After 30 years, Sony finally kills off Betamax
Apple vs Android may be the big battle of the digital era – but not so long ago, it was all about the showdown between video and Betamax. And after 30 long years, Sony has finally admitted defeat, with the announcement it will kill off the Betamax.
In a statement today, Sony said it will stop producing Betamax tapes in March next year – 13 years after it stopped making Betamax recording equipment. It stopped making Micro MV tapes – the equivalent format for video tapes – in 1995.
Sony said it had sold 18 million Betamax players, with 50m tapes sold during the format's peak in 1984.
Betamax kicked off the video age, with the first home video players. But a year after its launch, JVC launched the VHS format, which boasted two hours of recording time, rather than the one hour Betamax was capable of, and could be produced more cheaply.
But for years, Sony stood behind Betamax, pointing out that although it had a shorter recording time, its image quality was "clearly superior".