Why Sony's Beta Videotape System Failed--and failed hard (Part 1)
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN recommends it as a detailed, accurate explanation of why Betamax lost, and cites it in debates over whether VHS was actually the worse format.
What it is
Part one of Technology Connections' account of the VHS versus Betamax format war. It argues Sony was caught off guard by JVC's cheaper, more practical VHS system.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2022 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Recommends anyfoo · 2022-02 · on “Netflix will falter”
From the article: "I’m not a binge watcher. I’ve never been much of a TV viewer. I didn’t even own a television until my mid-30s. [...] but I get restless if I spend too much time staring into that flickering screen. My wife Tara has a similar attitude." This honestly makes me wonder "ok, why should I listen to you, then?" It doesn't help that they then go ahead and give an, at best, oversimplified explanation of why VHS won against Beta.[1] Not a single mention of one of VHS's killer features versus Beta: Tape length. (And calling Windows , of all OSes, an "open operating system"... oh dear, I get the point you are trying to make, but "open" and 90's anti-trust Microsoft in the same sentenc
Recommends voxadam · 2023-02 · on “Toshiba HD-DVD firmware archive”
The YouTube channel Technology Connections has a few good videos talking about how and why Betamax failed. Why Sony's Beta Videotape System Failed--and failed hard (Part 1) - [this video] Why Sony's Beta Videotape System Failed--Part 2 - [LINK] The VHS cassette was more clever than Beta - [LINK]
Cites tracker1 · 2025-09 · on “How RSS beat Microsoft”
Betamax's "Standard" playback was better than VHS's "standard" playback... the issue was VHS "standard" could get something like 2 hours to a typical tape and BetaMax was like half an hour. For actual content, BetaMax tapes were recorded in an extended play format, while most VHS tapes were in Standard. This dramatically reduced BetaMax quality to be comparable or worse. [this video]
Cites leoc · 2026-08 · on “Atom is better than RSS, in ways that matter”
While a worse format surely could have won something like the video wars, it doesn't seem that VHS was in fact the worse format overall: [this video] (Part 2: [LINK] . Quality comparison: [LINK] ) Beta was basically optimised for one thing, reasonable cassette size, and the tradeoffs turned out probably not to be worth it.