video

Betacam IMX or MPEG

MPEG IMX was developed in 2001 as part of the Digital Betacam format. Digital video uses H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2 encoding at a higher bitrate than the Betacam SX, 30 Mbit/s or 40 Mbit/s or 50 Mbit/s. This format stores video using a 4:2:2 colour space.

The tapes come in small and large sized cassettes and are a muted green with IMX label. S tapes will hold up to 60 minutes and L tapes will hold up to 184 minutes.

How can we help?
We can digitize your tapes onto a harddrive or flashdrive so you can view them or re-purpose them. Contact us today.

DVCAM

DVCAM is a variation of the DV format aimed at the semi-professional market.  DVCAM uses the same type of tape and compression as DV and miniDV but at a higher speed.

Following is an image of the different size of DV tapes that we transfer:

Digibeta or Digital Betacam

Digital Betacam or DigiBeta or Digi was launched in 1993 and it supercedes Betacam and Betacam SP.  S tapes can hold up to 40 minutes and L tapes can hold up to 124 minutes.
Digital Betacam format records 10 bit signal YUV 4:2:2 sampling in NTSC (720×486) at a bit rate of 90 Mbit/s plus four channels of uncompressed 48 kHz / 20 bit PCM digital audio.  The format was and is popular with broadcast facilities.

Video8

Video8 or 8mm video followed the VHS tapes.  These 8mm cassettes are 10 cm X 7 cm X 2cm.  8mm video tapes are better quality than the old VHS tapes.  The 8mm video cassettes were common from around the mid 1980′s to the early 2000′s.  During these years the 8mm video cassettes started as 8mm video or Video8, then Hi8 was introduced, and finally an 8mm digital format called Digital8 was introduced.  These 8mm video tapes were almost exclusively used in camcorders.  Very few 8mm video decks were ever made and those that were made were not cheap.  The lack of 8mm decks has caused a major problem for consumers.  Most consumers used their 8mm video camcorders to show their videos.  However, as time goes on, very few of these camcorders are still in working order and therefore the 8mm video tapes can no longer be viewed.

How can we help you?

We can transfer any 8mm video format to DVD, Blu-Ray, or harddrive.  Although, the urgency to transfer these onto new media is not as great as VHS tapes, one should still consider transferring these as soon as possible.  8mm video or Hi8 or Digital8 are all made of magnetic tape and magnetic tape does deteriorate over time.  Many of these Video8, Hi8, or Digital8 tapes contain treasured memories that should be shared.

BetacamSX

Betacam SX was introduced around 1996 as a digital version of Betacam SP and positioned as a cheaper option to Digital Betacam. The MPEG format compressed the video signal to about 18 Mbit/s. This format stores video using a 4:2:2 colour space.

The tapes come in small and large sized cassettes and are a bright yellow with BETACAM SX label. S tapes will hold up to 62 minutes and L tapes will hold up to 194 minutes.

As recent as 2011, SX tapes were still being used in some broadcast environments such as CNN, CBC, and CTV, etc.

How can we help?
We can digitize your tapes onto a harddrive or flashdrive so you can view them or re-purpose them. Contact us today.

DVC-PRO

DVCPRO, also known as DVCPRO25, is a variation of DV developed by Panasonic and introduced in 1995 for use in electronic news gathering (ENG) equipment.

Unlike baseline DV, DVCPRO uses locked audio and 4:1:1 chroma subsampling for both 50 Hz and 60 Hz variants to decrease generation losses. Audio is available in 16-bit/48 kHz precision.

When recorded to tape, DVCPRO uses wider track pitch – 18 μm vs. 10 μm of baseline DV, which reduces the chance of dropout errors when video is being recorded to tape. Two extra longitudinal tracks provide support for audio cue and for timecode control. Tape is transported 80% faster compared to baseline DV, resulting in shorter recording time. Long Play mode is not available.

Betamax I, II, III

Betamax tapes were a competitive tape to VHS tapes.  Betamax is a consumer tape that was primarily used outside of North America.  Betamax quality is superior to VHS tapes.  The Betamax tape cassette is smaller than the VHS tape cassette.  The Betamax cassette measures 16 cm X 9.5 cm X 2.5 cm, which is about 3 cm shorter and 1 cm narrower than the VHS cassette.  Betamax should not be confused with the professional broadcast version, Betacam or Betacam SP.

Betamax comes in three different versions, BI, BII, and BIII.

How Can We Help?

We can transfer your Betamax video tape to DVD or harddrive or whatever.  Like VHS video tape, Betamax tape is also degrading and we strongly recommend that the Betamax tape be transferred now.  Many Betamax tapes we transfer are showing their age and once the quality is lost, it is gone forever.

Please don’t wait, contact us today to see how we can help.

VHS-C

VHS-C is the compact VHS videocassette format introduced in 1982 and used primarily for consumer-grade compact analog recording camcorders. The format is based on the same video tape as is used in VHS, and can be played back in a standard VHS VCR with an adapter. Though quite inexpensive, the format is largely obsolete even as a consumer standard and has been replaced in the marketplace by digital video formats, which have smaller form factors.

The magnetic tape on VHS-C cassettes is wound on one main spool and used a gear wheel which moves the tape forward. It can also be moved by hand. This development hampered the sales of the Betamax system somewhat, because the Betamax cassette geometry prevented a similar development.

Digital8

8mm video followed the VHS tapes.  These 8mm cassettes are 10 cm X 7 cm X 2cm.  8mm video tapes are better quality than the old VHS tapes.  The 8mm video cassettes were common from around the mid 1980′s to the early 2000′s.  During these years the 8mm video cassettes started as 8mm video or Video8, then Hi8 was introduced, and finally an 8mm digital format called Digital8 was introduced.  These 8mm video tapes were almost exclusively used in camcorders.  Very few 8mm video decks were ever made and those that were made were not cheap.  The lack of 8mm decks has caused a major problem for consumers.  Most consumers used their 8mm video camcorders to show their videos.  However, as time goes on, very few of these camcorders are still in working order and therefore the 8mm video tapes can no longer be viewed.

S-VHS or SVHS

S-VHS (for Super VHS) is an improved version of the VHS standard for consumer-level analog recording videocassettes. JVC introduced the new standard in Japan in April 1987 with the HR-S7000 VCR, and in certain overseas markets soon afterward.

S-VHS may have two different channels of stereo audio, the standard stereo and a Hi-Fi stereo.

miniDVD

What are MiniDVD’s

This disc is basically a mini version of your standard DVD.  The miniDVD measures about 3 inches (8 cm) in diameter whereas a standard DVD measures 4.75 inches (12 cm) in diameter.  MiniDVD’s are used primarily in miniDVD camcorders.  The camcorders record directly to these discs. Typically the discs hold about 30 minutes worth of video.

Issues with these discs

  1. The number one issue with these discs is that people are not aware that these discs need to be finalized before they can be removed from the camcorder and used in other players.  The discs will play-back fine in the camcorder, but if they are not finalized in the camcorder they will not play back in any other machine.  It is strongly recommended that be finalized in the original camcorder or finalization may not work.
  2. Another issue we have found common with these discs is corruption.  Of every 10 discs that we transferred, one will be corrupt and not readable or not able to finalize.
  3. Many of the discs we found have drop outs where certain areas of the disc cannot be read.  We’ve found that 50 to 60% of the discs have a least one read error and maybe more.

What Can We Do For You?

  1. Corrupt discs: We have been successful in recovering at least most of every corrupt disc that we’ve transferred.  This process is however very time intensive.
  2. Not finalized: We had customers that have non-finalized miniDVD’s and cannot get the original camcorder to finalize the disc, some have borrowed the camcorder and cannot get it again, and for some the camcorder is broken.  Whatever the reason, we can extract all the video and audio information from the disc and create a new DVD.
  3. We can transfer the miniDVD to a standard DVD.

Hi8 Video

To counter the introduction of the Super-VHS format, Sony introduced Video Hi8 (short for high-band Video8). Like S-VHS, Hi8 used improved recorder electronics and media formulation to increase the recorded bandwidth of the luminance signal. Both Hi8 and S-VHS were officially rated at a  of 400 lines, a vast improvement from their respective base formats and are roughly equal to laserdisc quality. Chroma resolution for both remain unchanged.

To convert Hi8 into modern media, please contact us here.

3/4" U-matic & U-matic SP

Years Used: 1971 – early 1990′s

History (highlight summary):

  • 3/4″ U-Matic             1970
  • 3/4″ U-Matic SP        1986

Formats: low-band, high-band, SP

This format was introduced by Sony in 1971.  Although introduced as a consumer tape, it actually caught on more as a Pro tape.  By the mid ’70′s TV stations started using it.  There was also a U-Matic S format (max 20 mins) like the VHS-C tapes….designed for the portable units.  Many of the newer frontloading machines can accept the S format tapes without an adaptor (earlier top loading ones required an adaptor).  By the early 90′s Betacam SP had more-or-less replaced U-matic.

Over the years improved video deck machines and format changes provided the following Improvements:

  • TBC circuitry….drop out compensation.
  • Dolby noise reduction
  • SP (superior performance) technology…improved video picture

How To Identify The Tape:

The cassette of a U-matic or U-matic SP video tape are the same size.  The cassette comes in a large and small size.  The cassettes are thicker than a VHS tape and thinner than a Betacam tape.  Dimensions for a large tape are: 21.9 cm X 13.7 cm X 3 cm and a small tape are: 18.5 cm X 12 cm x 3 cm.

To convert it into modern media, please contact us here.

VHS Tape


VHS (Video Home System) tapes is one of the most popular video formats around.  Many of us stored many treasured memories on these tapes.  Unfortunately many of did not realize that the VHS tape is an extremely poor media to store anything on for a long term.  Sadly we have come across customers who transferred their precious films, film being a very superior media, to VHS tapes and then be advised to throw out the films now that the films are on VHS tape.

What To Do Now?

If you have any memories on VHS tape that have not been transferred to another media, transfer them NOW!  Even with our professional equipment we cannot recover VHS tapes where the information is gone.   Fortunately, most VHS tapes still have most of the information on them, it’s just that the image is not what it used to be.

Again the quality of the image left on the VHS tape has to do with a number of factors some of which are:

  • The original VHS tape quality, was this a cheap tape or a quality tape to start with.
  • How was the VHS tape stored?  Was the VHS tape upright (best) or lying flat.
  • How often were the VHS tapes played….too often wears the VHS tape, and not often enough can have the VHS tape layers stick together.
  • Was the tape rewound (best)?
  • Was the tape damaged?

Urgently call us to see what we can do to help get your VHS tapes transferred.  Even if the tape is damaged, contact us first before further damage occurs.