Quote:
Originally Posted by hobnail
Yeah, definitely a full point for the floppy.
I've always wondered why their formats had such a poor success rate; their designs are good. My theory is that it was due to high licensing costs.
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For NTSC, Betamax was originally limited to 60 minutes recording time while VHS had 120 minute recording time. Add in Japan Victor Corp. was willing to license their technology while Sony did not want to license Betamax. Sony did start licensing around 1983(?) but the licensing for Betamax was about double the cost per machine of a VHS license which helped keep Betamax from competing with VHS for the few manufacturers who licensed Betamax.
Basically, the way I saw it then was that Sony was betting people would want the slightly higher quality of Betamax while the consumers voted for lower price, longer recording times and, as Betamax started losing market share, easy availability of content.
Personally, I purchased my first VHS VCR when I replaced the Beta VCR I first owned and used for 3 years (1977-1979). The VHS VCR cost about $250 Cdn. less than the cost of the feature equivalent Betamax VCR. Our main use for the VCR was my wife's enthusiasm for time shifting and while Beta may have had a theoretical edge in quality, when recording over the air programs, the difference was pretty much impossible to see and I had to buy fewer tapes.