> It only recorded at one speed. In the beginning, yes. As time went on, Beta also offered three speeds (Beta I, II, and III) exactly as was offered by VHS an

> It only recorded at one speed. In the beginning, yes. As time went on, Beta also offered three speeds (Beta I, II, and III) exactly as was offered by VHS and their three speeds. Maximum recording time for Beta ended up at 5 hours on a single cassette (L830 cassette and Beta III speed). The L750 cassette was more commonly available, it recorded 4.5 hours at Beta III speed. Of course, VHS's physically larger cassette always allowed it to have a somewhere longer recording time at every step of the competition. Edit: Add link to Wikipedia page for Beta tape lengths and recording times: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax#Tape_lengths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax#Tape_lengths