M is the name of a professional videocassette format developed around 1982 by Matsushita and RCA. It was developed as a competitor to Sony's Betacam format. In the same way Betacam was designed to take advantage of cheap and readily available Betamax videocassettes, M used the same videocassette (and the same oxide-formulated tape loaded in the cassette) as VHS.

M-Format also used a similar component video format to that used by Betacam, (as opposed to VHS's composite video format), and recorded at a much faster linear tape speed, as Betacam did. A cassette that would yield 120 minutes on a VHS VCR at SP speed would only yield 20 minutes on a M VCR.

The format was called "M" due to the shape of the threading path of the tape around the helical video head drum, which resembles a letter M. (This is also how the U-matic format got its name, for its U-shaped tape path in the VCR.) VHS also uses the same M-shaped tape threading path as M; it was carried over to M from VHS.

M had a similar 4-head recording system to Betacam, but the chrominance signals were recorded as two FM subcarriers of the main chrominance track FM carrier.

M had little success in the professional/industrial video market. This might have been due to RCA's Broadcast Products division, which marketed the M format in the United States under the "Hawkeye" brand name, going out of business in 1984 (shortly after M was introduced). Weak marketing by Matsushita for M might have been a factor as well.

M was also marketed by Panasonic (a division of Matsushita) and Ampex under the Recam (REcording CAMera) name.

M was succeeded in 1986 by the MII format developed by Panasonic.

[edit] See also

• MII (videocassette format)

[edit] External links

• List of videotape formats past and present, with a mention of the M format

v • d • e Video storage formats Videotape Analog Quadruplex (1956) · VERA (1958) · Type A (1965) · CV-2000 (1965) · Akai (1967) · U-matic (1969) · EIAJ-1 (1969) · Cartrivision (1972) · Philips VCR (1972) · V-Cord (1974) · VX (1974) · Betamax (1975) · IVC (1975) · Type B (1976) · Type C (1976) · VHS (1976) · VK (1977) · SVR (1979) · Video 2000 (1980) · CVC (1980) · VHS-C (1982) · M (1982) · Betacam (1982) · Video8 (1985) · MII (1986) · S-VHS (1987) · Hi8 (1989) · S-VHS-C (1987) · W-VHS (1994) Digital D1 (1986) · D2 (1988) · D3 (1991) · DCT (1992) · D5 (1994) · Digital Betacam (1993) · DV (1995) · Digital-S (D9) (1995) · DVCPRO (1995) · Betacam SX (1996) · DVCAM (1996) · HDCAM (1997) · DVCPRO50 (1997) · D-VHS (1998) · Digital8 (1999) · DVCPRO HD (2000) · D6 HDTV VTR (2000) · MicroMV (2001) · HDV (2003) · HDCAM SR (2003) Videodisc Analog Phonovision (1927) · TeD (1975) · Laserdisc (1978) · CED (1981) · VHD (1983) · Laserfilm (1984) · CD Video (1987) Digital VCD (1993) · MovieCD (c.1995) · DVD/DVD-Video (1995) · MiniDVD (c.1995) · CVD (1998) · SVCD (1998) · EVD (2003) · XDCAM (2003) · H(D)VD(2004) · FVD (2005) · UMD (2005) · VMD (2006) · High Definition HD DVD (2006) · Blu-ray Disc (2006) · HVD (2007) · CBHD (2008) Solid state P2 (2004) · SxS (2007) Digital tapeless MOD (2005) · AVCHD (2006) · AVC-Intra (2006) · TOD (2007) · iFrame (2009) Non-video TV recording Kinescope (1947) · Electronicam kinescope (1950s) · Electronic Video Recording (1967)