Go Back    Forum > Featured > General Discussion

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
  #1  
09-18-2015, 02:42 AM
Dead Christmas's Avatar
Dead Christmas Dead Christmas is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 95
Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post
Hail forum,

I wish to use this thread as a host for a discussion. I would like to know your opinions on what the king of analog video-cassette is. (Type-B, and Type-C don't count.) Be sure to be as detailed and lengthy as you need to be. Feel free to include information about the tape itself, the brands, and the quality (or lack thereof) of the machines and tapes that the format used.

I feel that 3/4 U-matic is the best format. Here's why:

+Has the best tape-width of any analog video-cassette type.

+Had Hi-Fi stereo from the FIRST U-matic machine. (Take that, VHS!) Although, the VO-1600 did not have level control, it is unknown if there was any compression applied, or if it was applied when the recording level entered clipping range.

+Had roughly 250 lines of horizontal resolution, about ten more lines than normal VHS. That's not including the later variants of U-matic, namely, High-band, and Superior-Performance, which increased resolution, luminance, and video response.

+Even the early consumer U-matic decks, such as the Sony VO-1600, were well-built, well-built like monsters. They were rather "barebone" machines compared to later models such as the professional series U-matic recorders and players.

-Red was reported to be a "noisy" color for U-matic. I haven't actually witnessed this, though.

-leaving a tape on "pause" for long periods of time could cause the tape to crinkle and dropout at the contact point between the drum and tape.

-U-matic tapes are more rare, and expensive compared to VHS and Beta tapes.

/Discuss.
Reply With Quote
Someday, 12:01 PM
admin's Avatar
Ads / Sponsors
 
Join Date: ∞
Posts: 42
Thanks: ∞
Thanked 42 Times in 42 Posts
  #2  
09-18-2015, 07:07 AM
NJRoadfan NJRoadfan is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,155
Thanked 357 Times in 293 Posts
Betacam SP easily blows it away due to being a component format (luma and chroma are recorded on separate full bandwidth tracks), and smaller tapes suitable for ENG. The later Umatic SP saw some adoption by universities (mine was one of them), but otherwise the rest of the broadcast industry went with Betacam until digital formats became viable.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
09-18-2015, 07:16 AM
Dead Christmas's Avatar
Dead Christmas Dead Christmas is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 95
Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post
It's too bad that they didn't make any Betacam SP consumer decks. I've got a BVW-70, and I'm not quite sure that I like it as much when compared to my VO-2630. It's mostly because of how flashy it is, and I fear that all the additional components and functions (that I don't, and probably never will touch) will just be more straws on the camel's (rather, the BVW-70's) back.

If they had basic playback/record decks for that format, I'd be much more inclined to agree. Except that they don't. Not even regular Betacam has any consumer decks.

Betamax...on the other hand...
Reply With Quote
  #4  
09-18-2015, 07:25 AM
NJRoadfan NJRoadfan is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,155
Thanked 357 Times in 293 Posts
Betacam was never meant to be a consumer format. The closest one could get is ED-Beta, which used metal tapes, but it was so expensive, decks are extremely rare. It also was still limited to .6Mhz of color bandwidth like standard Beta had.

There are basic Betacam SP decks out there, the UVW-1800 is a popular one. The only limitation of the UVW series is that it can only playback/record the linear audio tracks. there is no AFM audio track playback like the BVW series has. It also helps to have the editing controller for professional VTRs as well. Using the front panel controls gets cumbersome. All those decks can be controlled by a computer as well provided you have the correct RS-422 interface and software (Adobe Premiere CS4 has deck control in it still).
Reply With Quote
  #5  
09-18-2015, 07:40 AM
Dead Christmas's Avatar
Dead Christmas Dead Christmas is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 95
Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post
What is the difference between AFM and linear audio, they're both stereo, right?
Reply With Quote
  #6  
09-18-2015, 07:55 AM
NJRoadfan NJRoadfan is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,155
Thanked 357 Times in 293 Posts
Yes, Betacam supports dual linear audio tracks, so stereo can be recorded. The AFM tracks are recorded the same as the Hi-Fi tracks on a VHS video tape, using the video heads. It is very high quality, but has editing limitations. I don't think the AFM audio tracks were very popular because they were dropped from the later PVW series decks as well as the UVW decks. Linear audio is generally very good quality on Betacam compared to VHS/Betamax since the linear tape speed is faster. Also its rare to see the term "stereo sound" on broadcast equipment as the priority is multi channel recording. Stereo sound tracks are the result of post production.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
09-18-2015, 08:39 AM
Dead Christmas's Avatar
Dead Christmas Dead Christmas is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 95
Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post
By multi-channel you mean like 5.1?
Reply With Quote
Reply




Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Problem capturing NTSC format video cassette dudu2683 Capture, Record, Transfer 5 09-29-2013 11:17 PM
Mold on VHS Cassette - How to deal with it? naripeddi Project Planning, Workflows 3 02-10-2013 11:49 PM
Replacing VHS Tape Cassette Winsordawson Capture, Record, Transfer 9 01-27-2013 04:30 PM
How to copy DV tape to new DV tape with audio removed? via Email or PM Edit Video, Audio 1 09-13-2012 05:55 PM
VHS tape malfunction, mechanism not rolling tape properly admin Capture, Record, Transfer 0 10-12-2009 10:57 PM

Thread Tools



 
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:59 AM