S-VHS sucks

I am a 2nd year media student in the UK. For our entire first year the only camera we could use on our assignments wer the Panasonic AG 455 and they SUCK. The whole format sucks. It was totally demoralising to go out and put all our effort into making documentaries and campaign videos, and get back to the edit suites to watch the crappy fuzzy images with nasty sound. Our departnemtn has XL1-s's, but they wanted us 'learnig how to shoot video' on S-VHS.

Me and my fellow group member bout bought cameras over the summer, me an XM-2 and he an XL1s. We are both very satisfied and love the quality, sharpness, and colour they give.

I am happy to say I will never have to use an S-VHS cam again. Good riddance!

Not all S-VHS is created equal. S-VHS when shot on a good 3 chip camera can look almost as good as Betacam SP. I did a PBS documentary in the early '90s on S-VHS and edited on an Avid. It was mostly shot on location along the Ohio River. it was delivered on a 1 inch master and nothing was ever said about the format. They just assumed it was Beta. Little camcorders like the AG-455 do suck.

Jeff

It never caught on in the US, but I have had SVHS decks since 1988! They are a great home medium for taaping especially if you have satellite TV, which I have had longer than my decks (old C-Band, then DirecTV, now Dish Network). DVHS is a Digital version, but way too expensive and not catching on. SVHS-C was nice until mini-DV prices dropped, now I suspect only those on the tightest budgets will still opt for analog cams. And Home VCR tape is being replaced with digital PVR. Hell I have my Dish Netowrk PVR since June and have NOT powerd on my VCR since!