Aunc.1837
net.video
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!duke!mcnc!unc!smb
Thu Feb 11 09:44:19 1982
More home video
>From lauren@UCLA-Security Thu Feb 11 01:48:19 1982
Via: duke!decvax!ucbvax
Date: 10 February 1982 1504-PST (Wednesday)
From: lauren at UCLA-Security (Lauren Weinstein)
Subject: VCR's
To: decvax!duke!unc!smb at Berkeley
Status: R
Would you forward this into the usenet, please?
---
This issue has been discussed at length in HOME-SAT on ARPA. Perhaps
Geoff@sri-csl could be talked into provided some archives.
Don't sit around waiting 4-5 years for new formats! The whole game is
changing rapidly and my sources at SONY tell me that the new format
situation is by no means clear -- especially since THREE European
formats (incompatible with all the others) will be introduced by that
time in the U.S. -- some with alot of push behind them.
Given the proliferation of equipment in consumer's hands right now,
most people will want to have compatibility with existing tape
libraries -- and that means Beta, VHS, and U-MATIC. For all my real
video work, I use 3/4" U-MATIC (which is a broadcast standard for
cassette-type video). At home, I use U-MATIC and BETA.
I could go into a long discussion about why BETA is better technically
than VHS (loading factors, less tape wear, ease of editing (since VHS
forces a tape unload for other than short pauses)), but it would
be too lengthy for here.
Yes, right now there are more VHS machines that BETA in CONSUMER hands.
On the other hand, most typical consumers don't have much I'd care
to see (recordings of last night's Family Feud, for example).
Almost all of the good stuff shows up in U-MATIC or BETA -- since most
video professionals are very hot on SONY (all my video gear, from monitors
to VTR's is SONY) and hold the Video Home System (VHS) in technical
disdain. If anyone wants more specific technical details, contact me
directly.
In short: Don't sit around waiting years for format stability. The situation
will get WORSE, not better, by that time. And most existing machines and
tape libraries will be BETA, VHS, and U-MATIC. And if you don't care about
existing libraries, it really doesn't matter what format you buy anyway,
since you'll presumably just be recording stuff for yourself.
--Lauren--
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