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Sony To End Sales of Betamax Tapes Next Year
AmiMoJo writes: In March 2016 Sony will finally end sales of its Betamax video tapes. The firm revealed on its website that it will also stop shipping the Micro MV cassette, used in video cameras. Sony launched the format in 1975, a year before JVC's rival the VHS cassette — which eventually became the market leader after a long battle between the two brands and their fans. Although many felt Betamax was the superior format, most cite the longer recording length of VHS tapes — three hours versus one — and the cheaper manufacturing costs for VHS machines as the main factors as to why VHS eventually won out. When my dad stops buying VHS tapes in bulk, maybe that market will finally wither away, too.
betamax won in the commercial setting.
VHS was better in homes.
"Betamax" probably encompasses more than simply the end-consumer tape. "SuperBeta" is a common commercial standard, much in the same way that "SuperVHS" was a common commercial standard, used by TV news and local-station production for decent quality for quick-turnaround broadcasting. It was essentially broadcast quality in an era of NTSC televisions, the tapes were durable and cheap, and just about all of the field cameras used for on-the-spot reporting supported them. Hell, even the vans they would use for remotes had their own mini editing studio with three or five decks, most for playback, one for recording to edit the clips together.
For this application the tapes were fine. When you're going to use less than five minutes of footage the tape length is not terribly critical, the smaller-than-VHS and smaller-than-three-quarter form factor meant that less camera by volume was necessary, and the quality was more than adequate at the time. I expect this kind of setup is still used, even if it is being replaced by higher def cameras and digital storage, that kind of changeout is expensive and again, for local news or local time-filler programming isn't really all that necessary.
The end of sale of the tapes probably comes as the market has finally shifted over, there are now more solid-state video cameras than tape video cameras, and the market finally doesn't want tapes in enough quantity to justify production.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Modern VHS tapes are complete crap, like modern floppy disks. Built to extremely low standards because hardly anyone uses them and they sell for ridiculously low prices. Many of them are old stock that have been sitting on a shelf for decades, or even worse in a shop window getting temperature cycled by the sun.
So the only option is to buy in bulk, throw away the duds and record to them only once.
Why wouldn't you just switch to recording on DVD/flash drive? It's mostly people with old equipment that they don't want to give up. Maybe they have a big VHS library, maybe they have an old computer that doesn't have USB (Amiga/Atari/early Apple etc). Having said that, there was some youngish bloke on the TV complaining when they stopped selling VCRs at major retailers, because analogue noise isn't as bad as digital noise etc, so there are actually some luddites out there too.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
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Why don't we have a plug-in digital replacement for VHS/Beta tapes? With modern tech and materials, it wouldn't be that hard to devise a digital interface to the old helical-scan mechanism in the standard cassette formats. Not much of a market, for sure, but if they're still making tapes, apparently somebody is still using them. Might make a good kickstarter project for someone...
Another in the same vein... why can't I get a digital-imaging back for my old 35mm Nikon cameras? Seems like I should be able to get something like that for a few hundred bucks in today's economy.
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I seem to remember a story from a local group that's involved in documenting the local media scene. They had just recently inherited a *shipping container* full of VHS tapes that a recently dead woman had saved up. She had been recording all the local news programs. Every day. For decades. Never overwrote the tapes.
The documenters are thrilled, but what a daunting digitizing project.
Your old Nikon back is worth pennies. The lenses, perhaps quite a bit more.
People have tried to work this out for years and it just doesn't fly. A digital camera is a much different beast than a film unit. The ergonomics and data displays for a digital camera just encompass much more than the film cannister. Really, keep your old F4 on the mantle, buy a Nikon 3200 - the very bottom of the DSLR line and find it stomps the image quality and handling of any film camera ever made.* Nostalgia is just that.
* If you want to use your old lens, you're going to have to pony up to a D800 or so, but now we're getting technical.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Depending on how old your gear is, buy a DSLR of the same make and use your lenses. Back in the day the camera body was just there to hold the film and the lens, you won't be able to reuse that.
My Nikon DSLR can happily use lenses I had on my film SLR. Not all lenses will work. Heck, some models should cover lenses going back to 1959. I assume other companies have done similar.
I think a Nikon D3200 is currently under around $400 ... and it's a freakin' 24 megapixel camera.
The main thing you need to remember is the focal length changes ... a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera is an objective lens which sees the world like you do. The same 50mm lens on a DSLR ends up being a moderate telephoto, and is equivalent to an 80mm lens.
You may find you can still get a camera body which has all the modern features, but still works with your lenses that you spent a small fortune on.
In fact, depending on the specific brand and lenses, there's a really good chance of it.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
That only applies if you have a crop sensor. Most professional DSLRs now are full frame.