Re: The software is quite good
Everyone always talks about Betamax as if it was infinitely better than VHS. As someone who thoroughly understands the physics, mechanics, electronics, etc... of both Betamax and VHS from the tape all the way through the circuitry up to the phosphors, I'll make it clear... yes Betamax was better... but the difference was negligible. The two formats were so close to being the same that it barely mattered... and when transmitting the signal over composite from the player to the TV which ... well to be honest was 1950s technology (late 1970s TV was still 1950s tech... just bigger)... it was impossible to tell.
S-Video and SCART (in Europe) made a slightly noticeable difference. Using actual component cabling could have mattered but neither Betamax or VHS could take advantage of that.
The end result was simple... when playing a movie recorded on Betamax on a high end 1970s or early 1980s TV next to the same movie recorded on a VHS tape, you had one big ugly player next to another and the only possible difference you could give the consumer was "Beta is more expensive because the quality is better" and of course... it wasn't... at least not enough to notice. Often you could sell the consumer on audio quality, but on 1970/1980s era speakers and hifi, you wouldn't notice until you were far past the average consumer threshold.
Betacam SP was actually substantially better, but by then it no longer mattered.
I used to have 400 Betamax decks and 600 VHS decks in my office... all commercial grade duplicators with automatic tape changers. The Betamax decks existed for collecting dust. The VHS decks were constantly being serviced because they were running 24/7. I spent 10 years of my career in video technology development (I am a codec developer at heart, but I know analog too). In 10 years of working with studio/commercial grade broadcast and duplication equipment, and knowing what I know about the technology, if I saw Betamax for $120 and VHS for $110, I'd still by VHS.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
