Why did Beta fail and VHS win??? (2 Viewers)

[CurtisC]

As long as there is sacd,Sony will make players,imo.

 

[Nathan Porteous]

vhs was cheaper to produce than beta end of story.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

If cost was the only issue, we'd all be driving Geo Metros, and Mercedes and BMW wouldn't exist.

 

[FeisalK]

Kevin said:

Now Sony has SACD... Will it succeed without Sony players?

IMO the situation with SACD/DVDA is a little different; better (probably), in that the delivery mechanism is essentially the same i.e. the ubiquitous 5-1/4" disk. Therefore you could get a reasonably decent transport that takes both formats instead of having to buy two different machines.

Of course software availability makes a difference, but if the manufacturers decide to include both DSD and DVDA on all new machines in the future (how much cheaper does this need to be, the 563A retails for ~ $180) the whole issue is moot. Higher end players will use better mechanism and circuitry (Lexicon, Meridian, Linn et al) but they will play both SACD/DVDA

 

[Craig_Kg]

vhs was cheaper to produce than beta end of story.

Only due to Sony's silly licencing policy and then the economies of scale.

 

[Wayde_R]

When I was a kid, my dad (who worked in cable TV in the 70's as an engineer) one night brought home a VCR he borrowed from work with a movie on Beta tapes. It was about 1977. My family had a party out of it and the neighbours were all over to view this new marvel of technology and watch a movie my dad promised to show. It was a movie that was currently still in theaters.

The movie was Smokey and the Bandit. It was to be viewed in black and white through this new thing called a VCR. I can still remember Rick from across the street uttering the initials as though they were a strange language and asking what it stood for (bottle of Labbatt's 50 in hand of course). The machine itself was a Sony juggernaut and had to be mounted in a wheeled rack. I'm not sure if the grayscale of the movie that night was because of the VCR (maybe they didn't have colour yet), the tape or the TV.

My dad told the neighbours all about the strange device and that someday everybody will have one. I can imagine wives even then shaking their heads that they would never let their husband bring home such a monstrosity.

 

[Tim Hess]

Pornography helped with the war for VHS. Do not doubt that.

 

[ChuckSolo]

In the very early 70's my brother, who was in the National Guard in Vista, CA showed us a Guard owned video tape machine that had a camera and a reel to reel tape that was used for training purposes. I remember being amazed that this machine not only recorded sound, but also pictures like a movie camera. It too was a Sony. A few years later my sister and her husband bought a console TV, Zenith brand, that had a Sony Betamax built into the cabinet. I remember the price being outrageous back then although I can't remember the exact price.