DonLandis
05-26-06, 12:35 AM
Sony has finally killed the manufacture of its most successful professional tape format- Betacam SP. This month marked the final death blow to the UVW-1800 VCR edit recorder which was introduced ~ 1995 and turned the industry on end with a drastic lowering of the price of going into TV post production by lowering the cost 75%. This enabled broadcast quality production to spring up all over, making post suite editing at broadcast quality affordable. Today, Beta SP is still the most widely used tape format for Cable and network TV as well as industrial video production. The VCR's for beta SP were the top sellers in the industry until Sony decided to put that to an abrupt halt this month by discontinuing it's most popular VCR, the UVW-1800.
There is little news about this and most reports have been killed and links shut down. Few are aware of the discontinuing of this format by Sony. It caught me by surprise but today, fining a new UVW-1800 is near impossible and many of the used ones are beginning to jump in bid price.
Sony's only comment is that they needed to kill beta SP to bolster the sales of their beta SX format which has been poorly received in the industry. When introduced in the late 90's beta SX, pronounced beta SUCKS, was said to offer better tape reliability at betacam SP quality. It was to be the introduction of digital beta format for Sony for broadcast. It was trumped by DVCPRO25 due to cost and superiority. Even Sony's DVCAM, somewhat less robust than the DVCPRO25 beat out beta SX by a 50 to one factor in sales.
I believe that this attempt to bolster beta SX will end in a severe $$ loss to Sony. Instead, Sony devotees will flock to DVCAM and HDV format for their next upgrade, not beta SX.
Few today still shoot in betacam SP except for the networks who hire freelancers. Those still spec beta SP for their work for hire. Internal production, like I do are relying more and more on DVCAM and consumer mini DV for their acquisition. In the heat of the beta SP days, editing was done tape to tape with ABC roll suites using three betacam SP VTR's. I still own one of these suites and it still outputs 2 TV shows a week for one client. However, in the all digital world, TV production has moved to acquisition on digital tape, then digitize to a hard drive and then edit in non-linear on a desktop but more common today on a laptop! When the show is finished and approved it is output to beta SP for distribution.
Still beta SP is the distribution of choice today. The big question will now be- with beta SP officially dead, what will be the next distribution media format in the cable and broadcast industry? With all the different formats and the different ways content is moved, nobody really knows. Locally Comcast, I see can accept n ot just beta SP but also DVD, DVCAM, mini DV, SVHS, VHS, 3/4U, 1" and digi beta. Many, like Cablevision are quite limited and will accept only one format, like 3/4U and beta SP. It really depends on their setup. If server based they works with multiple formats, but if tape head end based they work with one format.
I recently just purchased two new betacam SP edit VCR's for my linear suite. I should be safe for a few years now. However, I doubt I'll get my money's worth from them like I did the first generation of machines I bought in 1996.
There is little news about this and most reports have been killed and links shut down. Few are aware of the discontinuing of this format by Sony. It caught me by surprise but today, fining a new UVW-1800 is near impossible and many of the used ones are beginning to jump in bid price.
Sony's only comment is that they needed to kill beta SP to bolster the sales of their beta SX format which has been poorly received in the industry. When introduced in the late 90's beta SX, pronounced beta SUCKS, was said to offer better tape reliability at betacam SP quality. It was to be the introduction of digital beta format for Sony for broadcast. It was trumped by DVCPRO25 due to cost and superiority. Even Sony's DVCAM, somewhat less robust than the DVCPRO25 beat out beta SX by a 50 to one factor in sales.
I believe that this attempt to bolster beta SX will end in a severe $$ loss to Sony. Instead, Sony devotees will flock to DVCAM and HDV format for their next upgrade, not beta SX.
Few today still shoot in betacam SP except for the networks who hire freelancers. Those still spec beta SP for their work for hire. Internal production, like I do are relying more and more on DVCAM and consumer mini DV for their acquisition. In the heat of the beta SP days, editing was done tape to tape with ABC roll suites using three betacam SP VTR's. I still own one of these suites and it still outputs 2 TV shows a week for one client. However, in the all digital world, TV production has moved to acquisition on digital tape, then digitize to a hard drive and then edit in non-linear on a desktop but more common today on a laptop! When the show is finished and approved it is output to beta SP for distribution.
Still beta SP is the distribution of choice today. The big question will now be- with beta SP officially dead, what will be the next distribution media format in the cable and broadcast industry? With all the different formats and the different ways content is moved, nobody really knows. Locally Comcast, I see can accept n ot just beta SP but also DVD, DVCAM, mini DV, SVHS, VHS, 3/4U, 1" and digi beta. Many, like Cablevision are quite limited and will accept only one format, like 3/4U and beta SP. It really depends on their setup. If server based they works with multiple formats, but if tape head end based they work with one format.
I recently just purchased two new betacam SP edit VCR's for my linear suite. I should be safe for a few years now. However, I doubt I'll get my money's worth from them like I did the first generation of machines I bought in 1996.