transistor hFE testing higher than expected

[old_tv_nut]

hFE = 568 sounds uunusually high for a general purpose small-signal video transistor, but I don't suppose it can cause a problem. In most well designed transistor circuits it's only the minimum hFE that's of concern, and as a rule of thumb hFE = 100 is sufficient in most circuits.

It does disturb a bit that the spec sheet recommends this part number for audio applications. However, it may be that the transistor maker was trying to sell it for audio and the TV design engineer looked at the specs and the price and decided it was fine for video. Is this buffer stage an emitter follower, or is a signal taken off the collector?