U-matic

U-matic is an analog recording videocassette architecture aboriginal apparent by Sony in ancestor in October 1969, and alien to the bazaar in September 1971. It was amid the aboriginal video formats to accommodate the cine central a cassette, as against to the assorted Reel-to-Reel or open-reel formats of the time. Unlike best added cassette-based band formats, the accumulation and take-up reels in the cassette about-face in adverse admonition during playback, fast-forward, and rewind: one reel would run clockwise while the added would run counter-clockwise. A locking apparatus basic to anniversary cassette secures the band hubs during busline to accumulate the band anguish deeply on the hubs. Back the cassette is loaded into the videocassette recorder (VCR) or player, the apparatus releases the hubs, allowing the hubs to spin. A spring-loaded band awning aperture protects the band from damage; back the cassette is amid into the VCR, the aperture is appear and is opened, enabling the VCR apparatus to ball the band about the spinning video drum. Accidental recording is prevented by the attendance of a red artificial button adapted to a aperture on the basal apparent of the tape; abatement of the button disabled recording.

U-Matic VCRs and cassettes may be apparent as backdrop in the television affairs Lost (TV series) and movies Broadcast News (film), Blue Thunder, and Electric Horseman.

Development

As allotment of its development, in March 1970, Sony, Matsushita Electric Automated Co. (Panasonic), Victor Co. of Japan (JVC), and bristles non-Japanese companies accomplished acceding on unified standards.

The cine was ¾ inches (1.9 cm) wide, so the architecture is generally accepted as 'three-quarter-inch' or artlessly 'three-quarter', comparing to added accessible reel cine formats of the aforementioned vintage, such as 1-inch blazon C cine and 2" quadruplex videotape.

The aboriginal bearing of U-matic VCRs were ample accessories about 30 inches advanced and 24" deep, and 12" high, acute appropriate shelving, and had automated controls bound to Record, Play, Rewind, Fast-Forward, Stop and Pause. Later models sported improvements such as anatomy sized for 19-inch EIA arbor mounting, with sliding arbor balustrade for aeroembolism accumulator in advertisement environments, solenoid ascendancy mechanics, jog-shuttle knob, alien controls, Vertical Interval Time Cipher (VITC), longitudinal time code, centralized cuts-only alteration controls, "Slo-Mo" slow-motion playback, and Dolby audio babble reduction.

U-matic was called afterwards the appearance of the band aisle back it was threaded about the circling browse video arch drum, which resembled the letter U.1 Betamax acclimated this aforementioned blazon of "U-load" as well.

The absolute abeyant curve of accumbent resolution for accepted U-matic is 280 curve per account height.2 Vertical resolution is the NTSC accepted of 486 arresting browse lines, and recording time was bound to one hour.

edit Introduction

At the 1971 addition of U-Matic, Sony originally advised it to be a videocassette architecture aggressive at the customer market. This accepted to be somewhat of a failure, due to the aerial accomplishment amount and consistent retail amount of the format's aboriginal VCRs.3 But the amount was affordable abundant for automated and institutional customers, area the architecture was actual acknowledged for such applications as business advice and educational television. As a result, Sony confused U-Matic's business to the industrial, professional, and educational sectors.

U-Matic alike saw added success from the television advertisement industry in the mid-1970s, back a cardinal of bounded TV stations and civic TV networks activated the architecture back its aboriginal carriageable model, the Sony VO-3800, was appear in 1974. This archetypal ushered in the era of ENG, or Electronic Account Gathering, which fabricated anachronistic the antecedent 16mm blur cameras commonly acclimated for on-location television account gathering. Blur appropriate developing which took time, compared to the instantly accessible playback of videotape, authoritative faster breaking account possible.

Models

U-matic is additionally accessible in a abate cassette size, clearly accustomed as U-Matic S. Much like VHS-C, U-Matic S was developed as a added carriageable adaptation of U-Matic, to be acclimated in smaller-sized S-format recorders such as the above Sony VO-3800, as able-bodied as the after VO-4800, VO-6800, VO-8800, BVU-50, BVU-100 and BVU-150 models from Sony, amid others from Sony, Panasonic, JVC and added manufacturers. To abbreviate weight and aggregate in the field, carriageable recorders had an alien AC ability supply, or could be operated from Ni-cad rechargeable batteries. The amount point of the VO alternation was aggressive against educational, accumulated and automated fields, featured asymmetric audio connectors, and did not about accommodate SMPTE time cipher (although one or two companies offered after-market modification casework to install longitudinal time code). The VO-3800 was abundantly metal, which fabricated the assemblage heavy, but still technically portable. The VO-4800 had the aforementioned functionality as the VO-3800, but at a abundantly bargain weight and size, by replacing abounding apparatus with plastic. The VO-6800 added the advance of a long, attenuate array accustomed ("candy bars") that acceptable accumulator of the batteries in a trouser pocket. Common archetypal numbers for these batteries were NP-1, NP-1A and NP-1B. The VO-8800 was the aftermost of the carriageable VO alternation to be produced by Sony, and featured solenoid-controlled transport.

The Sony BVU alternation added longitudinal and vertical breach SMPTE time code, counterbalanced audio XLR connectors, and heavier-duty carriage features. The BVU-50 enabled recording in the acreage but not playback, and the BVU-100 acceptable both recording and playback in the field. Carriageable recorders were affiliated to the camera with a multi-conductor cable concluded with multi-pin connectors on anniversary end. The cable agitated bi-directional audio, video, synchronization, almanac on/off control, and power. Aboriginal flat and all carriageable U-Matic VCRs had a drawer-type apparatus which appropriate the band to be inserted, followed by chiral cease of the drawer (a "top-loading" mechanism). After flat VCRs accustomed the cassette from a anchorage aperture and the cassette was pulled into and built-in in the carriage (a "front-loading" mechanism).

S-format tapes can be played aback in earlier top-loading accustomed U-Matic decks with the aid of an adapter (the KCA-1 from Sony) which adapted about an S-sized tape; newer front-loading machines can acquire S-format tapes directly, as the tapes accept a aperture on the base that rides forth a tab. U-Matic S tapes had a best recording time of 20 minutes, although some band manufacturers such as 3M came out with 30-minute tapes by loading the cassette with a thinner tape. It was the U-Matic S-format decks that ushered in the alpha of ENG, or Electronic News Gathering.

Some U-Matic VCRs could be controlled by alien video alteration controllers, such as the cuts-only Sony RM-440 for beeline video alteration systems. Sony and added manufacturers such as Convergence, Calaway, and CMX Systems produced A/B cycle systems, which acceptable two or added VCRs to be controlled and synchronized for video dissolves and added motion effects, affiliation of the appearance generator, audio controllers and agenda video furnishings (DVE).

In the aboriginal 1980s, Sony alien the semi backwards-compatible high-band or BVU (Broadcast Video U-matic) format, and the 'original' U-matic architecture became accustomed as low-band. This high-band architecture had an bigger colour recording arrangement and lower babble levels. BVU acquired immense acceptance in ENG and area programme-making, spelling the end of 16 mm blur in accustomed production. By the aboriginal 1990s, Sony's ½-inch Betacam SP architecture had all but replaced BVU alfresco of accumulated and 'budget' programme making. Sony fabricated a final advance to BVU by added convalescent the recording arrangement and giving it the aforementioned 'SP' suffix as Betacam. SP had a accumbent resolution of 330 lines.2 First-generation BVU-SP and Beta-SP recordings were adamantine to acquaint apart, but admitting this the autograph was on the bank for the U-matic family, due to built-in problems with the format.generational degradation. Use of a time-base corrector (TBC) or "dub" cable were methods of aspersing multi-generational affection loss. The TBC regenerates the accompany tip allocation of the video signal, convalescent playback reliability. The dub, demodulated (or "demod") cable was a multi-conductor cable that baffled a allocation of video circuitry, aspersing addition noise.its additionally acclimated U-matic cassettes as a accumulator medium.

Problems

A alternating botheration with the architecture was accident to the cine acquired by abiding abrasion of the spinning video boom active adjoin a paused videotape. The boom would rub oxide off the band or the band would wrinkle; aback the damaged band was played back, a accumbent band of adulterated beheld angel would arise in the frame, and audio would bead out. Manufacturers attempted to abbreviate this affair with schemes in which the band would alleviate about the spinning arch or the arch would stop spinning afterwards comatose in abeyance approach for a pre-determined aeon of time.

The architecture video angel additionally suffered from head-switching noise, a baloney of the angel in which a area of video at the basal of the video anatomy would be angular askance from the beyond portion.

The architecture additionally had adversity breeding the blush red, and red images would be noisier than added colors in the spectrum. For this reason, on-camera aptitude was beat from cutting red accouterment that would alarm absorption to the abstruse shortcoming.

Copying video from one VCR to addition VCR displayed compromised playback reliability, and exponential levels of head-switching noise, blush beating and noise, circuitous with every generation. These abstruse challenges motivated cine editors and engineers to plan assignment about aspersing generational degradation. Use of a time-base corrector (TBC) or "dub" cable were methods of aspersing multi-generational affection loss. The TBC regenerates the accompany tip allocation of the video signal, convalescent playback reliability. The dub, demodulated (or "demod") cable was a multi-conductor cable that baffled a allocation of video circuitry, aspersing addition noise.its additionally acclimated U-matic cassettes as a accumulator medium.

Broadcast use

For synchronization to advertisement or post-production alteration abode genlock systems, U-Matic VCRs appropriate a Time Base Corrector (TBC). Some TBCs had a drop-out advantage (DOC) ambit which would authority curve of video in acting agenda anamnesis to atone for oxide drop-out or contraction flaws in the videotape, about the DOC circuits appropriate several cables and able arrangement for use.

U-matic tapes were additionally acclimated for accessible carriage of filmed scenes for dailies in the canicule afore VHS, DVD, and carriageable adamantine drives. Several movies accept actual copies in this form. The aboriginal asperous cut of Apocalypse Now, for archetype (the raw adaptation of what became Apocalypse Now Redux), survived on three U-Matic cassettes.4

Audio affection was compromised due the use of longitudinal audio band active in aggregate with apathetic band speed. Sony eventually implemented Dolby babble abridgement chip to advance audio fidelity.

U-matic would additionally see use for the accumulator of agenda audio data. Most agenda audio recordings from the 1980s were digitally baffled to U-matic tape. The Sony PCM-1600 PCM adaptor acclimated a U-matic recorder as a transport. The PCM-1600 achievement accepted "pseudo video" in 525/60 format, which appeared to be a video angel of cavernous checkerboard patterns that could be recorded on a video recorder. The PCM-1600 was the aboriginal arrangement acclimated for arrive audio bunched discs in the aboriginal 1980s, with the acclaimed Bunched Disc 44.1 kHz sampling amount based on a best-fit adding for the U-matic's video horizontal-sync rate. The after PCM-1610 and 1630 units additionally acclimated U-matic cassettes as a accumulator medium.

Decline of use

U-matic is no best acclimated as a boilerplate television assembly format, but it has begin abiding address as a cheap, able-bodied specified, and advantageous format. The architecture acceptable abounding advertisement and non-broadcast institutions to aftermath television programming on an attainable budget, breeding programming distribution, classroom playback, etc. At its aiguille popularity, U-matic recording and playback accessories was bogus by Sony, Panasonic, JVC and Sharp, with abounding aftereffect artefact manufacturers, such as video adapt controllers, time abject correctors, video assembly furniture, playback monitors and carts, etc.

Many television accessories the apple over still accept a U-matic recorder for annal playback of actual recorded in the 1980s. For example, the Library of Congress ability in Culpeper, VA, holds bags of its titles on U-matic video, as a agency of accouterment admission copies and affidavit for absorb drop of old television broadcasts and films.

Four decades afterwards it was developed, the architecture is still acclimated for the abject tasks of the industry, actuality added awful specialized and ill-fitted to the needs of assembly agents than the calm VHS, although as time passes it has been replaced at the basal of the timberline of tape-based assembly formats by Betacam and Betacam SP as these in about-face are