Jazz On ED Beta (1990's Live Jazz Concert Footage From Sony EDC-55 Betamax Camera)

This is footage from a live Jazz event as recorded on a Sony EDC-55 ED Beta camcorder from approximately the 1990's.

The content of this tape is of unknown origin and taken at an unknown location, featuring unknown bands. Starting out with a Jazz quartet recorded in stereo and ending with a Dixieland band in mono, this recording taken with the legendary EDC-55 may not be the clearest or highest quality example of the EDC-55, but it is an enjoyable & intimate collection of Jazz tunes which still shows the excellent audio & video quality of penultimate consumer Betamax evolution.

ED Beta was the final evolution of Sony's Betamax consumer video tape system. ED Beta could produce 500 or more lines of horizontal B&W (luma) resolution besting standard Betamax and VHS's 250 lines and especially JVC Victor's 400-line S-VHS system. Unfortunately, ED Beta was a very expensive system and required special metal tapes that were incompatible with existing Betamax set-ups. There was also plenty of consumer confusion between the many different sometimes-incompatible Betamax formats (BI, BII, BIII, Super Beta, Hi-Band Beta, & ED Beta). Finally, ED Beta did not increase Betamax's limited color (chroma) resolution of just 30 or so horizontal lines which kept the format from being a true improvement. As a result, just like S-VHS, ED Beta never gained significant market share.

The EDC-55 was the sole camcorder produced for the ED Beta format. Designed for the prosumer market, the unusual camera featured an unusual 2 CCD sensor which produced separated full resolution luma (B&W) and half resolution chroma (color) output into a removable (dockable) ED Beta back. As a result, the 2 CCD sensor could be connected to other VTRs while the ED Beta back could be connected to different sensor. This is in addition to other features only found on professional ENG cameras such as XLR microphone support, swappable/upgradable NP-1 battery support, B4 mount lens support, and much more. All this came at a price though, costing around $8,000 USD for a complete kit in 1987. This tape was found inside a unit with destroyed boards from leaking capacitors and a damaged sensor prism from mold. This tape is all that remains.

Please enjoy the interesting footage from this concert on an unusual format!

If you have any information on this recording, please let me know!

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This was played back using a mechanically and electrically restored Sony EDV-9000 ED Beta player.

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