SQPB - what is it?

[DVtyro]

I mean, I know what SQPB does: plays SVHS tapes at regular VHS quality, does not record SVHS. But what exactly is it?

Is it, basically, SVHS VCR that is deprived of recording SVHS? Does "VHS quality" simply mean that the video is output via composite, not SVideo? So, if I use a true SVHS VCR and output via composite, is it "VHS quality"?

If it is indeed an SVHS VCR that was limited to playback only, is it any different from proper SVHS VCR aside of missing SVideo output? Does recording SVHS require extra hardware compared to recording VHS and playing back SVHS?

If it is indeed a neutered SVHS, why was this done? Just to create two price points for VHS and SVHS? I think this was a mistake, I think that JVC should have completely switched to SVHS in 1987. Was SVHS hardware significantly more expensive than VHS? As far as I understand, the biggest difference was in tape quality to provide wider bandwidth.

Or is it more or less regular VHS somehow enhanced to play SVHS tapes? In this case I am not sure why regular VHS machines could not do it.

On a side note, it seems that Super Beta was a reasonable compromise, having the resolution almost like broadcast TV yet backwards compatible with most older machines. Too bad that JVC decided to outclass Super Beta, creating an incompatible format. Or, it should have given more bandwidth to chrominance, say 330-350 lines of luminance and 80-100 lines of chrominance, it would be an all-around better format, much closer to Betacam, which, I believe, has 330 luminance / 120 chrominance resolution. It seems that VCR manufacturers were blinded by luminance resolution only, despite that most people had color TVs in 1980s.