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When Sony announced Betafi-fi stereo it was a big deal. Here was something that the competition could not duplicate. Their drum was too small and the subsequent signal area not large enough to allow for inserting the sound within the video information, as BetaHi-Fi does. VHS was down, but not out. Instead Mitsushita came up with a clever, but flawed system of imbedding the audio beneath the video signal. Audio is recorded first with a pair of separate heads then the video is placed on top of it by another set of heads. Since audio is different in frequency characteristics the two signals didn't interfere with each other. It matched the Betafi-fi system with similar sound quality but it came with several downsides. Two more heads had to be added to those already in the drum for the video. In some cases this meant as many as six heads (if the machine had special effects like noiseless still pause, etc.). This added to the cost and promoted tape wear, something VHS already was prone to doing. Also after time that additional wear factor would cause the stereo audio to disappear, dropping away from wear so to speak (ask any video rental store owner) so the really high end models would need linear stereo as well, This was sort of a back up, and it added to the cost. It was a inferior system but since the public didn't much care or understand about quality issues, and really just want to rent and watch tapes, most anything was okay as long as it was readily available and didn't require an education in recording. So back to the tape introducing Betafi-fi. It explains in the broadest of terms that Sony had created a way to deliver near perfect stereo audio sound to the consumer, rivaling that of digital recording in quality. The presentation briefly explains what it means to the consumer, with prerecorded movies and music videos as the incentive to go with Beta as your format of choice. Running time approx. eight minutes. To go back to the tape display panel click here. ©Misterßetamax go to homepage |