Betamax vs VHS: The Story of the First Format War
How failure to listen to the market led to the demise of Betamax
Over the years there have been many format wars including Nintendo/Sega, Playstation/Xbox, Apple/Android, Kelly/Topanga — but there was one format war that ruled them all…
The battle between VHS and Betamax started in the late 1970s and stretched well into the 80s. As video players became more affordable, the battle continued to grow with VHS ultimately winning. Betamax dominated the industry at first but refused to listen to the market, and it led to their ultimate demise.
The Creation of the VCR
The VCR as a tape player goes farther back than you may realize. The Ampex corporation created the VCR in 1956, and they called it the VRX-1000. It used a rotating head design to record video and audio on a magnetic track and cost a cool $50,000.
No one could afford to pay for something like this, and even if you could, you needed an actual technician to help run it. The VRX-1000 also had a lifespan of only a few hundred hours.
