After forty years of only barely successful sales, Sony has announced it is finally discontinuing all sales of Betamax video tapes by March of 2016. The company shared in a statement that all recording media of the Betamax format and shipping of any recording medium of the micro MV format will also be discontinued.
Betamax video tapes were first introduced to the market in 1975, and it fought vigorously against JVC’s VHS cassette. Ultimately, JVC dominated the market almost effortlessly. Although Betamax was claimed to be the better of the two for its higher color quality, higher resolution and smaller size, but the difference in price between the two came as its downfall, along with its smaller storage facility.
Funnily enough, the largest blow to the potential of Betamax video tapes was the fact that Sony refused to mass produce porn. JVC didn’t, and the VHS probably skyrocketed in popularity because they had a selection of pornography readily available for consumers. Unfortunately, both lost a large amount of their popularity by 1993 to the video CD and the DVD, which have since been replaced by online streaming.
After the sale of 18 million Betamax video tapes and recorders, it will finally see its end.
Both video cassette tape formats were superseded by the video CD in 1993, and the DVD in 1993, which in turn have largely been replaced by digital downloads and online streaming technology.
Sony stopped making Betamax recorders in 2002, after years of producing it in ever smaller quantities, but it continued making tapes for die-hard fans. It has also not produced a compatible video camera for the Micro MV cassette since 2005.
Sony claims that it has sold a total of 18m Betamax devices worldwide since launch.
