# Betamax, you leave us too soon **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 10, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189 "2015-11-10T13:59:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/21 "2015-11-11T23:47:14Z")
I COULD answer that, but do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to see me sock a few dingers?!! ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/22 "2015-11-12T05:38:51Z")
Am I the only one that thought back in the day of videotape rentals and the “war” between Betamax and VHS that Betamax would win? I totally backed the wrong horse on that one. ---
**Author:** ![edwardcoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cab0a1/32.png) [@edwardcoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwardcoast)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/23 "2015-11-12T08:40:58Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Wasn’t a version of Betamax the standard for broadcast TV studios until very recently? You might be referring to Betacam SP? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betacam#Betacam\_SP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betacam#Betacam_SP) ---
**Author:** ![edwardcoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cab0a1/32.png) [@edwardcoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwardcoast)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/24 "2015-11-12T10:16:49Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Am I the only one that thought back in the day of videotape rentals and the “war” between Betamax and VHS that Betamax would win? I totally backed the wrong horse on that one. Betamax should have won. It had better specs. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/25 "2015-11-12T11:48:04Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I’m imagining some 18-year-old newbie in Tokyo walking up to his boss: > > “Sir, the shipment of Betamax tapes is ready to go out tomorrow.” > > " _Snerk_ Good joke, kid. I’m surprised you even know what a Betamax tape is." > > “No, seriously. Look here.” > > "Dafuq !!! … we haven’t made Betamax players since, I dunno, World War 2 or something. Why in the hell are we still make tapes? Who’s buying them? > > “Hmmm… The ‘Ship to’ coordinates are just an empty spot in the ocean. Are they just tossing them overboard?” > > “Probably. I’m guessing nobody had the heart to shut the line down and fire the workers. _Sigh_ I guess I get to be the bad guy. (Lucky me.)” If only they worked this into the new James Bond Spectre movie, then maybe it wouldn’t have sucked so bad. Blofeld a disgruntled Betamax owner anyone? ---
**Author:** ![tarrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@tarrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarrel)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/26 "2015-11-13T05:38:54Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > With the express written consent of the National Football League I presume. Well I don’t distribute any copies just for my own personal entertainment ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/27 "2015-11-13T06:48:12Z")
I managed to confuse a young coworker at the thrift store a few days ago, by showing her an 8-track tape. She did manage to figure out it was a type of recording media. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/28 "2015-11-13T14:14:56Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I managed to confuse a young coworker at the thrift store a few days ago, by showing her an 8-track tape. She did manage to figure out it was a type of recording media. My parents’ stereo has an 8-track player in it. I remember my mom having a Neil Diamond tape, and we had a Star Wars tape as well. (Do you call 8-track media “tapes”?) I don’t think either tape has been played since the mid-80’s at the latest. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/29 "2015-11-14T00:56:49Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Betacam was the standard for ENG (electronic news gathering) before Digital came in. With SVHS, the in-the-field camera guy had a recorder on a strap hanging over one shoulder and a camera resting on the other. With Betacam, the camera was also the recorder. S-VHS wasn’t up to the quality of anything more than cable public access and corporate training videos. There was a professional format based on it (The “M” format), but Sony won that one with Betacam vs M2, even if they lost with Betamax vs VHS). ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/30 "2015-11-14T01:04:24Z")
> [@edwardcoast](#): > > You might be referring to Betacam SP? > [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betacam#Betacam\_SP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betacam#Betacam_SP) Also, it was never really “the standard” for broadcast TV, at least larger city stations. They used if for news gathering due to it’s portablity, but where space and portability weren’t concerned they used more expensive, less portable formats like 1" Quad and then the “D” digital cassette formats. Betacam also had a tendency to randomly produce huge visual glitches when there was a small defect in the tape. If you were editing a tape from your news crews onto a studio format it was OK because you could just redo the edit, not so good for playing back shows repeatedly directly to the air. It was quite popular with small TV stations, and corporate video producers who couldn’t afford anything better. Sony eventually catered to these users by producing larger (too big to fit in ENG cameras) and longer tapes. IRC a small format tape that was the same size as Betamax would hold a max of 30 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/31 "2015-11-14T01:53:07Z")
I still miss the ancient, gigantic 3/4-inch tapes we worked with at the public access station which was affiliated with my high school. You could really brain someone with those cassettes. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/32 "2015-11-14T02:24:04Z")
U-Matic? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/33 "2015-11-14T03:08:49Z")
Yep, really nice resolution (for SD) with those things. I learned old-skool linear video editing with a U-Matic edit suite. The best thing about those VCRs was the excellent tactile ker-thunk when you pressed the buttons. Nobody makes ker-thunking buttons anymore. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189/34 "2015-11-18T14:04:56Z")
I was a big fan of Beta. Still have two working machines in the basement. I used one regularly for quite some time into the 2000s. Used VHS for quick and dirty recordings, Betamax for more archival stuff. Once we got a DVR, the usage dropped off to practically nil and eventually unplugged them all. With all sources being digital now, the only use for my machines is for saving stuff off the tapes to digital. When I used to buy Betas at thrift stores, fix them up and sell them on eBay, I’d throw in a new, unopened, tape as a bonus. I might still have a few of those. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betamax-you-leave-us-too-soon/737189.md?page=1)