Superior video cassette format developed by Sony.
Consumer videocassette record/playback tape format using half-inch wide magnetic tape. The Beta system was the first consumer videocassette (VCR) format introduced by Sony in the mid 1970s. Although the format produces a higher quality video signal than VHS, marketing blunders by the Japanese electronics giant sealed the fate of the format. Sony continues to manufacture Beta format videocassettes and VCRs as there still is a small established market for them.
The Betamax video system was developed by Sony for recording and playing home video. This standard first came out in 1975 but eventually lost out to JVC's VHS format early 1980's.
Analog videocassette format developed by Sony in the early 1970s, and marketed from 1975 to 2002.
A now obsolete home video system.
A home video system developed by Sony in the 1970s. Widely regarded as superior to VHS
Sony’s domestic video recording format, a competitor of VHS.
A consumer-quality 1/2-inch videocassette format developed by Sony which eventually was supplanted by VHS.
Also called Beta; this is the original home video recorder pioneered by Sony in 1975. More advanced versions are SuperBeta and ED Beta. (The latter is not record/play-back-compatible with SuperBeta or any of the earlier versions.) While some Beta recorders are still available, the JVC-promoted VHS system has become the dominant format for everyday home video recording. See also ED Beta; VHS.
Sony's Betamax is the 12.7 mm (0.5 inch) home videocassette tape recording format introduced in 1975 and derived from the earlier, professional 19.1 mm (0.75 inch) U-matic video cassette format. Like the video home recording system VHS introduced by JVC in 1976, it had no guard band, and used azimuth recording to reduce cross-talk. The "Betamax" name came from the fact that when the tape ran through the transport it looked like the Greek letter "Beta".
