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-- ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.