what are these beta tapes used for?

These came from Acclaim when they went under. I don't have a beta player so I can't test them. Anyone have any idea what these are and what they were used for?

There are 13 of them in total. Some marked some not.

1. "Cat Burglar demo"
2. "Boxing 4/21 P.R. demo"
3. "The Fight" & "Acclaim Charcter animation system"
4. "Jack's Demo reel DO NOT TOUCH"
5. "Don Hunt Facial Anim ATG logo on back"
6. "Acclaim Character animation system edit 1.3 dub 1/23/96 rt 7:00 Feb 9 1996"
7. "double take/letterbox version" & "Big Hurt play ball"
8. NBA JAM extreme crossed out "HAJI TEST"
9. "NBA final 11.8.2000 12.1 KSM"
10. "Acclaim Character Animation System edit 1.4 DUB 6/96 RT 7:18 STEREO MASTER"

last 3 are unmarked.

 

Probably for internal development and demonstration of game engines/protos or maybe even training videos? One sounds like someone's personal demo reel.

I know the Beta format was used for high-end television production due to the quality being better than standard VHS, which would be why Beta was used for these.

Would definitely be interested to see what was on those though :icon_bigg

 

hard to play without a beta tape system

 

Not like a beta deck is as hard to come by as a FDS.

 

http://www.fds.info/

 

You might want to add *NSFW* just in case to that FDS website..... :nod:

 

My guess is most are related to Motion Capture type stuff.

A quick google will tell you more about the "Acclaim Character Animation System" than you would ever want to know, it used 4 camera's etc.

Things like ""Don Hunt Facial Anim ATG logo on back" are also easily solved with google - ATG = Acclaim "Advanced Technologies Group"

"The Advanced Technology Group is responsible for Acclaim Studio's high-end rendering and animation for games."

Don Hunt has credits in a number of Acclaim titles (Alien Trilogy for Facial Animation)

 

These are betacam tapes, the standard for broadcast. Any post production house should be able to tranfer them to VHS for you for not that much.

Forget finding a player this is pro stuff and they aren't cheap. It may look like betamax of old but it actually runs 6 times faster. You'd ruin them playing them back in a betamax.

 

Good thing I didn't have one !

 

I am cleaning up my house and can't keep everything. Really I just want to know if these are worth the effort to try and transfer to vhs or digital file. I know its hard to say without seeing whats on them.

 

well i say it would be cool to see whats on them. let it transfer to DVD, dont put them in trash or so

 

Yup!
Same here!

BTW : was betamax only used for video? Or maybe even backups?

 

Again it's not Betamax it's Betacam. It's now Digital Betacam and those players cost the earth.

Link to players/recorders

This would be used for video/audio ony. Depending on what's there you may have B and C rolls (alternate takes) for editing down.

Definetly no data though

 

Those are all Beta SP tapes and the very right one also looks like a DigiBeta to me. Most likely it's "only" promotion footage on it since the transference and the tapes are pretty expencive (about 90 EUR / pc.) and it makes no sense to include any beta footage nobody else should see. Beta SP / DigiBetas are sent to TV / post production facilities to air or proceed the material.

If you like, I can digitize those footage for you since our company also uses professional VTRs for promo material.

 

I haven't any real expertise in this area, but if you would like help in tracking down a suitable production house to transfer the tapes and/or someone to do the leg work just shoot me a PM and I'll see what I can get acomplished.

 

You're flippin' KIDDING me h:

That is just flatout nonsense.

 

not for a hardcore collector.

 

You'd have to pretty hardcore to pay that much for just video footage

I could understand if it were data or hardware, but video footage ???

 

Personally I dont think anything from Acclaim is worth 3k >_>