In terms of video quality, Video8 and Beta-II offer similar performance in their standard-play modes. In terms of audio, Video8 generally outperforms its older rivals. Standard VHS and Beta audio is recorded along a narrow linear track at the edge of the tape, where it is vulnerable to damage. Coupled with the slow horizontal tape speed, the sound was comparable with that of a low-quality audio cassette. By contrast, all Video8 machines used audio frequency modulation (AFM) to record sound along the same helical tape path as that of the video signal. This meant that Video8's standard audio was of a far higher quality than that of its rivals, although linear audio did have the advantage that (unlike either AFM system) it could be re-recorded without disturbing the video. (Betamax and VHS Hi-Fi rarely appeared on camcorders, except on the high-end models.) Video8 later included true stereo, but the limitations of camcorder microphones at the time meant that there was little practical difference between the two AFM systems for camcorder usage. In general, Video8 comfortably outperforms non-HiFi VHS/Beta.