My uncle still has my grandfather's Hi-Fi Betamax that he bought in '85. As old as it is, it just looks high-tech. It has the left and right audio signal strength meters, and pretty much every feature a VCR had up through the last 24 years.
"this is the best birthday i've ever had" LOL my primary school had a betamax player. i have no idea why, they were still using it in like the year 2000 when i was about 10.
The novelty of this is long gone. Now that everyone and their dog has a video camera, try pullling out a family video for "everyone to see" and they all give you glazed, horrified looks and quickly start making excuses to leave.
In 1979 and 1980, I think VHS had over 70 to 75% market share. Even though Betamax still had some market power, the format war was essentially over at that time, with VHS being the winner.
"That was the best birthday I ever had!" Until she turned 94, she was received a Blu-ray Recorder! But wait! There's no such thing as a Blu-ray recorder, unless if it's a BD-R drive on a Sony Vaio! Way to go, Sony! Rendering happiness through expensive and overpriced bells and whistles.
I have 10 beta systems. in good working order with 337 cassettes. I thought they would be worth someting but they don't go for much money. you can still get hold of them pretty easy. It seems to be the cassettes that are harder to get hold of..
Plus I'm sure that you can find out more of the whole Betamax/VHS story online if you search. The television/film industry still utilize a form of the Betamax format as well.
1:05 "So tell me what you want what you really really want. I'll tell you what I want what I really really want." Ha ha, Spice Girls have got some answering to do, cause I think they made their songs based off of old commercials. LOL, or at least, that is what popped into my head when the narrator started rapping.
@ducklandwikeno Sony's "Betamax" format was first introduced in 1975 in the form of a massive Trinitron TV/VCR combo, it's promo can be found right here on RUclips. Phillips's "VCR" format was released in 1972 & Matshashuita's "VHS" format dawned in 1977.
And just to add, outdoor recording wasn't an option until a few years later when they came out with a model that would operate with a very large battery.
south park did not bring me here, i'm here because i love the classic cheese in these older commercials, and I am genuinely interested in beta... but i do wonder wthell this has to do with south park! haha
I get the feeling that this was being pitched as an alternative to the reel-to-reel projector for your silent eight-millimeter home movies. Taping TV shows wasn’t even considered.
Think network television is a little boring? At the time The Dukes of Hazzard was a new show, who would want to watch that with it's car chases, ramping and crashing plus Daisy Dukes sexiness. YAWN Give me a juggling grampa anyday!
Yeah, I was wondering the same thing... how did he edit in that last shot of Grandma blowing out the candles (WITH voice-over narration!) into his other tape of clips in less than 35 seconds?? Wow, Betamax must have been pretty advanced! Damn VHS... ;)
@cruzerdoozer12 Half the people in the commercial were kids the same age I was back then. So those kids are most likely very much alive & in their 40s. The grandma is easily gone
There's a whole long story as to why Beta fizzled out and VHS prospered, alot had to do with licensing, wider spread availability and affordability of VHS over Beta by the mid 80s. Plus people tended to go for the VHS longer tape format. Many will still argue that the Beta format was superior in sound & picture quality. I have Beta tapes from the 1970s that still play and look decent, but I have VHS tapes that arent as old but worn out.
Well, you didn't really have a camcorder in 1979. You had a fairly good sized video camera that would sit on a Tri-pod. It had a light on it, room light wasn't enough. It had basic zoom features. And a cord went from it to a video tape recorder. Back then, you had the tape recorder in one box and an over the air tuner in a similar sized box. They sat beside each other with the tv. When you went to record, you only took the tape recorder box and the camera.
Marketing problems, availability, price, and certain, tiny little factors. VHS won since it could record for much longer (originally 2 hours vs 1 hour for Beta) and in a few years, they had 6, 8, and even 10 hour cassettes. Betamax still didn't have enough time to record one evening of primetime viewing. Thus it died to the longer recording time of VHS. Also Hollywood movies were being shown more on TV, and people wanted to cram as much as they could on the (then) expensive blank cassettes.
Wait a minute, Grandma Dillon's cake is shaped like a 70s Betamax deck. And she's 102 now, gee if she is still alive she might be mistaken for an incinerated corpse, judging by how she looked at 63.
@ConfusedSponge Yes with a cleaning cassette. Depending how good you're at dismantling things, i tend to take it apart and clean the heads with alcohol and a cottonwool bud, it cleans it a lot better than a cleaning cassette. But i wouldn't recommend taking it apart if you don't know what you're doing
not exactly. VHS was the competitor to Betamax. Funnily enough, the porn industry was a huge deciding factor in the world moving to VHS since the porn industry started using it first
I have that same Betamax. The tuner's audio likes to not work and it weighs 40 pounds and is going to crush the Entertainment centre from under it but it still looks cool.
@crazytim1987 I'm sure if you were her age 30 years ago you probably would've thought the same way too if you just found out about home video and what your family could do.
63rd birthday? wow people looked way older back then
Sixty-three, with about nine zeroes added.
Amazing... the video he showed already included cut footage that he recorded just a few seconds ago. What a remarkable technology!
18 years old.. I remember watching this life changing commercial brought initial success.
rip grandma
My uncle still has my grandfather's Hi-Fi Betamax that he bought in '85. As old as it is, it just looks high-tech. It has the left and right audio signal strength meters, and pretty much every feature a VCR had up through the last 24 years.
nice, but does it work all the time?
@@jsplinc2000 My uncle doesn’t have it anymore, says it broke a long time ago. He thinks the belts, maybe?
Back when the world was beautiful and didnt have pandemic 😢
oh...gotta love these commercials...back in the day when SONY name meant something
I had a Betamax in perfect condition, with the box, manuals and everything, worth $1,000. Wish I still had it. :(
You know what I liked best about the Beta? It had a remote control that you had to plug into the machine.
Ours had a corded remote control with only a few simple buttons and not 99 zillion like those today
"this is the best birthday i've ever had" LOL
my primary school had a betamax player. i have no idea why, they were still using it in like the year 2000 when i was about 10.
i will get this for my grandmas birthday
The novelty of this is long gone. Now that everyone and their dog has a video camera, try pullling out a family video for "everyone to see" and they all give you glazed, horrified looks and quickly start making excuses to leave.
I think this was intended to be shown in theaters. It was on a reel of unidentified film i bought off ebay along with some old trailers.
My dad bought one of these with the camera. The player was so heavy it took 2 people to set it on top of the tv! Man time flies!
Still some of the best audio quality you can find on tape :)
In 1979 and 1980, I think VHS had over 70 to 75% market share. Even though Betamax still had some market power, the format war was essentially over at that time, with VHS being the winner.
"That was the best birthday I ever had!"
Until she turned 94, she was received a Blu-ray Recorder! But wait! There's no such thing as a Blu-ray recorder, unless if it's a BD-R drive on a Sony Vaio! Way to go, Sony! Rendering happiness through expensive and overpriced bells and whistles.
The way he says, "Come on, smile." sounds like he's a serial killer filming his victim. Just...creepy.
I have 10 beta systems. in good working order with 337 cassettes. I thought they would be worth someting but they don't go for much money. you can still get hold of them pretty easy. It seems to be the cassettes that are harder to get hold of..
"I got something I want you to see Ma, it's called 'adult entertainment' ".
Grandma cries over the whole thing. This made me laugh, really SONY? Hahaha
Plus I'm sure that you can find out more of the whole Betamax/VHS story online if you search. The television/film industry still utilize a form of the Betamax format as well.
In 1979 my grandmother wouldn't even known how to turn that thing on. Heck turning a radio dial would have been a challenge.
1:05 "So tell me what you want what you really really want. I'll tell you what I want what I really really want." Ha ha, Spice Girls have got some answering to do, cause I think they made their songs based off of old commercials. LOL, or at least, that is what popped into my head when the narrator started rapping.
Those were the days, something special about video tape. R.I.P
@ducklandwikeno Sony's "Betamax" format was first introduced in 1975 in the form of a massive Trinitron TV/VCR combo, it's promo can be found right here on RUclips. Phillips's "VCR" format was released in 1972 & Matshashuita's "VHS" format dawned in 1977.
All those old people are dead right now
:(
+tyrone hart You make it seem like this was a hundred years ago haha. The old people definitely are though.
Only the grandparents
All the adults definitely are by now
Are you still around ?
I just watched Iron Man 3
on my Betamax,gotta run my pager is going off...lol
This was the first step to piracy...
"You can record what you want, when you want. And watch what you want when you want."
Oh, the irony.
that was quality editing for a 1979 home video
THIS IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY I'VE EVER HAD
How did he edit and produce that show so quickly? that last scene was just happening. Must be TV errr Betamax Magic...
the best video system ever
1:02 I was so happy to randomly discover this Betamax machine shot is used in SunsetCorp's "Angel" Music Video
Man that would be cool to do that in today's world!
It is funny how Sony tried to say that the commercial that the family watched on tv was boring when it was difficult to differentiate
1:00 this was exactly like my first color TV in 1980!
And just to add, outdoor recording wasn't an option until a few years later when they came out with a model that would operate with a very large battery.
south park did not bring me here, i'm here because i love the classic cheese in these older commercials, and I am genuinely interested in beta... but i do wonder wthell this has to do with south park! haha
I get the feeling that this was being pitched as an alternative to the reel-to-reel projector for your silent eight-millimeter home movies. Taping TV shows wasn’t even considered.
Never knew explosion noises happened when you blow out candles !
Interesting look at an ancient technology.
say the guy writting from the past
Lol
@@noguera30 *writing
They were obviously marketing Betamax for people who could afford it.
Paianni. Yeah the better people. The ones who deserve better things
I'm sold.
Happy Birthday!!
People who were SOLD on the betamax were probably thinking. "Oh no, I'm not making that same mistake again. HD-DVD all the way!
Lmfao...we came a long way man
Yes it did, it was the worlds greater replacement for fire wood for years.
Good video for relax, thanks
how time flies....
Thumbs up if you're still watching this in 2014!!
hahaha its still 2013 ;)
Raquelle Ordinaria no its 2017
2019
Think network television is a little boring? At the time The Dukes of Hazzard was a new show, who would want to watch that with it's car chases, ramping and crashing plus Daisy Dukes sexiness. YAWN Give me a juggling grampa anyday!
As I recall they did. But it was too late, the paradigm shifted.
Yeah, I was wondering the same thing... how did he edit in that last shot of Grandma blowing out the candles (WITH voice-over narration!) into his other tape of clips in less than 35 seconds?? Wow, Betamax must have been pretty advanced! Damn VHS... ;)
Just wait,there's a new video format called VHS.
Yes, indeed. In fact, Universal sued Sony over the Betamax.
i'v never heard of a betamax until i randomly decided to look up the history of DVD on wikipedia :/
Just ordered the RUclips Collection on Betamax Tape.
Can't wait 'til June 16, 2045
@cruzerdoozer12 Half the people in the commercial were kids the same age I was back then. So those kids are most likely very much alive & in their 40s. The grandma is easily gone
Dark and Strange commercial. That guy was quick at editing the birthday party they just filmed
There's a whole long story as to why Beta fizzled out and VHS prospered, alot had to do with licensing, wider spread availability and affordability of VHS over Beta by the mid 80s. Plus people tended to go for the VHS longer tape format. Many will still argue that the Beta format was superior in sound & picture quality. I have Beta tapes from the 1970s that still play and look decent, but I have VHS tapes that arent as old but worn out.
9 people didn't have the best birthday they've ever had.
Actually, the grandma isn't dead, believe it or not. She was only 62 when that commercial came out, and is a young 91 right now.
best birthday she ever had, imagine if she got bluray instead.
Mom will live forever on tape hopefully somebody digitized her
The HD DVD of the past
@TheMCMXXL true dat, the details on things back than actually WERE what youd have thought them to be, aluminum, chrome etc.
wow! thats amazing
I WANT ONE NOW.
Betamax, so your grandmother can be happy!
she didnt smile at all. i dont blame her either, they got her a bunch of home movies for her birthday.
Well, you didn't really have a camcorder in 1979. You had a fairly good sized video camera that would sit on a Tri-pod. It had a light on it, room light wasn't enough. It had basic zoom features. And a cord went from it to a video tape recorder. Back then, you had the tape recorder in one box and an over the air tuner in a similar sized box. They sat beside each other with the tv. When you went to record, you only took the tape recorder box and the camera.
Betamax was a better system but the VHS was cheaper. So it won.
I think there's a problem when they shoot a commercial trying to sell a video tape recorder is shot on film.
RIP BETA MAX in china, they just stopped using them this year they are now on VHS but good news, north korea just got it :D
VHS has been dead for a couple of years now.
Not in this house
i thought the same thing. they said it was her 63rd bday. the casting department was off by 10 years at least
Marketing problems, availability, price, and certain, tiny little factors. VHS won since it could record for much longer (originally 2 hours vs 1 hour for Beta) and in a few years, they had 6, 8, and even 10 hour cassettes. Betamax still didn't have enough time to record one evening of primetime viewing. Thus it died to the longer recording time of VHS. Also Hollywood movies were being shown more on TV, and people wanted to cram as much as they could on the (then) expensive blank cassettes.
@BlackPantherUWM
glad to hear it, she's a good actress
3 reasons. VHS secured the rights to distribute motion pictures because of it's convenient 2 hour "HQ" runtime. THAT was the true death of betamax.
Wait a minute, Grandma Dillon's cake is shaped like a 70s Betamax deck. And she's 102 now, gee if she is still alive she might be mistaken for an incinerated corpse, judging by how she looked at 63.
@ConfusedSponge Yes with a cleaning cassette. Depending how good you're at dismantling things, i tend to take it apart and clean the heads with alcohol and a cottonwool bud, it cleans it a lot better than a cleaning cassette. But i wouldn't recommend taking it apart if you don't know what you're doing
thats not a camcorder thats a weapon.
jajaja
Ah, I see your point. In that case huge apologies
(That was NOT sarcasm)
as dorky as these people look to us, they prob'ly had more fun with this crap than we do today with all our hi tech games n' sh*t
Wow. People were creepy back then.
"one more shot ma. c'mon smile. I SAID SMILE DAMMIT!!'
sirlordwhitman rip grandma
63rd birthday?!??!?! My God, she looks like she's already 90.
LOL...Betamax! I remember those!
not exactly. VHS was the competitor to Betamax. Funnily enough, the porn industry was a huge deciding factor in the world moving to VHS since the porn industry started using it first
So true, my friend. So True
I have that same Betamax. The tuner's audio likes to not work and it weighs 40 pounds and is going to crush the Entertainment centre from under it but it still looks cool.
I cried at the end. Very touching. I just hope she kicked the bucket before it became obsolete.
rofl my dad still has his lol
SONY FOR EVER
I bet that TV is a Trinitron or something.
Buttons will never beat knobs
This reminds me of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
Sit down, Ma, I got something I want to you to see...a bag of magic mushrooms and a banana.
And when granny is sleep, we can watch porn. At home .
the one and only
63rd birthday? She looks older than that.
White women age twice as fast.
I know...I am 53 and I am thinking that is me in 10 years!
You don't want to be 53 in the 80's. 23 .
@crazytim1987 I'm sure if you were her age 30 years ago you probably would've thought the same way too if you just found out about home video and what your family could do.