Beta had better quality, but it wasn’t by much (not like going from regular to HD is, now). What hurt Beta, was the original tapes only lasted like an hour. By the end of VHS, you started getting like 6 hour tapes, but originally VHS was about 2 hours, and Beta was 1 hour. Made it really shitty if you were doing things like taping sports events. I remember my dad calling home to remind me or my mom be ready to switch tapes (or when he got craftier, turn on the second recording device).
By the time I was in my teens, I had HUNDREDS of movies on tape, that my dad had been recording over the years. Sad, really 