🚀 go-pugleaf

William F. Finch (ali...@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
: Beta was and is the best format. It is the format used by the TV
: stations for coverage of location (news) events. It has several
: advantages over VHS ... the image has a better transfer function and
: editing is easier. I own several Beta and several VHS machines of
: recent vintage. I use them both as needed. I shoot originals with a
: Betacam and transfer to "C" or disk for editing then distribute with
: VHS because that's what everyone has. I could not get the same results
: shooting with VHS or SuperVHS. Ask anyone at your local TV station and
: see what they tell you.    ...Bill

Be careful.  We're really off-topic here, but the Betacam that you use to
shoot pro-video is entirely different from the consumer Betamax format. 
The cassette is the same (unless you are using the extended play
cassettes) and the tape is wound in the machine using the familiar B-wind
(used in Betamax and 3/4" U-Matic machines) rather than the more familiar
M-wind (used in VHS and Hi-8 machines).  But the actual recording format
has more in common with Super-VHS than with Betamax, as Betacam is a
component format while Betamax is composite.  Furthermore, a PB-30
cassette, which will run for 30 minutes in a Betacam machine, is the same
length tape as an L-750, which will run for three hours at B-II in a
Betamax machine.

That said, Betamax does have significantly higher resolution than VHS.  I
found that out years ago when I had a VHS camcorder recording iso, while
feeding a Beta recorder through a passive switcher...so both the VHS and
th Beta recorders got fresh, straight-from the camera signals.  More
detail was discernable on the Beta tape.

]Dave Althoff, ][.
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