newlin@ihuxe.UUCP (Doug Newlin) (11/11/85)
Recently, VCRs have improved their picture for the first time since they became available in 1975. BETA was first (as usual) with their 20% frequency response improvement (aka "Super-BETA"). VHS later announced their "HQ" improvements, mainly achieved through improved filtering (i.e., they improved their Chroma and Luminance noise levels by adding two adjacent lines together giving them twice the signal strength (amplitude) whereas the noise (which is considered random) is only increased by the square root of two (1.4). Hence, an improved Signal/Noise. HQ also raises the White Clip level to approx. 200% (although this is still reportedly lower than BETA's white clip level). I just recently traded my Sony SL-2710 Beta Hi-Fi in on Sony's HF-900 Super-Beta Hi-Fi, and am quite impressed with the improvement in the Video. The HF-900's slow speed (BETA III) recordings look as good as my former 2710's fast speed (BETA II) recordings ! The built in MTS decoder, along with the special effects "shuttle ring" round this VCR out as the best BETA VCR I've seen. Now, what I would like to know is has anyone been able to compare the Super-BETA picture with the HQ VHS ? My understanding is that JVC has already released some of its VCRs with the White Clip improvement, and will soon release the "full" HQ "package". I would think that BETA would be able to incorporate the HQ improvements quite easily, whereas I have heard that VHS cannot raise their frequency response and be compatible with present VHS machines. If this is true, has anyone heard of any plans by the BETA group to incorporate any/all of the HQ improvements ? Also, as a footnote, the HF-900 Super-BETA is completely compatible with non-Super-BETA VCRs that I have encountered. That is, non-Super-BETA recordings play perfectly on the Super-BETA VCR and Super-BETA recordings play perfectly on non-Super-BETA VCRs. Of course, I could not test out every BETA VCR, but the ones I did test played just fine.
newlin@ihuxe.UUCP (Doug Newlin) (11/11/85)
Recently, VCRs have improved their picture for the first time since they became available in 1975. BETA was first (as usual) with their 20% frequency response improvement (aka "Super-BETA"). VHS later announced their "HQ" improvements, mainly achieved through improved filtering (i.e., they improved their Chroma and Luminance noise levels by adding two adjacent lines together giving them twice the signal strength (amplitude) whereas the noise (which is considered random) is only increased by the square root of two (1.4). Hence, an improved Signal/Noise. HQ also raises the White Clip level to approx. 200% (although this is still reportedly lower than BETA's white clip level). I just recently traded my Sony SL-2710 Beta Hi-Fi in on Sony's HF-900 Super-Beta Hi-Fi, and am quite impressed with the improvement in the Video. The HF-900's slow speed (BETA III) recordings look as good as my former 2710's fast speed (BETA II) recordings ! The built in MTS decoder, along with the special effects "shuttle ring" round this VCR out as the best BETA VCR I've seen. Now, what I would like to know is has anyone been able to compare the Super-BETA picture with the HQ VHS ? My understanding is that JVC has already released some of its VCRs with the White Clip improvement, and will soon release the "full" HQ "package". I would think that BETA would be able to incorporate the HQ improvements quite easily, whereas I have heard that VHS cannot raise their frequency response and be compatible with present VHS machines. If this is true, has anyone heard of any plans by the BETA group to incorporate any/all of the HQ improvements ? Also, as a footnote, the HF-900 Super-BETA is completely compatible with non-Super-BETA VCRs that I have encountered. That is, non-Super-BETA recordings play perfectly on the Super-BETA VCR and Super-BETA recordings play perfectly on non-Super-BETA VCRs. Of course, I could not test out every BETA VCR, but the ones I did test played just fine. Doug Newlin (AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, IL) ..ihnp4!ixe5n!newlin
speaker@ttidcb.UUCP (Kenneth Speaker) (11/14/85)
In article <1240@ihuxe.UUCP> newlin@ihuxe.UUCP (Doug Newlin) writes: >Recently, VCRs have improved their picture for the first time since they >became available in 1975. BETA was first (as usual) with their 20% >frequency response improvement (aka "Super-BETA"). VHS later announced >their "HQ" improvements, mainly achieved through improved filtering (i.e., >they improved their Chroma and Luminance noise levels by adding two >adjacent lines together giving them twice the signal strength (amplitude) >whereas the noise (which is considered random) is only increased by the >square root of two (1.4). Hence, an improved Signal/Noise. HQ also raises >the White Clip level to approx. 200% (although this is still reportedly >lower than BETA's white clip level). > >Now, what I would like to know is has anyone been able to compare the >Super-BETA picture with the HQ VHS ? My understanding is that JVC has >already released some of its VCRs with the White Clip improvement, and will >soon release the "full" HQ "package". Not yet, but by this weekend I will be able to compare my SL-HF900 with a JVC xx566 which has the full HQ package. I will report back. >I would think that BETA would be >able to incorporate the HQ improvements quite easily, whereas I have heard >that VHS cannot raise their frequency response and be compatible with >present VHS machines. If this is true, has anyone heard of any plans by >the BETA group to incorporate any/all of the HQ improvements ? > Yes, these "improvements" could be made -- but note: The whiteclip of beta is already higher than that of VHS-HQ. The noise reduction also REDUCES RESOLUTION. Any "averaging" scheme will reduce the resolution while giving better S/N. Thus, this will NOT improve a super-beta picture. >Also, as a footnote, the HF-900 Super-BETA is completely compatible with >non-Super-BETA VCRs that I have encountered. That is, non-Super-BETA >recordings play perfectly on the Super-BETA VCR and Super-BETA recordings >play perfectly on non-Super-BETA VCRs. Of course, I could not test out >every BETA VCR, but the ones I did test played just fine. You mentioned the 2700/2710. The compatibility is essentially perfect with any beta-HiFi machine. The carrier was raised between beta and beta-HiFi to allow the room for the audio sub-channels. However compatibility back to a non-HiFi beta is less perfect. That is, a super-Beta tape played back on a non-HiFi beta deck does produce overmodulation noise. That is the reason the carrier frequency was not raise more than it was to create a 30-40% resolution increase -- the result would have been unplayable on non-HiFi beta, and marginal on beta-HiFi. --Kne