After the introduction of the BIII speed almost all Betas recorded and played multiple speeds. Usually this was BII and BIII with most including BI playback and some even offering BI record. Zenith took a different path with several of their VCRs and decided to market units that recorded only in the BIII speed while playing back both BII and BIII. Zenith was convinced that the public wanted the longer recording times the slower speed offered and hoped this would boost sales. BII playback was included to keep from alienating Beta fans that already had a library of BII tapes. It is hard to know if this tactic was successful because no sales figures are known but not to long afterwards Zenith dropped the Beta format in favor of VHS. |