While the licensing costs did play a part in the win of VHS I think the bigger problem was the price of the decks (1.5-2x price of a VHS VCR) and beta camcorder

While the licensing costs did play a part in the win of VHS I think the bigger problem was the price of the decks (1.5-2x price of a VHS VCR) and beta camcorders were incompatible. To watch a home video you had to play it back through the camera onto another beta deck. The only technical advantage it had was color reproduction and clarity. Every other metric (cost and convenience) it did poorly. It did go on to live a second life, as Betacam, in professional studios, where reproduction and clarity are important. And their ENG cameras are some of the sturdiest I have ever encountered.