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Hello! And welcome to the first video of 
No-Effort November!

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A series of videos for the month of November
where no effort is made.

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Today, we are doing another Beta and VHS comparison.

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But, unlike ye olde format war, we’re not
focusing on things like recording time,

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picture quality, or silliness of their respective
names.

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Instead, we are going to look at their actual
videocassettes,

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and I think you’ll find that the VHS cassette is a fair bit cleverer than that of Beta.

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I’ve made a lot of videos covering the format
war which can you check out through the card

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that should be popping up right about now,

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though YouTube seems to have problems lately getting the card to --

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oh, there it is.

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See, that joke might not have worked for some
of you because it actually didn’t appear!

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Anyway, there’s also a link in the description
for the inevitable case of the card not appearing.

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Now we just have to hope that I remembered
to put it there.

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Moving on then, I have a pair of almost-randomly-selected videocassette recorders in front of me.

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One of them is, of course, a VHS machine.

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And the other, is a Beta machine.

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Now, the age difference between these two
doesn’t matter because what we’re after

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in this here video is a closer look at the
way their tape transport mechanisms interact

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with the tape in the cassettes.

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Take a look at the bottom of a Beta cassette,
and you’ll see two sprocket holes, and a

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gaping triangular hole carving a nice little
canyon down towards the center.

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It annoys me very much that they didn’t
go all the way and instead made a trapezoid.

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Oh well.

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By the way, in North American English it is
indeed pronounced “bay-da”.

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Not “bee-tah."

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Feel free to comment on why we’re wrong.

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You’ll find the write-protect tab down here,
as well as a notch in the upper right which

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contains this little wedgey thing that unlocks
the lid of the cassette.

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A pokey thing inside the VCR pushes the wedgey
thing in, which unlocks the lid, and the action

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of the lid opening unlocks the spools of the
tape and allows them to rotate.

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This locking device makes it rather difficult
to open the lid with one’s hands, which

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arguably makes it a better design for protecting
the tape, but comes with the tragic downside

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of making the cassette a terrible fidgeting
device.

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Look at the bottom of a VHS cassette and you’ll
also find a pair of sprocket holes…

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which I realize... sprocket holes is not the correct
word.

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I believe I meant cogs for the tape reels.

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Anyway.

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And, you’ll also see a larger and wider
variety of other holes, including

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this one that you may have never even noticed before.

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Such subtlety.

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Notice how these two both have curves.

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This one accommodates the absolutely chunky
tape reels that JVC crammed in here because

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they, rightly, knew that recording time was
gonna be important.

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But this one is way more subtle.

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You’re gonna love what that curve is for
when I tell you.

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Now, we’ve also got this hole, which a spike
inside the VCR will rudely insert itself into,

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and that unlocks the tape reels, and this
bigger one is for lightbulbs on sticks which

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help the VCR detect when the end of the tape
has been reached.

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VHS cassettes have the lid unlocker placed
here, which is excellent because it makes

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the cassette a much better fidgeting device.

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Now, if you’ve drunk the Kool-Aid, you’ll
have undoubtedly been told that Beta was a

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much more well-engineered product, and that
VHS was just a sloppy knock-off.

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Well, I don’t know about you, but this gaping
hole sure seems to leave more of the tape

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exposed and vulnerable.

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Yeah there are these half-width guards that
help, a little, and you could totally still

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stick your fingers in the two larger holes
of a VHS cassette, but on the whole

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(pause with an obnoxious smirk)

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the VHS cassette seems to do
a better job protecting the precious tape.

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And all those holes are there for specific
purposes.

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Let’s now take a look at the VCRs.

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The first thing to know is that all videocassette
recorders will contain some sort of device

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that makes your heads spin.

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That’s the shiny silver drum

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here, and

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here.

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Of note is that the Beta drum is a fair bit
larger, which means that the speed the heads

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travel at is a little bit higher than that
of VHS, because both drums spin at the same

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rotational speed.

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This is one of the many reasons people would
tell you back in the ‘80s that Beta had

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a better picture quality.

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Which, from my admittedly decades-down-the-road
experience I find to be a fairly dubious claim

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(or at the very least, largely insignificant)
But ya know, better point it out!

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There are people out there who are still mad
that Beta didn’t win the format war, and

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it’s a fair bet they’ll let you know about
it in the space below this video.

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Anyway, while I do love pressing buttons,
let’s move on.

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♫ dubious and largely insignificant music ♫

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One thing that inevitably comes up whenever
I or presumably anybody makes a video comparing

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Beta and VHS is the fact that Beta continued
to be used in the professional market for decades.

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So, yes it failed in the consumer market but
because the professional market continued

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to use Beta we know that it was truly the
better product and consumers were idiots for

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backing VHS.

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Now, I will agree that consumers often make
silly choices.

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However!

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You are not talking about Betamax.

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You’re talking about Betacam.

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Betacam was the professional version of Betamax
which continued to be used for many decades

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after the format war ended.

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00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:08,430
Now, I understand why you would confuse the
two.

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They’re both called “Beta something”
and in fact Betacam cassettes look an awful

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lot like this, some are identical in fact
(they just say Betacam, not Betamax) but they’re

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not the same formats.

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You can’t play a Betacam tape in a home
Beta VCR and expect anything good to come

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out of it, if anything at all.

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Betacam continued to be updated through the
years, in fact it was eventually moved to

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HD and even digital signals.

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So, yes, Betacam did keep going in the professional
realm but it is very much only tangentially

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related to Betamax.

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Anyway, let’s continue.

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Both of these machines have to get the tape
out of the cassette, and make sure it touches

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a laundry list of items.

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Of course, it needs to wrap at least 180 degrees
around the head drum, but it also needs to

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pass by the erase head, the audio and tracking
heads, and in the case of the Beta machine,

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these two sensors (which I will explain shortly).

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Now, with a cassette in place, but not yet
threaded, you’ll immediately see a few differences

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between these formats.

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First is that the head drum on the Beta machine
is quite a bit farther away from the cassette

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than the VHS drum.

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You’ll also notice that there’s a not-insignificant
amount of space behind it as well.

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The VHS transport was always a fair bit more
compact than that of Beta, and while in the

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early days of the format war it’s not like
that mattered at all since the machines were massive,

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in our soon-to-happen lust for miniaturization
this would prove kind of annoying for Sony.

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While their Betamovie camcorder solved that
problem in a very clever (though incredibly

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compromised) fashion, VHS enjoyed a more compact
mechanism from day one, perhaps somewhat ironic

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when you consider that the cassette itself
is significantly larger.

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But then again, that larger cassette allowed
them to create the VHS-C format and use simple

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adapters for use in full-size VCRs.

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Anyway, the component I deliberately left
out of the discussion of all the things the

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tape needs to pass through so I could save
that for right now is the capstan.

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Tape-based formats generally use Captain Stan
over here to move the tape through the transport

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at a steady speed.

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A rubber pinch roller will squeeze the tape
between itself and the capstan, and the constant

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rotational speed of the capstan in turn causes
the tape to move through the transport at

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a constant linear speed.

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Now, let’s look at where the Capstan’s
Quarters are for both of these machines.

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VHS puts it right here, and you’ll see its
accompanying pinch roller right next to it.

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On Beta, it’s way the frick over there for
some reason.

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And its pinch roller is nowhere to be found.

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Ah!

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Now we’re getting to the point of this video.

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See, Beta and VHS used entirely different
methods of removing the tape from the cassette shell.

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VHS uses what’s called an M-load.

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The two largest holes on the bottom of the
cassette

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(manages to completely miss)

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-- those two --

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allow these two moveable

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tape guides to slip behind the tape when it’s
lowered on top of them.

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When the transport is engaged, these move
towards the rear of the machine, looping the

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tape around the drum, and a little helper
will usually swing out once the guides have

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passed it to pull the tape against the erase
head.

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Since this kinda-sorta forms the shape of
the letter M, the name M-load was chosen.

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Now, going back to Beta, look around a little
harder and you’ll eventually find the pinch roller…

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here.

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Nowhere near the capstan.

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In a Beta machine, the pinch roller does double
duty.

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Just as the VHS cassette gets lowered on top
of the tape guides, the Beta cassette is lowered

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on top of the pinch roller.

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When it’s time to get the tape out of the
cassette, it

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(along with the tape guides flanking it on either side)

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YANKS OUT about a mile
of tape

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and makes a very, and literal, roundabout trip to the capstan.

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Once it’s there, a little lever dude will
put pressure on the pinch roller, pushing

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it against the capstan, and now the tape can
be moved through the mechanism.

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This loading mechanism is essentially just
a miniaturized version of the U-load system

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Sony devised for their earlier U-matic.

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You see, if you look at this from overhead,
you’ll find that the tape makes the shape

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of the letter U.

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Now, somehow, this got named the B-load system
when it was moved to Betamax, and it’s said

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that the name Betamax came from the fact that
this resembles the greek letter Beta.

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I am to this day baffled by that anecdote,

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as I cannot seem, no matter how I try, to imagine this shape as reminiscent of that shape.

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But whatever.

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So, there are two things worthy of note, or
noteworthy.

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First is this explains why the hole on the Beta cassette is so fricken big

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as the rather large pinch roller and
those tape guides all need to fit behind the

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tape in that space.

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And second is that once the tape has been
removed from the cassette, none of the tape

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transport components are very close to it
at all.

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Sony designed the Beta cassette as just a
container of tape.

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The machine removes it from the box, and from
that point on it might as well not exist.

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But the VHS cassette is much more clever.

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It is designed to become *part* of the tape
transport.

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The fact that the head drum is closer to the
cassette is no coincidence.

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Everything is closer to the cassette.

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And some things are even inside of it.

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That small hole up there is designed to accommodate
the capstan.

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When the cassette falls down into the loaded
position, the capstan is already behind the tape.

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00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:26,520
And that curve in the plastic is there so
that the pinch roller can squeeze the capstan

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without rubbing against the cassette itself.

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00:10:29,290 --> 00:10:31,420
Such an elegant solution!

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In this particular machine we find a rather
small pinch roller, and an additional tape

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guide occupies the curved space.

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And of course, let’s not forget about the
lightbulb on a stick!

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If you’ve got much of any experience with
a VHS cassette you’ll have undoubtedly noticed

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that the tape leaders, that’s the bit of
tape at each end that’s meant to be a little

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stronger to protect it from breaking, 
are clear.

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00:10:52,300 --> 00:10:57,250
The cassette is designed with a light path
between the center of this big hole and these

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two smaller holes hiding under the cassette
lid.

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00:11:00,450 --> 00:11:04,460
Light sensors that sit right next to these
holes will see the light pass through the

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00:11:04,460 --> 00:11:07,100
cassette when the end of the tape has (been) (but he didn't say been) reached.

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00:11:07,100 --> 00:11:09,310
That’s pretty clever, if you ask me.

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00:11:09,310 --> 00:11:14,380
A newer machine like this will instead use
a couple of infrared LEDs on a stick.

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00:11:14,380 --> 00:11:15,220
Still.

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00:11:15,220 --> 00:11:16,360
Same concept.

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00:11:16,370 --> 00:11:19,260
Beta, meanwhile, went much more old-school.

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The tape leaders on a Beta cassette are not
clear, but metallic.

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00:11:23,030 --> 00:11:28,240
Located near both ends of the tape transport
are what basically amount to metal detectors,

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00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:30,380
and these sense the end of the tape.

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00:11:30,380 --> 00:11:35,320
Let the record state that Sony used the technology
of the 8-track to signal the end of the tape

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00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:37,060
in Betamax.

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00:11:37,060 --> 00:11:40,120
While we’re talking about the differences
in tape handling, I’d like to address a

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claim made by some of the Betamax loyalists
out there.

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00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:48,540
It was often claimed that the Beta transport
was more gentle to the tape, as unlike in

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a VHS machine where the tape has to make two
180 degree turns,

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00:11:52,420 --> 00:11:56,420
“there are no sharp curves in Beta”.

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00:11:56,420 --> 00:11:58,610
Excuse me, but what is this?

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00:11:58,610 --> 00:12:01,290
That looks darn near like a 180 to me.

208
00:12:01,290 --> 00:12:07,240
And up here in a VHS machine, the tape makes
two 90 degree turns, not a 180.

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00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:09,820
Sure, maybe you wanna call that a 180, but

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00:12:09,820 --> 00:12:12,800
let’s count the places where the tape touches something.

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00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:14,340
First, beta;

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00:12:14,340 --> 00:12:15,020
One.

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00:12:15,020 --> 00:12:15,800
Two.

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00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:16,540
Three.

215
00:12:16,540 --> 00:12:17,280
Four.

216
00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:18,020
Five.

217
00:12:18,020 --> 00:12:18,760
Six.

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00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:19,560
Seven.

219
00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:20,220
Eight.

220
00:12:20,220 --> 00:12:21,020
Nine.

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00:12:21,020 --> 00:12:21,740
Ten.

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00:12:21,740 --> 00:12:22,560
Eleven.

223
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Twelve.

224
00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:24,380
Thirteen.

225
00:12:24,380 --> 00:12:25,700
Fourteen.

226
00:12:25,700 --> 00:12:26,780
And now VHS;

227
00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:28,100
One.

228
00:12:28,100 --> 00:12:28,800
Two.

229
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Three.

230
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Four.

231
00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:31,180
Five.

232
00:12:31,180 --> 00:12:32,020
Six.

233
00:12:32,020 --> 00:12:32,720
Seven.

234
00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:33,420
Eight.

235
00:12:33,420 --> 00:12:34,340
Nine.

236
00:12:34,340 --> 00:12:34,980
Ten.

237
00:12:34,980 --> 00:12:35,980
Eleven.

238
00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:36,500
Now.

239
00:12:36,500 --> 00:12:40,760
Are each of the things the tape touches gonna
put the same amount of wear on the tape?

240
00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:41,520
No.

241
00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:47,000
And does the number of things the tape touches
change from VCR to VCR within the same format?

242
00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:47,920
Yes.

243
00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:53,320
But this claim seems so incredibly backwards
to me that I felt I needed to bring it up.

244
00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:58,240
Also of note is that on a VHS machine, the
entire top half of the drum spins, whereas

245
00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:02,960
on a Beta machine, only the heads spin and
the drum itself remains motionless.

246
00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,400
This was another thing brought up in favor
of Beta,

247
00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:08,040
since obviously that’s better for the tape.

248
00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:09,670
But I think this is actually wrong.

249
00:13:09,670 --> 00:13:14,830
It may be counterintuitive, but the spinning
drum of a VHS machine can create an air curtain,

250
00:13:14,830 --> 00:13:17,860
meaning that the tape actually just floats
above it.

251
00:13:17,860 --> 00:13:23,290
Now, obviously only the top half of the drum
spins so the tape does rub against the motionless

252
00:13:23,290 --> 00:13:29,019
bottom part during some of its travel, particularly
at the end of the drum, but you can clearly

253
00:13:29,019 --> 00:13:35,010
see on this Beta machine that, after years
of tape dragging across the motionless drum,

254
00:13:35,010 --> 00:13:38,060
its surface has actually been polished a little
bit.

255
00:13:38,060 --> 00:13:40,120
That can’t be good for the tape.

256
00:13:40,130 --> 00:13:44,950
Regardless of the particulars, there is certainly
a delicious irony to the fact that the Beta

257
00:13:44,950 --> 00:13:47,060
transport works like this.

258
00:13:47,060 --> 00:13:49,350
Beta cassettes are smaller, right?

259
00:13:49,350 --> 00:13:51,670
And they contain less tape, right?

260
00:13:51,670 --> 00:13:56,880
That’s the main reason Beta failed, as it
just never had the recording time of VHS.

261
00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:00,440
And no, it wasn’t pornography, that’s
a myth.

262
00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:05,360
You could get porn on Beta, Sony had no control
over what content was being distributed so

263
00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:09,950
stop saying “Sony wouldn’t allow porn”
because that’s nonsense and easily disproved.

264
00:14:09,950 --> 00:14:10,760
Anyway.

265
00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:14,280
For a system so short on tape, you’d think
that this

266
00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:18,060
“let’s just yank out all the tape!” method would have been avoided.

267
00:14:18,060 --> 00:14:20,880
Want to see exactly how much more tape the
Beta machine

268
00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:22,540
needs just to make it through the transport?

269
00:14:22,540 --> 00:14:23,040
Great!

270
00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:23,940
So do I!

271
00:14:23,940 --> 00:14:26,960
Let’s just do a little snip snip and compare.

272
00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:28,360
Just look at the difference!

273
00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:29,460
The Beta machine needs

274
00:14:29,460 --> 00:14:30,420
(obviously recorded later) 
TWELVE

275
00:14:30,420 --> 00:14:31,880
more inches of tape!

276
00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:32,740
That’s about

277
00:14:32,740 --> 00:14:33,520
(again, recorded later) 
THIRTY

278
00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:34,550
centimeters!

279
00:14:34,550 --> 00:14:39,300
Keep in mind that this entire length here
can never be used, so while the actual distance

280
00:14:39,300 --> 00:14:43,829
from the first head to the last might not
be all that different compared to VHS, this

281
00:14:43,829 --> 00:14:47,670
whole return path can never be recorded onto
at the start of a tape.

282
00:14:47,670 --> 00:14:51,820
Now, since that’s obviously a tiny portion
of the overall tape in the cassette,

283
00:14:51,820 --> 00:14:53,470
does it really matter?

284
00:14:53,470 --> 00:14:53,960
No!

285
00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:55,020
Of course not!

286
00:14:55,020 --> 00:14:56,020
None of this matters!

287
00:14:56,100 --> 00:14:58,460
We’re talking about two dead formats here
as if

288
00:14:58,460 --> 00:15:01,360
their pros and cons matter in the slightest in 2019!

289
00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:02,240
They don’t!

290
00:15:02,500 --> 00:15:03,040
It’s over!

291
00:15:03,300 --> 00:15:03,860
It’s done!

292
00:15:04,180 --> 00:15:04,880
It’s history!

293
00:15:05,140 --> 00:15:08,000
If you bought a Beta machine, feel free to
keep being smug about it.

294
00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,360
But you backed the wrong horse, oh well, life
sucks sometimes.

295
00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:14,000
Now, where’s my HD-DVD player?

296
00:15:14,940 --> 00:15:17,720
♫ second-rate smooth jazz ♫

297
00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:20,460
Hey there.

298
00:15:20,460 --> 00:15:25,360
So, I just wanted to add here at the end that
history is weird and there were indeed some

299
00:15:25,370 --> 00:15:29,019
VHS machines that used a U-load system like
Betamax.

300
00:15:29,019 --> 00:15:31,680
If memory serves they were all made by Philips.

301
00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:35,440
Whether there were any Beta machines that
used an M-load, I’m not sure.

302
00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:40,110
But I kinda doubt it, given how reluctant Sony
would be to change things up, and given how

303
00:15:40,110 --> 00:15:44,829
few third-party manufacturers there were making
Beta machines compared to VHS.

304
00:15:44,829 --> 00:15:49,350
In a similar vein, it’s worth nothing that
not all VHS machines (or indeed Beta machines)

305
00:15:49,350 --> 00:15:52,100
would put all the components in the same places.

306
00:15:52,100 --> 00:15:57,410
Some VHS machines used this rather odd arrangement
whereby the pinch roller would be lifted up

307
00:15:57,410 --> 00:16:01,120
and out of the way so that the capstan could
be placed in front of the cassette.

308
00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:06,910
I have no idea why this arrangement was used
as it seems like it offers no practical advantage

309
00:16:06,910 --> 00:16:12,370
and also comes with increased mechanical complexity,
but it serves as an example of the fact that

310
00:16:12,370 --> 00:16:17,139
just because the standard of the format never
changed, doesn’t mean those specifications

311
00:16:17,139 --> 00:16:19,660
weren’t achieved in weird and wacky ways.

312
00:16:19,660 --> 00:16:22,050
But this one is a way more subtle.

313
00:16:22,050 --> 00:16:23,430
Is “a way more subtle curve”.

314
00:16:23,430 --> 00:16:25,680
That’s how the line should have been written.

315
00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,280
...they rightly knew that tape recording /time/...

316
00:16:28,290 --> 00:16:29,440
Tape /recording/ time.

317
00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:30,160
/Recording/ time.

318
00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:31,440
/Recording/ time.

319
00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:34,400
...that mattered at all because since… because
since!

320
00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:34,900
Because since!

321
00:16:34,900 --> 00:16:35,560
I said because and since!

322
00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:38,000
That’s because I’m not reading the line
as I wrote it.

323
00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:39,280
It YANK…

324
00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:40,580
(awkward pause).

325
00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:42,040
Oh.

326
00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:43,200
No I needed to read that!

327
00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:43,980
*silly noise*

328
00:16:43,980 --> 00:16:45,100
A light bulb on a steck.

329
00:16:45,100 --> 00:16:46,100
If...

330
00:16:46,100 --> 00:16:47,200
ON A STECK

331
00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,980
...the heads move and the drum remains the motionble eugh bleugh ble

332
00:16:52,180 --> 00:16:55,760
Usually I'd put a joke or something here, but it's No Effort November and I can't be bothered.

333
00:16:56,220 --> 00:16:57,760
Oooh, but is this a joke, then?

334
00:16:57,760 --> 00:16:59,820
That's an interesting conundrum.

335
00:16:59,820 --> 00:17:01,720
Not as interesting as, say, air travel though.

336
00:17:02,380 --> 00:17:03,820
That's some interesting stuff.