Dear researcher,
I would like to know more about the format Beta and digibeta. Is this
a fileformat or a type of band like vcr?

If it is a fileformat, which programs can you use to convert files to it?
If it is a type of band, what file format does it use?
Is there a specific resolution related to it? Must there be a specific
resolution in order to broadcast files?
What is so special about beta/digibeta?

Most likley I will have a few easy follow up questions I would want answered.

---

Clarification of Question by puppetmaster-ga on 12 Feb 2004 00:55 PST

TV-channels want material they use for broadcasting to be in
beta/digibeta, I doubt they mean the old betamax format. Or am I
totally wrong?

Sony's Betamax and VHS were initially the two competing formats for VCR.

Betamax was supposedly better so I opted for that on my first VCR, circa 1978.

However, VHS won the battle for the domestic business and I changed to
VHS, within 10 years.

The professional version of Betamax has survived as the preferred
medium for professional uses.

There's got to be a way of converting VHS (if that's what you have) to
other formats but I don't know how.

And that, of course, is precisely the purpose of your question.

Sorry but I've exhausted the limit of my strictly limited understanding.

Hi puppet,

If you want to know more about betamax players and the history of the
tape format, you could checkout these sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax (good links to more info as well)

http://www.betainfoguide.com/indexnew.html

To learn more about Betacam format:
http://betacam.palsite.com/

And here's a quote from http://www.ingenioustv.co.uk/Digibeta.htm
about Digibeta: Digibeta is a Digital format that uses mild 2:1
compression to record the full 4:2:2 component video signal on half
inch tape. It has 4 digital audio channels (2 only on most cameras) as
well as time code and cue tracks. Camera tapes run for up to 42
minutes and studio tapes run for up to 124 minutes.

In anycase, when you talk about beta - it's a tape "format", not a fileformat :)

So you could i.e. have a .mov file on a digibeta tape?