This promo is absolute gold. This was so huge when it came around and now we have access to most all movies put on Beta in our pockets. Simply amazing.
It was the fall of 1975 when I saw the first Betamax at Knapp's department store in Lansing, Michigan. I was 11 years old and absolutely blown away by the idea that TV could actually be recorded. If I recall, the console units ran around $5,000 and the standalone units were priced around $2,500. I begged my mom to get one, but it was WAY out of our budget. The first VCR I had was a Sanyo Betacord, which I bought with money I saved up in 1984. By then you could get a Beta machine for around $250, and there was still a market for pre-recorded tapes. The quality and design of Beta was far superior to VHS, but the VHS manufacturers made all the right marketing moves. They secured the big contracts with the movie industry while the Beta manufacturers focused on off-air recording. That, along with more affordable pricing for VHS machines, spelled the eventual end of Beta.
That tv is probably the origin of my bad back in Macy's. heavy as hell. The showroom was up about 7 steps from the main floor. I usually had to carry them up the stairs by myself. YES, CONSOLES.
Brilliant promo video, LOVE the 70s flashy glamor style used for advertising this technological milestone with the use of psychedelic visual effects, starburst lighting n floor smoke, funky library music n much more, totally gold!!!:D
Hard for technology-drenched people nowadays to appreciate what an amazing feat of engineering this was in 1975. Machines that do 100 times what this machine did are now common. But they weren't ALWAYS common. In 1980, I watched 'Star Wars' at my friend Ryan's house on his parents' VCR. I was six years old, and even at that age I thought it was astounding.
My parents, after picking me up from seeing Star Wars on home video at my friend's house, took me to see Empire. But it was at the drive-in, so it could have been a couple years after it was released in the theater. That could explain the time gap. Or hell, it might have been a bootleg.
For the most part. I have a tapes with Jazz Jennings, JonBenet Ramsey, Beauty And The Beast, New Years Rockin' Eve, The Kennedy Center Honors, the deaths of George Michael, Carrie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds, all of the end of the year specials, and Fritz The Cat (Playboy Groundbreakers). All of the tapes were done between 7/2016 and 2/2017. Wish I could say they were on Betamax.
I was in kindergarten when this was released...I don't think I knew anyone rich enough to own one. My dad owned an appliance store in 1977 so we had a vcr before most people even knew what they were.
They play classical music and we almost believe it will be a stuffy, frumpy TV show...but oh, that wah-wah pedal comes in and makes us feel it's truly modern to our 1970's ears!
45 years ago today, release of first commercial VCR, the Betamax. I thought this promo was well done. Interesting that they never actually showed how it worked though, they just described what it could be used for and showed a still, and they didn't explain what Trinitron is. A friend of mine had one of these and I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail on it circa '77, before VHS took over.
i'll never again be deprived of watching whatever show i desire at my convenience AND i'll be free of the restrictions of time...move over internet....im getting a BETAMAX
What a beautiful piece of technology. I don't think many people appreciate the way that this machine changed the way we watched television forever. Unusual why they decided to build a console unit with a video machine and a Trinitron television set built into one, as the U-Matic video system was a stand alone unit, as was other video recorders at the time such as the Philips N1500 (Europe only), and the Sony CV2000 video reel to reel recorder.
It's hard for folks to realize today what a revolutionary thing VCRs were for consumer electronics when they first came out. Now you could record programs when you were away and unable to watch them live. You could record a program on one station while watching another. Most critically, you could record a program, and while watching it fast-forward past the commercials! Oh my---the networks and TV industry totally freaked about that! There were all sorts of industry efforts via lawsuits to stop the production of VCRs, put extra taxes on them, claim copyright infringement----it wasn't one of the broadcast industry's finest hours. Corporate greed at its finest!
The stations sued because of the commercials. And then the studios sued because of the pirates. And Sony won both suits. Beta beat em all. Well, almost.
Many people think Betamax was the first Video Cassette Format. While it was the first significant one, it was not the first in general. There were 4 other formats that pre-dated it: The Sony U-Matic (Released in September of 1971, discontinued in 2011) AVCO Cartrivision (Released (exclusively through Sears and Montgomery Ward's) in June of 1972, discontinued in July of 1973) The Sanyo V-Cord (Released in 1974, discontinued (unceremoniously) in 1977/78) and the Matsushita VX distributed in North America as the Quasar Great Time Machine (Released some time in early 1975, also discontinued in the late 70s). If you never heard of any of those formats, don't worry. Nobody else has either. That's because they were expensive (not that Beta and VHS were any cheaper when those two formats first came out, but still!) and gave out poor picture quality
The music for this very first Sony Betamax promo at 0:50 and 0:58 is the theme to ABC’s “Wide World Of Entertainment” back in the early 1970’s. You can hear the bumper. th-cam.com/video/iPc3l8Bg1hk/w-d-xo.html
I love that greenscreen effect. I haven't seen it used anywhere else. Is that a lumakey or some time of double matte? What would be a good way to go about making that? Scanning laser maybe?
Cherilyn Hannen Ya I agree, gotta be '70's music :)) Hmmm I'm re-watching this video and laughing because I have no clue as to what had brought me here!! I do know this, certain friends of mine accuse me of being stuck in the '70's!
I got one one and it's on E-Bay act now before it's gone! supplies are dwindling. But wait there's more! Buy it now and receive over 30 tapes of old commercials and T.V programming free of charge! Just log into E-Bay and search for the Sony LV-1901 bid and win!
The date is incorrect! Beta format video(cassettes and VCRs) appeared three years earlier, 1972! We in Australia had colour TV from the end of October, 1974 in test broadcasts, with the official launch of full colour broadcasting on 1st March, 1975. Beta VCRs were "on display" in many Hi-Fi and Electronic consumer goods shops as early as 1972 but were not on sale as colour TVs had not yet come on to the market(that happened in mid-1974, in time for the first tests, including the first colour broadcast of the world-famous Melbourne Cup). The VHS format appeared in 1976 and immediately went on sale. The Beta format was held back from sale until colour arrived, then went on the market.
Totally wrong, my friend, and anybody who knows the history of VCRs can substantiate my claims. Beta wasn't even invented until the mid 70s, as an off-shoot of Sony's 3/4" U-Matic system. The only videocassette format that was around in 1972 was Cartrivision, although some European markets had other VCR formats in the early 70s...but for sure, they were not Beta or VHS. Not that early.
I know what I saw! And it definitely WAS a Beta-format VCR. It was on display but not being demonstrated because there were no colour broadcasts to record from in Australia prior to the commencement of test broadcasts at the end of October, 1974 and the full launch of colour TV on 1st March, 1975. There may well have been some pre-recorded content recorded off-air on tapes bought in from countries where the PAL colour system had already been operating for some years, but the VCR wasn't running as the shop had a small staff busy attending other customers. The Beta VCR and colour TV set were right in the middle of the shop floor. The hi-fi shop where I saw this set-up, was closed by 1973 or 1974.
Vcr's and vhs'es beat this, when it was clearly far more superior. I mean come on, ppl dont know a good thing if it were to hit them right in the face, lol this was clearly way ahead of its time, record one program or movie while watching another it's like a freggin tivo here. Idiot consumers i tell ya.
There wasn't much worth recording on American TV in the 1950s(if you had VCRs back then). America only had two great shows, M*A*S*H, and Roots/Next Generation in the 1970s. The rest of American TV fare was bland, schmaltzy pap! The Brits and Us Aussies had far better shows, too numerous to mention here!
![VIVA SONY LAND 1980's Betamax Promotional Video [PART 1/2]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/c1dJK4IgDx0/mqdefault.jpg)
This promo is absolute gold. This was so huge when it came around and now we have access to most all movies put on Beta in our pockets. Simply amazing.
It was the fall of 1975 when I saw the first Betamax at Knapp's department store in Lansing, Michigan. I was 11 years old and absolutely blown away by the idea that TV could actually be recorded. If I recall, the console units ran around $5,000 and the standalone units were priced around $2,500. I begged my mom to get one, but it was WAY out of our budget. The first VCR I had was a Sanyo Betacord, which I bought with money I saved up in 1984. By then you could get a Beta machine for around $250, and there was still a market for pre-recorded tapes. The quality and design of Beta was far superior to VHS, but the VHS manufacturers made all the right marketing moves. They secured the big contracts with the movie industry while the Beta manufacturers focused on off-air recording. That, along with more affordable pricing for VHS machines, spelled the eventual end of Beta.
The first Betmax console cost $2495, not 5 grand! The standalone unit, the Sony SL-7200, was $1260 + $40 for the optional timer-clock.
@@videoholic50s60s70s Worth every cent
That tv is probably the origin of my bad back in Macy's. heavy as hell. The showroom was up about 7 steps from the main floor. I usually had to carry them up the stairs by myself. YES, CONSOLES.
Brilliant promo video, LOVE the 70s flashy glamor style used for advertising this technological milestone with the use of psychedelic visual effects, starburst lighting n floor smoke, funky library music n much more, totally gold!!!:D
Hard for technology-drenched people nowadays to appreciate what an amazing feat of engineering this was in 1975. Machines that do 100 times what this machine did are now common.
But they weren't ALWAYS common. In 1980, I watched 'Star Wars' at my friend Ryan's house on his parents' VCR. I was six years old, and even at that age I thought it was astounding.
Aaron Costello If you watch Star Wars in 1980 at someone's home, it was a bootleg. The movie wasn't officially released on tape until about 1983-84.
+Aaron Costello Yeah, you wouldn't have known what you were missing.
+Aaron Costello You couldn't have since you couldn't even rent the Betamax version until 1983.
+videoholic50s60s70s - Was officially released in on VHS in 1982.
My parents, after picking me up from seeing Star Wars on home video at my friend's house, took me to see Empire. But it was at the drive-in, so it could have been a couple years after it was released in the theater. That could explain the time gap. Or hell, it might have been a bootleg.
Great vintage video. Thanks for the upload.
I had one of those Betamax consoles. At the time it was THE machine to own. Worked
and looked great.
price of today? $42.000?
I wasn't even born but why do I want one ? It's that CRT and square lushness and the feel of buttons and tuning ❤️
Back when TV was worth recording.
For the most part. I have a tapes with Jazz Jennings, JonBenet Ramsey, Beauty And The Beast, New Years Rockin' Eve, The Kennedy Center Honors, the deaths of George Michael, Carrie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds, all of the end of the year specials, and Fritz The Cat (Playboy Groundbreakers). All of the tapes were done between 7/2016 and 2/2017. Wish I could say they were on Betamax.
Lol imagine setting your DVR to record anything on cable
I was in kindergarten when this was released...I don't think I knew anyone rich enough to own one. My dad owned an appliance store in 1977 so we had a vcr before most people even knew what they were.
They play classical music and we almost believe it will be a stuffy, frumpy TV show...but oh, that wah-wah pedal comes in and makes us feel it's truly modern to our 1970's ears!
It's amazing to see how long we've come. I'm looking into getting a Trinitron TV to go with my SL-HF300
The background music under the ad immediately makes me think about 'Towering Inferno'. Before the fire broke out 😅
Have four of these now. Love them.
45 years ago today, release of first commercial VCR, the Betamax. I thought this promo was well done. Interesting that they never actually showed how it worked though, they just described what it could be used for and showed a still, and they didn't explain what Trinitron is. A friend of mine had one of these and I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail on it circa '77, before VHS took over.
i'll never again be deprived of watching whatever show i desire at my convenience AND i'll be free of the restrictions of time...move over internet....im getting a BETAMAX
What a beautiful piece of technology. I don't think many people appreciate the way that this machine changed the way we watched television forever. Unusual why they decided to build a console unit with a video machine and a Trinitron television set built into one, as the U-Matic video system was a stand alone unit, as was other video recorders at the time such as the Philips N1500 (Europe only), and the Sony CV2000 video reel to reel recorder.
I am going to have bad 70's era tv productions style nightmares after watching this!
I'd rather have this deck than all the streaming services in the world
That's it no more PC, no more TH-cam, I'm placing the Betamax at my command instead lol!
It's beautiful. Would have still looked nice in 1988.
By the 80s VHS came along and eventually wiped Betamax right out of existence!!
Not exactly.
VHS forever but damn!
Years ahead of its time, the complete BETA/TV system and the tv spot.......
Wow that was so painful. and to think I lived through all that! Thanks for sharing!
4:20 - even the timer says it's 4:20!
xD
except that looks like a clock timer, not a counter. Still funny they did that, though.
Maybe they made the commercial on 4/20?
Nice.
I see what you did there. If only there was 69 too, that would be perfect.
Shit, I gotta run down to Montgomery Wards and get one!!
It's hard for folks to realize today what a revolutionary thing VCRs were for consumer electronics when they first came out. Now you could record programs when you were away and unable to watch them live. You could record a program on one station while watching another. Most critically, you could record a program, and while watching it fast-forward past the commercials! Oh my---the networks and TV industry totally freaked about that! There were all sorts of industry efforts via lawsuits to stop the production of VCRs, put extra taxes on them, claim copyright infringement----it wasn't one of the broadcast industry's finest hours. Corporate greed at its finest!
The stations sued because of the commercials. And then the studios sued because of the pirates. And Sony won both suits. Beta beat em all. Well, almost.
Many people think Betamax was the first Video Cassette Format. While it was the first significant one, it was not the first in general. There were 4 other formats that pre-dated it:
The Sony U-Matic (Released in September of 1971, discontinued in 2011)
AVCO Cartrivision (Released (exclusively through Sears and Montgomery Ward's) in June of 1972, discontinued in July of 1973)
The Sanyo V-Cord (Released in 1974, discontinued (unceremoniously) in 1977/78)
and the Matsushita VX distributed in North America as the Quasar Great Time Machine (Released some time in early 1975, also discontinued in the late 70s).
If you never heard of any of those formats, don't worry. Nobody else has either. That's because they were expensive (not that Beta and VHS were any cheaper when those two formats first came out, but still!) and gave out poor picture quality
Was looking for clips from a video but this is a pretty interesting commercial and must have been groundbreaking at the time
I've never seen this before. But I do use vhs tapes and dvds. But this is very different. I wish I've these in person.
Wow. I'm an 11 year old with today's technology. But I love old rerto technology too. And this is just amazing.
1970s arguably the best decade.
1980s THE BEST DECADE
no question
the intro music is so cool
The music for this very first Sony Betamax promo at 0:50 and 0:58 is the theme to ABC’s “Wide World Of Entertainment” back in the early 1970’s. You can hear the bumper. th-cam.com/video/iPc3l8Bg1hk/w-d-xo.html
there's also some great scanimate graphics here
Now we have At&t U-verse, Netflix, etc.
Cue the fog machines, cue the fog machines!!
Shucks, doesn't she look impressive? That machine there is a marvel ! !
I love that greenscreen effect. I haven't seen it used anywhere else. Is that a lumakey or some time of double matte? What would be a good way to go about making that? Scanning laser maybe?
search TH-cam for "scanimate"
Sony recommends that you run your Betamax TV on a dedicated circuit.
The 19 inch screen was a deal killer on a product this expensive. A screen that size was meant for portables, not consoles.
Must have been pretty heavy, they had to use 4x4s to hold it together.
What a great video........especially cause im so fucking high
I bought that unit new Ibn 1975 when it was introduced, but I did not get this tape. :-(
From a time when there were shows on TV worth watching
Lot's of funk n monti python animation.... the psychedelic 70's
Looks like we've found the next Chadtronic video
Dat 420 drop 😂
I WANT THIS!
I would love to know what the music is....maybe some would disagree, but I think it's pretty funky and happenin'!
ML Louttit I thought it was '70s music sounded like it to me
Cherilyn Hannen Ya I agree, gotta be '70's music :)) Hmmm I'm re-watching this video and laughing because I have no clue as to what had brought me here!! I do know this, certain friends of mine accuse me of being stuck in the '70's!
Dear lord!! And here I am thinking how dated DVDs are 😶
The freakin 70s man
"Only one choice remains" - a new car or a VCR?
Promo starts at 1:00
4:20 I see what you did there
Cool intro music 😎
Very interesting.
You still haven't arrived at the limit of what betamax can do! *1 Hour Later* Ok, now you have arrived at the limit of what betamax can do!
Hey, guys, I just this cool thing called a VHS tape! It can record up to TWO hours of programming!
VHS didn’t come out until 1976 in Japan and in the US in 1977, and it was JVC and RCA’s answer to Sony’s Betamax.
I thought it was originally up to 4!
this is better than VHS!
Too bad the major film studios were hoodwinked by the VHS racket. 📼
Fuggin Dave, man.
Sounds like Laraine Newman's voice in the beginning segment
I got one one and it's on E-Bay act now before it's gone! supplies are dwindling. But wait there's more! Buy it now and receive over 30 tapes of old commercials and T.V programming free of charge! Just log into E-Bay and search for the Sony LV-1901 bid and win!
In my country, it is the name of grilled blood.
This is just a fad, like color television and rock n roll music.
Clutch Cargo With a promo video that bad, no wonder it failed.
The date is incorrect! Beta format video(cassettes and VCRs) appeared three years earlier, 1972! We in Australia had colour TV from the end of October, 1974 in test broadcasts, with the official launch of full colour broadcasting on 1st March, 1975. Beta VCRs were "on display" in many Hi-Fi and Electronic consumer goods shops as early as 1972 but were not on sale as colour TVs had not yet come on to the market(that happened in mid-1974, in time for the first tests, including the first colour broadcast of the world-famous Melbourne Cup). The VHS format appeared in 1976 and immediately went on sale. The Beta format was held back from sale until colour arrived, then went on the market.
Totally wrong, my friend, and anybody who knows the history of VCRs can substantiate my claims. Beta wasn't even invented until the mid 70s, as an off-shoot of Sony's 3/4" U-Matic system. The only videocassette format that was around in 1972 was Cartrivision, although some European markets had other VCR formats in the early 70s...but for sure, they were not Beta or VHS. Not that early.
I know what I saw! And it definitely WAS a Beta-format VCR. It was on display but not being demonstrated because there were no colour broadcasts to record from in Australia prior to the commencement of test broadcasts at the end of October, 1974 and the full launch of colour TV on 1st March, 1975. There may well have been some pre-recorded content recorded off-air on tapes bought in from countries where the PAL colour system had already been operating for some years, but the VCR wasn't running as the shop had a small staff busy attending other customers. The Beta VCR and colour TV set were right in the middle of the shop floor. The hi-fi shop where I saw this set-up, was closed by 1973 or 1974.
4:20 AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
You know thay just don't mack shows like that anymore🤣😂😅😂🤣
VHS FOR LIFE BITCHES
this is kindof bizarre
4:20!
beta max and chill?
+Jose Luis Barajas (JOSER916) VHS and chill?
+EpicEverythingDude75 umatic and chill?
twcoursolle
Atari 2600 and chill?
+EpicEverythingDude75 magnavox odyssey and chill?
twcoursolle Sega Saturn and chill?
Leonard Nimoy narrating?
420 is the time
4:20 4:20
Fuk its hacking cool!
Vcr's and vhs'es beat this, when it was clearly far more superior. I mean come on, ppl dont know a good thing if it were to hit them right in the face, lol this was clearly way ahead of its time, record one program or movie while watching another it's like a freggin tivo here. Idiot consumers i tell ya.
There wasn't much worth recording on American TV in the 1950s(if you had VCRs back then). America only had two great shows, M*A*S*H, and Roots/Next Generation in the 1970s. The rest of American TV fare was bland, schmaltzy pap! The Brits and Us Aussies had far better shows, too numerous to mention here!
As a promotional video that was pretty lame.