Will SONY bring back the Betamax ?

Question

Betamax was a VCR that lost the war to the VHS format .

Answer 1

Well, if Sony continues to play its cards wrong, they'll have themselves another Betamax in Blu-Ray.

Answer 2

Yeah, But on the other side of the coin, VHS was a VCR that lost the war to the DVD format. DVD's offer superior audio and video quality to any VCR. So my answer would be "no".

Besides, Who'd want to go back to an old analog system over a digital one? You can fit roughly 3 dvd's (in cases) in the same space as a Beta or VHS tape. And if you stack them without cases, I count about 20 dvd discs vs. the single VHS cartridge.

And as far as storage capacity... On most common writable DVD's you get about 6 hours of recording time. (Some you get more or less time depending on the type.) But on average it's about 6 hours. You also can get 6 hours of recording time on a VHS cassette. So they are pretty much equal in thier recording capacity.

However as far as storing multiple copies they can't be beat. 20 DVD's that take up the space of one VHS tape? That's 120 hours of capacity vs. 6 taking up the same amount of space while delivering superior video and audio quality.

Then you take a look at the hardware... VHS machines were often bulky units that had to be placed on top of the tv or on a nearby shelf taking up most of the space. BetaMax machines were huge even by VHS standards.

The sheer expense in parts alone would make it totally unacceptable to produce nowadays. Besides VCR's of both types had too many moving parts which means more things to wear out and break. DVD players have about 3 moving parts... The tray that the disc slides in and out on, the spindle that spins the disc and the heads that read the disc. VCR's have over 30 moving parts, mostly gears and motors. And a lot of people don't know it but there were so many safeguards built into VCR's to protect it from damaging the tape that if you took all of them out, the VCR would be about half it's original size.

Although certainly Beta quality beat VHS quality hands down.
Simple reason for this is that Beta machines exposed more of the tape to the reading heads than VHS did. When a VHS machine pulls the tape out of the cartridge and brings it into contact with the heads, there is only about 1.5 inches of tape in contact with the heads at any one time. BetaMax's on the other hand wrap the tape almost completely around the head. Thus exposing about 3 inches of tape to the head at one time.

Why was the BetaMax shunned by the general public? Simple. Expense. BetaMax machines hit the market at upwards of $1000.00... The price finally settled down to about $600.00 or so. But then out came VHS... It gave acceptable video and audio quality at a much cheaper price. And that's what consumers wanted. The same fate happened to the LaserDisc. And now we watch DVD's that are based on the same technology. heh.

So, To put it into a comparison... DVD's did to VHS/Beta what casettes did to 8-Tracks. And I don't see them making 8-Track players anymore.

Answer 3

Betamax is still very successful for Sony. Betacam is a professional version of Betamax. Pretty much all video that you watch on TV that's non-HD is shot on Betacam.

Answer 4

they still make it, but not the consumer time rescheduling version since january first 2003, they still make that 1882 version(betacam) betacam means vcr recorders and camcorders, department, pricey though, only intended for professional application, anyway bluray is betamax, because i noticed on the tv adverts around early 2010, that the big pumping hart in the Sony advert was to resemble the betamax ( beating maximum BETA MAX,, they launched that effort of bluray with the compact cassette manufacturer, not vis, that time like the video8mm system of late 1983 fame, but replacing the VHS manufacturer this time round with pioneer (DVD Dash-R) later renamed Minus-R , VHS was making the SD card instead ad became known as Secure Digital, with the other DVD manufacture of Plus+R DVD pulling out of the old pact with compact cassette and betamax they forged in the 1990s , and was replaced by Pioneer instead to Finnish the "Definitive Artical of DVD of called "bluray" because the manufacturers teamed up with VHS on scheduled and launched the SD card with them (Super Density Disk) that is why the "D" in SD is shaped like a DVD disk,. SD means three things "SanDisk", Secure Digital, and the other manufacturer, managing the consortium of manufacturers,that sponcord the development of the SD card ("Super Density Disk" Toshiba) that was the makers of the original memory cards in the mid 1990s (SmartMedia) just after the world first miniature flash media/flash cam card "CompactFlash" launched by SanDisk in February 1994, initially used on the Kodak DCS digital cameras, like the Kodak DCS 420, (only SLR cameras used flash cards originally from 1994 until the small consumer cameras came out in 1996) the SmartMedia card was stooped made around 202 and became the SD card instead, Compact Flash is still made, It is suspected that the video recorders intro in the early 1980s was hyped, to se;; and promote the video recorder, using a sympathetic side kick called the betamax" to sell the video recorders, and make them a house hold name, and we fell for the oldest trick in the book, hook line and sinker, and believed the betamax was rubbish, the idea that you can sell more video recorders by making out it was so much better than the "other version" (betamax) is as old as the hills, thing is the tv industry's prints was all over it, because even though the betamax became obscure,(hidden) it was infact "The World Wide Standard Of Professional Broadcasting " at the time, and was not as hidden as they maybe thought it would be.Some would interpretation that idea as "they are puling your leg" (take it like a pinch of salt) but the electronic manufactures will only pay out compensation to victims of betamax persecution" where as the tv industry, or electronic manufacturers blamed individuals for what they had done, ie "you ruined the reputation of the betamax" and continue " don't even think the betamax was crap, it was you that gave it a bad reputaion in the first place, and ruined are video machine, and us TV stations are lumberd with a reject recorder and camcorders called "betacam" all because of you insults about the betamax video" And if the tv company use that attitude towards you, then they get fined money, Please do ot mistake betamax persecution for the reputaion of the video recorders image in the 1980s, where as the electronic manufacturers, and tv company's are libel, to the stormers they sold machines too, and took there money and ruined the reputation of there hard erned cash, machine, all to hype the release of the video recorders launch, No you caN never under estimate the enemy, the t stations are to professional and will quote these words please beware, quote," We never lost a sale to VHS, Our Betamax mode;s was voted international video recorder model of the year award winner four times, we have the biggest selling video recorder model of history ever made, (VTC5000 in 1982 out selling every model of VHS, and is still beloved to be the biggest selling video recorder ever made even today by recipts) and our specification was up to scratch, we used a option of non tape de threading of the video head on fast forward and rewind, and marketed SP recorders only" on PAL and SECAM colour configurations (Not NTSC model, as they have as much log play as VHS recorders, minus only 46mins, because of the smaller size of the betamax cassette shell size compared to the VHS size, and did not warrant a better picture processor being built inside the National Television Systems Committees , version, only non tape de threading in order to create a consumer option int he video market, of more advanced electronics) It is hard to see these electronic tricks that the betamax offerd originality , into the 1980s because vhs and betamax machines looked the same, but it is more evident in the dark ages of video history with video recorder models like the Betamax C7 that spears to be fully electronic, even offering inferred remote control (first ever edition ever sold globally) electronic tuner, electronic button, a classic bargain , only for the asking price of that you forfeit your built in tape de threader from your video recorder. Please note that VHS machines do not offer this option until a year latter, there machines may seem stone age in comparison with these betamax ;s marketed by Sony, and Toshiba, and one or two other brands, but the VHS system never needed electronic wizardry inside there machines, because they have a built i tape de threader, and did not warrant a better picture processor built inside the machine, because they use the long play option instead.. And the TV /electronic manufacturer, would then claim that "betamax(betacam) is still the World Wide Standard Of Professional Television Broadcasting, and the sole surviving member of the original line up of the world wide standard left in circulation, because VHS resigned in October 2008 at the launch of the bluray video recorder, 35mm film left around the same time for the SD card, video8mm as soon as 2008 arrived, resigned for the SD card instead, compact cassette for MP3, only the betamax is left and we look after our machine, we are not guilty" you WILL NOTICE THAT THEY BOTH IN IT TOGETHER BECAUSE IT WAS THE MERGER OF BETAMAX AND VHS IN 1958 THAT BROUGHT US THE WORLDS FIRST VIDEO RECORDER IN THE FIRST PLACE (Ampex and RCA) WITH THE FAMOUS "Quadruplex" VIDEO RECORDER MODELS, used in to the 1980s by Television company's.

Answer 5

will they bring back the 5" floppy disk, or the diskette in that case?

i think not.

I remember watching a tv show where a guy walks down the long steps from a law building holding a diskette and says in a powerful voice, "imagine the technology involved in a piece of technology this large that holds more than 15 million computerized letters!"...then the camera pans out...

still gives me the shivers...imagine the technology!

Answer 6

No. Besides, what's the point? That battle has long
been over, and now the winner of that war has suc-
cumb to the new world power of the DVD format.

H a p p y
H o m e
T h e a t e r i n g !

Answer 7

What do you mean bring it back? It's still here as far as I know.

Answer 8

No they won't...even though it was better than VHS.