Beta was superior in everything but run length, and it lost because it was more expensive than VHS without being sufficiently superior to justify the cost.

Yes but that's not a minor issue: Beta's run length was so limited that it couldn't record or hold a full length movie or even a long TV show.

Only for the first year or two of release. Early VHS capacities were better, but by the late 70s or early 80s there wasn't a meaningful difference.