Betamax is widely considered to be obsolete, having lost the videotape format war[2] which saw its closest rival, VHS, dominate most markets.

[4][5] The first Betamax VCR introduced in the United States was the LV-1901 model, which included a 19-inch (48 cm) Trinitron television, and appeared in stores in early November 1975.

[citation needed] Like the rival videotape format VHS (introduced in Japan by JVC in September 1976[6] and in the United States by RCA in August 1977),[7] Betamax has no guard band and uses azimuth recording to reduce crosstalk.

[citation needed] Sanyo marketed its own Betamax-compatible recorders under the Betacord brand (also casually referred to as "Beta").

In addition to Sony and Sanyo, Beta-format video recorders were manufactured and sold by Toshiba, Pioneer, Murphy, Aiwa, and NEC.

The Sony PCM-F1 adaptor was sold with a companion Betamax VCR SL-2000 as a portable digital audio recording system.

[citation needed] One other major consequence of the Betamax technology's introduction to the U.S. was the lawsuit Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios (1984, the "Betamax case"), with the U.S. Supreme Court determining home videotaping to be legal in the United States, wherein home videotape cassette recorders were a legal technology since they had substantial noninfringing uses.

This precedent was later invoked in MGM v. Grokster (2005), where the high court agreed that the same "substantial noninfringing uses" standard applies to authors and vendors of peer-to-peer file sharing software (notably excepting those who "actively induce" copyright infringement through "purposeful, culpable expression and conduct").

They were identical except that the HFP-200 was capable of multi-channel TV sound, with the word "stereocast" printed after the Beta Hi-Fi logo.

[citation needed] In early 1985, Sony would introduce a new feature, Hi-Band or SuperBeta, by again shifting the Y carrier—this time by 800 kHz.

Since over-the-antenna and cable signals were only 300–330 lines resolution, SuperBeta could make a nearly identical copy of live television.

There were some incompatibilities between the older Beta decks and SuperBeta, but most could play back a high band tape without major problems.

)[17][18] In 1988, Sony would again push the envelope with ED-Beta, or "Extended Definition" Betamax, capable of up to 500 lines of luma resolution, comparable to then-future DVD quality.

In order to store the ~6.5 MHz-wide luma signal, with the peak frequency at 9.3 MHz, Sony used a metal formulation tape borrowed from the Betacam SP format (branded "ED-Metal") and incorporated some improvements to the transport to reduce mechanically induced aberrations in the picture.

As for the EDC-55 "ED CAM" camcorder, the major complaint concerned its low light sensitivity due to the use of two CCDs instead of the typical single-CCD imaging device.

ED-Beta machines only recorded in βII and βIII modes, with the ability to play back βI and βIs.

To better compete with Super 8 film there was the need for a less cumbersome all-in-one solution, and Sony's was "Betamovie", the first consumer camcorder.

[24] As a result, while the final on-tape recording is – by design – in standard Betamax format and playable on a regular Beta deck, the camcorder itself is record-only, and cannot be used to review or play back footage.

[24] VHS manufacturers found a different solution to drum miniaturization using standard video signals instead, permitting footage to be reviewed on the camcorder itself, and output to another VCR for editing.

[citation needed] VHS gained another advantage with VHS-C, which used a miniaturized cassette to make a camcorder smaller and lighter than any Betamovie.

Sony could not duplicate the functionality of VHS-C camcorders, and seeing the rapid loss of market share, eventually introduced the Video8 format.

[citation needed] The heads on the drum[29] of a Betamax VCR move across the tape producing a writing speed of 6.9 or 5.832 metres per second[30][31] with the drum rotating at 1800 rpm (NTSC, 60 Hz) or 1500 rpm (PAL, 50 Hz),[32] theoretically giving Betamax a higher bandwidth of 3.2 MHz, thus better video quality than VHS.

[33] Below is a list of modern, digital-style resolutions (and traditional analog "TV lines per picture height" measurements) for various media.

[citation needed] Both NTSC and PAL/SECAM Betamax cassettes are physically identical (although the signals recorded on the tape are incompatible).

[citation needed] In the 1983 David Cronenberg film Videodrome, the character of Max Renn grows an opening in his stomach that accepts Betamax videocassettes.

In the Cowboy Bebop episode "Speak Like a Child", Jet and Spike receive a Beta tape in the mail intended for Faye.

[38] In 2017, in Despicable Me 3, the villain Balthazar Bratt, whose look, culture, accessories and weapons date from the 80's, yells "Son of a Beta max" at his opponent Gru.