was widely regarded, in part due to Sony's marketing, as offering superior picture quality compared to VHS. Its initial ?1 speed provided 250 horizontal lines of resolution, compared to VHS's 240 lines, but early Beta tapes were limited to 60 minutes of recording time, making them impractical for recording movies or sporting events. To address this, Sony introduced the ?2 speed, which doubled recording time to two hours but reduced resolution, negating its technical advantage.

VHS's commercial