Richard Robinson bought a Sony Betamax three years ago. He paid about $1,100 dollars for the machine. Today, three years later, it is worth at least $40. A likeable fellow, Richard feels betrayed by the Sony Corporation, who have outmoded his one-hour record-playback Betamax with their new three-hour record-playback Betamax. The new Betamax will not replay cassettes recorded on his old Betamax. Video cassette recorder salesmen laugh in his face when he asks how much they'll give him on his old Betamax as a trdde-in against the cost of a new Betamax.

■ I never thought the day would come when I'd side with RCA against Sony in the fierce competition for supremacy in the home video machine war. I don't like the Radio Corporation of America too much. Partly because I worked for their record company once and found out some nasty realities about the corporate consciousness, and partly because I never thought that RCA knew what it was doing when it came to new consumer hardware (i.e.: RCA's black and white video games when everybody else had color cheaper; RCA's 50's approach to color TV when Sony was pioneering Trinitron; and other bitches that kept me from being a stockholder). But with the introduction of home video, RCA, in conjunction with Panasonic's video cassette design, has put America back on top and beaten Sony at their own game.

There are two video cassette standards: Beta and VHS.

A Beta cassette won't fit in a VHS player.

A VHS cassette won't fit in a Beta player. — So whichever standard you buy, you can't play cassettes recorded from the other standard.

Now, Sony has been in the consumer and semi-consumer video business for a long time. Their portapaks made do-it-yourself television possible. Their half-inch standard equipment

allowed the manipulation of the television medium which had profound effect on the very idea of television. But they did a very unpleasant thing when they abandoned the tens of thousands of consumers who believed in their ability to build the best home video machine and purchased Sony Betamaxes as soon as they were available. They improved their Betamax to compete with the RCA VHS system, which has proved to be superior from its very introduction, and has not changed its internal electronics to obsolete early purchasers of VHS equipment.

Sony's shameful act seems the result of being one step behind RCA in the development of user functions. Sony's original Betamax recorded one hour on a cassette. RCA's original VHS recorded from three to six hours on a cassette.

Even Sonys new Betamax model, which records three hours on a single cassette, doesn't have the flexibility of the RCA VHS machine. The new Betamax can be automatically programmed to record only one TV show. The new RCA VHS can be told to automatically record up to four different shows over a seven day span. That means you could tell the RCA VHS to record the six o'clock news every day for a week, and when you came back a week later it would all be there on one cassette. (Why you'd want to do that is another question.)

In all, the VHS system is vastly superior to the Beta system.

Within the VHS format there are several brands to choose from. General Electric, Hitachi, Magnavox, GTE Sylvania, JVC, Panasonic;, Quasar, and RCA all make VHS machines. Prices vary from a high of $1,295 list (Magnavox 8225 VHS) to a bw of $995 list (GE, and Hitachi VHS's). Most of the these machiries can be purchased below' list if you shop around.

The difference in price is the result of different user functions on particular machines. JVC seems the most innovative of all VHS models. They offer a "speed play" function that plays a half-hour show in 15 minutes—the picture and sound are speeded up electronically so that everything runs twice as fast but, because of special circuitry, is still intelligible.

If you plan to buy a video cassette machine, it is wise' to research the purchase as much as possible. Do not buy an old Betamax (one-hour format) or a Quasar "Great Time Machine." Both of these units are completely obsolete. And if a salesman tells you how great the new Sony Betamax is because it will record up to three hours on a single cassette, ask him if that new three-hour cassette is available in your area and if the machine has to be readjusted to use it since the three-hour Sony cassette uses thinner tape and certain Betamaxes will eat it rather than record On it.

One further warning: we understand that RCA's latest VHS with its seven day four' program memory feature has a high chip rate failure in the memory circuit—so tell the salesman that you want the option of bringing back the machine if the memory system gives you trouble.

Enough to give you a headache? Certainly. But once you get through all this and get the right machine installed at home, you'll find that using a video cassette machine is very easy and will give you a new sense of what TV is about.

Besides recording shows off TV, there are many pre-recorded video cassettes available. \ Most are still expensive ($39.95 to $59.95 per show), but you can get unique programs that will probably never be shown on TV.

If you're looking,, for pre-recorded cassettes, check out the following sources:

NILES VIDEO, 1141 Mishawaka Avenue, South Bend, IN 46615 has an excellent catalog of pre-recorded cassettes available on either VHS or Beta. This includes classic films (Citizen Kane, Flying Down To Rio, Reefer Madness), sci-fi (The Thing, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers), and dozens of rock films (Rainbow Bridge, Cucumber Castle, Last Cream Concert).

VIDEO PROGRAMS INDEX, 923 6th St.

S. W., Washington D. C. 20024 will send you a catalog for $3 of pre-recorded video cassettes.

MAGNETIC VIDEO CORP., Industrial Park, Farmington Hills, MI 48024 has a video club.

DIXIE HI FI, P.O. Box 6496, Richmond, VA 23230 has a number of movies on VHS or Beta for sale, including Bus Stop, Can Can, Blue Hawaii, and The French Connection.