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Betamax

Yesterday, Sony announced that it would cease manufacturing Betamax tapes and shut the concluding remaining factories in March 2022. The news came as a shock to the technology world, mostly because everyone thought this had already happened. Sony hasn't built new Betamax players since 2002, and while the hardware had a reputation for existence more durable than its VHS counterpart, Betamax hasn't been a viable standard for nigh 30 years. The world is full of obsolete technologies still playing a role in niche fields (the The states military still runs nuclear silos off 8-inch floppy discs), but Betamax's loss to the competing VHS format made it the butt of jokes decades ago. But its legacy goes far beyond that, and leads straight to today's top online streaming services like YouTube and Twitch.

Betamax wasn't better on all fronts

It'south easy to look back from the 21st century and dismiss both VHS and Betamax as antiquated has-beens, but the video format wars of the 1970s and 1980s actually have deep ties to the modernistic era. Engineers and researchers had been working for decades to create a cheap machinery that allowed consumers to view content in their own homes or record television programs to spotter later. The well-known Betamax vs. VHS state of war is typically summarized as "Betamax had higher quality but VHS was cheaper," but this isn't actually truthful. While Betamax did offer some technical advantages over VHS, they weren't particularly visible on typical Tv set sets of the mid-1970s and early 1980s.

The cost argument is difficult to quantify — Betamax launched at college prices while Sony held a monopoly on the marketplace, but research indicates that the company slashed prices on its hardware once VHS began to gain steam. Companies in the 1970s were well-aware of the importance of competing on toll and almost sources hold that Betamax hardware was cheaper than its VHS equivalent past the early to mid 1980s. Sony was also get-go to marketplace with a handheld camcorder (the and so-chosen Betamovie,) simply the Betamovie was record-only — it couldn't play content dorsum or copy the footage to a 2nd VCR.

Capacity, non cost, is what killed Betamax. When the format debuted, information technology could but record sixty minutes of programming compared with two hours for JVC'south VCR technology, which launched in 1975. Sony didn't retrieve this would be a problem, and emphasized Betamax'southward quality, immovability, and time-shifting capabilities in their advertising, as shown below:

Sony Betamax advertising

Sony's Betamax ad

JVC, on the other hand, saw the VCR primarily equally a ways of selling movies to consumers and began partnering with studios and distributors to drive home the idea of the VCR every bit a means for studios to expand acquirement and open new marketing opportunities. VHS tapes were physically larger than their Betamax equivalents, which meant they could hold more tape for recording (250 meters vs. 150 meters). VHS as well had a slightly slower tape speed — 1.3 inches/second VCR's debuted at two-hour tape times and were up to four hours (the length of a circulate football game) by 1977. This made it difficult for Sony to friction match the recording times, though the company did introduce a two-hour BII format past the end of 1977.

Betavhs2

Those actress millimeters made a difference

From the beginning, Sony had marketed Betamax towards discerning videophiles and content creators and the visitor launched a number of loftier-cease features it hoped would finally put the nail in VHS'southward coffin and give it a technological edge. The "border" that Betamax held over VHS, in other words, wasn't a static element that Sony defined in 1974 and remained constant thereafter — Sony continuously iterated on the Betamax design, improving quality, adding recording modes, and responding to consumer interests. The problem, however, is that it was often slower to respond than its rivals to emerging trends, while its technological advantages were often duplicated in brusk lodge. VHS had massive economies of scale on its side as early as 1980, and those advantages continued to stack over fourth dimension. A total and fascinating write-up of the events and history of Betamax and the format wars is available at Betainfoguide.net.

How the video format wars reverberate today

Betamax may be long expressionless every bit a storage format, but the Supreme Court instance surrounding it lives on. In 1976, Universal and Disney sued Sony (Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc, et al) alleging that considering Betamax's principal purpose was to tape and timeshift content, Sony should exist held liable for copyright infringements committed by Betamax owners. The case went to the Supreme Court, which was initially inclined to determine against Sony, and rule in favor of Disney and Universal. Ultimately, the court ruled in Sony's favor, because the right of abode users to brand a personal copy of a public circulate established that the Betamax console (and by extension, the VCR) had legitimate not-infringing uses.

The Court's majority opinion states:

[There must be] a balance between a copyright holder'southward legitimate need for constructive – not merely symbolic – protection of the statutory monopoly, and the rights of others freely to appoint in substantially unrelated areas of commerce. Accordingly, the sale of copying equipment, similar the sale of other manufactures of commerce, does non constitute contributory infringement if the production is widely used for legitimate, unobjectionable purposes. Indeed, it demand merely be capable of substantial noninfringing uses….

The question is thus whether the Betamax is capable of commercially significant noninfringing uses … ane potential utilise of the Betamax plainly satisfies this standard, still information technology is understood: private, noncommercial fourth dimension-shifting in the home. It does so both (A) because respondents take no right to prevent other copyright holders from authorizing information technology for their programs, and (B) considering the District Courtroom'due south factual findings reveal that even the unauthorized dwelling fourth dimension-shifting of respondents' programs is legitimate fair utilize….

Notable TV personality Mr. Rogers testified in favor of assuasive VCRs, and his testimony was considered show that not all Television producers were opposed to content recording for playback at a later engagement.

The so-called "Betamax case" established that a business that offered substantial non-infringing uses for a product could non be held criminally liable for infringement only because others used the equipment for illegal purposes. This aforementioned principle underlies the DMCA's "safe harbor" provision. It's why copyright holders take generally been forced to work with companies like YouTube and Twitch as opposed to crushing them. While the instance has its limits — the rules it established have non generally protected file-sharing sites — information technology even so prepare an incredibly of import precedent for the limits to copyright and the concept of fair utilize.

From this perspective, the video format wars of the 1970s and 1980s were a mere skirmish. Betamax won the war where it counted.