WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:00.130 --> 00:00:04.170
Hello! And welcome to the first video of 
No-Effort November!

00:00:04.170 --> 00:00:08.380
A series of videos for the month of November
where no effort is made.

00:00:08.380 --> 00:00:11.830
Today, we are doing another Beta and VHS comparison.

00:00:11.830 --> 00:00:16.300
But, unlike ye olde format war, we’re not
focusing on things like recording time,

00:00:16.300 --> 00:00:19.580
picture quality, or silliness of their respective
names.

00:00:19.580 --> 00:00:23.540
Instead, we are going to look at their actual
videocassettes,

00:00:23.540 --> 00:00:29.540
and I think you’ll find that the VHS cassette is a fair bit cleverer than that of Beta.

00:00:29.540 --> 00:00:33.640
I’ve made a lot of videos covering the format
war which can you check out through the card

00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:35.840
that should be popping up right about now,

00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:39.060
though YouTube seems to have problems lately getting the card to --

00:00:39.060 --> 00:00:40.590
oh, there it is.

00:00:40.590 --> 00:00:44.670
See, that joke might not have worked for some
of you because it actually didn’t appear!

00:00:44.670 --> 00:00:49.870
Anyway, there’s also a link in the description
for the inevitable case of the card not appearing.

00:00:49.870 --> 00:00:53.290
Now we just have to hope that I remembered
to put it there.

00:00:53.290 --> 00:00:57.710
Moving on then, I have a pair of almost-randomly-selected videocassette recorders in front of me.

00:00:57.710 --> 00:00:59.970
One of them is, of course, a VHS machine.

00:00:59.970 --> 00:01:01.760
And the other, is a Beta machine.

00:01:01.760 --> 00:01:05.719
Now, the age difference between these two
doesn’t matter because what we’re after

00:01:05.719 --> 00:01:10.259
in this here video is a closer look at the
way their tape transport mechanisms interact

00:01:10.260 --> 00:01:12.600
with the tape in the cassettes.

00:01:12.600 --> 00:01:16.440
Take a look at the bottom of a Beta cassette,
and you’ll see two sprocket holes, and a

00:01:16.450 --> 00:01:20.979
gaping triangular hole carving a nice little
canyon down towards the center.

00:01:20.979 --> 00:01:25.170
It annoys me very much that they didn’t
go all the way and instead made a trapezoid.

00:01:25.170 --> 00:01:26.579
Oh well.

00:01:26.580 --> 00:01:30.240
By the way, in North American English it is
indeed pronounced “bay-da”.

00:01:30.240 --> 00:01:31.960
Not “bee-tah."

00:01:31.969 --> 00:01:33.719
Feel free to comment on why we’re wrong.

00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:37.819
You’ll find the write-protect tab down here,
as well as a notch in the upper right which

00:01:37.820 --> 00:01:41.380
contains this little wedgey thing that unlocks
the lid of the cassette.

00:01:41.380 --> 00:01:47.319
A pokey thing inside the VCR pushes the wedgey
thing in, which unlocks the lid, and the action

00:01:47.319 --> 00:01:51.969
of the lid opening unlocks the spools of the
tape and allows them to rotate.

00:01:51.969 --> 00:01:55.929
This locking device makes it rather difficult
to open the lid with one’s hands, which

00:01:55.929 --> 00:02:01.389
arguably makes it a better design for protecting
the tape, but comes with the tragic downside

00:02:01.389 --> 00:02:04.840
of making the cassette a terrible fidgeting
device.

00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:08.980
Look at the bottom of a VHS cassette and you’ll
also find a pair of sprocket holes…

00:02:08.980 --> 00:02:11.940
which I realize... sprocket holes is not the correct
word.

00:02:11.940 --> 00:02:15.040
I believe I meant cogs for the tape reels.

00:02:15.040 --> 00:02:15.740
Anyway.

00:02:15.740 --> 00:02:20.140
And, you’ll also see a larger and wider
variety of other holes, including

00:02:20.140 --> 00:02:23.120
this one that you may have never even noticed before.

00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:24.780
Such subtlety.

00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:27.560
Notice how these two both have curves.

00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:31.620
This one accommodates the absolutely chunky
tape reels that JVC crammed in here because

00:02:31.620 --> 00:02:35.960
they, rightly, knew that recording time was
gonna be important.

00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:37.320
But this one is way more subtle.

00:02:37.320 --> 00:02:40.390
You’re gonna love what that curve is for
when I tell you.

00:02:40.390 --> 00:02:46.310
Now, we’ve also got this hole, which a spike
inside the VCR will rudely insert itself into,

00:02:46.310 --> 00:02:51.290
and that unlocks the tape reels, and this
bigger one is for lightbulbs on sticks which

00:02:51.290 --> 00:02:54.670
help the VCR detect when the end of the tape
has been reached.

00:02:54.670 --> 00:02:58.960
VHS cassettes have the lid unlocker placed
here, which is excellent because it makes

00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:01.440
the cassette a much better fidgeting device.

00:03:01.440 --> 00:03:05.180
Now, if you’ve drunk the Kool-Aid, you’ll
have undoubtedly been told that Beta was a

00:03:05.180 --> 00:03:10.020
much more well-engineered product, and that
VHS was just a sloppy knock-off.

00:03:10.020 --> 00:03:14.600
Well, I don’t know about you, but this gaping
hole sure seems to leave more of the tape

00:03:14.600 --> 00:03:16.480
exposed and vulnerable.

00:03:16.480 --> 00:03:21.300
Yeah there are these half-width guards that
help, a little, and you could totally still

00:03:21.300 --> 00:03:25.960
stick your fingers in the two larger holes
of a VHS cassette, but on the whole

00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:27.020
(pause with an obnoxious smirk)

00:03:27.020 --> 00:03:31.100
the VHS cassette seems to do
a better job protecting the precious tape.

00:03:31.100 --> 00:03:34.080
And all those holes are there for specific
purposes.

00:03:34.090 --> 00:03:36.560
Let’s now take a look at the VCRs.

00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:41.010
The first thing to know is that all videocassette
recorders will contain some sort of device

00:03:41.010 --> 00:03:42.560
that makes your heads spin.

00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:44.260
That’s the shiny silver drum

00:03:44.260 --> 00:03:45.060
here, and

00:03:45.060 --> 00:03:45.950
here.

00:03:45.950 --> 00:03:50.200
Of note is that the Beta drum is a fair bit
larger, which means that the speed the heads

00:03:50.200 --> 00:03:54.990
travel at is a little bit higher than that
of VHS, because both drums spin at the same

00:03:54.990 --> 00:03:56.640
rotational speed.

00:03:56.640 --> 00:04:00.140
This is one of the many reasons people would
tell you back in the ‘80s that Beta had

00:04:00.140 --> 00:04:01.380
a better picture quality.

00:04:01.380 --> 00:04:07.000
Which, from my admittedly decades-down-the-road
experience I find to be a fairly dubious claim

00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:12.450
(or at the very least, largely insignificant)
But ya know, better point it out!

00:04:12.450 --> 00:04:17.241
There are people out there who are still mad
that Beta didn’t win the format war, and

00:04:17.241 --> 00:04:20.540
it’s a fair bet they’ll let you know about
it in the space below this video.

00:04:20.540 --> 00:04:23.920
Anyway, while I do love pressing buttons,
let’s move on.

00:04:24.220 --> 00:04:28.200
♫ dubious and largely insignificant music ♫

00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:33.680
One thing that inevitably comes up whenever
I or presumably anybody makes a video comparing

00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:40.200
Beta and VHS is the fact that Beta continued
to be used in the professional market for decades.

00:04:40.200 --> 00:04:44.980
So, yes it failed in the consumer market but
because the professional market continued

00:04:44.990 --> 00:04:49.710
to use Beta we know that it was truly the
better product and consumers were idiots for

00:04:49.710 --> 00:04:51.180
backing VHS.

00:04:51.180 --> 00:04:55.180
Now, I will agree that consumers often make
silly choices.

00:04:55.180 --> 00:04:56.220
However!

00:04:56.220 --> 00:04:57.960
You are not talking about Betamax.

00:04:57.970 --> 00:04:59.580
You’re talking about Betacam.

00:04:59.580 --> 00:05:04.270
Betacam was the professional version of Betamax
which continued to be used for many decades

00:05:04.270 --> 00:05:05.880
after the format war ended.

00:05:05.880 --> 00:05:08.430
Now, I understand why you would confuse the
two.

00:05:08.430 --> 00:05:12.150
They’re both called “Beta something”
and in fact Betacam cassettes look an awful

00:05:12.150 --> 00:05:16.960
lot like this, some are identical in fact
(they just say Betacam, not Betamax) but they’re

00:05:16.960 --> 00:05:18.090
not the same formats.

00:05:18.090 --> 00:05:22.500
You can’t play a Betacam tape in a home
Beta VCR and expect anything good to come

00:05:22.500 --> 00:05:24.910
out of it, if anything at all.

00:05:24.910 --> 00:05:28.900
Betacam continued to be updated through the
years, in fact it was eventually moved to

00:05:28.900 --> 00:05:31.250
HD and even digital signals.

00:05:31.250 --> 00:05:38.130
So, yes, Betacam did keep going in the professional
realm but it is very much only tangentially

00:05:38.130 --> 00:05:40.030
related to Betamax.

00:05:40.030 --> 00:05:42.060
Anyway, let’s continue.

00:05:42.060 --> 00:05:46.220
Both of these machines have to get the tape
out of the cassette, and make sure it touches

00:05:46.230 --> 00:05:48.040
a laundry list of items.

00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:52.590
Of course, it needs to wrap at least 180 degrees
around the head drum, but it also needs to

00:05:52.590 --> 00:05:57.460
pass by the erase head, the audio and tracking
heads, and in the case of the Beta machine,

00:05:57.460 --> 00:06:00.070
these two sensors (which I will explain shortly).

00:06:00.070 --> 00:06:04.970
Now, with a cassette in place, but not yet
threaded, you’ll immediately see a few differences

00:06:04.970 --> 00:06:06.800
between these formats.

00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:11.500
First is that the head drum on the Beta machine
is quite a bit farther away from the cassette

00:06:11.500 --> 00:06:13.040
than the VHS drum.

00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:17.419
You’ll also notice that there’s a not-insignificant
amount of space behind it as well.

00:06:17.419 --> 00:06:21.960
The VHS transport was always a fair bit more
compact than that of Beta, and while in the

00:06:21.960 --> 00:06:27.560
early days of the format war it’s not like
that mattered at all since the machines were massive,

00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:33.800
in our soon-to-happen lust for miniaturization
this would prove kind of annoying for Sony.

00:06:33.800 --> 00:06:38.199
While their Betamovie camcorder solved that
problem in a very clever (though incredibly

00:06:38.199 --> 00:06:44.400
compromised) fashion, VHS enjoyed a more compact
mechanism from day one, perhaps somewhat ironic

00:06:44.400 --> 00:06:47.970
when you consider that the cassette itself
is significantly larger.

00:06:47.970 --> 00:06:53.340
But then again, that larger cassette allowed
them to create the VHS-C format and use simple

00:06:53.340 --> 00:06:56.060
adapters for use in full-size VCRs.

00:06:56.060 --> 00:06:59.760
Anyway, the component I deliberately left
out of the discussion of all the things the

00:06:59.760 --> 00:07:03.699
tape needs to pass through so I could save
that for right now is the capstan.

00:07:03.699 --> 00:07:08.690
Tape-based formats generally use Captain Stan
over here to move the tape through the transport

00:07:08.690 --> 00:07:09.830
at a steady speed.

00:07:09.830 --> 00:07:14.370
A rubber pinch roller will squeeze the tape
between itself and the capstan, and the constant

00:07:14.370 --> 00:07:18.570
rotational speed of the capstan in turn causes
the tape to move through the transport at

00:07:18.570 --> 00:07:20.120
a constant linear speed.

00:07:20.120 --> 00:07:24.330
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.

00:07:29.410 --> 00:07:32.600
On Beta, it’s way the frick over there for
some reason.

00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:34.700
And its pinch roller is nowhere to be found.

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Ah!

00:07:35.910 --> 00:07:37.890
Now we’re getting to the point of this video.

00:07:37.890 --> 00:07:43.520
See, Beta and VHS used entirely different
methods of removing the tape from the cassette shell.

00:07:43.520 --> 00:07:46.460
VHS uses what’s called an M-load.

00:07:46.460 --> 00:07:48.540
The two largest holes on the bottom of the
cassette

00:07:48.540 --> 00:07:49.500
(manages to completely miss)

00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:50.160
-- those two --

00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:51.780
allow these two moveable

00:07:51.780 --> 00:07:55.759
tape guides to slip behind the tape when it’s
lowered on top of them.

00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:59.759
When the transport is engaged, these move
towards the rear of the machine, looping the

00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:04.300
tape around the drum, and a little helper
will usually swing out once the guides have

00:08:04.300 --> 00:08:07.500
passed it to pull the tape against the erase
head.

00:08:07.500 --> 00:08:13.330
Since this kinda-sorta forms the shape of
the letter M, the name M-load was chosen.

00:08:13.330 --> 00:08:18.400
Now, going back to Beta, look around a little
harder and you’ll eventually find the pinch roller…

00:08:18.400 --> 00:08:19.120
here.

00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:21.320
Nowhere near the capstan.

00:08:21.320 --> 00:08:24.220
In a Beta machine, the pinch roller does double
duty.

00:08:24.220 --> 00:08:28.360
Just as the VHS cassette gets lowered on top
of the tape guides, the Beta cassette is lowered

00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:29.800
on top of the pinch roller.

00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:32.560
When it’s time to get the tape out of the
cassette, it

00:08:32.560 --> 00:08:35.800
(along with the tape guides flanking it on either side)

00:08:35.800 --> 00:08:38.340
YANKS OUT about a mile
of tape

00:08:38.340 --> 00:08:42.500
and makes a very, and literal, roundabout trip to the capstan.

00:08:42.500 --> 00:08:46.300
Once it’s there, a little lever dude will
put pressure on the pinch roller, pushing

00:08:46.300 --> 00:08:50.280
it against the capstan, and now the tape can
be moved through the mechanism.

00:08:50.280 --> 00:08:55.000
This loading mechanism is essentially just
a miniaturized version of the U-load system

00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:57.420
Sony devised for their earlier U-matic.

00:08:57.420 --> 00:09:01.500
You see, if you look at this from overhead,
you’ll find that the tape makes the shape

00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:03.080
of the letter U.

00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:09.230
Now, somehow, this got named the B-load system
when it was moved to Betamax, and it’s said

00:09:09.230 --> 00:09:14.960
that the name Betamax came from the fact that
this resembles the greek letter Beta.

00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:19.180
I am to this day baffled by that anecdote,

00:09:19.180 --> 00:09:25.940
as I cannot seem, no matter how I try, to imagine this shape as reminiscent of that shape.

00:09:25.940 --> 00:09:27.400
But whatever.

00:09:27.400 --> 00:09:30.720
So, there are two things worthy of note, or
noteworthy.

00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:35.440
First is this explains why the hole on the Beta cassette is so fricken big

00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:40.110
as the rather large pinch roller and
those tape guides all need to fit behind the

00:09:40.110 --> 00:09:41.630
tape in that space.

00:09:41.630 --> 00:09:46.230
And second is that once the tape has been
removed from the cassette, none of the tape

00:09:46.230 --> 00:09:49.310
transport components are very close to it
at all.

00:09:49.310 --> 00:09:53.110
Sony designed the Beta cassette as just a
container of tape.

00:09:53.110 --> 00:09:57.750
The machine removes it from the box, and from
that point on it might as well not exist.

00:09:57.750 --> 00:10:00.560
But the VHS cassette is much more clever.

00:10:00.560 --> 00:10:03.910
It is designed to become *part* of the tape
transport.

00:10:03.910 --> 00:10:07.459
The fact that the head drum is closer to the
cassette is no coincidence.

00:10:07.459 --> 00:10:09.270
Everything is closer to the cassette.

00:10:09.270 --> 00:10:11.810
And some things are even inside of it.

00:10:11.810 --> 00:10:16.110
That small hole up there is designed to accommodate
the capstan.

00:10:16.110 --> 00:10:21.600
When the cassette falls down into the loaded
position, the capstan is already behind the tape.

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

00:10:26.529 --> 00:10:29.290
without rubbing against the cassette itself.

00:10:29.290 --> 00:10:31.420
Such an elegant solution!

00:10:31.420 --> 00:10:35.850
In this particular machine we find a rather
small pinch roller, and an additional tape

00:10:35.850 --> 00:10:38.460
guide occupies the curved space.

00:10:38.460 --> 00:10:41.640
And of course, let’s not forget about the
lightbulb on a stick!

00:10:41.640 --> 00:10:45.440
If you’ve got much of any experience with
a VHS cassette you’ll have undoubtedly noticed

00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:49.010
that the tape leaders, that’s the bit of
tape at each end that’s meant to be a little

00:10:49.010 --> 00:10:52.300
stronger to protect it from breaking, 
are clear.

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

00:10:57.250 --> 00:11:00.450
two smaller holes hiding under the cassette
lid.

00:11:00.450 --> 00:11:04.460
Light sensors that sit right next to these
holes will see the light pass through the

00:11:04.460 --> 00:11:07.100
cassette when the end of the tape has (been) (but he didn't say been) reached.

00:11:07.100 --> 00:11:09.310
That’s pretty clever, if you ask me.

00:11:09.310 --> 00:11:14.380
A newer machine like this will instead use
a couple of infrared LEDs on a stick.

00:11:14.380 --> 00:11:15.220
Still.

00:11:15.220 --> 00:11:16.360
Same concept.

00:11:16.370 --> 00:11:19.260
Beta, meanwhile, went much more old-school.

00:11:19.260 --> 00:11:23.030
The tape leaders on a Beta cassette are not
clear, but metallic.

00:11:23.030 --> 00:11:28.240
Located near both ends of the tape transport
are what basically amount to metal detectors,

00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:30.380
and these sense the end of the tape.

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

00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:37.060
in Betamax.

00:11:37.060 --> 00:11:40.120
While we’re talking about the differences
in tape handling, I’d like to address a

00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:43.520
claim made by some of the Betamax loyalists
out there.

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

00:11:48.540 --> 00:11:52.420
a VHS machine where the tape has to make two
180 degree turns,

00:11:52.420 --> 00:11:56.420
“there are no sharp curves in Beta”.

00:11:56.420 --> 00:11:58.610
Excuse me, but what is this?

00:11:58.610 --> 00:12:01.290
That looks darn near like a 180 to me.

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.

00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:09.820
Sure, maybe you wanna call that a 180, but

00:12:09.820 --> 00:12:12.800
let’s count the places where the tape touches something.

00:12:12.800 --> 00:12:14.340
First, beta;

00:12:14.340 --> 00:12:15.020
One.

00:12:15.020 --> 00:12:15.800
Two.

00:12:15.800 --> 00:12:16.540
Three.

00:12:16.540 --> 00:12:17.280
Four.

00:12:17.280 --> 00:12:18.020
Five.

00:12:18.020 --> 00:12:18.760
Six.

00:12:18.760 --> 00:12:19.560
Seven.

00:12:19.560 --> 00:12:20.220
Eight.

00:12:20.220 --> 00:12:21.020
Nine.

00:12:21.020 --> 00:12:21.740
Ten.

00:12:21.740 --> 00:12:22.560
Eleven.

00:12:22.560 --> 00:12:23.320
Twelve.

00:12:23.320 --> 00:12:24.380
Thirteen.

00:12:24.380 --> 00:12:25.700
Fourteen.

00:12:25.700 --> 00:12:26.780
And now VHS;

00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:28.100
One.

00:12:28.100 --> 00:12:28.800
Two.

00:12:28.800 --> 00:12:29.580
Three.

00:12:29.580 --> 00:12:30.360
Four.

00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:31.180
Five.

00:12:31.180 --> 00:12:32.020
Six.

00:12:32.020 --> 00:12:32.720
Seven.

00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:33.420
Eight.

00:12:33.420 --> 00:12:34.340
Nine.

00:12:34.340 --> 00:12:34.980
Ten.

00:12:34.980 --> 00:12:35.980
Eleven.

00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:36.500
Now.

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?

00:12:40.760 --> 00:12:41.520
No.

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?

00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:47.920
Yes.

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.

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

00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:02.960
on a Beta machine, only the heads spin and
the drum itself remains motionless.

00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:05.400
This was another thing brought up in favor
of Beta,

00:13:05.400 --> 00:13:08.040
since obviously that’s better for the tape.

00:13:08.040 --> 00:13:09.670
But I think this is actually wrong.

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,

00:13:14.830 --> 00:13:17.860
meaning that the tape actually just floats
above it.

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

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

00:13:29.019 --> 00:13:35.010
see on this Beta machine that, after years
of tape dragging across the motionless drum,

00:13:35.010 --> 00:13:38.060
its surface has actually been polished a little
bit.

00:13:38.060 --> 00:13:40.120
That can’t be good for the tape.

00:13:40.130 --> 00:13:44.950
Regardless of the particulars, there is certainly
a delicious irony to the fact that the Beta

00:13:44.950 --> 00:13:47.060
transport works like this.

00:13:47.060 --> 00:13:49.350
Beta cassettes are smaller, right?

00:13:49.350 --> 00:13:51.670
And they contain less tape, right?

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.

00:13:56.880 --> 00:14:00.440
And no, it wasn’t pornography, that’s
a myth.

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

00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:09.950
stop saying “Sony wouldn’t allow porn”
because that’s nonsense and easily disproved.

00:14:09.950 --> 00:14:10.760
Anyway.

00:14:10.760 --> 00:14:14.280
For a system so short on tape, you’d think
that this

00:14:14.280 --> 00:14:18.060
“let’s just yank out all the tape!” method would have been avoided.

00:14:18.060 --> 00:14:20.880
Want to see exactly how much more tape the
Beta machine

00:14:20.880 --> 00:14:22.540
needs just to make it through the transport?

00:14:22.540 --> 00:14:23.040
Great!

00:14:23.040 --> 00:14:23.940
So do I!

00:14:23.940 --> 00:14:26.960
Let’s just do a little snip snip and compare.

00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:28.360
Just look at the difference!

00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:29.460
The Beta machine needs

00:14:29.460 --> 00:14:30.420
(obviously recorded later) 
TWELVE

00:14:30.420 --> 00:14:31.880
more inches of tape!

00:14:31.880 --> 00:14:32.740
That’s about

00:14:32.740 --> 00:14:33.520
(again, recorded later) 
THIRTY

00:14:33.520 --> 00:14:34.550
centimeters!

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

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

00:14:43.829 --> 00:14:47.670
whole return path can never be recorded onto
at the start of a tape.

00:14:47.670 --> 00:14:51.820
Now, since that’s obviously a tiny portion
of the overall tape in the cassette,

00:14:51.820 --> 00:14:53.470
does it really matter?

00:14:53.470 --> 00:14:53.960
No!

00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:55.020
Of course not!

00:14:55.020 --> 00:14:56.020
None of this matters!

00:14:56.100 --> 00:14:58.460
We’re talking about two dead formats here
as if

00:14:58.460 --> 00:15:01.360
their pros and cons matter in the slightest in 2019!

00:15:01.680 --> 00:15:02.240
They don’t!

00:15:02.500 --> 00:15:03.040
It’s over!

00:15:03.300 --> 00:15:03.860
It’s done!

00:15:04.180 --> 00:15:04.880
It’s history!

00:15:05.140 --> 00:15:08.000
If you bought a Beta machine, feel free to
keep being smug about it.

00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:11.360
But you backed the wrong horse, oh well, life
sucks sometimes.

00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:14.000
Now, where’s my HD-DVD player?

00:15:14.940 --> 00:15:17.720
♫ second-rate smooth jazz ♫

00:15:19.880 --> 00:15:20.460
Hey there.

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

00:15:25.370 --> 00:15:29.019
VHS machines that used a U-load system like
Betamax.

00:15:29.019 --> 00:15:31.680
If memory serves they were all made by Philips.

00:15:31.680 --> 00:15:35.440
Whether there were any Beta machines that
used an M-load, I’m not sure.

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

00:15:40.110 --> 00:15:44.829
few third-party manufacturers there were making
Beta machines compared to VHS.

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)

00:15:49.350 --> 00:15:52.100
would put all the components in the same places.

00:15:52.100 --> 00:15:57.410
Some VHS machines used this rather odd arrangement
whereby the pinch roller would be lifted up

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.

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

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

00:16:12.370 --> 00:16:17.139
just because the standard of the format never
changed, doesn’t mean those specifications

00:16:17.139 --> 00:16:19.660
weren’t achieved in weird and wacky ways.

00:16:19.660 --> 00:16:22.050
But this one is a way more subtle.

00:16:22.050 --> 00:16:23.430
Is “a way more subtle curve”.

00:16:23.430 --> 00:16:25.680
That’s how the line should have been written.

00:16:25.680 --> 00:16:28.280
...they rightly knew that tape recording /time/...

00:16:28.290 --> 00:16:29.440
Tape /recording/ time.

00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:30.160
/Recording/ time.

00:16:30.440 --> 00:16:31.440
/Recording/ time.

00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:34.400
...that mattered at all because since… because
since!

00:16:34.400 --> 00:16:34.900
Because since!

00:16:34.900 --> 00:16:35.560
I said because and since!

00:16:35.560 --> 00:16:38.000
That’s because I’m not reading the line
as I wrote it.

00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:39.280
It YANK…

00:16:39.680 --> 00:16:40.580
(awkward pause).

00:16:41.240 --> 00:16:42.040
Oh.

00:16:42.040 --> 00:16:43.200
No I needed to read that!

00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:43.980
*silly noise*

00:16:43.980 --> 00:16:45.100
A light bulb on a steck.

00:16:45.100 --> 00:16:46.100
If...

00:16:46.100 --> 00:16:47.200
ON A STECK

00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:50.980
...the heads move and the drum remains the motionble eugh bleugh ble

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.

00:16:56.220 --> 00:16:57.760
Oooh, but is this a joke, then?

00:16:57.760 --> 00:16:59.820
That's an interesting conundrum.

00:16:59.820 --> 00:17:01.720
Not as interesting as, say, air travel though.

00:17:02.380 --> 00:17:03.820
That's some interesting stuff.