Betamax
Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, followed by the US in November of the same year.
| Media type | Magnetic cassette tape |
|---|---|
| Encoding | NTSC, PAL, SECAM |
| Capacity | Up to 5 hours |
| Read mechanism | Helical scan |
| Write mechanism | Helical scan |
| Standard | 525 lines, 625 lines |
| Developed by | Sony |
| Dimensions | 15.6 × 9.6 × 2.5 cm (61⁄7 × 33⁄4 × 1 inch) |
| Usage | Home Movies, Home Video |
| Extended to | VHS |
| Released | May 10, 1975 |
| Discontinued | Recorders discontinued August 2002; Blank cassettes discontinued March 2016 |
Betamax is widely considered to be obsolete, having lost the videotape format war which saw its closest rival, VHS, dominate most markets. Though Betamax tapes had higher quality image, the longer VHS tape ultimately became the standard.
Despite this, Betamax recorders continued to be manufactured and sold until August 2002, when Sony announced that they were discontinuing production of all remaining Betamax models. Sony continued to sell Betamax cassettes until March 2016.