The original Betacam cassettes, loaded with ferric-oxide tape, were identical in overall design and size (15.1 × 9.5 × 2.5 cm)[5] to consumer-grade Betamax, introduced by Sony in 1975.

(Some Sony Betacam oxide tapes also carry the domestic Beta (Betamax) logo.)

A typical L-750 length Betamax cassette that yielded about 3 hours of recording time on a Betamax VCR at its B-II Speed (NTSC), or on PAL, only provided 30 minutes' record time on a Betacam VCR or camcorder.

Another common point between Betamax and Betacam is the placement of the stereo linear audio tracks.

These three cameras could be operated standalone, or with their docking companion VTR, the BVV-1 (quickly superseded by the BVV-1A), to form the BVW-1 (BVW-1A) integrated camcorder.

Later the Betacam SP docking decks had full transport controls (except a record button) but tapes could not be played back except in the camera's viewfinder in black-and-white only.

At its introduction, many insisted that Betacam remained inferior to the bulkier one-inch type C and B videotapes, the standard broadcast production formats of the late 1970s to mid-1990s.

Betacam SP (for "Superior Performance") became the industry standard for most TV stations and high-end production houses until the late 1990s.

Despite the format's age and its discontinuation in 2001, Betacam SP remained a common standard for standard-definition video post-production into the 2010s.

A new SP field recorder, the BVW-35, possessed the added benefit of a standard RS422 serial control port that enabled it to be used as an edit feeder deck.

Answering a need for a basic office player, Sony also introduced the BVW-22, a much less expensive desktop model that could be used for viewing and logging 90-minute cassettes of both Betacam SP and oxide types, but could not be configured into an edit system and offered only composite video output.

After this, the deck line was relatively stagnant and incredibly popular for a decade, aside from some specialty models that could record digital audio.

These machines were considerably simpler, somewhat lower quality, and were designed primarily to be used as companions to computer systems, for industrial video, and other low-cost, yet high-quality, uses.

Ampex, Thomson SA, BTS each sold OEM versions of some of the Sony VTRs and camcorders at various times in the 1980s and 1990s.

Digital Betacam (commonly referred to as DigiBeta, D-Beta, DBC or simply Digi) was introduced at 18th International Television Symposium in Montreux on June 10, 1993.

Facilities could begin using digital signals on their existing coaxial wiring without having to commit to an expensive re-installation.

It stores video using MPEG-2 4:2:2 Profile@ML compression, along with four channels of 48 kHz 16 bit PCM audio.

Betacam SX uses MPEG-2 4:2:2P@ML compression, compliant with CCIR 601,[9] in comparison with other similar systems that use 4:1:1 or 4:2:0 chroma subsampling for coding.

This was intended to save wear on the video heads for television studio applications, as well to speed up online editing.

[9] Although Betacam SX machines have gone out of production since 2008, the format is still used by many newsgathering operations, including Canada's CTV, Atlanta's WSB-TV, San Diego's KFMB-TV and NBC's operations in the San Francisco Bay Area at KNTV and KSTS.

In August 2011, Betacam SX tapes were found in Muammar Gaddafi's underground studio in Tripoli.

Additionally, IMX ensures that each frame has the same exact size in bytes to simplify recording onto video tape.

Video recorded in the IMX format is compliant with CCIR 601 specification, with eight channels of audio and timecode track.

It lacks an analog audio (cue) track as the Digital Betacam, but will read it as channel 7 if used for playback.

SDTI allows for audio, video, timecode, and remote control functions to be transported by a single coaxial cable, while e-VTR technology extends this by allowing the same data to be transported over IP by way of an Ethernet interface on the VTR itself.

[9] The XDCAM format, unveiled in 2003, allows recording of MPEG IMX video in MXF container onto Professional Disc.

HDCAM, introduced in 1997, was the first HD format available in Betacam form-factor, using an 8-bit DCT compressed 3:1:1 recording, in 1080i-compatible downsampled resolution of 1440×1080, and adding 24p and 23.976 PsF modes to later models.

HDCAM SR, introduced in 2003, uses a higher particle density tape and is capable of recording in 10 bits 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 RGB with a bitrate of 440 Mbit/s.

Some HDCAM SR VTRs can also use a 2× mode with an even higher bitrate of 880 Mbit/s, allowing for a 4:4:4 RGB stream at a lower compression.

HDCAM SR uses the new MPEG-4 Part 2 Studio Profile for compression, and expands the number of audio channels up to 12 at 48 kHz/24 bit.