Half Inch

Half Inch

Half-Inch Videotape and Random - Access Editing

By 1984, broadcast-quality half-inch videotape had been accepted by the broadcasting industry. The picture quality of the half-inch tape was far superior to that of three-quarter-inch and incredibly close to that of one-inch, thanks to the technique of composite recording. An added advantage was that the recorder could be built into the camera, eliminating a crew member as well as the cumbersome wires that ran from the camera to the record deck.

 

Newer editing systems, including those from CMX, began mixing two-inch quad with one-inch videotape, three-quarter-inch cassettes, and half-inch tape. Video, which had once been a very expensive, quad-only process used almost exclusively by the networks, was becoming a flexible, fast, and relatively inexpensive production medium.

 

In the mid-1980s, several companies began to take advantage of microcomputers in the editing process. One company modified an IBM PC to control videocassette recorders (VCRs) and switchers. To meet the growing pressure to provide low-cost editing systems, some manufacturers created less expensive units that could be upgraded. As a result of this technological innovation, editing videotape became less and less expensive. Now postproduction companies could build more editing bays. Corporations could afford to establish their own video departments to produce newsletters and public service programs.

 

As the cost of video editing dropped, the rate of technological change increased. By the middle of the 1980's, much of the film industry's resistance to videotape had evaporated. VCRs were becoming a common household appliance, and the marriage of the video and film industries appeared to be a lasting one. Television shows were shot on film, then edited and delivered on videotape.

 

The 1980s also brought the rebirth and growth of random-access video editing. Random access means that specific segments of tape, dispersed through one or more reels, can be defined and accessed independently and almost immediately.

 

Random-access video editing became popular because of its speed and reediting ease. In addition, the high-end random-access systems could provide film key numbers in order to conform the film negative. Random-access systems began to capture television film business and in the 1990s major feature films were being edited on this type of system. Thousands of filmed commercials have been edited on random-access systems, then conformed on video for broadcast.

 

There are several popular brands of random-access systems. Each has its own particular strengths and is used more in one area than another. By the mid-nineties, tape-based linear off-line editors were considered obsolete. Computer prices had dropped and systems had been upgraded to allow the ability to hold hours of picture and audio information

 

About the Author

Willis J. Watson is a freelance writer since 2006, living in United States and he writes about his great passion...digital photography for about 4 years. If you want to read more informations about Youth Action Sports Photography.

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