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From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein)
Newsgroups: net.video
Subject: Beta vs. VHS
Message-ID: <405@vortex.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 1-Sep-84 07:43:30 EDT
Article-I.D.: vortex.405
Posted: Sat Sep  1 07:43:30 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 3-Sep-84 12:01:21 EDT
Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles
Lines: 19

There are numerous technical reasons why Beta (the scaled-down version
of the professional U-MATIC system) is better than the Video Home System.

However, rather than rehash it all again (it's been discussed here
endlessly over the years) I'll point out one specific fact--the Beta
load path puts much less strain on tapes than VHS.  That's the main
reason why you can rewind and fast forward on most Beta machines
without forcing an unload of the tape into the cassette, unlike VHS.

Every time you unload, you lose your edit points, and you can't stay
in pause for very long on any machine, so in general Beta will be
better when any sort of semi-clean editing is desired.  Also, for the
same recording speed, Beta-recorded tapes will last longer before timing
(tracking) degeneration, and inter-machine compatibility problems, begin
to occur.  Once again, this is due to the Beta loading path which
puts much less tension on the tape during every use (compared with
VHS)...

--Lauren--