It was one where a wealthy (or at least well off) character had a deck in his home to tape football games without the express written permission of the NFL. Columbo should have arrested him for that alone. 😉

Based on my high school and college experiences U-matic was better than VHS but below the quality of Super VHS (400 lines) which I used extensively well into the 1990’s. Extended Definition Betamax at 500 lines might have made a splash had Sony marketed it more aggressively.

Not sure exactly what the BBC used in house at the time. That Dr. Who site frequently refers to the original episode masters from the 70’s being Quad. (Long since dubbed off to digital formats.) Shooting video on location away from the studios was rare and usually done on film. U-matic made some early inroads in news gathering as it was portable and didn’t have to be rushed to the lab for developing. The gear was still damn heavy well into the 80’s though. I once walked around for a while with a deck slung over one shoulder, the camera on the other and a battery belt around my waist. After taking all of that off I felt like I was on the moon for a little while. 😉