11 Facts About Betacam SX

Cassette shell and case for each Betacam SX cassette is colored differently depending on the format, allowing for easy visual identification.

Betamax records relatively low resolution video using a heterodyne color recording system and only two recording heads, while Betacam SX uses four heads to record in component format, at a much higher linear tape speed of 10.

Betacam SX was initially introduced as a camera line along with a video cassette player.

At its introduction, many insisted that Betacam SX remained inferior to the bulkier one-inch Type C and B recording, the standard broadcast production format of the late 1970s to mid-1980s.

In 1986, Betacam SX SP was developed, which increased horizontal resolution to 340 lines.

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Betacam SX SP became the industry standard for most TV stations and high-end production houses until the late 1990s.

Betacam SX is a digital version of Betacam SP introduced in 1996, positioned as a cheaper alternative to Digital Betacam.

Betacam SX system was very successful with newsgathering operations, which had a legacy of Betacam and Betacam SP tapes.

Betacam SX uses MPEG-2 4:2:2P@ML compression, in comparison with other similar systems that use 4:1:1 or 4:2:0 coding.

Together with Betacam SX, Sony introduced a generation of hybrid recorder, allowing use of both tape and disk recording on the same deck, and high speed dubbing from one to another.

HDCAM, introduced in 1997, was the first HD format available in Betacam SX form-factor, using an 8-bit DCT compressed 3:1:1 recording, in 1080i-compatible downsampled resolution of 1440×1080, and adding 24p and 23.