Betamax

Betamax was an analog video tape format created by Sony. Betamax tapes were in direct competition with VHS tapes. Betamax tapes were superior to VHS tapes in many ways, including higher video quality and smaller size, however the original Betamax tapes could only hold an hour of video. The Betamax format eventually lost to VHS because the proprietary licensing of Betamax made it less popular than VHS tapes.