VHS -vs- Beta commercial 1984

This commercial aired on 11/25/84. Beta is a superior format,but by 1984 Beta was on life support,unfortunately. But this video did come off of a Beta tape.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• NEC
• Betamax
• VHS
• 1980's
• commercial

[rhurst1945]

Look at how the faces of those 1980s VCRs are covered in buttons; if you couldn't find the remote, no big deal. Today, if you lose the remote of your DVD player, you're pretty much out of luck if you want to do anything other than "Play," "Stop" or "Eject."

[dustYCartridge]

id like both 

[TheDeev]

VHS was a lower cost, lower quality video system that took over the video wars and pushed Beta out of the consumer market but into the professional market. Video stores started with about a 50/50 selection, then down to one shelf of Beta, then down to nothing at all in Beta. HD-DVD was like the HD disc answer to VHS with Blu-ray as the new Beta. This time, however, Beta got revenge and clobbered HD-DVD.

[Watcher3223]

@darkangel2347

Sony's experience with licensing and marketing VCRs stemmed primarily from the professional broadcast market with their U-Matic format. They approached the consumer market with the same kind of mindset; strict licensing and tight adherence to the specs.

JVC understood that successful adoption was reliant on getting more companies under the VHS umbrella and that the strict licensing and standards Sony had wasn't entirely necessary for the consumer market.

[Watcher3223]

@darkangel2347

With more companies making VHS VCRs, there'd be greater competition in the VCR market which would spurn lower prices. This helped consumers to choose VHS.

With a greater installed base of VHS VCRs, a greater demand for software on that format would have to follow because, after all, what good is a VCR without any cassettes to play them on?

Porn producers followed the rest of the home video industry in providing more content on VHS than Beta as a result.

[Watcher3223]

@darkangel2347

Porn is way overplayed as a factor. Besides, there was plenty of porn on Beta.

There were other more plausible reasons for VHS succeeding where Beta failed.

For example, JVC kept licensing lenient to electronics manufacturers. In addition, the VHS system was simpler to engineer and manufacture VCRs for than Beta.

These two factors were among the reasons why it was easier for electronics companies to make VHS VCRs than it was to make Beta VCRs.

[JohnnyStanwyck]

@darkangel2347 I never thought of that, but you make a very good point!

[4speedskoda]

Both of these machines look beautifully made and of good quality. I would not hesitate to buy either.

[glenh75]

It's funny how VHS beat out Beta, cause Beta is better. But we got smart in the battle between HDDVD and Blu Ray. Blu Ray is way better.

[SuperMario64Betafan]

i found a beta player for $3,400.00 OMG THAT IS SO RONG

[cameron20101000]

VHS wins again assholes!

[MeSezSo]

what the fuck is a DVD player???