Betamax or VCR? Which one did your family have growing up?

[Lubaolong]

correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t laserdisc predate both of the tape formats? I had never heard of it until the late 90’s though.

Yeah, I think so, but I first saw it in the early 90s.

 

[VulcanNervPinch]

The good one, Betamax
Which went under
Because most people chose the crappy one

 

[moreorless87]

correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t laserdisc predate both of the tape formats? I had never heard of it until the late 90’s though.

It came out later but not that much latter, VHS in 75 and Laserdisc in 78. Laserdisc might look closer to a DVD but actually it was closer to VHS in the way it stored info, analog rather than digital.

Alot of the sucess of VHS was really about getting first to market, building up the userbase and being able to decrease the cost of tapes with economies of scale to the point nothing else could compete with it.

 

[CyberRubberDuck]

We had a BetaMax in the early 80s, then moved to VCR in the late 80s to early 2000s. Crazy how long VHS lasted.

I think you mean betamax or VHS.

And I had both.

 

[IndyCovaHart]

HD-DVD vs. BluRay son.

 

[Amerikuracana]

We got a vcr in 1984.

Around 1985 at 6 I would fast forward to the boobs in trading places. I was interested that young.

 

[x__stylez__x]

Crazy how long VHS lasted.

Thank the porn industry. VHS tapes were cheeper and easier to produce in mass over Betamax, even though it was a better quality image.

 

[TheNinja]

VHS

 

[Chest Rockwell]

My dad was addicted to that shit. Vhs, betamax, laserdisc, he had like 5 of each mostly new in boxes. Drove my mom wild lol. He sent me one of each recently with all the old 80s nba tapes. Nostalgia for days.

 

[ookii]

VCRs were for poor people in the 80s. We grew up with LaserDisc in the 80s

 

[ookii]

Yeah, I think so, but I first saw it in the early 90s.

I saw my first LaserDisc movie in 86 with Back to the Future. Those things were like the size of a vinyl record.I believe it first became popular and little more mainstream around 84

 

[Frode Falch]

Vhs

 

[Provocateur]

VHS.
I also liked hanging out at the movie store trying to meet hot babes as kid.

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

Beta Max (initially) - way less selection.

BTW does anyone remember those large plastic disk movie players - you'd push it in the player and halfway through you'd have to eject it and flip it over to watch the other half of the movie.

 

[ralphc1]

The good one, Betamax
Which went under
Because most people chose the crappy one

I think someone working for Sony developed the VHS system first. Sony decided it didn't have enough resolution so they developed their second system "BETA". JVC aquired the discarded VHS technology. Sony didn't license Beta to anyone so the only Betamax players available were from Sony. VHS was cheaper to build and JVC licensed VHS to everyone so the cost was lower and the availability was much better.

Like many things, most people buy whatever is cheaper. When video cassette recorders [VCRs] first came out in the late 70s, they were in the $1,000 and up range which would be comparable to $4,000 today. In early 1981, a friend bought a Sony SL-5800 for $1,100. He had cable tv and I lived in the country before satellite television so he offered to record movies from HBO for me. I didn't want to spend $1,100 for a machine but by the fall, the same machine was selling for $400 so I bought one. Some weekends we would rent some movies and copy them using both machines.

Just a few years later, VHS format VCRs were selling for under $100.

 

[HunterSdVa29]

I don't think i ever saw a betamax at anyone's house, ever

not that i recall

 

[HunterSdVa29]

Beta Max (initially) - way less selection.

BTW does anyone remember those large plastic disk movie players - you'd push it in the player and halfway through you'd have to eject it and flip it over to watch the other half of the movie.

laserdiscs?

 

[TeTe]

Had both. I remember going to the video store, even in the late 80s when they had a little keyring thing to pick either VHS or Betamax when you wanted to rent a movie.

 

[lostdog000]

WE GOT OUR 1ST VCR IN 1980 FOR $1,000

 

[sweetviolenturg]

Back in 1981 when I was 17 I took my birthday money & I bought my first VCR. It was a high-end RCA SelectaVision VHS that had brand new features like a wireless remote control & a timer with a 14-day memory. It cost me about $1200.