Equipment Analysis: The Videotape Recorder - Text 2
Recording on a cassette is part of the cultural series of systems which replaced the open reel with a cassette, such as the Stereopack, the audio cassette, Instamatic photographic film, the 8-track cartridge and Super-8 film loaders. Industrial research continued throughout the 1960s amidst great competition amongst three Japanese companies: Sony, Matushita and JVC. In 1975, Sony began to market the first Beta system for domestic consumption, the SL-6300, with a recording capacity of one hour.[4] The first year, 30,000 Betamax systems were sold in the United States. The Betamax was advertised as a high-quality system by a company which could vaunt its industrial expertise after twenty years in the field of television. In its advertisements, being able to watch television programs outside the flow imposed by the program schedule was introduced as a novelty: “For years you’ve watched TV shows at the times you’ve had to. Now you can watch them at the times you want to.”
