Xref: utzoo rec.video:7102 sci.electronics:6928
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!blake!Tomobiki-Cho!mrc
From: mrc@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU (Mark Crispin)
Newsgroups: rec.video,sci.electronics
Subject: Re: S-VHS this generation's Beta?
Message-ID: <2803@blake.acs.washington.edu>
Date: 13 Jul 89 22:02:29 GMT
References: <2727@blake.acs.washington.edu> <692@lopez.UUCP> <5833@lynx.UUCP> <18579@sequent.UUCP>
Sender: news@blake.acs.washington.edu
Distribution: usa
Organization: Mendou Zaibatsu, Tomobiki-Cho, Butsumetsu-Shi
Lines: 40

In article <18579@sequent.UUCP> roc@crg2.UUCP (Ron Christian) writes:
>In article <5833@lynx.UUCP> neal@lynx.UUCP (Neal Woodall) writes:
>>In article <692@lopez.UUCP> flash@lopez.UUCP (Gary Bourgois) writes:
>>
>>>WILL SVHS survive?  I think it will, since the format has made significant
>>>inroads into the Professional Market, where it is an obvious successor to
>>>3/4".
>
>Sorry.  Not in a million years.  Remember, folks, we're talking CONSUMER
>electronics here.  Broadcast stuff is entirely different.
>
>>What about Sony's BetaCam 1/2 professional systems? I have seen many
>>professional users of video equipment (TV stations, post-production
>>houses, etc) that use BetaCam, and only a few that use S-VHS.
>
>Do *any* TV stations use S-VHS???  I personally doubt it, unless it's
>student run.  You may be mistaking MII (which uses a cartridge that looks
>the same) with S-VHS.

I've checked around, and some of the *industrial* users of 3/4" are taking
a good look at ED Beta as a replacement for 3/4".  The main things against
ED Beta for this are:
 (1) price -- professional ED Beta gear is not a price win over 3/4".
 (2) timebase stability -- even ED Beta doesn't have the timebase stability
     of 3/4", although it has twice the horizontal resolution.  However, in
     industry timebase stability is the name of the game.
 (3) continuing questions about the long-term life of the format.

S-VHS is a consumer format, period.  The only industrial customers for
S-VHS are likely to be cable TV public access producers.  MII doesn't
seem to have caught on the way Betacam has for broadcast users.  I've
heard of a few cable TV public access producers using it, that's about
it.

Mark Crispin / 6158 Lariat Loop NE / Bainbridge Island, WA 98110-2020
mrc@CAC.Washington.EDU / MRC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.Army.Mil / (206) 842-2385
Atheist & Proud / 450cc Rebel pilot -- a step up from 250cc's!!!
tabesaserarenakerebanaranakattarashii...kisha no kisha ga kisha de kisha-shita
sumomo mo momo, momo mo momo, momo ni mo iroiro aru
uraniwa ni wa niwa, niwa ni wa niwa niwatori ga iru