Video Cassette Recorders

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

I did answer. He's a complete twattwattwattwat. A preening, stroppy showoff.

Sorry to shatter your illusions!

Huw Edwards on the other hand: very cool indeed. He tells jokes and recommends books to people and stuff, even if he doesn't really know them (like me).

 

[Cian]

Isn't Betamax still used by telly pros because the picture quality's so much better? At least it was a while back.

Beta-SP is still used as the de facto analogue format. Digibeta is big in digital but its totally different - just the same company (Sony)

 

[Man of Harveys]

I did answer. He's a complete twattwattwattwat. A preening, stroppy showoff.

Sorry to shatter your illusions!

Huw Edwards on the other hand: very cool indeed. He tells jokes and recommends books to people and stuff, even if he doesn't really know them (like me).

Sorry, I missed it - blimey, I am really, really surprised - consider an illusion well and truly shattered. What a WANKER he must be.

 

[Trufflehound]

Beta-SP is still used as the de facto analogue format. Digibeta is big in digital but its totally different - just the same company (Sony)

That's easy for you to say.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

I bought a Sanyo betamax recorder in 1983 which cost 300 quid. The picture quality was far superior to VHS. The only reason VHS became the preferred format was down to the high cost of buying VCRs and people opted to rent a machine from places like Radio Rentals. With 95% of VCRs being rented it was no wonder that VHS became the winner between the two formats. Laser discs never really took off for the same reason, the machines were too expensive and the discs used to cost between 25 and 30 quid as they had to be imported from the states. The only complete version of Terminator used to be on LD as there were different cuts on VHS(censorship by BBFC) and Sky (bits removed to fit schedule/Sky's additional censorship).

 

[Eggmundo]

What a piece of engineering! You could jetison toy cars/ star wars figures for miles with that top load mechanism, and the noise!
Getting quite nostalgic now seeing that.
Top Work!

 

[clapham_gull]

Beta-SP is still used as the de facto analogue format. Digibeta is big in digital but its totally different - just the same company (Sony)

Digibeta is pretty much the standard now where tape based technologies are still used.

Digibeta is very similiar to Betamax in a lot of ways, where the analogue information used to be stripped across the tape the digital information is stripped across in similiar manner.

There was a competitor to the betacam made by Panasonic - the MII.

I understand it was the chosen format of TV-Am and early episodes of The Bill were shot on it.

 

[clapham_gull]

Just to give you an idea of how many tape formats have been used in the TV industry over the years see here...

http://www.ultimatewebdesigning.com/articles/formats.html

.. they are still being used because many recordings still exist on only on those formats (and are steadily being digitised)

Note the D1, D2, D3 and D5 formats.

The D4 was never made because the number is unlucky in some Asian countries.

 

[Cian]

Digibeta is pretty much the standard now where tape based technologies are still used.

Well, when they have money. Theres a lot of the skinter channels on satellite/cable that shoot/edit all their stuff on DV tapes.

 

[clapham_gull]

Well, when they have money. Theres a lot of the skinter channels on satellite/cable that shoot/edit all their stuff on DV tapes.

But it's unlikely they actually transmit from that format, whilst they may shoot on it.

Broadcast tapes also get re-cycled.

Although many broadcasters are moving to pure server based transmission eg. Discovery) the producers like to hang onto a physical copy.

There are millions of tapes in warehouses around the country.

 

[Cian]

But it's unlikely they actually transmit from that format, whilst they may shoot on it.

Broadcast tapes also get re-cycled.

Although many broadcasters are moving to pure server based transmission eg. Discovery) the producers like to hang onto a physical copy.

There are millions of tapes in warehouses around the country.

The play out from hard drive - and have done so since relaunch in 2005. The physical copy is kept on DV tape.

 

[clapham_gull]

The play out from hard drive - and have done so since relaunch in 2005. The physical copy is kept on DV tape.

That isn't how they work whatever you have read, but the programmes are "played" from a server.

But it's far more complicated that storing a "physical" copy on a DV tape (which they don't), especially with the amount of languages they transmit in.

 

[Cian]

That isn't how they work whatever you have read, but the programmes are "played" from a server.

But it's far more complicated that storing a "physical" copy on a DV tape (which they don't), especially with the amount of languages they transmit in.

I wasn't talking about Discovery! I was talking about the totally broke satellite channel. Discovery will have some seriously interesting stuff and I've never even heard anything about how they produce/store content...

Its entire playout chain consists of a Dell Poweredge, an old Phoenix NorthWest gaming machine and two Tandberg encoders...

 

[clapham_gull]

I wasn't talking about Discovery! I was talking about the totally broke satellite channel. Discovery will have some seriously interesting stuff and I've never even heard anything about how they produce/store content...

Its entire playout chain consists of a Dell Poweredge, an old Phoenix NorthWest gaming machine and two Tandberg encoders...

ok - but it does read like that though and discovery "relaunched" their transmission in 2005

We used to have a dog racing channel running from work running from a couple of PCs.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I remember seeing laser discs on Tomorrow's World.

They were the FUTURE, you know

(mind you I think we were all supposed to be travelling around on our own personal hovercrafts by now, so they weren't always right...)