If VHS was wider, would quality increase?

[peggypwr1]

I know this is the age of DVRs and Blu Rays but being born in 1982 and having to deal with VHS for about 15 years, I was wondering, when the VHS tape was invented, if they made the tape width slightly wider, would this increase the resolution?

[filmboss80]

There was a wider tape: 3/4" U-matic. Used generally for TV news gathering and industrial training programs during the 1970s and '80s. And yes, there was an increase in resolution.

Broadcasters during that era generally used 1-inch type C helical video tape (on large reels). It had a much better quality.

There was a high-speed half-inch VHS-type tape for a while during the 90s. (What was the name? Someone help me.) Sony beat it out with their own high-speed half-inch Betacam. It shows that tape width limitations could be compensated by tape speed. It's all about cramming information onto that magnetic ribbon.

Of course, those were the analog days. Digital changed all that. Now you can put lots of stuff on a tiny MiniDV tape.

[lordsmurf]

Well, the image was better quality.
The tape itself was a bitch to work with, however.
... or so I hear, as the use of U-matic predates my venture into video.