Betamax
From Invertopedia, the encyclopedia of how things fail
Betamax was Sony's home videocassette format. It went on sale in Japan on May 10, 1975[2][3], a year before JVC's rival VHS[1][4], and about 18 million Betamax machines were sold[5]. But VHS tapes recorded longer, more companies made VHS machines, and VHS had more than 75 percent of the consumer market by the early 1980s[4][5]. Sony began selling VHS recorders in 1988[4][5], stopped making Betamax recorders in 2002[5] and stopped selling the tapes in March 2016[1].
Contents
The bet
Sony believed it could set the standard by being first with the better machine, and that others would follow its design. Seven months before Betamax went on sale, chairman Akio Morita showed it to executives from Matsushita, JVC and RCA[4]. Sony's attitude, as the case study puts it: "We completed this one, why don't you simply follow us and become partners in producing VCRs that use our Betamax system"[4].
Sony would not allow its players to be made without its direct oversight[6]. It was betting that picture quality and a head start would matter more than recording time and a crowd of manufacturers.
What happened
| 1974 | Morita shows Betamax to Matsushita, JVC and RCA. JVC says it would rather develop its own format, and Matsushita declines to build Betamax machines.[4] |
|---|---|
| May 10, 1975 | Betamax goes on sale in Japan.[2][3] |
| Nov 1975 | The first US model, the LV-1901, reaches stores at $2,295, a 19-inch color TV with a recorder built in. Tapes hold one hour.[2][3] |
| Sep 1976 | JVC introduces VHS, with two-hour tapes. More than 100,000 Betamax machines have been sold by then.[4] |
| End of 1976 | Sony puts its player beside JVC's at Matsushita's Osaka headquarters. Matsushita chooses VHS, which has fewer parts and costs less to make.[6] |
| Early 1980s | VHS passes 75 percent of the consumer market.[5] |
| 1984 | Betamax sales peak at 2.3 million recorders, but 40 companies now make VHS equipment against a dozen in the Beta group. The Supreme Court rules in the Betamax case that consumers can record TV shows to watch later.[4][5] |
| 1988 | Sony begins making VHS recorders.[4][5] |
| Aug 2002 | Sony says it will stop making its last two Betamax recorders by year's end. It made fewer than 3,000 the year before, sold only in Japan.[5] |
| Nov 10, 2015 | Sony announces it will stop selling Betamax tapes in March 2016.[1] |
The kill shot
A one-hour tape could not hold a movie, and a format one company controlled could not keep pace with forty companies building the other one. When people started renting films, the video stores stocked VHS.
VHS cassettes were larger and the tape moved more slowly past the heads, so a single tape could record for much longer[5]. Betamax recorded a more detailed picture[5], but the technical gaps between the two formats were short-lived, and each leapfrogged the other for years[4].
What did not close was the gap in partners. JVC licensed VHS to any manufacturer that wanted it[6], and by 1984 the VHS group had 40 companies to Beta's dozen[4]. Morita later said: "We didn't put enough effort into making a family. … The other side, coming later, made a family"[4]. Then the market moved from taping TV to watching prerecorded movies, and video stores stocked the format most of their customers owned, which was VHS[4].
Red flags ignored
- Asking rivals to follow, not join. Sony showed partners a finished design and asked them to adopt it[4].
- Optimizing what engineers measure. Betamax won on picture detail, while buyers cared more about recording time[1][5].
- Holding the format close. Sony kept direct control over who made its players, while JVC licensed VHS to anyone[6].
- A pricier machine to build. Matsushita picked VHS partly because it had fewer parts and cost less to make[6].
- Ignoring the network effect. Once people rented films, each VHS sale made VHS more attractive to the next buyer and to the video store[4].
The cost
About 18 million Betamax machines sold over the format's life[5], in a market where the worldwide installed base of VCRs grew from under 10 million in 1980 to more than 200 million a decade later[4]. Sony's best year was 1984, at 2.3 million recorders[5]. By 2001 it made fewer than 3,000[5].
Winning did not make JVC rich either: its open sharing of VHS kept it from earning much on its investment[4].
The inversion
Win on what customers measure, not on what engineers admire. And when a format needs a crowd to win, let the crowd build it with you.
What survived
The technology, in professional use. Sony built Betacam, a format for broadcasters, on Betamax's foundations, and the BBC still held Betacam tapes in its archives in 2015[1]. Betamax technology also went into commercial camcorders[4].
The law. In the 1984 Betamax case the Supreme Court rejected Hollywood studios' attempt to block sales on piracy grounds and ruled that consumers could record TV shows for later viewing[5].
References
- ^ “Sony says goodbye to Betamax tapes”. BBC News, November 10, 2015. Sony as maker, the 1975 launch a year before VHS, the end of tape sales in March 2016, longer VHS recording and cheaper VHS machines, Betacam built on Betamax.
- ^ “Sony's First U.S. Betamax Product, the TV/VCR Combo LV-1901 from 1975”. CED Magic. The May 10, 1975 Japanese launch, the LV-1901 in November 1975 at $2,295 with a 19-inch TV, one-hour tapes.
- ^ “Betamax”. Wikipedia. Cross-check: the May 10, 1975 Japanese launch and the November 1975 US launch.
- ^ “Betamax and VHS (mini-case)”. Luís Cabral and David Backus, NYU Stern, revised August 28, 2002. Morita's pitch to Matsushita, JVC and RCA, VHS's September 1976 launch, 100,000 Betamax sold by then, one hour against two, the 40-to-12 split by 1984, Morita's quote, the shift to rented movies, installed base figures, Sony's 1988 move to VHS, JVC's thin returns.
- ^ “Sony Finally Throws the Betamax on Scrapheap”. Los Angeles Times (Jon Healey), August 28, 2002. The end of recorder production, fewer than 3,000 made the year before, VHS over 75 percent by the early 1980s, longer VHS tapes, the 1984 peak of 2.3 million, 1988, about 18 million sold, the 1984 Supreme Court ruling.
- ^ “The Real Reason Betamax Lost The Format Wars”. SlashGear (Eli Shayotovich), updated February 21, 2023. JVC licensing VHS to any manufacturer, Sony's oversight rule, the Osaka side-by-side demo and Matsushita's choice.