520
4 жыл бұрын
The tower? The tower? Rapunzel Rapunzel.
@StopChangingUsernamesYouTube
7 жыл бұрын
Was that really 16:28? It felt more like five minutes. It's nice to see someone presenting tech history who's clearly done research and speaks confidently. I hope you continue to release many more of these videos and that your channel gets more exposure. Thanks again!
@mattlovell4213
5 жыл бұрын
You should have left 12:00 flashing just to be accurate.
@chiroquacker2580
5 жыл бұрын
For true accuracy It needs a lace doily on top and a low quality cheap looking clear vinyl dust cover that is turning yellow.
@petersachs764
4 жыл бұрын
Honestly, I think anyone who would spend $1000+ on a VCR is not the same person who would not know how to set the clock. The age of electronics being so cheap that a Luddite would buy one was yet to come.
@eddiesantos7232
7 жыл бұрын
This is my new favourite KZitem channel. I've heard this story before, but not in quite the same amount of depth. Can't wait for part 2!
@VictorCampos87
7 жыл бұрын
If you like this you will like *8-bit Guy* and *Techmoan* videos too!
@Zcooger
7 жыл бұрын
We have now trinity force on youtube. Techmoan + 8-bit guy and Technology connections!
@Zcooger
7 жыл бұрын
Thanks for mentioning LGR. I will check it!
@xantis12
5 жыл бұрын
"Gimme the Tape!" On a serious note, this was well researched and presented. Thank you for creating this.
@PSA7788
5 жыл бұрын
1980 I bought a Sony BetaMax (side loading) . I had gotten a HUGE bonus that year and bought this thing (and also learned to fly !). Good times.
@nthgth
3 жыл бұрын
"Where did YOU learn to fly?" (I wonder if anyone will get this pointless reference)
@drsudo5135
3 жыл бұрын
@@nthgth WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO BE AN ASSHOLE?! 😂
@nthgth
3 жыл бұрын
@@drsudo5135 hahaha 🍻 cheers!
@AbdallahTeach
2 жыл бұрын
How big of an investment was a VCR back then?
@fxsrider
5 жыл бұрын
I own a HD DVD player. I thought if Microsoft adopted it, it was going to be the norm. Wrong! I'm going to keep it as new maybe my grandkids can cash in on it.
@100percentSNAFU
5 жыл бұрын
Be kind, please rewind!
@jakejones5736
5 жыл бұрын
LOL! Yeah, remember when they used to have a "rewind" fee?
@paulbarlow8286
5 жыл бұрын
HA! Remember the tape rewinding machines shaped like cars? I had one!
@gravyboat2370
5 жыл бұрын
Haha I always used to forget and take it back late. Dump it on the counter and don't go back for a while and use my mates account
@MrPAULONEAL
5 жыл бұрын
The DVDs at Blockbuster had those labels on the cases.
@SquishyZoran
5 жыл бұрын
Paul Barlow neat. Ours was Radio shack branded which makes it doubly ironic!
@MsMadLemon
7 жыл бұрын
Great video, I was always curious about the differences between VHS and Betamax. Looking forward to part 2!
@andrew_koala2974
5 жыл бұрын
@MsMadLemon You could have spoke with any TV Technician and discovered the answer to your question. Did you never consider asking. You only discover answers when you ask questions. So always be asking questions about everything you don't know about, and surround yourself with people who know MORE than you. Let them teach you and be teachable. Then teach it to your children.
@4Kandlez
5 жыл бұрын
@@andrew_koala2974 I hate to say it, but you're sort of mansplaining here.
@NewfieMan98
3 жыл бұрын
That Gran Turismo 3 reference was probably more descriptive for me than you thought it would be. Had to smash that x button down hard or you'd only go partial throttle. I would honestly like to see you do a video on how the progressive buttons work. I've found out that all buttons, including the D pad so it too.
@nthgth
2 жыл бұрын
I remember being so disappointed that analog face buttons didn't catch on for consoles. Analog triggers pretty much make up for it though.
@MrRom92DAW
5 жыл бұрын
I just found an SL-5800 for $10 in a thrift store and it looks overwhelmingly similar to the Sl-5400, so this video served as a nice overview of the unit! The only differences I can spot are underneath the two hidden panels for the tuner and clock/timer. Seems yours has more LEDs and switches for the channels instead of buttons. Now only one problem... where in the world am I gonna find a freakin Betamax tape lmao. Was hoping there might be one mixed in amongst all the VHS in the thrift store but no such luck. Hopefully I can see how the machine runs soon.
@NCF8710
5 жыл бұрын
The original consumer Betamax (SL-7200) could only record for one hour on the standard L-500 cassette (Beta I). The first VHS VCRs had a standard recording time of 2 hours and an LP recording time of 4 hours on a standard T-120 cassette. The SL-7200 needed a mechanical timer accessory to set a timed recording while the early VHS machines (RCA VBT-200) had a built in digital clock / timer for timed recording. These two features alone gave the VHS machines a big head start in the VCR war. I started repairing VCRs in 1978 and was an authorized RCA repair station for them. Tooling up for VHS and Beta VCR repair was very expensive at the time. I still have tools, jigs and fixtures for it as well as service manuals dating back to 1977 collecting dust.
@paulyricca3881
2 жыл бұрын
ILL GIVE 500 DOLLARS IF YOU CAN FIX MY VHS PLAYER
@bungalowfeuhler1541
5 жыл бұрын
Bring back wood grain electronics now!
@thedys70
5 жыл бұрын
And wood grain station wagons too; they are the tits!
@curbmassa
5 жыл бұрын
Genuine simulated wood.
@chrisbeard7940
5 жыл бұрын
God, I miss RadioShack, God !
@zo1dberg
5 жыл бұрын
Trump should write up an executive order making it illegal to produce electronics products that aren't covered in genuine simulated wood grain. MAGA!
@frankfacts6207
5 жыл бұрын
use hemp
@LakeNipissing
7 жыл бұрын
Straight up, anyone who used both formats in the 1980s and even 1990s, knows Beta smoked VHS in every way _except_ recording time. Picture quality was deplorable on VHS in SLP (6 HR) recording mode, and colors very washed out compared with Beta III (4.5 HR) mode, which almost looked as good as VHS SP (2HR) mode. Also, as mentioned, the tape transport mechanism is very lazy on VHS, but almost instant response for all tape functions on Beta. I had both types of machines in the 1980s, and used the Beta almost exclusively to record from television because the quality was so much better in long record time mode. Still have all the Beta and VHS tapes, and the various VCRs, and they still work, unlike today's junk which will fall apart after one year.
@Zuflux
7 жыл бұрын
My dad did much of the same, he once more backed the losing format with MiniDisc. I loved this format as it was a much neater size to handle and store compared to CD's, and was great for recording stuff off the radio, for example.
@spottydog4477
7 жыл бұрын
Mate this from a country on NTSC (Never The Same Color) 520 lines of transmission??.. Shit in - shit out....ahahah!..The Brits were on PAL system with 625 lines........so at least the Play- back was of a satisfying quality....on Either Beta or VHS
@wildbilltexas
7 жыл бұрын
Back in the 80's-90's I used LP and EP most of the time to save money on tapes, and it was very watchable on the 19 inch CRT TV's (RCA and Philips) I had back then. I didn't realize how bad the quality was until I got a 55 inch Vizio flatscreen and started watching some old tapes.
@kaitlyn__L
7 жыл бұрын
this is what's called "survivor bias" - only the machines that were built to last have survived until now, and so there is always the perception that "modern things die fast, old things last forever". people were saying the same thing in the 70s about products from the 30s and 40s.
@buckfiden6227
7 жыл бұрын
LakeNipissing True. Also, 1. The comparison he makes between SP & BII is not a fair one b/c he's comparing an 80's Betamax to a modern VHS vcr. In the 80's VHS was not as good as it later became. 2. In the mid 80's movie studios started putting an anti-copy code on pre-recorded tapes. The code only worked on VHS as Betamax could still copy ANY movie regardless of the copy protection scheme! If more movie buffs had known this, Beta may have sold better.
@ozrithclay6921
7 жыл бұрын
I haven't heard your sarcasm on this level before. clicked like before the 1st 5 mins were over
@hepchaos
5 жыл бұрын
It's simple. Beta was a bit too expensive, but their quality in recording was better, the problem was that it only recorded an hour on a tape, and that was after they increased it when JVC's VHS was coming out. Vhs was lower quality recording, but it could record two full hours and it was cheaper. The video still looked fine, especially to people who grew up on over-the-air broadcasts which were notoriously iffy in quality. Cheaper and more bang for the buck always wins over prettier with slightly better quality.
@Mike-ie5xu
5 жыл бұрын
Absolutely amazing that you could summarize this 2-part, 30+ minute rambling series of videos into a few concise sentences. A-fucking-mazing.
@brucenadeau1280
5 жыл бұрын
Vhs won because it could do more of what the customers wanted to do Beta added features that wore nice failed at the most important task record the tv shows the customers wanted to watch
@hectorsagan4655
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks for pointing out, HepChaos, that over-the-air broadcasts were of low quality, making Beta's better quality image irrelevant, to most consumers. I remember, that Beta and VHS both looked the same to me, when recording off-the-air, or from open-source instructional tapes that were deteriorated from many playbacks. Back then, I wondered, perhaps, only video connoisseurs could see the subtle difference? ......Therefore... today I wonder... Was Beta preferred by pirates? ...who were duplicating video tapes, rented from video stores? For personal use... or resale? One copy, pirated to Beta, could be used to make hundreds of original-looking copies, either to Beta or VHS. Can anyone chime in, on that? ......On the issue of US consumers wanting a recording length of 4 to 6 hours, for football... did the Japanese at Sony even know what football was? Or did they just make a survey of the maximum duration of US series episodes, news specials, dramatic plays, and operas? (LOL! There were a few operas broadcast, on US educational public networks.)
@RaptorV1USA
4 жыл бұрын
and the Porns..... dont forget the Porns...
@thomask940
4 жыл бұрын
What about the cam corders? If VHS came on the scene and flooded the market before Beta even had a model ready for production the the consumer would have the perceived notion that beta is a loser "so we better go with the VHS" mentality. Marketing strategy wins every time, regardless of performance.
@StuartGarlick
5 жыл бұрын
"I'd give anything to watch my reruns of Night Court one more time..."
@Electrolab1114
4 жыл бұрын
One of the terrestrial TV channels is actually running night court again. I think it is antenna TV.
@chicagodaddy1
4 жыл бұрын
Stuart Garlick They’re available on DVD and streaming services.
@dragons_red
4 жыл бұрын
Don't worry Mr. Plinkett, we'll get that VCR of yours fixed sooner or later.
@CaptainCaveman1170
7 жыл бұрын
Thank you for this. Very interesting (answered questions I've always had), excellently done, and perfectly paced. Good idea, too, to split it in half. 30 min episodes sometimes take some maneuvering to fit in (meaning sometimes they never do) whereas 15-16 min ones can be watched, say, during a meal.
@davidwuhrer6704
7 жыл бұрын
KZitem can remember for you where you stopped watching, and will continue from there when you watch it again. That works across devices, too, if you use the same Google account for both. I don't think it is a widely used feature, but it seems made for just such occasions.
@fishsquishguy1833
7 жыл бұрын
Jorge Garcia Just do what most guys do: Tie up the bathroom, sitting on throne with laptop/iPad, while rest of family is forced to wait. Jim
@wildbilltexas
7 жыл бұрын
Great video! In the mid 90's I picked up a early 80's Panasonic VHS top-loader at a thrift store for 5 dollars in the mid 90's. The ladies there just wanted it out the door. After a good cleaning it worked just fine and my grandmother used it for a few years after. I wish I had hung onto it after she passed away, but I had too many newer decks.
@Whole_Note
5 жыл бұрын
Cue me wondering if my parents' old Beta player still works.
@pvanukoff
7 жыл бұрын
I enjoy your dry sense of humor.
@BrasilGT
6 жыл бұрын
One thing that nobody brings when explains why beta fails is the 1981's Jane Fonda's Workout Tape, which was released for VHS only. At the time, every housewife wants a VCR because of that specific tape.
@krashd
5 жыл бұрын
Not to mention every teenage boy.
@danielmarshall4587
5 жыл бұрын
My mate's sister had Duran Duran Betamax tape of "Girls on film". He is still a Dear friend to this day,
@vinniemoreno704
5 жыл бұрын
Masturbation heaven my friends.
@Sypaka
5 жыл бұрын
Can we talk about this workout video? kzitem.info/news/bejne/zYl3k2Wqk4yFg4I
@228Brendon
5 жыл бұрын
I fapped to that once or twice
@barbaramoran8690
4 жыл бұрын
I brought my VHS player in 1993 when the price had come way down and had it until around 2012 when I got a DVD player . I rented movies and got tapes from public library . Watching movies at home is great.
@teppscan5131
4 жыл бұрын
I bought an RCA VBT200, the first commercially viable VHS recorder, in December 1977. I chose it over a Beta for one simple reason -- time. The VHS machine recorded up to 4 hours on a T-120 tape while the Beta only did 3 hours (back then players had two speeds; in VHS it was SP and LP. VHS later added SLP/EP for 6 hours and eventually dropped the middle speed altogether). One of the things I wanted to do with my machine was recored the TV broadcast of football games I attended in person. That definitely required more than 3 hours. I'm confident that this extra hour was the main reason VHS "won" over Beta. I've been telling people that for years, and I'm frankly surprised this video comes to the same conclusion.
@soylentteal
4 жыл бұрын
Beta tapes were thinner than VHS because of their smaller cases and had a much greater tendency to break. I never owned any, but I sold them when I worked retail and many were returned for that reason.
@cridenh2owo257
Жыл бұрын
we need sony machine ASMR. All those clicky clacks are delightful
@swinde
7 жыл бұрын
You need to make another video about VHS linear stereo, Beta-Hi-Fi And some of the other moves that were made in that war. For instance the slow motion Beta as well as the VHS machines abandoning there crude "M-Wrap" design the prevented the tape from being moved fast while loaded onto the heads. Beta used the Omega Wrap from the start which allowed these features. Later VHS copied Beta's method for Hi-Fi by encoding the audio on the rotating head rather than the stationary head that could only produce mediocre audio. then there was the "clear frame" stop action that was first from Sony, then VHS. Sadly, although the Beta format had a better picture and quality features, the recording time trumped everything else. I still have two working Beta machines as well as two VHS machines. Don't use them much since DVD and Blu-ray though.
@musmodtos
3 жыл бұрын
VHS Hifi is technically superior, and PAL Beta Hifi uses the VHS method with separate heads as apposed to the NTSC machines, it wasn't possible to use the NTSC method with PAL signals. From the European perspective Video2000 was far superior to both VHS and Betamax and there were plans to introduce Video2000 Hifi which would have sidestepped many of the issues with the four head system. In another reality the sensible choice of Video2000 would have been adopted as the global format of choice. Its hard to see any logic as to why VHS and Betamax were so popular compared to V2000.
@radish64
7 жыл бұрын
Never clicked on a video faster
@radish64
7 жыл бұрын
9262XYZ Just because I said I clicked on the video quickly doesn't mean that I'm gay. We don't need eight year olds like you posting idiotic and salty comments on KZitem.
@radish64
7 жыл бұрын
9262XYZ How does being gay have anything to do with posting a "meme". Obviously, you are a kid as well, calling me gay and saying I watch gay porn, trying to be all edgy. P.S. I'm not gay.
@9262XYZ
7 жыл бұрын
Okay, you're not gay. Sorry for being "salty", Mr Meme Lord. Here are some more cool memes you can try in the future: "Give me a thumbs up for my birthday!" "17 people had a Betamax!". "FIRST!!!" TRULY HILARIOUS STUFF (for unintelligent children)!!!
@jasoneverett
7 жыл бұрын
9262xyz....I like your style.
@radish64
7 жыл бұрын
So you're saying that you an adult that goes around telling random people that they are gay, because of one comment that they posted. Do something better with your life.
@Snipe4261
5 жыл бұрын
I had forgotten what a pain in the ass television used to be. The internet sure is great - I cannot remember the last time I was bored.
@LegoWormNoah101
5 жыл бұрын
We still have Sling TV, and that means we still have television.
@electrictroy2010
4 жыл бұрын
We also have HDTV coming through an antenna, but a lot of people just don’t bother. They are 100% internet
@timypp2894
4 жыл бұрын
I remember as a school kid, the school had one of these huge machine. It was so big and heavy, it had to be moved on a trolley + big heavy TV. We watched the odd educational videos or was it some TV documentary that teacher recorded (?). The video tape was loaded from the top and you have to push very hard to get out down.. How simpler things now are (!)
@metalgamingwarrior2714
4 жыл бұрын
Great vid. I grew up with the old VCR but had no idea they were a thousand bucks when they started.
@betaman7988
6 жыл бұрын
When Betamax came out in Europe in early 1978 the PAL tapes recorded 2 hours on L500 and 3 1/4 hours on L750. What’s more the tapes were cheaper than VHS so the format lasted a bit longer over here
@sallychi8406
3 жыл бұрын
In a 1960's issue of one of those science/mechanics/technology magazines, there was an article about how to build your own video recorder using reel-to-reel tape. This was just before rotating recording heads were developed, so to get enough bandwidth, you ran the tape at very high speed. They even showed what happened when a wildly spinning reel of tape started unfurling during playback.
@TA_Plus_Hemi
5 жыл бұрын
The whole time I was watching this I was trying to remember the Playtime selector settings. I'm glad you included that
@300DBenz
5 жыл бұрын
14 channel tuners? In the 1970s? That’s the definition of optimism right there.
@woodyeckerslyke9676
4 жыл бұрын
@300DBenz we had a Betamax rental store that lasted about 18months called Betavision.
@gnothisauton2116
6 ай бұрын
Love that you used Airplane! and Faulty Towers as demos.
@yugimumoto1
3 жыл бұрын
I actually remember as a kid going on a field trip to the local news station. They mentioned that they still had and were using a "special" betamax tape for commercials. That must have been that earlier format that was mentioned which is kind of cool.
@makeminefreedom
5 жыл бұрын
I bought a talking Sony Betamax in 1982 when I was in the military in Korea. At the time it was the only way to watch American movies and recorded television from the states. I especially liked being able to pause a movie while going to the restroom without missing anything. The main problem was purchasing new movies. At the time the purchase price of one pre recorded movie was about 60 dollars. Just like video game consoles today the combined cost of the movies cost more than the machine itself. They were cutting edge at the time but there is no way the average person could afford to buy any new movies.
@stephenwest673
5 жыл бұрын
I had a Betamax video recorder and for me the quality of the reproduction was superior over VHS 👍
@stephenwest673
5 жыл бұрын
Hmmm, can’t really remember, I saw Star Wars on Beta and plenty of others, it may be true that the library was more extensive on VHS but I stand by the fact the quality was superior 👍
@therealhardrock
6 жыл бұрын
10:06 You have to remember that it was named by Japanese people with a tenuous grasp of English. Often, when Japanese people come up with their own English phrases, they either sound awkward or are grammatically incorrect, like "Shine Get!" from the Japanese version of Super Mario Sunshine. Even the now ubiquitous "1-up" is actually this kind of garbled English.
@joeblow8593
6 жыл бұрын
Or "All Your Base Are Belong To US"
@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive
5 жыл бұрын
I still remember the uproar when Nintendo announced that their console codenamed “Revolution” would be named the Wii.
@cube2fox
5 жыл бұрын
What's wrong with video home system? Do you read it as "video-home system"? I read it as "video home-system". (I'm not a native English speaker)
@therealhardrock
5 жыл бұрын
@@cube2fox A native English speaker would say "home video system."
@cube2fox
5 жыл бұрын
@@therealhardrock So what's wrong with the expression?
@dadeleemurphy85
5 жыл бұрын
I remember the 6hr ELP tape.
@okaro6595
3 жыл бұрын
The Panasonic that I still had could record 12 hours on an E240 tape at SLP. In theory it could record 15 hours on an E300 but I did not try. In Europe cheapest VHS recorders ha only SP. Better ones had EP but very few has SLP. EP here was about same speed as SLP in the US.
@JerryDLTN
2 жыл бұрын
Before 1982, my dad would occasionally take me to the movie rental store to rent a movie (VHS) but we didn't have a VCR yet so we'd rent that too. This we before Hollywood Video/Blockbuster. We'd eventually get a VCR and it'd be sitting on the living room TV. When I was 11, I learned how to use a drill and would run coaxial cable from the living room to other TVs in the house by running the cable(s) down and up from the basement (because a VCR was so expensive then).
@65CJ5
2 жыл бұрын
I worked at a place in the late 70's that sold photo gear, and audio/visual and video equipment (broadcast/industrial and consumer lines). It was a simple matter of economics. Blank tapes back then cost $35 to $40 EACH (about $140 to $150 today). So, it was an easy choice when it came to which format to get when tapes were that costly early on. It did indeed come down to recording time on the tapes, but it had more to do with the cost of that time per tape more than getting a movie or game recorded (although that was important to many buyers too). Sony had good units, and the squishy-touch controls were nice. In A/B comparisons the beta image was slightly better than vhs. But that didn't matter to most buyers. We sold both formats, and it became clear early on which one would be the eventual winner.
@ol_mate_bazza8982
2 жыл бұрын
"The fog is getting thicker!!!!!" "...and Leons' getting laaaaaaarrrrrrger".
@VoidHalo
5 жыл бұрын
I like how the RCA has a plug for the remote. No ergonomic wireless remotes here. Just big ol clunky calculator looking things plugged into the device through a (hopefully) long cable. I bet that's something a lot of people born in the 80's wouldn't even know about. I didn't until some years ago.
@verastaki
4 жыл бұрын
VHS actually was being replaced by DVD at around 2006, yes DVD's were getting popular in 2003, but I purchased my last brand new, pre recorded movies on VHS tapes in 2008.
@smashthings1
3 жыл бұрын
Excellent video! Watching it while surrounded by VHS tapes. Hilarious how eventually Sony would give in and manufacture VCRs and tapes. Wonder how they felt going to JVC and asking for a license to sell them? I do like how older VCRs don't thread the tape, it makes loading a tape to FF/RW way quicker. Here in Australia Beta is really hard to come by. Most I've ever found were some recordable tapes!
@Bulletguy07
4 жыл бұрын
My first vcr was a Sony Betamax i bought used in 1985 as here in UK they were still pretty damn expensive new. It was a brilliant vcr and gave crystal clear playback. All my Betamax stuff has long gone but i still have three Sony SLV-715 vhs recorders with tape edit facility, all fully working and with original remote controls. I also have the Sony workshop manual for this model as they can STILL be repaired by any competent electronics guy.
@GonzoLarry
4 жыл бұрын
Great video, thanks -- interesting AND a bit funny! I grew up then, but never realized all this. It occurs to me there are parallels to the circa Apple vs PC wars (closed/arrogant vs. open/competitive, respectively).
@scottmccluremcclure3916
5 жыл бұрын
I was there for this The reason we chose vhs was beta had 18 movie's a the video store vhs had 10,000
@Mr_ToR
5 жыл бұрын
In istanbul, in the early 80s, all video tapes were only copies. There were no originals. There were a couple of places where we could rent movies and cartoons. %95 of everything available everywhere was Betamax. All my friends had Betamax but our VTR unfortunately was VHS. Betamax had all the content and its cassette dimensions were smaller too, so it seemed technologically more advanced. Also, all Betamax VTRs were Sony and ours were AKAI :-) I always used to go a friends house to watch a movie since all the nice movies were in Betamax. Friends came to my house seldomly to watch something.
@PlasmaMongoose
5 жыл бұрын
My first VCR was a PAL Betamax in 1985, the remote was a wired button you clicked to play or pause and it had 8 timer recording settings, it lasted until the last video rental shop in my area stopped offering Betamax movies in 1991, then I got one of those HQ VHS recorders.
@kaptainkremmen8266
5 жыл бұрын
Thanks for a very informative piece. I was working in the TV industry when both Betamax and VHS came to the market in Europe. I was invited to Sony's manufacturing plant in Japan to see the Betamax in production at the time. You are absolutely correct to say that Sony had real issues allowing 'other' manufacturers to put their labels on Sony products and this was just one of the problems that lead to Sony losing to VHS. The thing is, Sony Betamax was a video system that was so technically perfect that it left VHS in the dust. The picture quality off a VHS tape was truly terrible and never, ever got any better right up to the point where it was discontinued. I still have both tapes and machines from Sony on the Betamax system that playback almost broadcast quality picture. Another reason Sony failed with the Betamax system was that both Copyguard and Macrovision anti-piracy systems didn't work very well with Betamax. If you connected two VHS machines and tried to copy a movie it wouldn't work but if you tried the same thing using a Betamax (with the tv disconnected) it would work. The studios didn't like that. I still have two Betamax machines that work just fine and quite a few brand new unused tapes. I love Betamax.
@Tornado1994
4 жыл бұрын
VHS Hi Fi put Betamax into the grave, so no/
@m2heavyindustries378
4 жыл бұрын
Imagine being such an old boomer that you're still salty that Beta lost, and lost hard. 30 odd analog NTSC Std definiation years ago. What next sir, complaints about horse drawn buggies losing to cars? Airships losing to monoplanes? Pray tell.
@timypp2894
4 жыл бұрын
I was a university student and in our second year, me and a couple of friends rented a house or digs. On the first day we went around choosing our bedrooms - . No one chosed the attic rooms. The mattress in our rooms wasn't that nice so we decided to swap it with nicer ones in the attic. We then discovered under the mattress in one of the attic, an opaque plastic bag wrapped around an object. In it was a beta tape. As you can imagine our minds ran riot to what's on the tape. Of course everything at that time was VHS, no one had beta. But a year later, whilst in a pub we found a friend of a friend who had a beta machine. We arrange to borrow his machine for the weekend beta showing. The weekend came and we all sat down to watch this beta tape. Alas it was James Bond - from Russia with love. I can only guess this was a "filthy" video because the family that owns the house were pretty religious.
@toddbazurto1423
4 жыл бұрын
I remember my parents bought our first Betamax in the mid 80's. And it got a lot of use. But when it needed cleaning or repair, I was called on to take care of that since I knew how to do it. When Beta died, we switched and got a VHS and had it for years.
@hitty9
5 жыл бұрын
I owned a 1975 Great Time Machine by Magnavox for $1000 list. Saw a write up in Pop Mechanics and knew I had to have this. It used to blow people's minds that you could record TV. And I never regretted having that machine way before you could by another for cheap.
@richardkuschel4697
7 жыл бұрын
Sony was producing a higher quality picture product which they mistakenly thought that consumers cared about. The same as the current thinking in audio. Cheap and long is better!
@burntvirtue
6 жыл бұрын
Richard Kuschel A lot of us did care about quality, just not enough of us.
@mraktrak87654321
5 жыл бұрын
Richard Kuschel ::::::::::>>>>>>>> Cheap & long = not better; more marketable! Better refers to quality, therefore BETA=better.
@somecunninglinguist
3 жыл бұрын
Not that this is bad, but I’m impressed by your updated setup
@benjaminmendenhall3104
5 жыл бұрын
I had seen a box of bata tapes one time at goodwill and this looks very interesting video that you made and it’s great topic to talk about.
@karlstuber6399
5 жыл бұрын
I recall 1980 or so. I worked until Midnight and HBO went off the air about 1am. I asked everyone at work Beta or VHS. They didn't know. I bought a Beta. They all then told me VHS.
@Boogenhagen100
3 жыл бұрын
makes me nostalgic to see a "be kind rewind" sticker.
@johnmangham2802
3 жыл бұрын
In the UK back in 1981 I rented(!) a Sony Betamax C5 and later upgraded to a C7. I remember recording the BBC broadcast of Simon and Garfunkel’s Concert in Central Park. Happy days. No doubt about it, the picture quality of the Beta was way ahead of the VHS I had later.
@nigelkthomas9501
4 жыл бұрын
I had a Betamax video from about 1988 before switching to VHS around 1992. Still got quite a few VHS tapes now and they play reasonably well considering they’re close to 30 years old!
@RichieRouge206
Жыл бұрын
Airplane - the best comedy film ever, and Fawlty Towers, one of the best British sitcoms ever. Great video and very well explained, enjoyed the look at the older tech - I collect 60-80s fans and stereos so know exactly the appeal of appliances of that era
@lowellwhite1603
5 жыл бұрын
I bought a Sony SL 7200 in the summer of 1977. It had a low serial number.It cost about $1400. My salary that year was $8000 per year. The tapes were K-30, K-60 and, a bit later the K-90. Later, these were renamed L-250, L-500 and L-750. have been a Beta man ever since and I still own a working Beta deck and three others that either don't work or haven't been tested. Later, Sony first came out with Beta HI FI, Super beta and Super Beta HI FI. Sony but the VHS camp followed with something similar months later. Sony also came out with the revolutionary Beta Cam. A tape recorded in Beta II had better picture quality than VHS SP. As stated in the video, the VHS people did a better job of marketing. VHS certainly won the VCR wars. This victory was short lived. Various 8mm formats came out which were much more convenient but that didn't last long either. Flash forward to today's digital age. I can make superior videos on my phone and can stream vast amounts of content. Back in the '70's, I thought we were in a high tech age. Little did I know...
@matthewbrown6163
4 жыл бұрын
As a former video / film producer in the 90's I chose S-VHS as my recording format. Sony's Hi-8 was equivalent in quality but the price was a lot higher. I used Beta SP for all Broadcast quality work but these were 23 minutes tapes & 5 times the price.
@holycow818181
3 жыл бұрын
9:42 - I clapped! I clapped when I saw that poster! I know what that is! (It's the poster on the wall of Lightning Fast VCR Repair in RedLetterMedia's series Half in the Bag.)
@Buc_Stops_Here
5 жыл бұрын
Sony learned from this failure. Guess who dominated the video DVD war? Sony, as they shared the technology with others in Blue-Ray. Why they won round 2. Do like the video however.
@simonrussell4986
4 жыл бұрын
They won that one, yes, but look at how many forgotten standards and formats Sony thought the public wanted (UHD, Memory Stick). With their hubris, they do win every now and then though.
@FredJensen4745
Ай бұрын
Nah it won the HD home video war. DVD is still plentiful nearly twenty years later AND if a show gets a physical release, it’s most likely DVD only, sometimes both DVD and Blu-ray but rarely just Blu-ray!
@Buc_Stops_Here
Ай бұрын
@@FredJensen4745 True, because DVDs outsold Blueray although at the end Blueray outsold the DVD players. Good point however.
@zzzaphod8507
Жыл бұрын
13:53 instead of saying "things start to get interesting" I thought you might say "things start to get even beta"
@comeradecoyote
5 жыл бұрын
I think an undiscussed but relevant think to mention is the relationship of RCA and formats and other related companies. RCA despite being one of the larger and more successful companies not only in the TV market at that time, but also in other aspects of the media industry, had already made several attempts in the past of establishing new formats and failing miserably. For example in the mid 50's RCA created the sound tape, a reel to reel stereo cassette. However, due to various reasons it never was successful and thus RCA lost a lot of money on RD and marketing. This was RCA at the height of their power too. (I imagine they were rather sour about it considering the compact cassette is essentially the same thing but smaller and a few years later.) Likewise RCA researched and developed and spent a lot of money on other market flops that were costing the company a lot of money by the 70's. (Such as the short lived compactron and nuvistor vacuum tubes, their mainframe computer division and others. ) Likewise RCA was developing a video disk movie format in the form of the CED disk. (Which were phograph records essentially) this too flopped. Thus to avoid the expense associated with R&D costs and marketing, they turned to their allies. You see RCA was related by blood so to speak to JVC and EMI. All three trace their corporate histories back to the Victor Talking machine corporation and all shared licenses for music and other intellectual property in their respective markets. Although JVC had been divorced from the RCA monopoly by WWII they still shared resources and licensing well into the postwar. It is likely RCA, kept abreast of the technological developments of it's partners, and made the executive decision to cut costs and benefit from the groundwork already laid by JVC in their home video format. Probably another factor that importantly forced their hand on this was the troubled history of the CED and it's ultimate failure forcing RCA to look for a new alternative which they found in VHS.
@shimtest
6 жыл бұрын
Sony didn't care what customers wanted, kind of a basic mistake
@thedys70
5 жыл бұрын
Sony guilty of very reactive marketing, as to what their competitors improved on. Is that Japanese arrogance for you, or what?
@sixstringedthing
Жыл бұрын
With regard to the Betamax and VHS's lacklustre tape loading ergonomics: I always thought that U-matic had the the best feel, thanks largely to the fact that the 3/4" cassettes themselves were pretty hefty and the machines were built for heavy professional use (most were of roughly the same bulk and weight as a small-medium-office laser printer).. You could just slap a tape in the front at full speed, the mechanism was nicely sprung to receive it without jamming and then clunk..whirrrrrr..a 5-second sequence of precise clicks and you've got picture. On eject they would spit the tape out with great consistency in the time domain, you could learn the sequence of clicks and have your hand ready to grab the tape at the instant it was ejected which made one look like a bit of a TechnoWizard to office visitors when you were dubbing copies on two edit suites simultaneously. :)
@Chicken_Wing91
3 жыл бұрын
My grandpa has a 57 chevy shaped tape rewinder I believe it still works also
@1970cgb
5 жыл бұрын
Betamax was better in quality imo
@monetize_this8330
5 жыл бұрын
it was until HQ vhs appeared.
@Tornado1994
4 жыл бұрын
@@monetize_this8330 Correct.
@marty5300
3 жыл бұрын
Who remembers putting a piece of tape over the broken off record protection tab to re-record tv shows or movies? This guy does.
@splatmanhooha4264
2 жыл бұрын
Classic comedy there, Fawlty Towers never fails to raise a smile
@cs_fl5048
4 жыл бұрын
My father had 4 boxes on top of the TV interconnected by those two pronged flip over toggle switches from Radio Shack. He had VHS and Betamax machines stacked on one side, and Atari and Coleco units on the other side, all could be funneled into the TV boxes. In the center was that weird little container of static electricity held red bead that if they all fell at once off the sides of the inner cylinder, well, you could run to the fallout shelter, or, more realistically, kiss your a$& goodbye. We kept that on the TV until 1998, when he passed away.
@Barry7777777
5 жыл бұрын
I don't regard Betamax as being a "failure". Considering Sony's reputation and history of top quality electronics - not to mention that their U-Matic and Betacam systems were the mainstay in the PROFESSIONAL BROADCAST recording industry - my belief is that Sony simply refused to match VHS's 6-hour recording time with absolutely unacceptable picture quality. As the CEO of an electronic repair facility, I also turn down jobs that may be profitable but would make my service look bad in the long run - especially if I already had plenty of other lucrative irons in the fire. The problem is not that Betamax was a bad format - the problem is that the public shops mainly for price and features (like longer recording time), and makes quality secondary to that.
@CopperyBoy
7 жыл бұрын
15:10 The man behind the counter looks like John Cleese of Monty Python or is he?
@HeyPatch
7 жыл бұрын
Coppery Boy yeah. It's an English comedy show called "fawlty towers" about a crummy seaside hotel where everything goes wrong all the time. John Cleese plays Basil Fawlty, the owner of the hotel who is almost always on the edge of a nervous breakdown. It's really funny I highly recommend it. It might even be on Netflix. 👍
@garyzod8818
7 жыл бұрын
Coppery boy . yes you are correct that is john cleese, 10 out of 10 for your powers of observation.😀
@ThomasSpychalski
6 жыл бұрын
Just don't mention the war.
@MikeB-wm2le
6 жыл бұрын
Amazing powers of observation!
@eskeknas5540
6 жыл бұрын
It's just as great as Monty Python, but a very different type of show - absolutely brilliant!
@raygxr8582
4 жыл бұрын
I remember being fascinated over watch a movie at your leisure especially a movie you missed at the movie theater. We were not interested in the fact that BETA was the better picture, the better quality, the better- more compact design. We took to the lower quality simply because it was mass produced and readily available. Now a’-days we are after that higher standard OLED picture.
@KickyFut
4 жыл бұрын
It wasn't until that very last scene of this video where, with him in the background, you see how phenomenally *huge* these devices were!! Try and fit *those* in your entertainment center media slot!😆
@LegendaryKenneth
5 жыл бұрын
I totally forgot about those manual tuning pots. We had a video player with those when i was a kid - I imagine i got into trouble for detuning it on occasion
@warrenlehmkuhleii8472
5 жыл бұрын
Plus if you bought a “best of” collection. You could put more episodes in. So you could have four All in the Family episodes on your VHS instead of 3.
@mrmike1972
5 жыл бұрын
Beta was also a poor choice for a name. Beta version denoting that it's not production ready.
@micahmaples7696
5 жыл бұрын
It was named beta due to the configuration of the spools and the tape inside the cassette. It was shaped like a B
@RickDrew
5 жыл бұрын
"Beta" is only known widely today as a version. Back when the Betamax came out it was a pretty obscure term.
@briantw
5 жыл бұрын
LOL
@228Brendon
5 жыл бұрын
They should have called it Alpha
@drackestalentorgen166
4 жыл бұрын
When i grew up i remember my parents had both a vhs and a beta...but the beta player was clearly older, and slowly but surely all beta tapes disappeared from our home. Last thing i remember watching on beta was a recording of a super mario cartoon
@donrobertson4940
2 жыл бұрын
Ahh the good old days of fast forwarding and rewinding to try and find the start of a show.
@abergethirty
3 жыл бұрын
Betamax had very complicated threading of the tape that threaded a significant amount of tape. It meant more complicated threading mechanisms, more to break and wear out. VHS was more reliable, but that isn't saying much. These things would wear out within 5 years.
@cosmojonesmusic
5 жыл бұрын
We chose Betamax in '85 purely for stylistic reasons. The first thing I recorded was the 1985 European cup final. Not a good start to Beta life.
@jodybillings3841
2 жыл бұрын
This brings back memories of fixing broken tapes using scotch tape.
@midnightteapot5633
4 жыл бұрын
as far as I know Betamax was popular right up to the end of the tape era in the Philippines . I don't know that they even used VHS . I still play VHS tapes from my collection to this day . the oldest go back to 1985 and most of them are still perfect , pretty good technology .
@paulbarlow8286
5 жыл бұрын
VHS stands for Vertical Helical Scan. Later they called it Video Home System because the former sounded too technical to the average consumer.
@briantw
5 жыл бұрын
Wrong. Vertical Helical Scan doesn't even make any bloody sense. There were lots of helical scan machines long before VHS, and the helical scan on VHS certainly wasn't "vertical," whatever that means. And the average consumer never knew nor cared what it stood for. "Vertical Helical Scan" is just an embarrassingly pretentious myth.
@paulbarlow8286
5 жыл бұрын
@@briantw The system uses a half-inch wide magnetic tape and can record up to six hours of video content with 240 lines of horizontal and 486 lines of vertical resolution, as well as a stereo sound track.
@paulbarlow8286
5 жыл бұрын
@@briantw kzitem.info/news/bejne/rJyrp4aDfKuFqZw Starting at 7:45 will go into the helical scan and video head characteristics.
@ohger1
5 жыл бұрын
If it's helical, it **can't** be vertical. Think about it..
@paulbarlow8286
5 жыл бұрын
@@ohger1 You're just not thinking outside of the box.
@justincarawan-carawanco.pu1639
5 жыл бұрын
7:02 My VHS library (slowly being converted to DVD as we can afford it (We don't have a Blu Ray player, but that's irrelevant)) is composed mostly (90% or so) of Disney movies (big shock, I know, considering they practically have an uncompetitive monopoly in the entertainment market.), and they are all black, aside from "Monsters Inc". Imagine my shock when I noticed that VHS was blue!
@MaximRecoil
Жыл бұрын
1:42 - Matsushita didn't need to license VHS from JVC. JVC was a subsidiary of Matsushita from 1953-2008, and VHS was co-introduced by JVC and Matsushita (you've made the same false assertion in at least one other video). Also, Matsushita is not the "parent of Panasonic;" Matsushita and Panasonic are one and the same; they even officially changed their corporate name to Panasonic Corporation in 2008. Prior to 2008, "Panasonic" was just one of the brand names that Matsushita used, just like "National" and "Technics"; none of those were ever the names of companies, unlike JVC, which originally was a distinct company unrelated to Matsushita, but became majority-owned by Matsushita in 1953.
@djsixx96
4 жыл бұрын
I remember once when I was very young (early 2000s) we had way too many vhs tapes and one beta tape. We didn’t own a beta max vcr, so we never watched it. It was left there from the people who lived in the house before us. We never knew what movie was on it.
@stevemadak6255
5 жыл бұрын
By saying "groovy" did you think they were using that word widely into the 80s? Groovy was long gone by the time video recorders came around. Radical
@go-goakins1489
5 жыл бұрын
This beta machine is a nice collectible 👍part of history now. It must be hard to find the tapes for it but it's still cool to have one that is operational👏😎
@arcadely
4 жыл бұрын
5:16 Whoa! I never realised that music was from a BBC ident: I know it as the theme to @Kim Justice's channel. Nice.
@christianjohnson7228
5 жыл бұрын
I use both formats, a VCR TV, and a Sanyo beta recorder on that TV.
@mickeleh
5 жыл бұрын
The video has the correct answer to the simple question of the title..... but it's buried after a long run-down of differences that never mattered to customers. The answer is Running Time. Beta could record a couple of sitcoms. VHS could record an entire movie. Game over. Everyone agrees that the picture quality of Beta was far superior... but that wasn't as important to most customers as running time.
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