Simple Timing Options
Graeme Guthrie · 2009
Abstract In 1974, Sony demonstrated its Betamax videocassette recorder (VCR) to other electronics manufacturers, hoping that Betamax would be adopted as the industry standard. However, JVC subsequently developed its own VCR format, known as VHS, and thus began a classic format war. Sony’s Betamax machines entered the market in 1975, with JVC’s VHS machines entering in 1977. The left-hand graph in Figure 7.1 plots annual production of VCRs using Betamax (the solid curve) and VHS (the dashed curve), measured in millions of units. The right-hand graph plots cumulative production, again in millions of units. Despite the fact that JVC entered the market two years after Sony, production of VHS-format VCRs quickly overtook the Betamax format. Indeed, almost twice as many VHS machines as Betamax ones were produced in 1980 and the ratio of VHS production to Betamax production increased during the entire period. Betamax production peaked at six million units in 1984, a year in which more than 23 million VHS units were produced. One year later, Betamax production had fallen by 44%, while VHS production had grown by 75%.