Betacam
Betacam is a family of half-inch professional videocassette products developed by Sony in 1982. In colloquial use, Betacam singly is often used to refer to a Betacam camcorder, a Betacam tape, a Betacam video recorder or the format itself.
Key facts
- Media.name
- Betacam
- Media.logo
- Betacam logo.svgclass=skin-invert
- Media.image
- Betacam betamax tapes.jpg
- Media.caption
- The early form of Betacam videocassette tapes are interchangeable with Betamax, though the recordings are not
- Media.type
- Magnetic cassette tape, ½-inch
- Media.encoding
- NTSC, PAL, digital video, high-definition video
- Media.released
- August 7, 1982Lifespan: August 1982 – March 2016Technical Support 1982–present (vary by region)
- Media.read
- Helical scan
- Media.write
- Helical scan
- Media.standard
- Interlaced video, progressive video
- Media.owner
- Sony
- Media.use
Article
14 sectionsContents
- Variants
- Betacam and Betacam SP
- Original Betacam format
- Betacam SP
- Third-party support
- Digital Betacam
- Betacam SX
- MPEG IMX
- HDCAM/HDCAM SR
- See also
- Footnotes
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Betacam is a family of half-inch professional videocassette products developed by Sony in 1982. In colloquial use, Betacam singly is often used to refer to a Betacam camcorder, a Betacam tape, a Betacam video recorder or the format itself.
All Betacam variants from analog Betacam, Betacam SP and Digital Betacam, HDCAM and HDCAM SR use the same shape videocassettes, meaning vaults and other storage facilities do not have to be changed when upgrading to a new format. The cassette shell and case for each Betacam cassette is colored differently depending on the format, allowing for easy visual identification. There is also a mechanical key that allows a video tape recorder to identify which format has been inserted.