I need to find good one-to-three-paragraph accurate descriptions of
the following recording formats with comprehensive specifics about
their audio recording fidelity advantages compared to each other (not
just that audio recorded using Digital 8 is better than 8-track, but
exactly how and why).
 
VIDEO:  BETAMAX, BETAMAX-PAL, BETAMAX-SP, BETAMAX-SP-PAL, DV CAM,
DVCPRO, SVHS-NTSC, SVHS-PAL, DVD, 3/4", 1", 8mm, Hi8, Digital 8,
VHS-NTSC, VHS-SECAM, VHS-PAL, VHS-C
 
AUDIO:  DAT, CD, STANDARD AUDIO, MICRO AUDIO, MINI AUTO, DA-88,
MINIDISC
 
COMPUTER:  AVI, MOV, RA, WAV, WMF, MP2, MP3 
 
OLD:  VINYL 33 RPM, VINYL 45 RPM, VINYL 78 RPM, 8-TRACK 
 
The goal is to complete the descriptions found on
<a href="http://www.transcripts.net/formats.htm">http://www.transcripts.net/formats.htm</a> and to add the fidelity
comparisons.  All formats are required to fulfill this question.
 
A descriptive ranking of the formats from best to worst fidelity is
sought. 

Hi aarond144-

As you know, audio formats and compression techniques are highly
varied. I have put together the information that you requested.

A reasonably comprehensive comparison of audio formats (including the
audio from some video types) can be found at this site:
[ http://www.cs.tut.fi/~leopold/Ld/AudioFormats.html ]

In order of quality (best to worst): 
DAT: Digital Audio Tape with all three speeds. 
LD DD: NTSC laserdiscs with Dolby Digital encoding. 
CD/LD: CD and NTSC laserdisc digital sound (PAL LDs are similar to
NTSC LDs but the maximum playback time is 72 min).
DCC: Philips' Digital Compact Cassette (that can also play compact
cassettes).
MD: Sony's Mini Disk. 
VHS: Two versions of PAL VHS: Long Play with Hi-Fi tracks, and Short
Play without Hi-Fi tracks or stereo or Dolby NR.
TV: Two versions of PAL television broadcast: with NICAM digital audio
and with German A2 analog stereo.
Radio: Two versions of European radio: FM and AM. 
CC: Compact Cassette with three different noise reduction systems and
without them. It must be noted that the Dolby noise reduction system
only affects noise in the upper voice band, whereas DBX reduces noise
in the whole audible frequency range.
V8 Dig.: Digital sound of Video-8. 
LP: Long Play vinyl records. 
Phone: Telephone signals as transmitted in digital form. 
GSM: Digital GSM mobile telephone. 

Another site (which was down, but Google's cache saves the day) that
compares additional audio formats including .wav or .aiff, .au, .mpa
or .mp2, .wav, .gsm (GSM), .vmf (InterWave), .wav (TrueSpeech), .ra
(RealAudio) .vox (ToolVox). It also includes some definitions of the
compression/encoding formats:
[ http://216.239.37.100/search?q=cache:9iQhQOsYpxwC:www.sericyb.com.au/audio.html+audio+format+comparison&hl=en
]

Another collection of comparisons along with definitions can be found
here:
[ http://www.glump.net/docs/ASF%20vs%20MP3/ ]
Format                 Quality
------------------------------
WAV / 1400kbps            10
MP3 / 128kbps             10
MP3 / 88kbps VBR FhG      10    
MOV / 128kbps             10
RA  / 96kbps               9
MP3 / 98kbps VBR lame      9    
ASF / 128kbps              9
ASF / 64kbps               7
MOV / 64kbps               6
ASF / 32kbps               5
MOV / 48kbps               5
RA  / 45kbps               5
MP3 / 64kbps               5
ASF / 20kbps               4
MOV / 24kbps               4
RA  / 34kbps               4
RA  / 21kbps               2
MP3 / 22kbps               1

Additional descriptions of audio compression formats:
[ http://www.audioboxinc.com/compression.html ]
[ http://www.audioboxinc.com/audio.html ]
[ http://www.audioboxinc.com/images/graph.PDF ]


Many definitions and short paragraphs can be found on High-Tech
Productions site:
[http://www.high-techproductions.com/glossary.htm]

Definitions include the following:
BetaMax, BetaCam, BetaCam SP, 
Digital 8 [ http://www.high-techproductions.com/what's%20it%20all%20mean.htm
],
HI-8, 
Mini DV and DV Cam and DVC Pro 
    [ http://www.high-techproductions.com/dvFAQ.htm ],
NTSC 
PAL
S-VHS, VHS, VHS-C  


**BETAMAX-PAL, BETAMAX-SP-PAL,
**SVHS-NTSC, 

SVHS-PAL (224kbit/s audio), 

DVD uses MPEG2, AC3 audio compression 
[ http://www.vcdhelp.com/comparison.htm ]
[ http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.12 ]
[ http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#3.6.2 ]

I think that I have included all of the formats that you requested.
Please let me know if I am missing one (or more) and I will gladly
find additional information for you.

Google Searches:
audio format comparison
audio vinyl tape table comparison
betamax glossary

Thanks

mit

I was looking for a more detailed comparison.