SERVICES

Customer comments:

Just wanted to say thanks for your fantastic service.....I found you on google and orderd a few tapes last week - I was amazed when they turned up next day after only paying a couple of quid for potage !! Thanks again - will defintely be placing more orders.

I am really impressed with your service I placed my order late on Friday afternoon and they were here first thing Saturday morning now that’s service. Thank you very much.

Just a note to say thank you for the speed of completing the above order which arrived by post here this morning. I have never had such good service previously and I will certainly recommend your services to my friends. Once again thank you.

Video Tape

Video Tape is a method for recording moving images and sound onto magnetic tape and replaced Film as the consumer standard for home recording systems. The recording systems works by having a helical scan video head rotating against the moving video tape in order to record the data in two separate dimensions. As video signals have a high bandwidth static heads would require high video tape speeds. Both VTRs (video tape recorders) and VCRs (video cassette recorders) use the video tape format. The disadvantage with video tape as a recording medium is that is uses a linear format, meaning that newer digital recording media provide better quality than video tape. The video tape was first released in VHS format by JVC in 1976, the rival video tape Betamax by Sony was released the year before but the VHS format proved to the superior video tape format.

Mini DV

Mini DV cassettes are able to record 60 or 90 minutes of video on 11 GB of storage space, depending on whether Standard Play (SP) or Extended Play (Long Play) is used. You can also purchase 80 minutes tapes using a thinner tape, and they can record 120 minutes of footage in either EP or LP mode. Using a home PC you can record computer data directly on your Mini DV tape using a camcorder. Using a 60 minutes Mini DV cassette you can store 13 GB of data. Mini DV L-size cassettes were originally intended for consumers as a replacement for Blank VHS tapes, yet are now mostly used by professionals in video production.

DVCAM

The DVCAM, made by Sony is the professional version of the DV standard and it utilises the same cassettes as both DV and Mini DV, but DVCAM has the advantage that it transports the tape 50% faster. As a result DVCAM has a higher track width of 15 micrometres. DVCAM uses the same codec as normal DV so the chance of dropout errors with DVCAM is greatly reduced. DVCAM doesn't allow the same LP mode that regular DV has.

Blank VHS

VHS stands for the Video Home System and allowed home users to record footage directly on blank VHS tapes on their home machines. Blank VHS became the standard format for consumers by the late 1990s after beating off competition from Sony's Betamax system. One of the contributing factors to its success was that blank VHS tapes offered a longer recording time than their Betamax counterparts. Blank VHS also had the advantage of a less complex tape mechanism which allowed home users to rewind and fast forward their blank VHS tapes much faster than any Betamax VCR could manage.

Digital Beta

Digital Beta launched in 1993 and replaced Betacam and Betacam SP. Digital Beta costs significantly less than the D1 format and provides quality and reliability. Digital Beta S tapes come with up to 40 minutes running time, whereas the L tapes have up to 124 minutes. The Digital Beta records a DCT-compressed component video signal. Digital Beta also has a 5th analogue audio track which is used for cueing, plus it has a linear timecode track. Digital Beta equipment is the professional standard in digital video production, and is far superior than cheaper digital formats, such as DVCAM and DVCPRO. Digital Beta is usually found in a blue cassette container.