4. VHS vs. Beta

The war between VHS and Beta is pretty much gone now, with VHS emerging the victor. In 1975 Sony introduced its Beta system and JVC introduced its own VHS system the following year. The two systems were immediately in competition because they used different tape-handling mechanisms and cassette sizes as well as coding systems that varied just enough so that the tapes were not interchangeable. At first Beta was the industry leader with its compact, inexpensive, and reliable VCR. It accounted for most of the sales from 1975-77 and increased in sales until 1985. However in 1975 it fell behind VHS in market share and continued to loose its share every year thereafter. By the end of the 1980s Sony had stopped producing Beta models and switched to a smaller 8mm tape used primarily for home movies.

In nutshell, VHS offered a bigger choice of hardware at lower cost, the tapes were cheaper and more easily available, and there were a lot more movies to rent.