40 years later, Sony ceases to support the format Betamax

Betamax is already a legendary failed experiment by Sony in the field of creating its own video media. Since 1975, unique videotapes with a half-inch tape width (12.7 millimeters) were produced under this name. Unfortunately, the VHS format, introduced by another Japanese company JVC in 1976, very quickly conquered the entire market, leaving Betamax somewhere on the sidelines. Surprisingly, the tapes of this format continued to be sold in some countries of the world to this day.

The Betamax media was developed on the basis of another professional U-matic format, also developed by Sony engineers in 1969. In addition to VHS, the Sony format had other competitors, for example Video 2000, but they were also not lucky. However, the last major supplier ceased production of VHS tapes back in 2008, and Betamax continued to exist until 2015. To be precise, these ancient tapes will disappear from sale in March 2016, according to Sony's official statement.

Today, Betamax cassettes can be found in a variety of Japanese electronics stores, as well as in the Japanese branch of the Amazon marketplace. But the same name VCR stopped production in 2002. Along with Betamax, MicroMV format tapes, also produced by Sony for digital video cameras since 2001, will also disappear from sale. The MicroMV cassette is the smallest video film carrier in the world, it is 70% smaller than a miniDV cassette. This format, as you have already guessed, has also not gained popularity in the market, having lost the DV war.

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/technology/spustya-40-let-kompaniya-sony-prekrashhaet-podderzhku-formata-betamax.html.