MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin

> > technically, betamax actually WAS better than VHS... VHS won that war because the
> > pr0n industry produced vastly more content on VHS than it ever did on Betamax
> (which
> > it DID, contrary to popular belief)
>
> Right. Beta was significantly superior enough that a slightly modified version became
> the worldwide broadcast standard in the 80s/90s and successor digital and HD versions
> are still used today by TV news crews.

Bwahaha Betacam is definitely not a "slightly modified version" of Betamax - it runs the tape at close to six times the speed, uses completely different heads, has wider helical tracks, and records separate helical tracks for luma and chroma side-by-side (rather than frequency-modulating the luma, frequency-shifting the chroma and recording it on a single track like Betamax and VHS). The only thing it has in common is the tape/cassette form factor, but you can't use Betamax cassettes for Betacam because the spools and guide rollers aren't reliable at the far higher tape speed.

Betacam SP changed the tape formulation to metal, which improved quality but also increased degradation with repeated playback. It also introduced a larger cassette format to get past the 30 minute playtime of original Betacam.

Anyway, Betamax had superior video quality, but VHS was superior in two areas that matter to home users: maximum playtime and tape wear. The first is obvious, but the second is a result of implementation detail. Betamax VCRs keep the tape wrapped around the heads with the drum spinning the whole time the cassette is loaded, which increases wear when stopped, and on fast forward and rewind.