Video formats Betamax

The Betamax system was developed by Sony

Beta was the first widely used consumer video recording tape format. It was made by Sony. At one time Beta machines were also sold by several other retailers.

Supporters of Beta believed that the picture and sound quality of Beta was superior to VHS. Eventually VHS overtook Beta in the consumer market, ultimately leading to the almost complete disappearance of Beta machines and pre-recorded Beta tape.

The tape leaves the supply (left hand ) spool via internal guide posts and travels around the tension regulator. In most models the back tension is regulated by mechanical feedback but in a few advanced models a sophisticated electronic system is used.

After the tension arm the tape travels past a few more guides and enters the video drum assembly after passing the full track erase head. The guides serve to 'bias' the tape ribbon onto the drum cylinder ruler edge.

Tape travels around the drum and leaves the drum assembly to the audio and control track heads which incorporate ceramic plates to guide the tape. Next the tape passes between the capstan drive spindle and the pinch roller, which performs the tape drive. After this, the tape passes through peripheral guides before re-entering the cassette shell. The take up spool is lightly driven to provide take up tension and ensure there is no slack.

Unique to the Betamax format are two small springs which tension plastic tips to bias the tape as it travels around the drum. The video head tip contacts the video head at the bottom edge and leaves it at the upper edge. The video head rotates in the same direction as the tape moves.

The tape is 1/2 inch thick (same as VHS) and has the audio track at the top and the control track at the bottom edge. The original Betamax specification defined a single audio track 1.05mm wide. When the format was later revised to allow for a stereo sound track it was necessary to squeeze both tracks into the original space which gave disappointing results.

There was no room for a guard band between video tracks because this would have resulted in too small a recording time for the given tape lengths. This meant that azimuth slant techniques were needed to minimize cross-talk between adjacent video tracks. With this arrangement it was not possible to achieve a noise free picture in freeze frame mode unless a special head was employed.

Tape end sensors in the Beta format operate on an inductive system. Betamax leader tape consists of metallic material that, when they come into the proximity of the sensor, cause it to saturate and the oscillator to stop.

To improve the sound quality Sony developed Beta Hi-fi. This recorded Hi-fi quality sound as FM audio tracks by means of separate audio heads mounted on the video drum.

The audio signals are modulated on to two carriers, one at 1.44MHz and the other at 2.10MHz. The deviation is 500KHz in contrast to 150kHz for the rival VHS format. The tracks are laid down so as to straddle the gaps in between the video tracks. The azimuth off-set is 30 degrees.