WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.070 --> 00:00:06.270 So, you’ve found yourself looking at a side-by-side comparison of Beta and VHS in 2017. 00:00:06.270 --> 00:00:07.270 Awesome! 00:00:07.270 --> 00:00:11.990 All kidding aside, here’s a disclaimer: It’s not exactly easy to find a Beta machine 00:00:11.990 --> 00:00:13.579 in stellar shape. 00:00:13.579 --> 00:00:18.929 These recordings were made with my best Beta VCR, which is well over 30 years old now. 00:00:18.929 --> 00:00:23.480 This video has been re-uploaded to address an unfair advantage the VHS footage had in 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:26.590 the previous version: the age of the VCR. 00:00:26.590 --> 00:00:31.140 I didn’t see this as a huge problem given it was a standard VHS unit, but user 00:00:31.140 --> 00:00:36.579 did rightly point out that the newer VHS machine has VHS HQ enabled, and it has 00:00:36.579 --> 00:00:38.960 digital signal processing which would give it an edge. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:44.530 So, I set up the RCA dinosaur from 1979 and recorded the output from that machine, and 00:00:44.530 --> 00:00:46.399 replaced the original VHS footage. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:51.641 I didn’t re-record the VHS tape with the RCA machine because it’s doesn’t record 00:00:51.641 --> 00:00:56.390 so well, so it’s possible that the VHS footage has the tiniest of edges given the tape’s 00:00:56.390 --> 00:01:01.579 been recorded on a newer machine, but still it’s being played back on a venerable antique. 00:01:01.579 --> 00:01:06.740 Note however that the audio from the original upload is still being used for the VHS segments. 00:01:06.740 --> 00:01:09.290 And with that out of the way, let’s continue. 00:01:09.290 --> 00:01:13.290 This footage comes from a simple stroll around my local area (yes this is Downtown Lombard 00:01:13.290 --> 00:01:16.980 and Lilacia Park, and I’m surprised how many people recognized it so quickly). 00:01:16.980 --> 00:01:22.150 I shot this at 60 frames per second in full HD on my OnePlus 3, using a gimbal for a stable 00:01:22.150 --> 00:01:24.009 image in the outdoor scenes. 00:01:24.009 --> 00:01:29.030 I then made a DVD of this footage, then popped that DVD into a Playstation 2 and recorded 00:01:29.030 --> 00:01:33.979 from the PS2’s composite video output to a Beta machine and a VHS machine. 00:01:33.979 --> 00:01:38.280 This is the Beta Machine, it’s a Toshiba which brags about its front-loading system. 00:01:38.280 --> 00:01:44.360 The VHS machine used to record onto the tape was this Panasonic DMR-ES40V. 00:01:44.360 --> 00:01:52.080 I recorded the segments twice on both formats, at SP and SLP on VHS, and Beta 2 and 3 on 00:01:52.080 --> 00:01:58.860 Beta. I did not record on Beta 1 because the vast majority of machines from as early as 1979 00:01:58.860 --> 00:02:02.860 have Beta 1 disabled due to its impractical use of tape. 00:02:02.860 --> 00:02:08.940 A 1 hour tape length wasn't long enough, and Sony decided it just wasn't worth it anymore 00:02:08.940 --> 00:02:12.920 So I don't even own a machine capable of recording at Beta 1 00:02:12.920 --> 00:02:18.060 and the vast majority of Beta machines throughout the format war could not record at Beta 1 speed. 00:02:18.070 --> 00:02:23.770 I disabled HiFi sound on the VHS machine to ensure you are hearing the great mono linear 00:02:23.770 --> 00:02:24.960 soundtrack. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:29.020 After recording the segments, I used the DVD recorder function of the Panasonic to capture 00:02:29.020 --> 00:02:31.860 the video from both VCRs over the same composite cable, and I used this machine for good reason. 00:02:31.860 --> 00:02:37.250 All video capture cards that I’ve used produce garbage output because they insist on de-interlacing, 00:02:37.250 --> 00:02:40.210 producing 30p footage that looks like crap. 00:02:40.210 --> 00:02:46.810 This DVD recorder doesn’t bother with De-interlacing and instead produces a glorious NTSC 29.97 00:02:46.810 --> 00:02:49.160 frames per second, interlaced output. 00:02:49.160 --> 00:02:54.430 Importantly, it can record onto DVD-RAM discs, which I then popped in my laptop. 00:02:54.430 --> 00:03:00.120 The Panasonic unit writes .vro files on the DVD ram disc, and for some reason Sony Movie 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:03.320 Studio can open these files and understand them. 00:03:03.320 --> 00:03:04.510 Premiere cannot. 00:03:04.510 --> 00:03:06.580 So good thing I keep my laptop around. 00:03:06.580 --> 00:03:11.830 I then rendered each of these output videos as a new NTSC standard mp4, at a ridiculously 00:03:11.830 --> 00:03:16.830 high bit-rate to ensure all the analog smoothness is captured, and then onto a flash drive and 00:03:16.830 --> 00:03:19.410 over to my desktop for editing in Premiere. 00:03:19.410 --> 00:03:24.170 In the last video, I uploaded at 30p, and Premiere didn’t do a good job deinterlacing 00:03:24.170 --> 00:03:25.770 that time, either. 00:03:25.770 --> 00:03:29.250 This upload is at 60p, and it looks much better. 00:03:29.250 --> 00:03:33.940 Note that you may have to go full-screen on a PC to actually get the 60p footage. 00:03:33.940 --> 00:03:37.870 I will blow these up and even to some split-screen magic, but if you’re watching fullscreen 00:03:37.870 --> 00:03:43.330 on even a 1366x768 display, you’re getting all the detail possible. 00:03:43.330 --> 00:03:47.100 Trust me, this is the clip scaled at 100% in a 1080p render. 00:03:47.100 --> 00:03:48.140 See? 00:03:48.140 --> 00:03:53.060 So, again due to the age of the Toshiba machine, you’ll have to forgive some of its problems, 00:03:53.060 --> 00:03:55.090 like the occasional signal dropout. 00:03:55.090 --> 00:03:56.930 But for the most part, the image is stable. 00:03:56.930 --> 00:03:59.760 I’ll shut up for a moment and let the video speak for itself. 00:03:59.760 --> 00:04:04.000 I’ll be switching the audio source back and for for your viewing pleasure. 00:05:02.870 --> 00:05:06.750 These stills are some royalty free images filled with color to show how color rendering 00:05:06.750 --> 00:05:08.970 compares between the two formats. 00:05:08.970 --> 00:05:13.590 Both VHS and Beta use a color-under encoding technique, and the resolution of the color 00:05:13.590 --> 00:05:16.980 is quite poor compared to the image resolution. 00:05:16.980 --> 00:05:21.090 Both formats struggle with red, but this Beta machine seems to be doing worse. 00:05:21.090 --> 00:05:23.620 That could easily be just this particular machine. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:51.000 The Indian head test card helps compare image resolution by comparing the converging line 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:52.000 patterns. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:53.760 It’s pretty similar. 00:05:53.760 --> 00:05:59.500 On both formats the SMPTE color bars look pretty gnarly, particularly with magenta and 00:05:59.500 --> 00:06:02.000 the red-blue border. 00:06:11.830 --> 00:06:16.490 First off, the image is not noticeably sharper than VHS, at least I can’t see a significant 00:06:16.490 --> 00:06:17.490 difference. 00:06:17.490 --> 00:06:20.990 There’s nothing about the output from the Beta machine that says to me, this is superior 00:06:20.990 --> 00:06:22.430 to VHS. 00:06:22.430 --> 00:06:25.540 Aside from its occasional dropouts, it looks nearly identical. 00:06:25.540 --> 00:06:29.389 EXCEPT, in this footage, look at the sky. 00:06:29.389 --> 00:06:34.100 This is the so-called fingerprint effect that was present on virtually all Beta 2 recordings. 00:06:34.100 --> 00:06:37.690 It’s not always visible, but it’s always there. 00:06:37.690 --> 00:06:41.650 The Rise and Fall of Beta piece I referenced in the previous video discusses this phenomenon. 00:06:41.650 --> 00:06:45.910 But, here’s one area where Beta does visibly beat VHS. 00:06:45.910 --> 00:06:50.530 The recording at Beta 3 is noticeably sharper than the SLP recording. 00:06:50.530 --> 00:06:54.330 Sound is also slightly better, which would make sense as the linear tape speed on Beta 00:06:54.330 --> 00:06:56.360 3 is higher than SLP. 00:06:56.360 --> 00:07:00.260 The Beta machine which made these recordings has a high amount of wow and flutter in the 00:07:00.260 --> 00:07:04.940 audio at Beta 3, and that is probably due to bad filter capacitors in the capstan motor 00:07:04.940 --> 00:07:06.130 power supply. 00:07:06.130 --> 00:07:11.940 However, as we exhaustively discussed in the last video, comparing Beta 3 to SLP is almost 00:07:11.940 --> 00:07:17.210 wrong, as recording time is comparable being Beta 3 and VHS LP. 00:07:17.210 --> 00:07:22.010 SLP provided recording time far far longer than any Beta 3 deck. 00:07:22.010 --> 00:07:26.710 There appear to be no Beta machines capable of recording at all three speeds, with Beta 00:07:26.710 --> 00:07:30.500 1 being disabled all the way back in 1979. 00:08:02.270 --> 00:08:06.660 So to conclude, Beta 2 looks pretty close to VHS SP. 00:08:06.660 --> 00:08:11.370 Which makes sense, as Beta 2 is in reality equivalent to VHS LP. 00:08:11.370 --> 00:08:16.910 Remember, Beta 1 was sharper than VHS SP, but as Beta 2 was the technical companion 00:08:16.910 --> 00:08:20.220 of VHS LP, the quality got pretty similar. 00:08:20.220 --> 00:08:25.450 And again, Beta 1 (the technical companion to VHS SP) was disabled on the vast majority 00:08:25.450 --> 00:08:26.900 of Beta decks. 00:08:26.900 --> 00:08:31.230 As I said in the last videos, by disabling Beta 1, Sony got rid of much of the picture 00:08:31.230 --> 00:08:33.800 advantage Beta had over VHS. 00:08:33.800 --> 00:08:38.490 But I think they had to kill it off, after all a 2 hour base recording time on an L-500 00:08:38.490 --> 00:08:43.860 tape sounds acceptable, but a 1 hour time on Beta 1 sounds almost useless. 00:08:43.860 --> 00:08:47.890 I’ll let this video play out, but before I go I thought I would mention the technical 00:08:47.890 --> 00:08:50.620 cousin of Beta known as Betacam. 00:08:50.620 --> 00:08:54.450 A lot of comments on the past video are saying that Beta never really lost the format war 00:08:54.450 --> 00:08:56.760 because it lived on in the professional realm. 00:08:56.760 --> 00:09:01.760 That’s not correct, though, because Betacam is a completely different format from consumer 00:09:01.760 --> 00:09:02.760 Betamax. 00:09:02.760 --> 00:09:08.060 Yeah, betacam cassettes are mostly the same as your standard Beta tape, but you can’t 00:09:08.060 --> 00:09:12.060 play any Betacam recording on a standard issue consumer Beta deck. 00:09:12.060 --> 00:09:16.760 Also, in the professional realm, the Betacam standard was amended to include a physically 00:09:16.760 --> 00:09:24.080 larger Betacam L cassette which contained more tape, because at this point sony finally 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:28.520 threw in the towel and acknowledged that the standard Beta cassette was too small. 00:09:28.520 --> 00:09:32.230 The professional market would benefit greatly by using the same basic cassette throughout 00:09:32.230 --> 00:09:36.860 its iterations, and since professional equipment is pushing into new-car pricing territory, 00:09:36.860 --> 00:09:39.200 cost was never too much of a barrier. 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:42.770 Betacam eventually became fully digital, even HD. 00:09:42.770 --> 00:09:47.020 But again, it doesn’t belong in a discussion on the format war, because Betacam was never 00:09:47.020 --> 00:09:49.320 marketed to consumers. 00:09:49.320 --> 00:09:50.920 Anyway, Thanks for watching!