Betamax

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Sony's Betamax is the 12.7 mm (0.5 inch) home videocassette tape recording format introduced in 1975 and derived from the earlier, professional 19.1 mm (0.75 inch) U-matic video cassette format. Like the video home recording system VHS introduced by JVC in 1976, it had no guard band, and used azimuth recording to reduce cross-talk. The "Betamax" name came from the fact that when the tape ran through the transport it looked like the Greek letter "Beta".

Sanyo marketed a version as Betacord, but this was also referred casually to as "Beta." In addition to Sony and Sanyo, Betamax video recorders were also sold by Toshiba, Pioneer, Aiwa and NEC, and the Zenith Electronics Corporation and WEGA Corporations contracted with Sony to produce VCRs for their product lines. Department stores like Sears, in the US and Canada, and Quelle in Germany sold Beta format VCRs under their house brands as did the Radio Shack chain of electronic stores.

Sony introduced the Betamax home video system in 1975 with the LV-1901 Trinitron/Betamax console. It was the most popular video format in 1983, gaining almost a third of the UK video recorder market, while Sanyo's VTC5000 was the top selling UK video recorder. By 1985, however, the market had turned sharply towards VHS.

The world's first camcorders were Sony's Betamovie Betamax recorders.

The world's first brand of camcorder, 1983

[edit] The legacy of Betamax

The VHS format's defeat of the Betamax format became a classic marketing case study, now identified with the verbal phrase "to Betamax", wherein a proprietary technology format is overwhelmed in the market by a competing format allowing multiple, competing, licensed manufacturers. Sony's ability to dictate an industry standard backfired when JVC, and parent Matsushita, made the tactical decision to forgo Sony's offer of Betamax in favor of JVC's VHS technology. They felt that it would end up like U-Matic deal: Sony dominating, and they get the scraps. By 1984, forty companies utilized the VHS format in comparison with Beta's twelve. Sony finally conceded defeat in 1988 when it too began producing VHS recorders. However, Sony may be said to have had some small consolation in this saga as its Video-8 small-format videotape is essentially a scaled-down version of the Betamax, and Video-8 dominated the home camcorder format for the next 15 years with the rival VHS-C format, until both formats were rendered obsolete by the digital MiniDV standard.

The real reason for the success of VHS is RCA, who asked Matsushita for a 4 hour VHS machine. RCA had earlier discussed this with Sony during Beta's development phase, but Sony's engineers felt that by slowing the tape speed from 4 to 2 cm/sec and narrowing the video track, picture quality would be too poor. Matsushita, despite protests from JVC, delivered Long Play, exactly what RCA wanted. RCA in turn would offer their 4 hour VHS decks at a suggested retail of $995. RCA's pricing and marketing of their 4 hour mode VHS machine would be crucial.

One other major consequence of the Betamax technology's introduction to the U.S. was the lawsuit Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios (1984, the "Betamax case"), with the U.S. Supreme Court determining home videotaping to be legal in the United States, wherein home videotape cassette recorders were a legal technology since they had substantial non-infringing uses. This precedent was later invoked in MGM v. Grokster (2005), where the high court agreed that the same "substantial non-infringing uses" standard applies to authors and vendors of peer-to-peer file sharing software (notably excepting those who "actively induce" copyright infringement through "purposeful, culpable expression and conduct").

Three Sony Betamax VCRs built for the American market. Top to Bottom: (1982) SL-2000 portable with TT-2000 tuner/timer 'Base Station', (1984) SL-HF 300 Betamax HiFi unit, (1988) SL-HF 360 SuperBeta HiFi unit.

A rare Japanese market Betamax TV/VCR combo - Model SL-MV1.

The early form of Betacam tapes are interchangeable with Betamax, though the recordings are not.

In the professional and broadcast video industry, Sony's Betacam, derived from Betamax as a professional format, became one of several standard formats; production houses exchange footage on Betacam videocassettes, and the Betacam system became the most widely used videotape format in the ENG (Electronic News Gathering) industry, replacing the 3/4" U-matic tape format (which was the first practical and cost-effective portable videotape format for broadcast television, signaling the end of 16mm film -- and the phrase "film at eleven" often heard on the six-o-clock newscast, before the film had been developed). The professional derivative of VHS, MII (aka Recam), faced off against Betacam and lost. Once Betacam became the de-facto standard of the broadcast industry, its position in the professional market mirrored VHS's dominance in the home-video market. On a technical level, Betacam and Betamax are similar in that both share the same videocassette shape, use the same oxide tape formulation with the same coercivity, and both record linear audio tracks on the same location of the videotape. But in the key area of video recording, Betacam and Betamax are completely different. (Unlike Betamax, Betacam uses a component-video encoding system.) BetaCam tapes are mechanically interchangeable with Betamax, but not electronically. BetaCam moves the tape at 12cm/sec, with different recording/encoding techniques. Betamax is a color-under system with linear tape speeds ranging from 4cm/sec to 1.33cm/sec.

Sony also offered a range of Industrial Betamax products, a Beta I only format for industrial and institutional users. Basically cheaper and smaller than U-Matic. The arrival of the Betacam system reduced the demand for both Industrial Beta and U-Matic equipment.

Betamax also had a significant part to play in the music recording industry when Sony introduced its PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) digital recording system as an encoding box - PCM adaptor that connected to a Betamax recorder. The Sony PCM-F1 adaptor was sold with a companion Betamax VCR SL-2000 as a portable Digital audio recording system. Many recording engineers used this system in the 1980s and 1990s to make their first digital master recordings.

Initially, Sony was able to tout several Betamax-only features, such as BetaScan, a high speed picture search in either direction, and BetaSkipScan, a technique that allowed the operator to see where he was on the tape by pressing the FF key (or REW, if in that mode) and the transport would switch into the BetaScan mode until the key was released. Sony believed that the M-Load transports used by VHS machines made copying these trick modes impossible. BetaScan was originally called "Videola" until the company that made the Moviola threatened legal action.

Sony would also sell a BetaPak, a small deck designed to be used with a camera. Concerned with the need for several pieces, and cables to connect them, an integrated camera/recorder was designed, which Sony dubbed a "Camcorder". The result was Betamovie. Betamovie used the standard sized cassette, but with a modified transport. The tape was wrapped 300 degrees around a smaller, 44.671mm diameter head drum, with a single dual-azimuth head to write the video tracks. For playback, the tape would be inserted into a Beta format deck. Due to the different geometry and writing techniques employed, playback within the camcorder was not feasible. SuperBeta and Industrial Betamovie camcorders would also be sold by Sony.

Betamax introduced high fidelity audio to videotape, as Betahifi. For NTSC, Betahifi worked by placing a pair of FM carriers between the chroma (C) and luminance (Y) carriers, a process known as audio frequency modulation. Each head had a specific pair of carriers, in total four individual channels were employed. Head A recorded its hifi carriers at 1.38(L) and 1.68(R) MHz, and the B head employed 1.53 and 1.83 MHz. The result was audio with an 80dB dynamic range, with less than 0.005% wow and flutter.

Prior to the introduction of Betahifi, Sony shifted the Y carrier up by 400 kHz to make room for the 4 FM carriers that would be needed for Betahifi. All Beta machines incorporated this change, plus the ability to hunt for a lower frequency pre-AFM Y carrier. Sony incorporated an "anti-hunt" circuit, to stop the machine hunting for a Y carrier that wasn't there.

Some Sony NTSC models were marketed as "HiFi Ready" (with a SL-HFR prefix to the model's number instead of the usual SL or SL-HF). These Betamax decks looked like a regular Betamax model, except for a special 28 pin connector on the rear. If the user desired a Betahifi model but lacked the funds at the time, he could purchase an "SL-HFRxx" and at a later date purchase the separate Hi Fi Processor. Sony offered two outboard Betahifi processors, the HFP-100 and HFP-200. They were identical except that the HFP-200 was capable of multi-channel TV sound, with the word "stereocast" printed after the Betahifi logo. This was possible because unlike a VHS HiFi deck, an NTSC Betamax didn't need an extra pair of heads. The HFP-x00 would generate the needed carriers which would be recorded by the attached deck, and during playback the AFM carriers would be passed to the HFP-x00. They also had a small "fine tracking" control on the rear panel for difficult tapes.

For PAL, however, the bandwidth between the Chroma and Luminance carriers was not sufficient enough to allow additional FM carriers, so depth multiplexing was employed, where the audio track would be recorded in the same way that the video track was. The lower frequency audio track was written first by a dedicated head, and the video track recorded on top by the video head. The head disk had an extra pair of audio only heads with a different azimuth, positioned slightly ahead of the regular video heads, for this purpose.

Sony was confident that VHS could not achieve the same audio performance feat as Betahifi. However, to the chagrin of Sony, JVC did develop a VHS hi-fi system on the principle of depth multiplexing approximately a year after the first Betahifi VCR, the SL-5200, was introduced by Sony. Despite initial praise as providing "CD sound quality," both Beta Hi-Fi and VHS HiFi suffered from "carrier buzz," where high frequency information bled into the audio carriers, creating momentary "buzzing" and other audio flaws. Both systems also used companding noise-reduction systems, which could create "pumping" artifacts under some conditions. Both formats also suffered from interchange problems, where tapes made on one machines did not always play back well on other machines. When this happened, users were forced to revert to the old linear soundtrack.

In 1985 Sony would introduce a new feature, High Band or SuperBeta, by again shifting the Y carrier, this time by 800 kHz. This improved the bandwidth available to the Y sideband, giving 290 to 300 lines of horizontal resolution in this mode, on a regular grade Beta cassette. A typical videocassette recorder was 240-250 lines. The heads were also narrowed to 29 microns to reduce crosstalk. Later, some models would feature further improvement, in the form of BIs, a high band version of the Beta I (BI) recording mode. There were some incompatibilities between the older Beta decks and SuperBeta, but most could play back a high band tape without major problems. SuperBeta decks had a switch to disable the SuperBeta mode for compatibility purposes.

JVC would counter SuperBeta with VHS HQ, or High Quality, a series of improvements to their VHS format. Originally, an HQ branded deck would have a luminance noise reduction circuit, a chroma noise reduction circuit, white clip extension, and improved sharpness circuitry. The effect was to increase the apparent resolution of a VHS recording. The major VHS OEMs resisted HQ due to cost concerns, eventually resulting in JVC reducing the requirements for the HQ brand to white clip extension plus one other improvement, either those by JVC or another circuit proposed by RCA.

JVC would introduce their SuperVHS, at 400 lines, a few years later. Due to the lower writing speeds inherent to the VHS design, Super VHS required a special high grade tape, unlike SuperBeta, which used the regular formulation Beta cassettes. Sony would also offer SuperBeta in their Industrial Beta line.

Sony would again push the envelope with ED or "Extended Definition" Betamax, capable of up to 500 lines of resolution, using a metal formulation tape from the Betacam. They also incorporated some improvements to the transport to reduce mechanically induced aberrations in the picture. Sony introduced two ED decks and a camcorder in the late 1980s. The top end ED deck was a very capable editing deck, rivalling much more expensive U-Matic setups for its accuracy, but did not have commercial success due to lack of timecode and other pro features.

Despite the sharp decline in sales of Betamax recorders in the late 1980s and subsequent halt in production of new recorders by Sony in 2002, the format is still being used by a small number of people, most of whom are collectors or hobbyists. New cassettes are still available for purchase at online shops and used recorders are often found at flea markets, thrift stores, or on internet auction sites.

[edit] Criticism

Size comparison between a Betamax cassette and a VHS cassette.

A multitude of technical drawbacks along with the proprietary nature of the Betamax format hurt it in its competition with VHS, in spite of the Betamax's superior video quality. Other proprietary formats from Sony such as Memory Stick, UMD, Digital8, and ATRAC have since been similarly criticized.

The main issue with the Beta format in the early days of the USA market was recording time. The original prototypes shown to Matsushita used a linear tape speed of 40 mm/sec. The technology of the day needed that speed due to the 60 micron heads employed. Sony engineers and management had decided that since one hour was acceptable to the U-Matic's buyers, it was acceptable for Beta too. So the Beta format had a smaller, one hour cassette called a K-60. (The designation would later change to L-500). The cassette was loaded with 150m of tape (close to 500 feet, which is where the "500" designation came from).

RCA had initially planned a home video format around 1974, to be called "SelectaVision MagTape," but cancelled it after hearing rumors about Sony's Betamax format, and was considering Sony as an OEM for an RCA-branded VCR. RCA had discussions with Sony, but RCA felt the recording time was too short, insisting that they needed at least a 4-hour recording time (reportedly because that was the length of an average televised U.S. football game). Sony engineers knew that the technology available to manufacture video heads wasn't up to the task yet, but halving the tape speed and track width was a possibility. Unfortunately, the picture quality would be degraded severely, and at that time Sony engineers felt the compromise was not worthwhile.

Soon after, RCA met with execs with the Victor Corporation of Japan (JVC), who had created their own video format, christened "VHS" (Which stood for "Video Helical Scan" and later "Video Home System"). But JVC also refused to compromise the picture quality of their format by allowing a 4-hour mode. Ironically, their parent corporation, Matsushita, later met with RCA, and agreed to manufacture a 4-hour-capable VHS machine for RCA, much to JVC's chagrin. (JVC never did make a VHS machine capable of the 4-hour "LP" mode, though they did later offer a 6-hour mode, claiming performance better than the early 4-hour machines due to improvements in video heads and video circuitry.)

Sony would introduce an "X2" speed of 20 mm/sec for a "2 hour Betamax." This led to confusion in the market, as some decks only recorded in X2, and others didn't even play X1 tapes. Later models would have the capability to handle a thinner tape that ran for 90 minutes in X1 mode, but many decks only recorded in X2.

Recording time was everything, with Beta eventually managing 5 hours at BIII (13.3 mm/sec) on an ultra-thin L-830 cassette, and VHS achieving 6 hours with Extended Play on the standard T-120 cassette (and up to 9 hours on an ultra-thin T-180 cassette, later even longer with the T-200 cassette). Slower tape speeds meant a degradation in picture quality, but the consumer didn't seem to mind. Sony was never able to overcome the disadvantage of the 1 hour recording limit when Beta was introduced.

According James Lardner's 1987 book, "Fast Forward: Hollywood, the Japanese, and the Onslaught of the VCR," Sony had met with Matsushita execs sometime in late 1974/early 1975, to discuss the forthcoming home video market. They had previously co-operated in the development and marketing of the "U" format videocassette, with Sony marketing under the U-Matic brand. At the meeting, the Matsushita exec showed them a VHS prototype, and advised them it was not too late to embrace VHS "for the good of the industry." Sony management were too close to production (and, one could argue, too proud and arrogant) to compromise, and felt their generosity had been taken advantage of. Thus, the stage was set for a battle between Sony and Matsushita in the arena of home video.

It should be noted that in Europe which uses the PAL television system, recording time was never such an issue. An L-750 runs for 3.25 hours with the PAL system, whereas the equivalent E180 tape would run for just 3 hours, giving Beta a longer running time for most users. The very longest L830 tape however was slightly shorter than the longest VHS tape of 4 hours at the time, but the difference of 25 minutes was not enough to be frequently cited as a reason for VHS being preferred.

[edit] Popular culture

Betamax was featured in a sinister context in David Cronenberg's 1983 film Videodrome, in which a video signal recorded on Betamax tape is used for mind control. By the late 1980s, however, jokes about the format's unpopularity were appearing in popular culture. In a 1989 episode of the situation comedy Married... with Children, the Bundys were described as "the last family on earth with Beta"; a character had to cross state lines to get a tape from "Bob's Betas and Bell-bottoms", and was only able to rent Oh Heavenly Dog.^[1] In the 1990 novel Good Omens, a 17th-century book of prophecies includes the warning "Do Notte Buye Betamacks".^[2] In a 1992 episode of The Simpsons, Snake steals a VCR, but on inspecting it exclaims "Oh no, Beta!"^[3] In another episode of The Simpsons, Homer takes the kids to the video store, called "VHS Village" underneath is a sign that says "Formerly the Beta Barn". In an episode of Cowboy Bebop, both Beta and VHS tapes throw the characters for a loop in a world disc drives and the fact that they have to find a place that still stocks them.

As a well-known obsolete storage medium, beta videotapes are sometimes mentioned alongside other things that themselves are - or may become - outdated. For example, in a 2003 episode of The Simpsons, a junkyard contains a pile of Betamax tapes, a pile of laserdiscs, and next to them an empty space with a sign reading "reserved for DVD".^[4] A 2006 episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy describes Fred Flintstone as coming from a time of "dinosaurs, Betamax tapes, floppy discs, and acid wash jeans with holes in them on purpose".^[5]

In the Mighty Boosh episode 'The Priest and the Beast' the villain is named Betamax, and wreaks havoc on a Southern European town due to his being an 'obsolete format'.

In the Duckman episode 'The One With Lisa Kudrow In A Small Role' (a.k.a. Planet Of The Dopes) aliens land in front of Ajax, claiming they are "inferior beings from the planet Betamax".

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] See also

• Videotape format war
• Peep search A picture search system pioneered with Betamax and available on most video formats since.

[edit] External links

• Running time of all lengths of Betamax tape, and how to copy the film to DVD/miniDV and AVI
• The Ultimate Betamax Info Guide - covering the Betamax format in the North American market
• Mister Betamax - extensive Beta supply site
• Betamax PALsite - over 350 pages of Betamax information, running since 1997
• The 'Total Rewind' VCR museum, covering Betamax and other vintage formats
• The Betamax format in the UK, including technical information on servicing Sanyo Beta machines
• "Daily Giz Wiz" Podcast discussing the Betamax