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Sony says goodbye to Betamax tapes
- aembleton 11y agoThere's probably money to be made in buying up old tapes, refurbishing them, blanking them and selling them on. Much like these guys do with floppy disks: http://floppydisk.com/ http://floppydisk.com/
- jacquesm 11y agoYou'd need a steady supply of tape. The tape itself is the problem, it gets sticky and the magnetic coating can peel off leading to drop-outs.
- ChrisArchitect 11y agocrazy to think this format still kicking around - Wonder what other formats many think are dead are actually still in production .... 8-track?
- brudgers 11y agoBetaMax was used for commercial work for a long time, even though it was grossly out of date in the consumer market by the early 1990's. On the commercial side, it persisted because professional camera systems used it and lenses and editing hardware mattered more than tape format.
- cableshaft 11y agoYep. At a company I worked for eight years ago, we were still dubbing BetaSP tapes for most TV stations for Public Service Announcements we wanted them to air. We sent them what they told us they used, too, as we had equipment to dub with DVDs also. We still dubbed some giant ...I think they were called three quarter (3/4") tapes also, which are older than Beta, I believe.
- egorfine 11y agoBetacam SP is not Betamax. Betacam was used much, much longer after Betamax deceased.
- cableshaft 11y agoHuh. Interesting. They were always referred to as Beta SP's, so I just assumed they were higher quality Betamax.
- joshu 11y agoU-matic tapes, I think.
- rplst8 11y agoThis is what they were trademarked as, but most of the video profession refers to them as 3/4" tape (at least in the US) I think.
- stephen_g 11y agoThose were descended from, but different from Betamax. BetaCam SP, DigiBeta and HDCAM are all still used, and while the original BetaCam cassette (which was used long after Betamax lost the format war) was technically compatible with Betamax tapes, it was discouraged because the BetaCam tapes were higher specced to be able to run faster (the signal was quite different, and much higher quality than Betamax).
- orblivion 11y agoSome punk bands are starting to distribute on cassette tapes again. Or maybe they never stopped.
- martinpw 11y agoMarshall Mcluhan said obsolete technologies survive as art forms. With ever quickening technology cycles, it may be that some will never go out of production.
- SyneRyder 11y agoThat makes me think of Boards Of Canada, who use old tape technologies as part of their sound aesthetic (though VHS, not Betamax). From a New York Times interview: "Q: Is there a particular sound or timbre on the album that you are happiest with, and how did you make it? EOIN: If I had to pick something in particular, maybe the texture of the strings in “Semena Mertvykh.” It was performed into a dissected VHS deck with the motor running super slowly, so you can hear all the pockmarks, the dropouts on the tape. It’s mono, too, which gives it something special. More people should record in mono these days." http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/arts/music/tomorrows-harvest-by-boards-of-canada.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/arts/music/tomorrows-harve...
- fegu 11y agoThere is art from obsolete technology right here (scroll to bottom): https://gundersen.net https://gundersen.net An art installation from floppy boxes called "Resistance to Change".
- nakedrobot2 11y ago"Although many felt Betamax was the superior format, most cite the longer recording length of VHS tapes - three hours versus one...." That right there should have been a red flag. A tape doesn't fit a film.....
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- digi_owl 11y agoIt actually did, once you flipped it over. Basically it behaved like a audio cassette. IIRC, later players could even play both ways. But by that time the VHS was firmly entrenched.
- porsupah 11y agoAre you perhaps thinking of V2000? Betamax works like VHS in that regard - only one orientation.
- rplst8 11y agoBoth are helical scan right? I would think that would make reversal impossible.
- porsupah 11y agoIndeed, they're all helical scan systems. With V2000, though, it worked somewhat like audio cassettes, with only half the width of the tape used per side, being flipped over to use the other half. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_2000 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_2000 Fun fact: Video 2000 wasn't Philips' first video format, with the now-confusingly titled Video Cassette Recording format predating it. The format is notable for having both tape spools coaxial, so the head is parallel to the base of the recorder, and the head angle is instead provided by the angle of the tape traveling between the upper and lower spools. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Cassette_Recording https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Cassette_Recording
- jcadam 11y agoMy parents bought a Beta VCR at Sears back in the 80s -- it was on sale for some reason. It was a freaking huge top-loading model (which was probably a good thing, as I had recently destroyed my dad's front-loading 8 track player with a peanut butter sandwich). I remember watching the 'Beta' section at Blockbuster shrink until they finally sold off all of their Beta tapes for $5/pop (which was a steal back then). After a while, the thing was really only good for recording TV shows, as movies were simply unavailable for it. When we finally "upgraded" to VHS some years later, the drop in picture quality was noticeable.