Betamax (or shortened to “Beta”)

In the early 1980s, an entertainment revolution began with the introduction of the affordable video cassette recorder or VCR. Early on, Sony was offering its own proprietary format, which it called Betamax – in fact, the first “camcorder” was built by Sony and dubbed the “Betamovie.” Despite the fact that Beta had superior specs, ultimately VHS won this particular “format war” because the format’s developer, JVC, had more manufacturers like Sharp, RCA, Pioneer, Zenith, and Fisher in its corner. Beta hung on for a few years, but slowly the number of movies released in Beta format dwindled to nothing.