Betacam to Digital

Broadcast SP or Digital formats

PAL or NSTC

Large or small tape versions

These tapes were used in the broadcast industry so provide superior quality. Conversions are made on our studio broadcast Betacam equipment

Betacam Information

Although there is a superficial similarity between Betamax and Betacam in that they use the same tape cassette, they are incompatible formats. Betamax records relatively low-resolution video using a heterodyne colour recording system and only two recording heads, while Betacam uses four heads to record in component format, at a much higher linear tape speed of 10.15 centimetres per second (4.00 in/s) compared with Betamax’s 1.87 centimetres per second (0.74 in/s), resulting in much higher video and audio quality. A typical L-750 length Betamax cassette that yielded about 3 hours of recording time on a Betamax VCR at its B-II Speed only provided 30 minutes’ record time on a Betacam VCR or camcorder.

At its introduction, many insisted that Betacam remained inferior to the bulkier one-inch type C and B videotapes, the standard broadcast production formats of the late 1970s to mid-1990s.