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69.19.14.37
OK I know its not a cassette deck well kinda. I read that it beats a cassette deck in audio quality. Anyone have experience with VHS? Would it be better than a good reel to reel?
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Can someone with technological expertise comment whether this is true or not?
1. My understanding is that although HIFI VHS provides 20Hz-20KHz and over 90db s/n that the problem is in FM modulation of the signal resulting in dynamic but altered signal.
2. The VHS tapes stretch over the time. It is not perceptible when there is a video portion to distract us, but with audio only, it is perceptible and annoying.
3. and recordings made on one HIFI VCR may not play well on another - a bummer from archiving perspective. I have experienced that firsthand.
First of all I was talking about SVHS-so let's get that straight. I was turned onto to this by an engineer...not a 'tech', but someone who worked in the field all his life and retired. He studied the specs very carefully before he even tried it. He has two more stages of editing machines than I do because he fools with movie stuff. Yes, the tapes can stretch over many repeated playings and so can cassette and R2R. I'm using this medium to archive LPs in preparation for lossless compression, CD conversion. The idea, (or at least my idea), is that the LPs on the SVHS tapes will only be temporary-I'm not suggesting that people use this format for permanent music storage/archive playback. And you are correct in that SVHS tapes cannot be played on any other machine. You can however, play regular VHS on SVHS machines.
The point to all this was to suggest another format that through a fluke, is WAY cheaper right now that pro R2R and their attendant accessories. In the game of CD conversion I plan to pit my Tandberg against the Panasonic SVHS....that is, if I ever get the peak meter for the Tandberg.;-)
I do not understand the importance of using S-VHS deck instead of Stereo Hi-Fi VHS, when S relates to video portion of the recording. To my understanding, audio tracks are recorded the same way and there is no difference in audio quality. Both S-VHS and HiFI VHS use FM modulation, which is bad to my understanding.
I am afraid that FM modulation compromises the original analog signal.
When you add up the compromise of Digital encoding, and lossless on top, I am aftraid that you will end up with diluted vine of good vintage.
Critical comparrison of vinyl to lossless payback can tell if it is satisfactory to you.
I have built Music server first. Now I am buying vinyl I already have in digital form.
I am in advanced state of addiction, so may I offer you an advice based on experience.
If you want the best, don't go lossless. Drives are getting cheaper. It is difficult to quantify the difference, but let say that lossless achieves 93% sound quality of WAV. Tiny, but perceptible difference on decent equipment.
Lossless is cost effective, however, if you factor in your time, it is beeter to do it once in WAV.
I have two prong approach. I archive in WAV the most important recordings, and others as lossless. The beauty of losless is that you can expand it to WAV if you wish so, but it takes time.
The difference is in the quality of the machine. I'm not talking here about some consumer SVHS deck and there were many made, but rather a very expensive pro machine used in, for example, TV stations around the country. Hi-Fi VHS or VHS+ does not use the same HD circuitry as SVHS with regard to FM recording quality, I'm told. There is no compromise in FM modulation with this level of pro machines, however clumsy the format may be to copy LPs.
As far as the lossless compression argument, I'm a babe in the woods and have bought nothing. Everybody seems to be at mixed odds about it, however I do appreciate your opinion on this topic. What sort of bit rate do you like to record WAV files in?
of spoken word and some background music where I don't have to index and find selections. I never compared head to head sonically with my Nak, Aiwa and Tandberg cassette decks. The tapes I made sound pretty nice (JVC decks).
Most of the VCR's I've been around seem to have quite a bit of transport noise - that kind of low hum/buzz that doesn't come through the speakers but does go straight from the VCR to the ears - sounds like motor noise to me.
I think it's a good idea, though - shouldn't be hard to find low-hour Hi-Fi VCR's these days for cheap and the long (up to 6 or were there even 8 hour tapes?) length of the tapes is attractive to provide some background listening of favorites without having to switch LP's.
Can anyone recommend a nice quiet VCR?
I did in my post ans watched the last pro machine go on ebay for $20!
Buy one of many studio (well maintained) pro editing/recording SVHS machines out there-ebay is just one source. The hrs on the machines aren't that important if they have been well kept up, because they are virtual high-tech battleships. You have to use the HD circuitry in conjunction with the SVHS format for sound recordings. It puts VHS and VHS+ to shame for sound reproduction. The specs rival the best R2R and there is virtually no hiss/noise. You have to 'blacken' a tape and know how to 'Y' into the regular audio from the HD audio etc.
My machine was the Panasonic AG-7500A-a machine that when new sold between $5000 and $10,000. Not a toy and anybody that tells you R2R well beat or compare to this is NOT dealing with reality. Granted, it's awkward to work with since you're only using a portion of its potential as a record editing machine. I found my machine after waiting a few months on ebay for $165. Compare that to a top R2R that would even approach the same specs. That being said, I'm not running R2R down, as I actually prefer the romance of the big reels spinning.;-) But from a practical (until the market changes), it's a format that cannot be ignored. The 120 SVHS tapes go for $1-$3 or you're being ripped off.
1. you tend to hear head switching noise
2. you tend to hear noise pumping / breathing at times
3. awkward format to begin with
4. depending on the service and history of the deck, it can very well happen that upon service your old tapes won't play back properly, ie. severe high frequency roll-off, etc...
such as the top of the line Sony, JVC, and Panasonic Hi-Fi VCR as an archival format for my vinyl. I agree the sound was better than the RTR on 3 ½ IPS but not on 7 and or 15 IPS. However, they beat all makes of cassette players in terms of high fidelity sound out there handily including the venerable Naks IMHO.
The main problems with them were the music indexing it quite cumbersome to find the music that you want to listen to. As you have to go through a lot of tape forward winding and rewinding before finding it as the counter clock was not very accurate. In addition, there is the problem of tape stretching overtime that causes to have an audible wow and flutter. My favorite tape was Maxell as I find them to be better sounding than the rest.
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