BetaCam - MMZ

[@rodrolliv]

"The repair involved a lot of cursing and hitting the thing" Relatable content

[@mathieuleader8601]

Rolled up newspaper work like a charm

[@TommyDeonauthsArchives]

You... have no idea how much I relate...

[@lancealexzander7416]

I dont mean to be so off topic but does anybody know of a method to log back into an instagram account? I was dumb forgot my account password. I appreciate any help you can give me

[@alvarohendrix5149]

@Lance Alexzander instablaster =)

[@lancealexzander7416]

@Alvaro Hendrix Thanks for your reply. I found the site thru google and I'm in the hacking process atm. Takes quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@DurradonXylles]

As a minor A/V geek, I'm glad to see you do an episode on an obscure cam and tape format like Betacam. I'm also glad to see your personal experiences with it. I would not mind seeing you do more videos on formats like this in the future.

[@gracekim1998]

agreed

[@peppermintspacecapsule9898]

Before Betamax bottomed-out never to return, my parents took my brothers and I to buy our first ever video machine. The shop assistant told us that Betamax was a system based on the same technological principles as the video production equipment used by television networks, BetaCam & BetaCam-L, and was therefore much better than VHS and would definitely outlast VHS in the long run. We bought a Betamax and the picture quality was indeed very impressive..., but within a few years we couldn't find ANY Betamax tapes ANYWHERE. D'oh!!! It could've been worse though; my highschool was still using V2000 tapes and recorders in the mid-1990s! Those were some crazy big-@$$ cassettes! Another fascinating video, Phelan. Well done! 😀

[@covcova]

The fact that I enjoyed you talk about an obscure video format proves I can listen to you talk about anything

[@kabelsalad8380]

Apparently, operating the machines at the time would also involve a lot of cursing and percussive maintenance. According to a lecturer who used to shoot for the news in the 1980s (and still keeps the camera at the front of the room) Betacam equipment was an absolute nightmare in humid environments because the tape would immediately start sticking to the drum, which became a major problem if you had to shoot next to a body of water on a hot day. The successor formats, DVCAM and HDCAM, were presumably easier to handle because the industry didn't fully switch to file-based delivery until the 2011 Tsunami damaged the factories producing the tape.

[@LadyCoyKoi]

That is why Beta never even made it in South Florida stores. We had VHS right from the start. O_O Never seen Beta of anything.

[@BloodrealmX]

And here we have poor Phelan living in the maritimes.

[@gerbilsmith]

years ago when I was in elementary school I remember seeing these very large video cassettes being used to record School functions like musicals and plays that we did. To my memory it was called beta. then years later when I first saw my first betamax tape I was like no that's not it because that's too small. So for years I wondered what this extra large tape was. I like watching old Tech channels on KZbinand 4 years had hoped I would find a video on the format I remembered but so far I had not been able to find one talkin of a cassette that fit my memory. Ironically here today I watch your video and that clearly is the videotape I and bonus it is a betta just not the beta most people knew LOL! so thanks to you sir for finally vindicating my memory improving that I'm not misremembering my past

[@SsnakeBite]

Clearly the 666 tape was for the Turtles Fighters Coming Out of Their Gateway to Hell Tour.

[@yungstalin420]

1:15 funny enough I met hogan about a month after that post at New York Comic Con. I was wearing a Ninja Turtles shirt when I met him and he asked me if I saw the Bay movie at that time and I hadn’t yet and told him. He told me in his words “it’s bad to the bone brother.” To this day I still don’t know if he meant it was rad or if it was shit

[@MinimalistTheatre333]

You are a very underrated reviewer, Phelous. I look forward to every upload of yours.

[@mathieuleader8601]

I would like to see Phelous and Brutalmoose do a crossover given their hobbies for tapes

[@morningblue84]

Or Oddity Archive for me.

[@Dreadjaws]

Also, Phelous can now join RLM's VCR repair shop.

[@ShadeMeadows]

"Oh no... Beta!" There, i did it. Now to watch the video.

[@MforMovesets]

Damnit. You were faster.

[@PikminandOatchi]

Cursing and hitting the thing. Never fails.

[@TommyDeonauthsArchives]

It may result in scoldings from parents but it does the truck!

[@XxStarlightshyxX]

I love how when Phelous shows the inside of the machine and trying to fix it, you can hear him slowly losing his mind.

[@Oliver4everismine]

I appreciate all the time and effort you put into this! :3

[@altebander2767]

Actually the chroma problem might be a clogged head. The big advantage of Betacam in its variations was that it was dirt cheap, with VCRs being available for as little as you'd pay for a car. The big problem was that, unless you had a special component studio, the quality was much poorer than on normal full band VTRs like Type-C ones. However as they were so cheap, people started to build Component studios around them. In SECAM countries a Component studio is even somewhat simpler for the same capabilities so it took of really fast there.

[@Uncle-Jay]

The blinking clock would be nostalgic, but all of my kitchen appliances and my car radio all still do that.

[@KorenLesthe]

“Phelous, oh Phelous ! Bring back BetaCam footage ! »

[@renamon5658]

A evil turtle tape.... You have got my attention dude

[@LadyCoyKoi]

Far more superior than the NEW WAY turtles.

[@minespatch]

I recognize the art from that Cubix image. It's from Netherlands artist Heironymous Bosch. His representation of Bee keepers.

[@tommydeonauthstheouterids9641]

Bee keepers!? (Crumples paper) THAT'S IT!!

[@burmiester1]

Always love seeing more of these technically oriented videos, Phelan. Keep up the good work!

[@MachoMike]

Great video Phelous! Very informative. Btw, many professionals have cursed and hit the machine in efforts to fix it. It's called "percussive engineering".

[@Gameboy3DS]

This was very interesting to learn about; thanks for going through all the trouble, Phelan. But oh man, I felt your pain having to deal with the troubleshooting on that thing.

[@stevegeorge6880]

You should release the BetaCam of your high school commercials along with Mortal Komedy on a VHS box set. There is a market within your audience for this.

[@ESophora]

I would definitely buy a VHS box set of Mortal Komedy. But then I would probably buy a box set of Phelous’s entire channel.

[@gracekim1998]

🤩yes

[@gracekim1998]

Steve um he said College😅

[@PlanetZoidstar]

8:55 - There's your mistake, Phelous. You were running the Golden Films version of Beauty And The Beast. It's completely useless, even when bone dry.

[@phelous]

It's the Ruby Spears version.

[@rassilontdavros3004]

@@phelous ...ruh roh.

[@Gilby1385]

@@phelous Wonder if you'll do that first, or the Golden Book Video version.

[@SHINOBI-03]

Ah, the days of fixing my VHS tapes. They were so fun.

[@alexkeathley1512]

The crazy thing is beta cam is still used in the local TV to this day in the US

[@c-puff]

I honestly love these videos on outdated formats. Even when you're grumbling and swearing at them there's something satisfying about seeing these chunky things in action. I'd be up for any more you want to do in future! There was another reason I wanted to comment tho but I forgot now... Oh right! Haunted Beta player. Better break out the red tape again!

[@TommyDeonauthsArchives]

Who we gonna call?

[@FrenchPaul1988]

Doesn't the red tape repel Internet ghosts ? If so, I don't think it would work here

[@ZC-Infinity]

Buying rare and obscure media formats and players just to get a couple more seconds of TMNT/Ghostbusters footage. One day, I hope to reach the determination level of the Phelous.

[@TsukiCondor]

You and collecting obscure Ninja Turtle stuff never stops to please me 👍

[@MissAshley42]

When you pulled that tape out, I felt that. Oof!

[@MermaidAyumi]

I’ll call the J-10 the ”GTE Hercules”, as it behaves like it’s perfect and has godlike strength when trying to get your tapes back.

[@tommydeonauthstheouterids9641]

"N IS FOR HERCULEZ!"

[@toxics.]

This isnt why I subscribed... This is why I stay subscribed!

[@bennysizzle79]

Funny and I learned something! My dad had a Beta back in the day but not one of these. My dad also had a Ford Pinto with an 8 track player in it. He was a man of tastes that become instantly antiquated. Tis a curse that lives on.

[@JomasterTheSecond]

Getting Down in Town by the Ninga Turtles is my favourite concert ever.

[@drewhertel2462]

Phelous' new series.... " Beta cassette repair zones".... lol really does bring back nostalgia for yelling & fiddling with my old cassette my old cassette players

[@Morbos1000]

That thing reminds me of an old VCR I used to have. It would just randomly decide to try and eat tapes. Good times.

[@KhayJayArt]

Ah yes. VCRs were assholes.

[@UJEvans]

A year or two ago, I was given the task of transferring one of my parents' old home movies to DVD. Guess what the vcr decided to do.

[@thomasjenkins7506]

i mean, i've had DVD players ruin discs, too. PS2's were notorious for it.

[@Grey_Warden_Invasion]

Maybe it was just hungry. Should have given it a Snickers.

[@rassilontdavros3004]

@@UJEvans Hope you managed to salvage some of it. :(

[@SilentPrayerCG]

It's amazing that even if tapes is seemingly imperfect storage medium, it's still apparently used to backing up large amount of data, in present time.

[@CthulhuianBunny]

I want to know more about that "Gettin' Down in Your Town" cover. Does anyone know what that art is from? It looks like a medieval setting, but the faceless people make me think of post-WWII surrealists, and the depth of the color on the lines makes me think it's from a woodblock piece.

[@minespatch]

It's by Heironymous Bosch.

[@heavenlyderpfowl1180]

I love how the turtles walk like jojo's caracters.

[@leonardogomez8812]

Kain Kruse Is this a JoJo reference?!

[@jackmcslay]

I would have never thought Phelous would beat Techmoan in being the first to make a video about an obscure video format

[@HORRIOR1]

I was born in the 90s and I didn't learn about Beta until I started marathoning Married with Children two years ago.

[@eddihurta7173]

Haunted tapes, and galvanized toys...The best kind of party !

[@tommydeonauthstheouterids9641]

Someone get the party cop!

[@FrenchPaul1988]

@@tommydeonauthstheouterids9641 ooooh, faced !!

[@LixiaWinter]

I love how the dudes are gently touching Phelan with tippytoes and sightly tap him with a chair. As real as wrestling itself

[@SirenChats]

Dude, you gave me Vietnam flashbacks by showing “Getting Down in Your Town”. Don’t do that again, please.

[@phelous]

I'm afraid I will be.

[@gracekim1998]

😁oooo! this shall be fun

[@renamon5658]

The best way to fix things and get them to work hit it.... It worked for joe Baker in re7

[@morningblue84]

So that's why it took so long to see the footage from the Ninja Turtles concerts in a video when you hinted at them last year. It's also surprising to hear a censor bleep in one of your videos.

[@otakon17]

I gotta admit, the BetaCam format was surprisingly high quality.

[@Clay3613]

No shit, the tape is massive! Almost U-Matic sized.

[@rassilontdavros3004]

Even knowing that it was a production format and was gonna be pretty damn high quality, I was still impressed. Especially with the audio quality, like holy cow.

[@jamesoblivion]

This brings back so many memories of struggling with tape machines and fixing tapes in my youth, I had to watch it again. Also because I just binged your whole MMZ playlist. Again.

[@lukehewko260]

Wow that audio difference is CRAZY

[@ryevalki9043]

This was a cool episode of Lightning Fast VCR Repair

[@Tiggeralt]

So this is what Homestar Runner was making fun of with "Betaflop-D"

[@kaitlyn__L]

Or one of the digital successor formats that used the same or similar physical structure

[@jamesoblivion]

Phelous clearly needs a much more beige device. He should check Tom Brokaw's house.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@jamesoblivion we all know the beige models work better than the black or silver ones.. :)

[@tommydeonauthstheouterids9641]

Need to watch that episode...

[@kagehikari4281]

Wow thanks for the history lesson! Reminds me of the time i had to open up my old vcr to get a tape out the times when it decided to occasionally eat one. love the old tech but they sure can be frustrating at times. Some more than others.

[@VoyageOne1]

Betacam absolutely DOMINATED the broadcast world.

[@mikekz4489]

The high quality of video and audio is in stark contrast to how the player keeps eating the tapes.

[@k-trashradio5163]

Wow you haven't aged a day since phelous

[@SmartassX1]

If your machine is haunted now, all you have to do is play a Ghostbusters tape and scare the machine back to normal.

[@LaNoLaCola]

Oh no, BetaCam

[@MikeOShay]

Phew, for a minute there I was worried we weren't getting an "oh no, beta!"

[@QueenCheetah]

Fascinating... I collect Laserdiscs myself, but I had no idea that Beta had so many format variances. Also, with regards to the fun of 'opening up a decades old machine and trying to decipher the problem'... the first LD machine I bought and had to open had an intact, Spanish CD hidden inside the back of the inner workings. o.O; I have no idea how it got in there; it was just jammed in the back of the circuit boards by the heat vents (which looked too angled to allow a full CD to find its way inside, but life, uh, finds a way?). So that was kinda strange, even for a thrift store find.

[@GiaBooSado]

the cursing and problems of the tap is part of the nostalgia

[@weirdproq]

I'm surprised Techmoan hasn't covered this format before.

[@thomasjenkins7506]

finally, you can show us the superior version of "getting down in your town."

[@Lukethefox]

This brings back memories when I was in a few Video production college courses in the 2000's and trying to capture footage off Mini DV tapes.

[@tultsi93]

First we have an evil Turtles toy, and now we have an evil Turtles tape.

[@Bento_AUS_3059]

I love how Phelous can't mention Beta without making the Simpsons joke at least once. Also we now need a creepypasta of that beta tape of "Getting Down In Town", where the turtles have hyper realistic eyes and their concert is actually a satanic ritual where they sacrifice Splinter to their demon overlord, which is why he's dead.

[@gracekim1998]

OH

[@SamuraiMotoko]

Betacam sure holds up

[@doschickees]

This video has a calming vapourware quality to it

[@valenzuelasstudios1838]

1:02 "Ninja Turtles Concert footage more in-depth in another video" > 2 years later, no video yet but I'm not trying to rush

[@phelous]

Yeah, I know, there's just a lot of footage to go over and I have a lot of other things I'm working on so it gets sidelined.

[@valenzuelasstudios1838]

@@phelous I understand. Hopefully it all gets taken care of and we get to see that *evil* number Ninja Turtles betacam someday

[@gracekim1998]

Aye aye Captain 😊

[@lee4hmz]

Oh wow. We had a bunch of half-in-the-bag Betacam SP machines at work for an analog-to-digital conversion project several years back, and I've always been amazed at how much of a Rube Goldberg hack the late-1980s ones were. Of course, several of them didn't work properly by then (the late 2000s)...

[@Clonekiller66]

"Hello. I am BetaMax, your personal home video format. on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your frustration?"

[@gracekim1998]

EH!

[@GizmoFan1]

That art on the evil tape is the same art that's on SUNN O)))'s "White2." Fitting given how terrifying that album can be.

[@WyvernSone]

Oh gawd there's 3 of them?!? I know the big ones, my dad worked in tv and that's the format they used and my entire childhood is trapped in Betamax and I can't find a player for under $100 😭

[@timusforlife]

My mom had BetaCam masters of short films she made decades ago, I'd love to transfer them but now I need a machine that works lol

[@Uncle-Jay]

Wow the BetaCam video quality is pretty nice.

[@U014B]

"Old Man Watches 'TMNT: Getting Down In Your Town' Betacam" video when?

[@FrenchPaul1988]

The tape didn't like the nearby humidity. It's completely useless now.

[@JackieTheBold]

Man you could tell Phelous was getting more and more frustrated as the video went on lol I have the perfect song to listen to if you're frustrated though. *PIZZA U.S.A!!!*

[@mpf1947]

Funny how the Betacam pulls the tape across the head more like a VHS than a Betamax.

[@Konani_the_unicorn_queen]

PHELOUS IS A TECH WIZ!

[@Clay3613]

So are we getting a "remastered" Coming Out Of Their Shells review? What capture device did you use for these?

[@phelous]

Well there is a lot of extra footage and stuff not included so yeah I think it'll be an interesting thing to cover. I used an elgato for capturing.

[@gracekim1998]

Sweetness 😜

[@gyromurphy]

I've never heard of this thing... Honestly I'm really surprised at the quality it has. Pretty damn good all things considered

[@171QA]

I wish I had a working VCR. I have so many VHS tapes that I would like to watch again. :(

[@chrisdryer]

i used to work with DVCAM or Pro or whatever in college... i will probably never see what is on those tapes again. I did work with BetaSPs for a while when re-editing canadian tv for resale in the US. good stuff. teachers should have told you to give you 1 minute pre-roll for all tapes. The teachers at my school said it was in case the tapes broke in the beginning. Back in my day we had 3/4 tapes and we loved it.

[@TomMSTie1138]

Where the hell is that Ghostbusters footage from and can you review it???

[@TommyDeonauthsArchives]

Stop! Beta Time!

[@redgrain3914]

Phelan is doing retro tech reviews now? Isn't that one of the Seven Seals? The Circle is Complete. The Day of Judgment is at hand. Assuming the End of Days includes the Ninga Turtles pretending to be Bon Jovi, which...I mean, it has to, right?

[@catisyellen9877]

I've never seen how a VHS player works, and now I have.

[@shoddyworkmanship4934]

Sorry this video was such a pain to make, but thanks anyway, because I did enjoy it.

[@SweatPantsJoe]

I was digitizing old episodes of Jenny Jones that were mastered on this format very recently

[@vivimariefedorov7374]

The contraption that only us children of the 80s and 90s will understand! 📼

[@gracekim1998]

*Me who's a late 90's kid* Er..........

[@IgorsDen]

In the 80s we were a Video2000 family

[@MrPitatom]

Betacam SP tapes played or FF/REW in a non-betcam machine will ruin the heads. The Betacam SP tapes are metal particle, not iron-oxide. I learnt the hard way many years ago. Great video.

[@markiangooley]

To me, EPK is a type of china clay mined in the now-extinct town of Edgar, Florida...

[@REDKLOK_-_The_Original]

I see a batacam on amazon right now and it's "rack mounted"... ooh RACK MOUNTED! I'm all about the rack mounted anything. I'm sold!

[@hkshanahan]

I stumbled across your KZbin video. We have years and years of archived BetaCam tapes, so we made the purchase of a Sony J-10. However, like you, we encountered issues. We have the same error you have at the 9:35 timestamp on your video (E09-3210). I was able to manually remove the tape, but I cannot clear the alarm/error code. Do you remember how you were able to do that?

[@phelous]

I wish I did, I mostly remember I messed around with it, powering it on and off until it stopped but it did keep that error on there for a while. I do recall trying to look through the menu options on the machine but I don't remember if that was much use or not.

[@rassilontdavros3004]

Believe it or not, there was actually a successor to BetaCam called Digital Betacam. Yes, it was digital, and yes, it was still a tape. Somehow. I guess. Never seen it in person, I'm going off of an article on the Doctor Who Restoration Team's website. It was apparently used in a lot of 1990s BBC productions, including in the restorations of old Doctor Who episodes. Still no clue how both being digital and being a tape works. Out of curiosity, where did the "Oh no, Beta!" thing come from? Was it an older review?

[@BloodrealmX]

It's a line from The Simpsons and he's used it several times throughout the movie collection/format videos.

[@ZeddtheVHSotaku]

God this is very nostalgic to me.

[@bashcrash9148]

Wait... What the hell was that Ghostbusters musical!?

[@gracekim1998]

I know, it IMMMEDIATELY got my attention! XD

[@troin3925]

Honestly, the black and white glitch makes the video quality look cleaner.

[@34.FB.34]

I'm surprised a lot of people in the comments think betacam is an obscure format, because it was THE format used the most in the 80's and 90's by professionnals.

[@rassilontdavros3004]

I mean, it's obscure to most of us, i.e. consumers. Most people just never encountered it in their everyday lives because it wasn't supposed to be for consumers. I'd heard of it before, but most average people probably haven't.

[@gracekim1998]

It’s because we’re WAAAY past those eras now and a lot of us have never heard of it

[@gracekim1998]

@@rassilontdavros3004 exactly

[@OzzieAstaroth]

14:40 What in the world? Huh, maybe this has some connection to that bootleg pentagram-head Mikey figure you have.