By 1980, only a year or so into the battle, VHS had captured nearly 70% of the market. Beta could initially claim the rest, but V2000 arrived to complicate the picture. The first generation of V2000 machines were poorly specified and expensive, so despite its undisputed technical merits the format failed to capture the public imagination. Theives raiding an electronics warehouse in 1983 cleared out all the VHS and Beta machines, but didn't take a single V2000 deck...
1984 was Betamax's best year, with 2.4 million units sold. VHS was already selling three times as many machines. V2000 claimed just 3% of the market that year, and peaked at a maximum of 7.5% in 1986. By this time Beta's fortunes were plummeting, and it was also running at 7.5%. With VHS controlling the remaining 85% the war was effectively over, and despite continuing assurances from the manufacturers, the public could see that it was only a matter of time before Beta and V2000 joined Quadraphonic and 8-Track cartridges in that great attic in the sky. Their sales dwindled away, and VHS emerged victorious - despite being the least sophisticated of the three main rivals.