[SlowBoat407]

You are correct about the tape handling aspect. Matsushita got the transport right. However, the image processing electronics for Beta were superior, producing an image resolution of about 300 lines vs VHS 240 IIRC.

Interestingly enough, every format Panasonic has produced in the last 10 years has been half-inch, since they already have a solid mechanism for it. Why mess with success?

[Question_Assumptions]

Higher resolution was what LDs were for. I think most of the LD players were running in the 400-425 line range and produced output so bright that I saw my old one cause VCRs and TVs to "gray out" on screens that were totally white because they couldn't handle the brightness. And because I actually had an LD player in the 1980s, I have a copy of the first Star Wars trilogy, in crisp widescreen LD format, without all of the "improvements" on the DVD courtesy of George Lucas.