The quality was very close with both systems - and on a new tape on a typical TV, VHS was indistinguishable the original broadcast quality.
And even if betamax was noticeably better, so what? A noticeably better 1 hour? The VHS is a movie, with high production values. The betamax was 2 episodes of a shitty multi-camera 70's sitcom. I know which one is going to look better.
Friends invested in laser disk players. High quality movies were 30 minutes per side, so you kept stopping to turn over or change the disk. Reminded me of my parents playing 78s. The much higher image quality did not make it appealing to me, I stuck with VHS until DVDs came out.
When extended play came out, I went for that too. Sure, you could tell it was recorded, but most television that's not a problem compared to 8 hours of recording time. Sure, if I was going to keep it, I'd record it at normal speed, but an episode of Law & Order? No, it was fine on extended play.