Betamax

Betamax is a home videocassette recording format developed by Sony, introduced in Japan on May 10, 1975 and in the United States later that year. It lost a prolonged format war to JVC's rival VHS format: Sony initially resisted licensing Betamax to other manufacturers while JVC licensed VHS broadly, spurring competition and lower prices, so that by 1980 VHS controlled 60 percent of the North American market and by 1984 forty companies made VHS equipment against twelve for Betamax; Betamax's initial 60 minute recording limit, too short for a full film or sporting event, compounded the disadvantage. Sony conceded defeat in 1988 by beginning to produce its own VHS recorders, though it continued making Betamax units until 2002.