I never did a side by side comparison between VHS and Beta,
so I can't really be sure that Beta is really better. As I recall,
I didn't see much difference.

I hope the following doesn't sound unduly ad hominem. However, the differences
are plain.

1 Betamax has more-stable tape motion. Without TBC, VHS has enough jitter to
produce a sometime-ragged-looking picture.

2 Betamax appears to have slightly better luminance /and/ chroma bandwidth.

3 Sony's refusal to license its polarity-inversion chrominance-recording
system forced JVC to use a quadrature system, which badly degraded color
fidelity.

If you want conclusive proof, look for an article in one of the video mags
(sorry, I don't remember which or when) where a source was repeatedly dubbed.
Betamax held up for three or four dubs. VHS fell apart very quickly.

Betamax represents a "reasonable" compromise for a consumer product. I
consider myself a critical viewer, but I could watch Beta tapes without
getting unduly upset. VHS was another matter.