Betacam is a family of half-inch professional
videocassette
Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassette ...
products developed by
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
in 1982. In
colloquial
Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conver ...
use, "Betacam" singly is often used to refer to a Betacam camcorder, a Betacam tape, a Betacam video recorder or the format itself.
All Betacam variants from (plain)
analog recording
Analog recording is a technique used for the recording of analog signals which, among many possibilities, allows analog audio for later playback.
Analog audio recording began with mechanical systems such as the phonautograph and phonograph. ...
Betacam to Betacam SP and
digital recording
In digital recording, an audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or chroma and luminance values for video. This number stream is saved to a storage de ...
Digital Betacam (and additionally,
HDCAM
HDCAM is a high-definition video digital recording videocassette version of Digital Betacam introduced in 1997 that uses an 8-bit discrete cosine transform (DCT) compressed 3:1:1 recording, in 1080i-compatible down-sampled resolution of 144 ...
and HDCAM SR), use the same shape videocassettes, meaning vaults and other storage facilities do not have to be changed when upgrading to a new format. The cassettes are available in two sizes: S (for Short) and L (for Long). The Betacam
camcorder
A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...
can only load S
magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magne ...
s, while
television studio
A television studio, also called a television production studio, is an installation room in which video productions take place, either for the production of live television and its recording onto video tape or other media such as SSDs, or for t ...
sized
video tape recorder
A video tape recorder (VTR) is a tape recorder designed to record and playback video and audio material from magnetic tape. The early VTRs were open-reel devices that record on individual reels of 2-inch-wide (5.08 cm) tape. They were use ...
s (VTR) designed for
video editing
Video editing is the manipulation and arrangement of video shots. Video editing is used to structure and present all video information, including films and television shows, video advertisements and video essays. Video editing has been dramaticall ...
can play both S and L tapes.
The cassette shell and case for each Betacam cassette is colored differently depending on the format, allowing for easy visual identification. There is also a mechanical key that allows a video tape recorder to identify which format has been inserted.
The format supplanted the three-quarter-inch
U-Matic
U-matic is an analogue recording videocassette format first shown by Sony in prototype in October 1969, and introduced to the market in September 1971. It was among the first video formats to contain the videotape inside a cassette, as oppo ...
format, which Sony had introduced in 1971. In addition to improvements in video quality, the Betacam configuration of an integrated
professional video camera
A professional video camera (often called a television camera even though its use has spread beyond television) is a high-end device for creating electronic moving images (as opposed to a movie camera, that earlier recorded the images on film). O ...
/recorder led to its rapid adoption by
electronic news gathering
Electronic news-gathering (ENG) or electronic journalism (EJ) is usage of electronics, electronic video and sound recording and reproduction, audio technologies by journalist, reporters to gather and present news instead of using film camera ...
(ENG) organizations.
DigiBeta, the common name for Digital Betacam, went on to become the single most successful professional broadcast
digital recording
In digital recording, an audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or chroma and luminance values for video. This number stream is saved to a storage de ...
video tape format in history, but now although Betacam remains popular in the field and for archiving, new tapeless digital products have led to a phasing out of Betacam products in
television studio
A television studio, also called a television production studio, is an installation room in which video productions take place, either for the production of live television and its recording onto video tape or other media such as SSDs, or for t ...
environments since 2006.
Variants
Betacam and Betacam SP
Original Betacam format
The original Betacam format was launched on August 7, 1982. It is an
analog
Analog or analogue may refer to:
Computing and electronics
* Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable
** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals
*** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...
component video
Component video is an analog video signal that has been split into two or more component channels. In popular use, it refers to a type of component analog video (CAV) information that is transmitted or stored as three separate signals. Compon ...
format, storing the luminance, "Y", in one track and the
chrominance
Chrominance (''chroma'' or ''C'' for short) is the signal used in video systems to convey the color information of the picture (see YUV color model), separately from the accompanying luma signal (or Y' for short). Chrominance is usually represente ...
, on another as alternating segments of the R-Y and B-Y components performing ''Compressed Time Division Multiplex'', or CTDM. This splitting of channels allows ''true''
broadcast quality Broadcast quality is a term stemming from quad videotape to denote the quality achieved by professional video cameras and time base correctors (TBC) used for broadcast television, usually in standard definition. As the standards for commercial tel ...
recording with 300 lines of horizontal luminance resolution and 120 lines chrominance resolution versus 0.4 MHz chroma bandwidth for Betamax/VHS (~30 lines resolution left-to-right) on a relatively inexpensive
cassette
Cassette may refer to:
Technology
* Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback
** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...
based format.
The original Betacam cassettes, loaded with ferric-oxide tape, were identical in overall design and size (15.1 × 9.5 × 2.5 cm)
to consumer-grade
Betamax
Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...
, introduced by Sony in 1975. Betacam cassettes could be used in a Betamax VCR; likewise, a blank Betamax tape would work on a Betacam deck. However, in later years Sony discouraged this practice, suggesting that the internal tape transport of Betamax cassette was not well suited to the faster tape transport of Betacam. In particular, the guide rollers tend to be noisy.
Although there is a superficial similarity between Betamax and Betacam in that they use the same tape cassette, they are really quite different formats. Betamax records relatively low resolution video using a heterodyne color recording system and only two recording heads, while Betacam uses four heads to record in component format, at a much higher linear tape speed of 10.15 cm/s (3.99606 in./s) compared with Betamax's 1.87 cm/s (0.7362205 in./s), resulting in much higher video and audio quality. A typical L-750 length Betamax cassette that yielded about 3 hours of recording time on a Betamax
VCR
A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette, and can play back the recording. ...
at its B-II Speed (
NTSC
The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...
), or on
PAL
Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
, only provided 30 minutes' record time on a Betacam VCR or
camcorder
A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...
. Another common point between Betamax and Betacam is the placement of the stereo linear audio tracks. Also, some Betacam and Betamax portables share the same batteries.
(Matsushita's rival
"M" and
"MII" formats took a similar approach in combining the cassette from a non-professional system- in this case,
VHS- with a much higher-quality recording format. However, neither enjoyed Betacam's level of success).
[Matsushita/Panasonic also introduced a professional half-inch analog component video tape format, which used VHS style tape cassettes, called " M-Format". However, while Sony's Betacam system rapidly became an industry standard, M-format was a marketing failure. A follow-up format called M-II— effectively the Panasonic enhancement of M-format as SP was Sony's enhancement of Betacam— was a great improvement. Though it was used as an internal standard at ]NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
TV and Hubbard's Conus Communications in America for a time, it failed to make much headway in the marketplace. While technically M-II was in some ways an improvement over Betacam SP, Betacam SP had the overwhelming advantage of a high degree of compatibility with the existing (and very large) Betacam infrastructure.
Betacam was initially introduced as a camera line along with a video cassette player. The first cameras were the BVP-3, which utilized three
saticon tubes, and the BVP1, which used a single tri-stripe Trinicon tube. Both these cameras could be operated standalone, or with their docking companion VTR, the BVV-1 (quickly superseded by the BVV-1A), to form the BVW-1 (BVW-1A) integrated camcorder. Those decks were record-only. The only transport controls on the deck were Eject and Rewind. The docked camera's VTR button started and paused the tape recorder. Later the Betacam SP docking decks had full transport controls (except a Record button) but tapes could not be played back except in the camera's viewfinder in black-and-white only. Sony then came out with the Play Adapter, a separate portable unit that connected via a multi-pin cable and had a composite video out jack for color playback. At first color playback required the studio source deck, the BVW-10, which could not record, only play back. It was primarily designed as a feeder deck for A/B roll edit systems, usually for editing to a one-inch Type C or three-quarter-inch U-matic cassette edit master tape. There was also the BVW-20 field playback deck, which was a portable unit with DC power and a handle, that was used to verify color playback of tapes in the field. Unlike the BVW-10, it did not have a built in Time Base Corrector, or TBC.
With the popular success of the Betacam system as a news acquisition format, the line was soon extended to include the BVW-15 studio player, and the BVW-40 Studio Edit Recorder. The BVW-15 added Dynamic Tracking, which enabled clear still frame and jog playback, something the BVW-10 could not deliver. The BVW-40 enabled for the first time editing to a Betacam master, and if set up and wired correctly, true component video editing. It was also possible to do machine to machine editing between a BVW-10/15 and BVW-40 without an edit controller—a single serial cable between the units was all that was required to control the player from the recorder in performing simple assemble and insert editing. Additionally there were two field models introduced, the field recorder BVW-25, and the BVW-21 play only portable field deck.
At its introduction, many insisted that Betacam remained inferior to the bulkier one-inch Type C and B recording, the standard broadcast production format of the late 1970s to mid-1980s. Additionally, the maximum record time for both the cameras and studio recorders was only half an hour, a severe limitation in television production. There was also the limitation that high quality recording was only possible if the original component signals were available, as they were in a Betacam camcorder. If the recording started as
composite video
Composite video is an analog video signal format that carries standard-definition video (typically at 525 lines or 625 lines) as a single channel. Video information is encoded on one channel, unlike the higher-quality S-Video (two channels) a ...
, re-converting them to components for recording and then eventually back to composite for broadcast caused a drop in quality compared to recording component video directly.
Betacam SP
In 1986, Betacam SP (commonly referred to as Beta SP) was developed, which increased horizontal resolution to 340 lines. While the quality improvement of the format itself was minor, the improvement to the VTRs was enormous, particularly in quality and features. In addition to the existing cassette a larger cassette (25.3 × 14.4 × 2.5 cm)
was introduced with 90 minutes of recording time. Betacam SP (for "Superior Performance") became the industry standard for most
TV station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
s and high-end production houses until the late 1990s. Despite the format's age Betacam SP remained a common standard for standard definition video post-production into the 2010s. The recording time is the same as for Betacam, 30 and 90 minutes for S and L, respectively. Tape speed is slightly slower in machines working in the 625/50 format, increasing tape duration by one minute for every five minutes of run time. So, a 90-minute tape will record 108 minutes of video in
PAL
Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
.
Betacam SP is able to achieve its namesake "Superior Performance" over Betacam in the fact that it uses metal-formulated tape as opposed to Betacam's ferric oxide tape. Sony designed Betacam SP to be partially
forward compatible
Forward compatibility or upward compatibility is a design characteristic that allows a system to accept input intended for a later version of itself. The concept can be applied to entire systems, electrical interface
Interface or interfacing may ...
with standard Betacam, with the capability that Betacam SP tapes recorded on Betacam SP decks can be played in oxide-era Betacam VTRs (such as the BVW-15 and BVW-40 mentioned earlier), but for playback only. Betacam SP-branded tapes cannot be used for recording in consumer Betamax VCRs like oxide Betacam tapes, due to Betacam SP's metal-formulation tape causing the video heads in a Betamax deck to wear prematurely, which are made of a softer material than the heads in a standard Betacam deck. However, Betacam SP tapes can be used without a problem in
ED Beta VCRs, since the ED Beta format uses metal-formulated tape as well.
The new Betacam SP studio decks were the players: The BVW-60 and BVW-65 (the BVW-65 features Dynamic Tracking); and the Edit Recorders: the BVW-70, and the Dynamic Tracking model, the BVW-75. The BVV-5 was the Betacam SP dockable camera back, which could play back in color if its companion playback adapter was used. A new SP field recorder, the BVW-35, possessed the added benefit of a standard RS422 serial control port that enabled it to be used as an edit feeder deck. Though the four new studio decks could utilize the full 90-minute Betacam SP cassettes, the BVW-35 remained limited to the original Betacam small 30-minute cassette shells. Answering a need for a basic office player, Sony also introduced the BVW-22, a much less expensive desktop model that could be used for viewing and logging 90-minute cassettes of both BetacamSP and oxide types, but could not be configured into an edit system and offered only Composite Video output.
Sony followed up the SP Field Recorder with the BVW-50, that could record and play the large-size 90 minute cassettes. After this, the deck line was relatively stagnant and incredibly popular for a decade, aside from some specialty models that could record
digital audio
Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical samples in a continuous sequence. For example, in CD audio, sa ...
. Some Betacam SP VCRs were sold by
Broadcast Television Systems Inc.
Broadcast Television Systems (BTS) was a joint venture between Robert Bosch GmbH's Fernseh Division and Philips Broadcast in Breda, Netherlands, formed in 1986.
History
Philips had been in the broadcast market for many years with a line of PC ...
(BTS).
Until the introduction of the BVW-200 camera though, the camera and recorder configuration was a docking system. The BVW-200 was an integrated camera recorder system. It sacrificed the flexibility of a docking camera in order to lose a substantial amount of weight. Eventually, non-docking camcorders became the most popular design by the mid-1990s.
The final Betacam SP camcorder was the BVW-600, which paired a digital
professional video camera
A professional video camera (often called a television camera even though its use has spread beyond television) is a high-end device for creating electronic moving images (as opposed to a movie camera, that earlier recorded the images on film). O ...
front section, very similar to the one on the DigiBeta DVW-700, with an integrated Betacam SP recorder. Like every other Betacam camera system, and unlike the DigiBeta DVW-700, the camera could not play back in color without the use of an outboard adapter.
In 1991, the less-expensive, "Professional", PV line of Betacam SP decks was introduced. The PV line consisted of only four models: the full-sized PVW-2600 (VTP), PVW-2650 (VTP with Dynamic tracking allowing up to fwd x3, whereas the BVW line only offered x2 DT playback) and PVW-2800 (VTR) editing decks, and the PVV-3 camera-dockable VTR. These high quality machines were similar to the original BV series machines, but lacked the third and fourth audio channels. In 1993, the far less expensive UVW series debuted. These machines were considerably simpler, somewhat lower quality, and were designed primarily to be used as companions to computer systems, for industrial video, and other low-cost, yet high-quality, uses. The UVW decks possessed very limited front panel controls, no jog and shuttle (except by use of a DSRM-10 cable remote control); and with
Time Base Corrector
Time base correction (TBC) is a technique to reduce or eliminate errors caused by mechanical instability present in analog recordings on mechanical media.
Without time base correction, a signal from a videotape recorder (VTR) or videocassette ...
(TBC) control available only with an optional remote TBC controller. These were represented by the UVW-1800, a very popular editing VTR (and companion UVW-1600 edit VTP), and the non-editing UVW-1400 VTR, and UVW-1200 VTP. The UVW-100 (and later 100B) one-piece camcorder rounded out the UVW series.
Betacam SP Camcorder 01 KMJ.jpg, A Betacam SP KMJ camcorder
Sony BVW-D600P Betacam SP 2.jpg, The left side of a Sony BVW-D600P camcorder
Sony BVW-D600P Betacam SP.jpg, The right side of a Sony BVW-D600P camcorder
Sony BVV-5 + JVC KY-D29 20090911.jpg, A Sony BVV-5 docked to a JVC KY-D29 camera head
Sony UVW-100B of KRBC-TV 2009-06-26.jpg, A Sony UVW-100B in a room in KRBC-TV
KRBC-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Abilene, Texas, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of dual ...
, an NBC affiliate
Beta tape sizes 2.jpg, A size comparison between Betacam SP L (top), Betacam SP S (bottom-left), and VHS (bottom-right)
Sony BetacamSP BVW-75 Editing VTR.jpg, The Sony BVW-75 editing VTR
Sony PVW-2800.jpg, The Sony PVW-2800 editing VTR
Sony UVW-1800.jpg, The Sony UVW-2800 editing VTR
SONY BVW 65.jpg, The Sony BVW-65 VTR
BetacamSP VTRs.jpg, Three VTRs on 19-inch racks
Third-party support
Betacam and Betacam SP tape cassette shells varied in color depending on the manufacturer. Many companies sold Betacam tapes, sometimes of their own manufacture, sometimes re-branded. Fuji,
Maxell
, commonly known as Maxell, is a Japanese company that manufactures consumer electronics.
The company's name is a contraction of "Maximum capacity dry cell". Its main products are batteries, wireless charging products, storage devices, LCD/laser ...
,
Ampex
Ampex is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor. The name AMPEX is a portmanteau, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence.AbramsoThe History ...
and
3M were just some of the major brands to do so.
Ampex
Ampex is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor. The name AMPEX is a portmanteau, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence.AbramsoThe History ...
,
Thomson SA Thomson may refer to:
Names
* Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin
* Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson
Businesses and organizations
* SGS-Thomson Mic ...
and
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
each sold rebranded OEM versions of some of the Sony VTRs and camcorders at various times in the 1980s and 1990s. Other than nameplates, these models were identical to the Sony models. Internal components still bore the Sony name.
Digital Betacam
Digital Betacam (commonly referred to as ''DigiBeta'', ''D-Beta'', ''DBC'' or simply ''Digi'') was launched in 1993. It supersedes both Betacam and Betacam SP, while costing significantly less than the first, 100% uncompressed
D1 format. S tapes are available with up to 40 minutes running time, and L tapes with up to 124 minutes.
The Digital Betacam format records 2.34:1
DCT-
compressed digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
**Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
component video
Component video is an analog video signal that has been split into two or more component channels. In popular use, it refers to a type of component analog video (CAV) information that is transmitted or stored as three separate signals. Compon ...
signal at 10-bit
YUV 4:2:2 sampling in
NTSC
The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...
(720×486) or
PAL
Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
(720×576) resolutions at a bitrate of 90 Mbit/s plus four channels of uncompressed 48 kHz / 20 bit
PCM
Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the amp ...
-encoded
digital audio
Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical samples in a continuous sequence. For example, in CD audio, sa ...
. A fifth analog audio track is available for cueing, and a linear
timecode
A timecode (alternatively, time code) is a sequence of numeric codes generated at regular intervals by a timing synchronization system. Timecode is used in video production, show control and other applications which require temporal coordination ...
track is also used on the tape. It was a popular digital video cassette format for
broadcast television
Broadcast television systems (or terrestrial television systems outside the US and Canada) are the encoding or formatting systems for the transmission and reception of terrestrial television signals.
Analog television systems were standardized b ...
use.
Another key element which aided adoption was Sony's implementation of the
SDI coaxial digital connection on Digital Betacam decks. Facilities could begin using digital signals on their existing
coaxial wiring without having to commit to an expensive re-installation.
Digibeta-L.jpg, The front of a Digital Betacam L cassette
Sony DVW-A500 of China TV 20150912.jpg, A Sony DVW-A500 editing Digital Betacam VTR on display
Sony DVW-A510P of DR 20111102a.jpg, A Sony DVW-A510P playback Digital Betacam VTR
TV-Videocamera2.jpg, A DigiBeta camcorder used outside
Betacam SX
Betacam SX is a digital version of Betacam SP introduced in 1996, positioned as a cheaper alternative to Digital Betacam. It stores video using
MPEG-2
MPEG-2 (a.k.a. H.222/H.262 as was defined by the ITU) is a standard for "the generic video coding format, coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of Lossy compression, lossy video compression and ...
4:2:2 Profile@ML compression, along with four channels of 48 kHz 16 bit PCM audio. All Betacam SX equipment is compatible with Betacam SP tapes. S tapes have a recording time up to 62 minutes, and L tapes up to 194 minutes.
The Betacam SX system was very successful with newsgathering operations, which had a legacy of Betacam and Betacam SP tapes. Some Betacam SX decks, such as the DNW-A75 or DNW-A50, can natively play and work from the analog tapes interchangeably, because they contain both analog and digital playback heads.
Betacam SX uses MPEG-2 4:2:2P@ML compression, in comparison with other similar systems that use 4:1:1 or 4:2:0 coding. It gives better chroma resolution and allows certain postproduction processes such as
Chroma-key
Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to r ...
.
This format compresses the video signal from approximately 180 Mbit/s to only 18 Mbit/s. This means a compression ratio of around 10:1, which is achieved by the use of mild temporal compression, where alternate frames are stored as MPEG I-frames and B-frames, giving rise to an IBIB sequence on tape.
Together with Betacam SX, Sony introduced a generation of hybrid recorder, allowing use of both tape and disk recording on the same deck, and high speed
dubbing
Dubbing (re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sou ...
from one to another. This was intended to save wear on the video
head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
s for television studio applications, as well to speed up
online editing
A collaborative real-time editor is a type of collaborative software or web application which enables real-time collaborative editing, simultaneous editing, or live editing of the same digital document, computer file or cloud-stored data – suc ...
.
Betacam SX also features a ''good shot mark'' (a method for qualitative decisions made in the camcorder to be utilized during the editing process) feature that allows marking of each scene for fast scanning of the tape, looking at recorded marks on each single cassette, and showing the markers to the operator.
The cameras themselves are generally considered by most sound recordists to be quite noisy in operation, possibly because the amount of computer processing power, and subsequent generated heat leads to cooling fans being used to keep the camera at a reasonable temperature.
Betacam SX tape shells are bright yellow, but SX recordings may also be found recorded on analogue Betacam SP cassettes. Of course if such a Betacam SP tape with SX recording is inserted into a Betacam SP player, no picture or sound will appear.
Although Betacam SX machines have gone out of production, the format is still used by many newsgathering operations, including Canada's
CTV, Atlanta's
WSB-TV
WSB-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Cox Media Group, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to rad ...
, San Diego's
KFMB-TV
KFMB-TV (channel 8) is a television station in San Diego, San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with CBS, The CW, and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Tegna Inc., it has studios on Engineer Road in the Kearny Mesa, San Diego, Kearny Mesa section ...
and
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's operations in the San Francisco Bay Area at
KNTV
KNTV (channel 11), branded as NBC Bay Area, is a television station licensed to San Jose, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's NBC network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Sta ...
and
KSTS
KSTS (channel 48) is a television station licensed to San Jose, California, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Telemundo network to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group al ...
. Many news archives still contain SX tapes. In August 2011, Betacam SX tapes were found in Muammar Gaddafi's underground studio in Tripoli. CNN reporter Sara Sidner commented on-air that CNN still used the same type of tapes.
Betasx-S.jpg, The front of a small Betacam SX cassette
Sony_Betacam_SX_Side_View.jpg, A left side view of a Betacam SX camcorder
Sony_Betacam_SX_01.jpg, A right side view of a Betacam SX camcorder
MPEG IMX
![2011-12-11 ORF-Zentrum 029](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/2011-12-11_ORF-Zentrum_029.jpg)
MPEG IMX is a 2001 development of the Digital Betacam format. Digital
video compression
In information theory, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compression ...
uses
H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2 encoding at a higher bitrate than Betacam SX: 30 Mbit/s (6:1 compression), 40 Mbit/s (4:1 compression) or 50 Mbit/s (3.3:1 compression). Unlike most other MPEG-2 implementations, IMX uses
intraframe
Intra-frame coding is a data compression technique used within a video frame, enabling smaller file sizes and lower bitrates, with little or no loss in quality. Since neighboring pixels within an image are often very similar, rather than storing ...
compression. Additionally, IMX ensures that each frame has the same exact size in bytes to simplify recording onto video tape. Video recorded in the IMX format is compliant with
CCIR 601
ITU-R Recommendation BT.601, more commonly known by the abbreviations Rec. 601 or BT.601 (or its former name CCIR 601) is a standard originally issued in 1982 by the CCIR (an organization, which has since been renamed as the Internatio ...
specification, with eight channels of audio and
timecode
A timecode (alternatively, time code) is a sequence of numeric codes generated at regular intervals by a timing synchronization system. Timecode is used in video production, show control and other applications which require temporal coordination ...
track. It lacks an analog audio (cue) track as the Digital Betacam, but will read it as channel 7 if used for playback. This format has been standardized in SMPTE 365M and
SMPTE 356M
SMPTE 356M is a SMPTE specification for a professional video format, it is composed of MPEG-2 video composed of only I-frames and using 4:2:2 chroma subsampling. 8 channel AES3 audio streams are also included. These AES3 audio usually contain 24 ...
as "MPEG D10 Streaming".
Material Exchange Format FAQ, by Pinnacle Systems
With its IMX VTRs, Sony introduced some new technologies including SDTI and e-VTR. SDTI allows for audio, video, timecode, and remote control functions to be transported by a single coaxial cable, while e-VTR technology extends this by allowing the same data to be transported over IP by way of an ethernet interface on the VTR itself.
All IMX VTRs can natively playback Betacam SX tapes, and some, such as the MSW-M2000P/1 are capable of playing back Digital Betacam cassettes as well as analog Betacam and Betacam SP cassettes, but they can only record to their native IMX cassettes. S tapes are available with up to 60 minutes capacity, and L tapes hold up to 184 minutes. These values are for 525/60 decks, but will extend in 625/50. A 184-minute tape will record for, as the label itself specifies, 220 minutes.
IMX machines feature the same ''good shot mark'' function of the Betacam SX.
MPEG IMX cassettes are a muted green.
The XDCAM
XDCAM is a series of products for digital recording using random access solid-state memory media, introduced by Sony in 2003. Four different product lines the XDCAM SD, XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX and XDCAM HD422 differ in types of en ...
format, unveiled in 2003, allows recording of MPEG IMX video in MXF container onto Professional Disc
Professional Disc (PFD) is a digital recording optical disc format introduced by Sony in 2003 primarily for XDCAM, its tapeless camcorder system. It was one of the first optical formats to utilize a blue laser, which allowed for a higher densit ...
.
HDCAM/HDCAM SR
HDCAM, introduced in 1997, was the first HD format available in Betacam form-factor, using an 8-bit DCT compressed 3:1:1 recording, in 1080i
1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the screen. ...
-compatible downsampled resolution of 1440×1080, and adding 24p and 23.976 PsF modes to later models. The HDCAM codec uses non-square pixels and as such the recorded 1440×1080 content is upsampled to 1920×1080 on playback. The recorded video bitrate is 144 Mbit/s. There are four channels of AES/EBU
AES3 is a standard for the exchange of digital audio signals between professional audio devices. An AES3 signal can carry two channels of pulse-code-modulated digital audio over several transmission media including balanced lines, unbalanced lin ...
20-bit/48 kHz digital audio.
It was used for some of Sony's cinema-targeted CineAlta
CineAlta cameras are a series of professional digital movie cameras produced by Sony that replicate many of the same features of 35mm film motion picture cameras.
Concept
CineAlta is a brand name used by Sony to describe various products inv ...
range of products (other CineAlta devices use flash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Barry Allen)
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Wally West, the first Kid ...
storage).
HDCAM SR, introduced in 2003, uses a higher particle density tape and is capable of recording in 10 bits 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 RGB
The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additiv ...
with a bitrate of 440 Mbit/s. The "SR" stands for "Superior Resolution". The increased bitrate (over HDCAM) allows HDCAM SR to capture much more of the full bandwidth of the HD-SDI signal (1920×1080). Some HDCAM SR VTRs can also use a 2× mode with an even higher bitrate of 880 Mbit/s, allowing for a 4:4:4 RGB stream at a lower compression. HDCAM SR uses the new MPEG-4 Part 2
MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-4 Visual (formally ISO/IEC 14496-2) is a video compression format developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). It belongs to the MPEG-4 ISO/IEC standards. It uses block-wise motion compensation and a discrete cosine tr ...
Studio Profile for compression, and expands the number of audio channels up to 12 at 48 kHz/24 bit.
HDCAM SR was used commonly for HDTV television production.
Some HDCAM VTRs play back older Betacam variants, for example, the Sony SRW-5500 HDCAM SR recorder, plays back and records HDCAM and HDCAM SR tapes and with optional hardware also plays and upconverts Digital Betacam tapes to HD format. Tape lengths are the same as for Digital Betacam, up to 40 minutes for S and 124 minutes for L tapes. In 24p mode the runtime increases to 50 and 155 minutes, respectively.
Sony branded HDCAM cassettes are black with an orange lid, and HDCAM SR cassettes black with a cyan lid.
440 Mbit/s mode is known as SQ, and 880 Mbit/s mode is known as HQ, and this mode has recently become available in studio models (e.g. SRW-5800) as well as portable models previously available.
File:Hdcam.jpg, An HDCAM small cassette
File:Sony BCT-40SR 20060616.jpg, An HDCAM SR small cassette
File:Sony HDW-F900 of ETTV at Shiow Meei Industrial booth 20201101.jpg, A Sony HDW-F900 CineAlta HDCAM camcorder
See also
* DVCAM
DV refers to a family of codecs and tape formats used for storing digital video, launched in 1995 by a consortium of video camera manufacturers led by Sony and Panasonic. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, DV was strongly associated with the ...
* DVCPRO
DV refers to a family of codecs and tape formats used for storing digital video, launched in 1995 by a consortium of video camera manufacturers led by Sony and Panasonic. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, DV was strongly associated with the t ...
* D-1 (Sony)
D-1 or 4:2:2 Component Digital is an SMPTE digital recording video standard, introduced in 1986 through efforts by SMPTE engineering committees. It started as a Sony and Bosch - BTS product and was the first major professional digital video f ...
* D-2 (video)
D-2 is a professional digital videocassette format created by Ampex and introduced in 1988 at the NAB Show as a composite video alternative to the component video D-1 format. It garnered Ampex a technical Emmy in 1989. Like D-1, D-2 stores un ...
* D-3 (video)
D-3 is an uncompressed composite digital video videocassette format invented at NHK and introduced commercially by Panasonic. It was launched in 1991 to compete with Ampex's D-2.
D-3 uses half-inch metal particle tape at 83.88 mm/s (com ...
* D5 HD
D-5 is a professional digital video format introduced by Panasonic in 1994. Like Sony's D-1 (8-bit), it is an uncompressed digital component system (10-bit), but uses the same half-inch tapes as Panasonic's digital composite D-3 format. A 120 mi ...
* D6 HDTV VTR
D6 HDTV VTR is SMPTE videocassette standard. A D6 VTR can record and playback HDTV video uncompressed. The only D6 VTR product is the Philips, now Thomson's Grass Valley's Media Recorder, model DCR 6024, also called the D6 Voodoo VTR. The VTR w ...
Footnotes
References
Further reading
*
External links
Sony professional cameras
Betacam PALsite—over 70 pages of Betacam information, running since 2000
Sony Betamax Case Report
{{Sony Corp
Products introduced in 1982
Videotape
Japanese inventions