True, Betamax is not of the same family and quality of Betacam, but Betacam was born of some of the concepts of Betamax - primarily tape size.
This site has a little information on the birth of Betacam. Certainly, the fact that consumer Betamax was a superior format out of the gate gave Sony's engineers a head start on development.
No, they're not as closely related as VHS & S-VHS, but there is a little more connection beyond just the Beta name.
Granted, I just operate the stuff. I'll have to ask my father-in-law (he's been a video engineer since there's been video to engineer) about the differences in how the signal gets recorded to tape and whatnot.
As was mentioned before, although Beta failed in the consumer market, it has thrived in the professional market - in a much upgraded form. In fact, Digital Betacam/BetacamSP is one of the highest quality formats around.
The TV station I work for used to shoot on Beta, and still uses a Betacart playback system for commercials. Sony was very smart to adapt it to a market that would benefit from its picture quality.
Plus, the tape size made it perfect for shooting out in the field - much easier than carting around a camera plus a seperate recording deck.
So, Sony may have failed in the consumer market, but more than made up for it in the professional market.
Slashdot Mirror
This site has a little information on the birth of Betacam. Certainly, the fact that consumer Betamax was a superior format out of the gate gave Sony's engineers a head start on development.
No, they're not as closely related as VHS & S-VHS, but there is a little more connection beyond just the Beta name.
Granted, I just operate the stuff. I'll have to ask my father-in-law (he's been a video engineer since there's been video to engineer) about the differences in how the signal gets recorded to tape and whatnot.
The TV station I work for used to shoot on Beta, and still uses a Betacart playback system for commercials. Sony was very smart to adapt it to a market that would benefit from its picture quality.
Plus, the tape size made it perfect for shooting out in the field - much easier than carting around a camera plus a seperate recording deck.
So, Sony may have failed in the consumer market, but more than made up for it in the professional market.
42
(/me ducks)
...the Comcast guy didn't even set a foot in the house!
However, he did steal the new splitter I had installed outside the day before.
Jerk.
http://www.panasonic.com/PBDS/subcat/HD_World/HDWo rld_Main.html
Yet another...