Betamax dies at last after losing video war

The Betamax domestic video recorder, which was snubbed in the world's sitting rooms for a generation, is no more.

Nearly 20 years after Betamax lost the battle for dominance of the home video market to VHS, Sony has announced that it will make only 2,000 more for the Japanese market. The Betamax has not been on sale in the rest of the world since 1998.

It seemed likely to dominate the market when it was launched in 1975. Its supporters claimed it had several advantages over VHS. The picture was slightly sharper, the tape-winding mechanism responded more quickly and the cassettes were small enough to carry in a pocket.

Critics believe that Sony failed to capitalise on these advantages and relied on word-of-mouth advertising while VHS was heavily promoted.

When the video rental chains selected VHS, its future was secured and Betamax went into long-term decline. From a peak of 2.3 million machines sold worldwide in 1984, the market fell until only 2,800 machines were sold in the 12 months to March 2002.

"With digital machines and other new recording formats taking hold in the market, demand has continued to decline and it has become difficult to secure parts," Sony said. It will continue to offer repairs and manufacture tapes.

The name survives in television and film production, where the professional version is used extensively.