not fortean but a moment in time all the same URL betamax video recorders are finally being phased out almost NUMBER years after losing the battle for dominance of the home video market to vhs betamax s manufacturer sony has announced that it will make only NUMBER NUMBER more machines for the japanese market they have not been on sale in the rest of the world since NUMBER vhs became the dominant format by the mid NUMBERs betamax was launched in NUMBER and won many fans who said it was better quality than its vhs rival some NUMBER NUMBER million betamax machines were sold worldwide in its peak year NUMBER but it soon went downhill as vhs became the format of choice for the film rental industry and in homes just NUMBER NUMBER machines were sold in the NUMBER months to march NUMBER with digital machines and other new recording formats taking hold in the market demand has continued to decline and it has become difficult to secure parts sony said in a statement sony said it would continue to offer repairs and manufacture tapes for the format the professional betamax format betacam is still widely used in the television and film industries and will be unaffected but the recent rise of dvds seems to have put the final nail in the coffin for betamax home players in the NUMBERs many video rental chains preferred the vhs format betamax lovers became so passionate about the format in the face of competition from vhs that they set up the betaphile club in NUMBER the picture and sound quality of beta was superior to vhs betaphiles say although vhs tapes had a longer duration a total of NUMBER million betamax machines were sold around the world but no new ones will be made after the end of NUMBER sony is now planning to focus its efforts on new digital technologies see also yahoo groups sponsor kwick pick portable lock pick opens almost any lock locked out try the kwick pick for NUMBER NUMBER you can open car doors desk drawers padlocks and much more never get locked out again URL to unsubscribe from this group send an email to forteana unsubscribe URL your use of yahoo groups is subject to URL 