Sony Promotional Video for the VERY FIRST Betamax - 1975!! 

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.

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.

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.

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!

I had one of those Betamax consoles. At the time it was THE machine to own. Worked and looked great.

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.

Shit, I gotta run down to Montgomery Wards and get one!!

Back when TV was worth recording.

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

I am going to have bad 70's era tv productions style nightmares after watching this!

That's it no more PC, no more RU-vid, I'm placing the Betamax at my command instead lol!

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 ❤️

Great vintage video. Thanks for the upload.

The background music under the ad immediately makes me think about 'Towering Inferno'. Before the fire broke out 😅

4:20 - even the timer says it's 4:20!

It's amazing to see how long we've come. I'm looking into getting a Trinitron TV to go with my SL-HF300

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!

By the 80s VHS came along and eventually wiped Betamax right out of existence!!

It's beautiful. Would have still looked nice in 1988.

Have four of these now. Love them.

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.

Years ahead of its time, the complete BETA/TV system and the tv spot.......

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.

I'd rather have this deck than all the streaming services in the world

Sony recommends that you run your Betamax TV on a dedicated circuit.

the intro music is so cool

Wow that was so painful. and to think I lived through all that! Thanks for sharing!

Now we have At&t U-verse, Netflix, etc.

The 19 inch screen was a deal killer on a product this expensive. A screen that size was meant for portables, not consoles.

Wow. I'm an 11 year old with today's technology. But I love old rerto technology too. And this is just amazing.

there's also some great scanimate graphics here

Must have been pretty heavy, they had to use 4x4s to hold it together.

1970s arguably the best decade.

Cue the fog machines, cue the fog machines!! Shucks, doesn't she look impressive? That machine there is a marvel ! !

Was looking for clips from a video but this is a pretty interesting commercial and must have been groundbreaking at the time

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. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iPc3l8Bg1hk.html

From a time when there were shows on TV worth watching

What a great video........especially cause im so fucking high

Looks like we've found the next Chadtronic video

Lot's of funk n monti python animation.... the psychedelic 70's

VHS forever but damn!

Hey, guys, I just this cool thing called a VHS tape! It can record up to TWO hours of programming!

The freakin 70s man

Dear lord!! And here I am thinking how dated DVDs are 😶

Dat 420 drop 😂

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?

I would love to know what the music is....maybe some would disagree, but I think it's pretty funky and happenin'!

I WANT THIS!

I bought that unit new Ibn 1975 when it was introduced, but I did not get this tape. :-(

"Only one choice remains" - a new car or a VCR?

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!

Very interesting.

Cool intro music 😎

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!

Sounds like Laraine Newman's voice in the beginning segment

This is just a fad, like color television and rock n roll music.

this is better than VHS!

Promo starts at 1:00

Fuggin Dave, man.

In my country, it is the name of grilled blood.

You know thay just don't mack shows like that anymore🤣😂😅😂🤣

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.

4:20 I see what you did there

VHS FOR LIFE BITCHES

4:20 AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

this is kindof bizarre

4:20!

beta max 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.