The clash between Betamax and VHS began in the late 1970s and lasted long into the 1980s. The conflict grew as affordable video players increased, with VHS ultimately triumphing. Betamax initially controlled the market, but their refusal to take the customers’ advice ultimately contributed to their demise.

The battle between the VHS and Betamax standards officially began in 1971 when Sony created the U-Matic, the first closed-case video format. This format was created exclusively for business and professional use since it would have been too expensive to make it available for personal use. Sony quickly created the Betamax, which it offered to its rivals in 1974 in an effort to establish it as the industry standard video recording device (VCR), taking advantage of the information learned during this process.

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