Betamax

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* Original
* Alternative
* Shortened

*Not to be confused with Betacam.*

**Betamax** is a consumer analog videocassette format developed by Sony in 1975. During the videotape format war, it competed with VHS, but Betamax lost out to VHS in the later years of the format war. By 1988, the format was considered dead.

Manufacturing of VCRs supporting the format discontinued in August 2002, and blank cassettes were discontinued by March 2016, though 3rd-party manufacturers continue to release blank cassettes.

## Etymology

According to history webpages from Sony, the name "Betamax" has a double meaning. *Beta* is the Japanese word used to describe the way in which signals are recorded on the tape, and the shape of the lowercase letter Beta in Greek (β) resembles the course of the tape through the transport. The letter can also be seen on the format logo.

The suffix -*max*, from the word "maximum", was also added to describe the greatness of the format.

## History

### Initial years

#### Release and early models

On 10 March 1975, Japanese manufacturer Sony introduced the Betamax format in Japan. That same year, it was released in the United States in November. The first Betamax device introduced in the US was the LV-1901, which appeared in early November.

The SL-8200 was released in 1977, which was the first Betamax VCR in long-play. It was to compete against the VCRs of the VHS format, which offered up to 4 (and later 6-8) hours of recording on a VHS cassette.

#### Early features and marketing expansion

Sony was initially able to tout several features exclusive to Betamax, such as BetaSkipScan and BetaScan. The latter was originally called Videola until the company that made the Moviola threatened legal action.

Another company called Sanyo later marketed its own Betamax-compatible recorders under the Betacord brand. Other companies such as Toshiba, Pioneer and NEC also produced Beta recorders, and WEGA later contracted with Sony to produce VCRs for their product lines.

Department stores such as Sears in the United States and Quelle in Germany also sold Beta VCRs under their own brands, along with RadioShack.

### Videotape format war

#### Competition with VHS

During the format war in the late-1970s and 1980s, it was going against VHS in the consumer videocassette market. However, by 1980, VHS dominated 60% of the North American market. Due to economies of scale, VHS cassettes were able to be sold at lower prices in the European market compared to Betamax cassettes.

#### Fall in market share

In the UK, Betamax held a 25% market share, but by 1986, it was down to 7.5% and it continued to decline further. By 1984, 40 companies made VHS cassettes, compared to 12 for Betamax.

#### Success in Japan and South America

Although it failed to become an industry standard elsewhere, Betamax was more successful in Japan, which later evolved into ED Beta, with 500 lines of resolution. Betamax also continued to be popular in parts of South America. Despite this, the sales of Betamax cassettes continued to decline, even after the format war ended.

### Discontinuation

#### "Dead" status

By 1988, Betamax was declared "dead" without any new models being released, and no new variants have been made since ED Beta, made in that same year. That same year, Sony itself began to make its own VHS recorders.

#### End of VCR production

By August 2002, the manufacturing of videocassette recorders supporting Betamax have effectively ended, but the production of blank cassettes continued throughout.

#### End of production by Sony

On 10 November 2015, Sony announced that it would discontinue the manufacturing of its remaining half-inch videotapes, including Betamax. The production and sales of blank Betamax cassettes ended by March 2016, after 41 years of continuous production, though third-party manufacturers continue to release new cassettes.

### Legacy

Despite a sharp decline in Beta sales during the late-80s, and the end of VCR production in 2002, Beta cassettes, including its variants, continue to be used by a small number of people. New old stocks of Beta cassettes continue to be available for purchase at online shops, and VCRs are often found at flea markets, thrift stores, and internet auction sites.

Early Betacam cassettes, which are physically based on Beta cassettes, continue to be available for use in professional markets. It continues to be used by a few broadcasters, as it was succeeded by Beta SP, its digital modifications, and later by tapeless recording.

## Technical details

### Tape

Similar to VHS, the width of Betamax tapes are half-inch, and the NTSC and PAL/SECAM models are physically identical, though the signals are incompatible. For NTSC models, there are 3 Betamax versions with varying speeds: Beta I, Beta II and Beta III. Beta I has the standard speed, Beta II is half-speed, and Beta III is one-third speed.

No such system exists with the PAL/SECAM models; however, their recording times are often much less than recording times in Beta III. Some unusual lengths were later produced, such as L-410.

### Encoding

Betamax was encoded to all of the analog formats: NTSC and PAL/SECAM.

### High fidelity

In June 1983, Sony introduced Beta Hi-Fi, placing a pair of FM carriers between the chroma and luminance carriers, or frequency multiplexing. A total of 4 individual channels were employed. The audio had an 80 dB dynamic range, with less than 0.005% wow and flutter.

However, in PAL cassettes, the bandwidth between the C and Y carriers was not sufficient to allow additional FM carriers, so depth multiplexing was employed, and some NTSC models were marketed as "Hi-Fi Ready". Betamax decks look similar to regular ones, with a special 28-pin connector on the rear.

Sony was confident that its rival, VHS, could not achieve the same audio performance as Beta Hi-Fi, but due to the chagrin of Sony, JVC later developed a Hi-Fi system for their VHS cassettes on the principle of depth multiplexing.

## Variants

### SuperBeta

**SuperBeta** was released in 1985, with 290 lines of resolution, which was an improvement to Betamax's 240 lines, but still lower than LaserDisc. Aside from Sony itself, Sanyo, NEC and RadioShack also made machines for the format. Recognizing that the format war was over, in 1988, Sony abandoned the variant, in favor of making its own VHS machines.

### Extended Definition Beta

**ED Beta** was released in 1988, the same year Sony began making VHS recorders. It offered 500 lines, more than the 240 lines on Betamax. At that point, Betamax already lost the format war, and the format was discontinued in the US in the early-1990s. It is unknown when it was discontinued in Japan.

### Betacam

**Betacam** was a professional version of Betamax, released on 7 August 1982. However, unlike Betamax, it was commercially successful, primarily in the professional fields, such as electronic news-gathering operations.

The initial models were similar to Beta cassettes, typically in size S cassettes. The original model was discontinued in the 1990s.

#### Betacam SP

**Betacam SP** was a "superior performance" (SP) version of the original Betacam, released in 1986. Using metal-formulated tape, the resolution increased to 340 lines. It was the industry standard for most television stations and production houses until the late-1990s, and it was discontinued in 2001.

##### Betacam SX

> *Main article: Betacam SX*
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**Betacam SX**, released in 1996, was designated as a cheaper digital alternative to DigiBeta. It was primarily successful in news-gathering operations, and it is still used by some stations, despite going out of production. Cassette production was discontinued in 2007, and machine production was discontinued in 2008.

### Digital Betacam

> *Main article: Digital Betacam*
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**Digital Betacam**, released in 1993, was the successor to Betacam and Betacam SP. Compared to DVCAM and DVCPRO, it offered superior performance compared to both formats. Despite being popular in television production, it never became an industry standard like Betacam SP.

Production discontinued in 2016, after Sony announced in November 2015 that it would cease production of its remaining half-inch cassettes.

## Camcorders

The developer of Betamax, Sony, was a pioneer in consumer-grade camcorders. In May 1983, it developed Betamovie, the first consumer-grade camcorder. Unlike the later camcorders, it is only capable of recording and it has no playback, due to constructional limitations.

This limitation, along with the decline of Betamax in the late-80s, caused Sony to abandon the system, in favor of the newly-developed Video8 format, which was more advanced.

## Issues

### Hi-Fi issues

The Hi-Fi system in Beta cassettes, along with VHS cassettes, suffered from "carrier buzz", despite having initial praise for providing "CD audio quality". Both formats also suffered from interchange problems, where tapes made on one machine could not work well on other machines.

If the artifacts became too distracting, users were forced to revert to the old linear soundtrack.

### Limited tape lengths

Since Beta cassettes are smaller than VHS cassettes, tape lengths were rather limited, forcing Sony to lower the tape speed, in order to compete with VHS in terms of recording time. While Beta I cassettes had a tape speed of 1.5 inches per second (IPS), Beta II cassettes had a tape speed of 0.787 IPS, and Beta III cassettes had a tape speed of 0.524 IPS.

### Tape transport and speeds

Beta machines had a more complex tape transport system compared to VHS machines, and the latter machines had a faster rewinding and fast-forwarding time than Beta machines.

## Legal issues

### The Betamax case

A consequence of the videocassette recorder's introduction to the US was a court case between Sony and Universal City Studios in 1984, in what would later be known as the Betamax case. The US Supreme Court later determined home taping to be legal in the US.

## Usage

### Home videos

Betamax has been used by entertainment companies such as RCA/Columbia Pictures Video to sell movies or home videos. Similar to home videos on VHS, these home video cassettes also had features such as security stickers and holograms, used to guarantee people when they hire their video programs.

However, companies selling Betamax home videos later fully transitioned to sell only VHS home videos, though prior to this, some, if not most companies sold home videos on both Betamax and VHS.

### Professional use

Aside from home use, Sony offered a range of Betamax products for industrial use, such as a Beta I-only format for industrial and institutional users. These were aimed at the same market as U-matic, but were much smaller and cheaper.

However, these professional-grade Betamax formats would later be superseded by Betacam, which led to reduced demand for industrial-grade Beta and U-matic equipment.

## Trivia

* A publication, called *The Videophile's Newsletter*, united fans of Betamax home video recorders, and later VHS fans as well.

## External links

* Videotape format war - Wikipedia
* Betamax - Museum of Obsolete Media
* Betamax - Wikipedia