Here’s an engineer explaining the difference between Betamax and VHS, and why VHS won. Back in those days, I worked as a stock boy in a video rental store. To give you some context, when I first started working there it was mostly LaserDiscs and Beta (with the LaserDiscs clearly on the decline), and a little VHS. Within a year, the store was half Beta and half VHS, with the LaserDiscs no longer available for rental — we were selling the used ones in bargain bins to clear out stock. Within two years, the LaserDiscs were gone, and Beta was clearly on the decline. A year after that, it was hard to find any place carrying Beta.
