1970s Items That Failed!

23 thoughts on “1970s Items That Failed!”

1. Betamax's biggest problem was the limited runtime per cassette. In order to put whole movies onto them, the tape had to be recorded and played in a Longplay format, which of course reduced the quality. VHS on the other hand didn't need that and the biggest tapes could hold up to 4-5 hours of non stop Video & Audio on one tape in Standard Play mode. 90-120 minutes tapes were however the most common length for pre-recorded VHS tapes. Yes, Sony's format Licensing was also a problem that didn't help Betamax growing in popularity. But if you had such a machine for recording TV shows, you could record the same Studioquality of the TV program without resolution loss that VHS had.

2. LaserVision / DiscoVision was pretty amazing at the time it came out. And would then turn into the much better Laserdisc format that lasted for over 20 years. Sure it was expensive but also far from being a flop. Pioneer made it the format it should have always been, except affordable. If the price would have been comparable to VHS tapes, it would have probably been more accepted by the masses, even with the lack of recording functions. WORM (Write Once Read Many) drives for Laserdisc existed but were only really for the industry market, not for home use.

3. I recall a product from the 70s …or 60s. It was a drinking straw which had something down inside the straw that was infused with either chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla flavoring. As milk was drawn up through the straw the milk would become flavored …at least until the flavoring object inside the straw became depleted….then you were pretty much drinking plain milk. Don't think it was on the market very long.

4. Lol…. 70 's wasn't old enough for the 60's to remember enjoying…from earlier comment

5. I feel like the ’70s was the clear start of the fall of society in America. Ugly greasy hair, cheap man-made fabric clothing, and that need to look like you were either on drugs or drunk to look cool. People just look so filthy and uncouth. 😂

6. I don't care the 70's was a different time.
   If i had a time machine I'd go back and visit..
   ✌️🥸🥃

7. While in Jr High, we substitute teacher that was an Offensive Lineman for the WFL's Philadelphia Bell, he was huge but really nice to us – nobody dared to mess with him!

8. Chevy Vega!

9. those fat removing jiggeling machines,with a strap around your waist ,also never be seen again

10. Laserdisc was the top-notch video system, after the VHS. The picture quality and the sound was made to use with a home-cinema 5.1 speakers and was high-quality. I nerver saw blue so blue on my tv screen from the movie "True lies" and the bank robbery scene from "Heat" was a demo to all people visiting my parents.
    It was a niche but popular for the movies lovers and lived until the dvd becoming a success around the end of the 90'.

11. I still have my SX70 and OneStep cameras. I remember Leonard Nimoy doing commercials for LaserDiscs. My uncle SWORE by his Beta Max

12. Billy Beer … Gas price control

13. Quad stereos were not a failure. In fact rhino records is still actively releasing quad on CD.

14. One failure in the early 80s was “Frank-N-Stuff.”It was a hotdog with chili inside of it. It was a cool idea but when you cooked the hotdog, the chili inside would be very hot, and it would burn people’s mouths. Either that or the chili would be too cold. You could never get the perfect temperature for both. I remember eating them but I simply microwaved them to heat the chili inside and then boiled them to cook the hot dog. That seemed to work well enough , but it never tasted as good as chili dogs with the chili on the outside. 😀

15. Why were people so homely in the 70s?

16. Neat stuff! 😂 ❤

17. The 1970's had the best lsd. Liquid sunshine fried many brains.

18. Betamax should have been the winner. Smaller cartridges and better quality at the time.

19. Ayds Diet Bar

20. Laserdisc was not a flop. Lasted until 2002. It was a to go format for movie lovers.

21. What about the Belt Vibrator.

22. "Meat and food"? What are you talking about? Meat IS food!

23. Ironically, 2 team names from the failed WFL were later repurposed. The Houston Texans went to a new NFL team & the Chicago Fire is now the name of an MLS team.

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