Some facts about Betamax:
- Developed by Sony
- Released on May 10, 1975
- Contain 1/2 inch wide tape -- similar to the U-matic videocassette format
- The Betamax name had two references -- "Beta" came from the Japanese word used to describe the way the signals were recorded onto the tape, and from the fact that when the tape ran through the transport it looked like a B. The "Max" came from maximum.
- Betamax recorders were sold by major companies and department stores such as: Toshiba, Pioneer, Aiwa, Sears, and Radioshack
- Betamax used the format to also develop a camcorder called the Betamovie. The camcorder was rather large and lacked features such as rewinding or playing back its own tape and had an optical rather than an electrical viewfinder.
- Most people remember Betamax due to the fact that it was forced out of the marked by VHS products made by JVC. This has become a classic marketing case study.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax
1 comment:
You left me wanting to learn more. Such as how did people played this tapes, and if they where only played for home movies, and what their preservation problems where. But you seem to like the industrial/marketing part of things.
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