Toshiba is an electronics giant in Japan. The scope of their influence world wide is only eclipsed by Sony. This is why it was such a jewel in Betas crown to have them in their camp. Sony even sponsored adds boasting how strong their formats backing was to have such heavy hitters as Toshiba (and Sanyo, NEC and Zenith) siding with Beta. Toshiba made a large number of models, most of them in the mid price range. Some were also made for other brand names. They supported Beta up until Betahi-fi became the latest thing. Then after VHS demonstrated a hi-fi system using magnetic imbedding that produced similar results Toshiba called it quits.