Sony launched Betacam in 1982. Betacam, a standard definition format (720 x 576) was quickly adopted in broadcast television and ultimately superseded Umatic in many broadcast environments. Available in various tape sizes and durations, the smaller cassettes had run times of up to 30 minutes and were used primarily in first generation professional camcorders. Larger cassettes up to 90 minutes in duration were used in studio VTR’s. Most VTR’s could play back both cassette sizes.
Betacam has a lower bandwidth than Betacam SP and as such the quality of the recording is not as good as Betacam SP. Most Betacam SP decks will not play back Betacam tapes due to the tape formulation (oxide vs metal particle). We have VTR’s that will play back Betacam and the other Betacam variants.
Pictured below are the small Betacam cassette and the larger Betacam SP cassette. Betacam, Betacam SP, Betacam SX and Digital Betacam are all similar in appearance.
We can transfer Betacam to digital files for use in archiving or editing applications. We can supply the files as compressed MP4 or uncompressed MOV.
Contact us for more information on this service.
Pricing from $90 (NZD) per hour.
Prices include GST.
External USB storage is excluded.