Betacam is a family of half-inch professional videocassette products developed by Sony in 1982. In colloquial use, Betacam singly is often used to refer to a Betacam camcorder, a Betacam tape, a Betacam video recorder or the format itself.
The early form of Betacam videocassette tapes are interchangeable with Betamax, though the recordings are not
A Betacam SP KMJ camcorder
The left side of a Sony BVW-D600P camcorder
The right side of a Sony BVW-D600P camcorder
Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassette recorders (VCRs) and camcorders. Videotapes have also been used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram.
An assortment of video tapes
A 14-inch reel of 2-inch quad videotape compared with a modern-day MiniDV videocassette. Both media store one hour of color video.
U-matic tape
Video 8 (left), VHS (right) and MiniDV (bottom)