VIDEOTAPE FORMATS Courtesy of Videolson This is a list of more than 60 videotape formats dating back to 1956. Some of these formats were suggestions made by some of my visitors. If you know of a videotape format I could add to this list, email me at [email protected] with as much information about the format that you can possibly gather. FORMATS USING 2" DEVELOPER YEAR INFORMATION TAPE The 2� Quad was the first successful videotape format. The name comes Quadruplex Ampex 1956 from its four-head wheel which rotated 240 times a second. It was still widely used in the industry in the 1980s. Octaplex RCA Developed for the military. VR 1500/600 Ampex 1963 May be the first consumer VTR. Two-head system that was marketed for industrial, educational, and Helical SV-201 Sony 1962 medical applications. ACR 25 Ampex 1970 Automated recording and playback of televesion commercials. IVC 9000 IVC 1973 helical scan These small videotapes allowed broadcasters to access commercials TCR 100 "Quad" RCA 1969 without physically splicing them into the broadcasting program. FORMATS USING 1� DEVELOPER YEAR INFORMATION TAPE One of the first commercial 1-inch helical scan videotape recorders in the MVC-10 Machtronics 1962 US. Identical to the PI-3V by Precision Instruments. Precision PI-3V 1963 Two-head helical scan recorder. Identical to the MVC-10 by Machtronics. Instruments EV-200 Sony 1964 The first �portable� VTR Sony offered for general use. EL-3400 Philips 1965 Designed for the industrial/educational markets. IVC 700/800/900 IVC 1967 Used by TV stations and the military. UV-340 or EV- Sony 1964 1� videotape 210 1" SMPTE Type A Ampex 1965 Industrial and educational uses. Was very popular in Europe. Similar to the Type C format, it uses a segmented helical scan on a small-diameter drum. Each video head pass 1" SMPTE Type B Bosch 1976 records 52 lines of video information and is therefore segmented and cannot offer still-frame or slow motion. Ampex and Sony agreed to a standard 1-inch professional helical format called Type C. Both manufacturers had to slightly modify their designs to 1" SMPTE Type C Ampex/Sony 1976 create a common format. It is the most popular of the 1� professional formats. Unlike the 2� Quad and the 1� Type B, it offered viewable still frame, slow and fast motion, and picture shuttle. 300 lines of resolution. Competitor of the Type A. Features of Type A and the BVH-1000 were BVH-1000 Sony 1976 combined into a common, standardized format�Type C. Sony�s first Type C machines were also called BVH-1000. First commercial high-definition format. Recorded component analog video on HDV-1000 Sony 1984 1-inch open-reel tape. At the time, HDTV had 1035 active lines. The direct predecessor of the HDD-1000. 1� Analog HDTV Toshiba 1985 First HDTV VTR First digital component high-definition recorder. At the time, had 1035 active lines. The starting price of the HDD-1000 and the required HDDP- HDD-1000 Sony 1988 1000 companion processor in 1988 was $600,000, metal evaporated tape cost $2500.00 per hour of tape and each reel weighed nearly 10 pounds. FORMATS USING 3/4� DEVELOPER YEAR INFORMATION TAPE One of the most successful formats of all time. Until its release, news �� U-Matic Sony/ JVC/ 1970 acquisitions had primarily been gathered on 16mm film. Three versions. Matsushita 280 lines of resolution. Improvements over the original format include a higher-energy tape and �� U-Matic SP Sony 1986 an extended FM carrier. SP (Superior Performance) had both chroma and luma subcarrier frequencies increased. 340 lines of resolution. First digital VTR. Received little acceptance in broadcast where it was designed for, but was welcomed in graphics production. Due to expensive D1 Sony 1987 machines and tapes, it was mainly used in high-end postproduction facilities that incorporate special effects with multiple layering of video signal. 460 lines of resolution. Digital composite format. Advancements in component-based advanced D2 Ampex and Sony 1986 TV ended the interest in composite, including D2. Cassettes hold up to 180 minutes. 450 lines of resolution. Digital HDTV. Uses more heads and offers more audio channels than any D6 Toshiba/BTS 1995 other videotape format. Digital DCT was the first format to employ digital video compression to reduce Component Ampex 1992 recorded bit rate. Technology FORMATS USING 1/2� DEVELOPER YEAR INFORMATION TAPE CV (Consumer Video/Commercial Video) One of the first �affordable� CV Sony 1965 VTRs for consumers. Decks can switch between colour & b/w. VTR-600 Concord 1967 Open-reel black-and-white format. Sony/ Panasonic/ Electronics Industries Association of Japan. AKA �� AV (Audio/Visual) 1/2" EIAJ Type 1 1969 others Low end industrial and educational recordings. Open-reel. AKA Omnivision. Identical to the open-reel EIAJ, only the cartridge EIAJ Cartridge Panasonic 1971 makes it different. Tapes were only 30 minutes in length and they had to be completely rewound before it could be removed from the deck. The first commercially available home video cartridge machine introduced N1500 Philips 1972 on the market. Recorded in color and black-and-white. Short-lived consumer format that was ahead of its time. It was the first AVCO Cartivision Cartivision 1972 simple consumer video recording and playback system to hit the market. Consumer home video format. The V-Cord II was the first consumer V-Cord Sanyo 1972 machine to offer two recording speeds, freeze-frame and slow motion. �The Great Time Machine�. Its one-head helical-scan format required a VX Panasonic/ Quasar 1975 nearly 360-degree tape wrap. Was the first successful consumer videocassette. Was a hit at first but later failed in the market place against VHS. Its initial maximum record Betamax Sony 1976 time of one hour was a disadvantage initially that it was not able to overcome even when it later offered five hour record times. Video home system. The most successful of all home video formats, it was introduced as a competitor of Betamax. 250 lines of resolution. VHS JVC 1976 Maximum tape length is 200 minutes in SP mode, which is 600 minutes in EP mode. Compact version of VHS. The �C� stands for compact. With an adapter, VHS-C tapes will play in a VHS VCR. Maximum tape length is 40 minutes in SP mode, which is 120 minutes in EP mode. S=super. Marketed as a high-end consumer format. �S-video� separates the chrominance (color) and luminance (brightness) signals, although not as purely as the true component systems do. VHS tapes S-VHS JVC and others may be played and recorded on S-VHS machines, but S-VHS cannot be played nor recorded on VHS machines. 400 lines of resolution. Maximum tape length is 160 minutes. Compact version of SVHS. With an adapter, tapes will play in a S-VHS SVHS-C VCR. Maximum tape length is 40 minutes. ED Beta Sony 1987 ED (Enhanced Definition) Introduced as a competition to SVHS. Aka �� Type L. Developed as a component-recording professional format to be able to use consumer cassettes�Betamax. Records an analog Betacam Sony 1982 component signal, storing the luminance (Y) in one track and the chrominance (R-Y, B-Y) on another. This splitting of channels provides a crisp, true broadcast quality product. 300 lines of resolution. Initially called Recam (recording camera) by Panasonic and Hawkeye by RCA. RCA broadcast went out of business shortly after it was released. It M RCA/ Panasonic 1982 was the first component format consisting of two separate signal systems: one for luminance and another for chroma. Originally designed to use VHS tapes. Used flip-over tapes, similar to audio cassettes. In terms of picture quality, it was a technically superior competitor of VHS and Betamax. Philips and Video 2000 1979 Able to play/record 4 hours of video on each side of the cassette it also Grundig had its problems such as not being inter-machine compatible. AKA Video Compact Cassette (VCC) even though the tapes were larger than VHS. Introduced as a competitor to beta sp. Splits the video signal into red, MII Panasonic 1985 green and blue, providing outstanding quality and color. 340 lines of resolution. SP (Superior Performance) was an industry standard for most TV stations Betacam SP Sony 1986 and high-end production houses up until the late 90s. 340 lines of resolution. Introduced as Panasonic�s answer to D2, it was promoted as a low-cost D3 Panasonic 1991 digital alternative. Achieved more than twice the recording capacity of D2. 450 lines of resolution. Digital successor to Betacam. Considered to have almost the same Digital Betacam Sony 1993 quality as D1 at half the cost and size. High end SDTV. Can playback, but not record betacam SP tapes. Sony�s answer to DCT and D5. Matsushita/ D5 1994 Component, non-compressed digital format. Can playback D3 tapes. Panasonic Compressed HD version of D5. Can work with 1080 line and 720 line D5HD Panasonic 1994 HDTV formats. Digital format targeted for ENG and newsroom use. Can be sent back to Betacam SX Sony 1996 the studio at 2X speed on a standard DS0-3 data connection. Digital S. Rivals the much more expensive Digital Betacam in terms of D9 JVC 1995 picture quality. Downward compatible with SVHS. 540 lines of resolution. AKA Digital S-100. Used for recording compressed and sub-sampled D9 HD JVC 2000 HDTV. Uses same tape as D9. D-VHS JVC/ Matsushita 1997 Consumer digital format designed to be used with satellite dish systems. Analog HDTV Uses a cassette physically identical with VHS.