fall inside a hole
Betamax tapes
Betamax tapes from different manufacturers. Click the images
for higher resolution versions in the
image database.
| Sony | Scotch - TDK | BASF - Maxell - Fuji | Other | Commercial - Industrial |
Scotch
Scotch first produced tapes during the early K series era and continued to support Beta into the 1990s.
American market
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A late 70s Scotch with the "X" speed names and Beta-square logo. An earlier K60 Scotch as well as another early L series tape without the rainbow were also released |
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Scotch's first L750 tape, still using the old Beta-square style logo with the new BII/BIII speed convention and updated Scotch and 3M logos |
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A Scotch from after the unified Beta logo was introduced. Interestingly, the tape does not have the runtime chart of the L750 variant and only refers to the Beta II runtime on the front |
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L-750 variant of the 1982 Scotch. I don't think the 1984 in the digit sequence on the bottom rear actually refers to 1984, but if you have more information about decoding any of these product codes let me know |
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Variant with different rear bottom text |
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A sealed L750 of this generation. A colorful cardstock wrapper covers the open part of the tape box as well as the front and back and contains more product information, the UPC, and, apparently, coupons |
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A similar Scotch sleeve to those above that makes no mention of length or record time |
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A High Grade Scotch cassette. Some of these older Scotch tapes seem mold-prone |
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A five-pack from 1986 containing four standard EGs and a "Freeview" EXG tape that came prerecorded with previews of commercial Beta releases (presumably released on Scotch dubbing tapes) that could then be recorded over and used as a normal tape | |
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Similar to the previous generation, a cardstock outer wrapper covers a less informative plastic case on the sealed mid 80s EG |
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The nondescript plastic case of the mid 80s Scotch EG |
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I quite like the Scotch tape gauge sticker in the center of the sheet - you place it over the supply spool and it gives you a rough idea of how many minutes remain. I always thought it was odd they didn't even bother to print the Beta I runtimes. A similar sticker was used on Scotch's VHS tapes | |
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Scratch-off promotion card inside with such prizes as EXG video tapes and single sided floppy disks | |
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The "Freeview" cassette from the five pack pictured above |
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The mid 80s plastic case EXG. These tapes also had a nice design on the tape door but apparently would catch on the doors of some Sony Beta VCRs |
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Labels for the 1986 Scotch EGX L750 | |
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The 1987 Scotch EG promoting the 1988 Olympics |
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Labels for these cassettes also carried the Olympics sponsorship | |
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The 1987 Scotch EG+ with Olympic sponsorship markings |
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Labels for the 1986 Scotch EGX L750 | |
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The 1988 Scotch EG |
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Canadian bilingual variant |
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The 1987 Scotch EG+ with Olympic sponsorship markings |
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Label sheet for the 1988 Scotch EG+ |
Japanese market
I haven't come across too many Japanese-market Scotch Betas, but here are a few later tapes
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Japanese market Scotch EG |
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Scotch continued to sell shorter length tapes like L250s in Japan |
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A later Japanese market Scotch EG. In the 90s, there was a trend towards fairly nondescript soft plastic cases for videocassettes of all kinds, usually either white, black, or translucent |
TDK
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A late 70s Japanese market TDK Super Avilyn cassette of the odd L370 length that uses the X1 and X2 speed designations as well as the older B-square logo in a plastic sleeve |
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Late 70s American market L500 that uses both the old X1 and X2 as well as the early BI and BII designations |
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TDK introduced this design printed on nice, heavy cardboard in 1980, along with a similarly designed VHS tape. These tapes were of the two-window design, and were also used by dubbing houses and OEM'ed by Kodak for their videotapes |
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Japanese market Super Avilyn L500. Perhaps because of greater early adoption of Beta in Japan, the runtime chart also refers back to the old X1 and X2 designations |
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Seemingly in an effort to dissuade usage, TDK dropped the Beta I runtime in the blue rectangle on the front of the L750 variant, and suggests making a test recording on the back |
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Later variant with design patent number |
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The 1985 L750HS with shiny foil accenting |
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A slightly later but very similar L750HS that drops the foil for endorsement by Good Housekeeping. This example is particularly yellowed |
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The 1987 L750HS, evidently no longer endorsed by Good Housekeeping |
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Japanese market TDK Super Avilyn HS L500. In the later 80s, TDK started doing plastic tape sleeves with clear windows on the front showing the tape inside |
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Japanese market TDK L750 Super Avilyn (with mismatched tape) |
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Japanese market Extra High Grade L500 |
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Labels for the Japanese market TDK Extra High Grade L750 | |
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A TDK Extra High Grade L750 |
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American E-HG variant. This may be a later variant, but was found with this tape | |
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L830 variant of the TDK Extra High Grade |
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Later Japanese market TDK HS L500 |
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American market E-HG L750 with a similar design |
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Labels for the American E-HG L750 | |
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After Beta hi-fi VCRs became available, several companies started offering specific "hifi" cassettes which were generally of a higher grade |
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Later Japanese market Extra High Grade |
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Fairly nondescript version of the L750HS |
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Later Japanese market HG L500 that follows the 90s trend of nondescript (nearly unnoticeable when not in the hand, in this case) sleeves |
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Label sheet for the 90s Japanese market TDK HG series tapes, shared between the L500 and L750 |
| Sony | Scotch - TDK | BASF - Maxell - Fuji | Other | Commercial - Industrial |