VCR Video Heads Explained - Zenith Dealer Demo
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- Опубликовано: 25 июл 2024
- This video comes from a Zenith dealer instructional video made around 1984. The graphics and model work are excellent in explaining what was a complicated subject for consumers regarding how many video heads a VCR needed and what they all did.
This is the most educational video I've ever seen on how VCRs work.
imagine the fun and challenges the engineers had designing and getting this system to work as well as it did
Always used to wonder about the "13 micron 4 head" VCR label on the cassette door as a kid.
Now I FULLY know!
Best explanation I have ever seen about difference between 2 head and 4 head and also HIFI sound in analog video recording systems. Thanks for sharing this video.
This video provides a good explanation of why the artifacts I was seeing during the VHS tape era looked the way they did, and why the HiFi sound is so much better than a linear mono machine. Also you can use a HiFi VHS VCR to make 6 to 10 hour long SQUARE mixtapes with studio-quality reel to reel quality. It helps to have an Amiga or a DVD player display the track names in the video portion for searching, though.
Probably one of the best videos about helical scan videotape systems there has ever been.
I remember my dad bragging about how many heads his vcr had. I had no idea what he was talking about. He didn’t know either.
I was today years old when I first heard about 3-head and 5-head designs! I grew up during the 1980's and 1990's, and I can honestly say that I've never heard of that before! Well ya learn sumtin' new every day!! LOL!
What was it like in 1991? I watched the Phil Donahue show on here . There was this old park bathroom from 1990 that smelled and has toilets with black toilet seats really creepy
@@elgeneralxx I'm not really sure what you mean?
Also, 6 heads exist. 2 for HiFi, 2 for SP, 2 for EP.
Camcorders had two flying erase heads to allow seamless recording when pausing, not so much for Ep mode.
All I knew back in the day is that a 4-head VCR made pausing the Phoebe Cates dream sequence in Fast Times at Ridgemont High much more enjoyable.
I tried explaining this to my wife and some younger people that you were a top dog if you had a 4head over a 2head, like you were the shit! I love remembering those old days too. Movies look better in their original format to me. Some scenes that had a different look and feel made for VHS and 4:3 just looks amazing to me honestly. Gonna find me a good VCR and buy up some favorites from back in the day.
Thank you Dan Gilvezan for explaining the process I used to record all your cartoon roll's 35+ years ago lol.
Love the head clog on the playback as the tape is first laced over the drum in the video.
And here I was, thinking the additional heads were to help with performance at the LP and EP speeds.
Bravo we need more of these explanations for modern devices
The VCR drum has a similar function as a read arm in HDDs. Just disassembled a VCR drum. Noticed the pointy point contacts.
My Mitsubishi S-VHS HS-M1000 6 head machine is still going strong after 30 years.
I swear since a kid it's been a life mystery to me why the heads were always at different angles. I always thought all vcr came w damaged heads. Now I know, now I know 😆
Melhor explicação sobre cabeças em VCRs que já vi!
In childhood we don't understand sp ep vhs 4head etc but now after 30 years we know
The original machine had a base-plate of prefabulated aluminite, surmounted by a malleable logarithmic casing in such a way that the two main spurving bearings were in a direct line with the pentametric fan.
The latter consisted simply of six hydrocoptic marzlevanes,
I watched this video way before I created my channel and now I have finally liked it
I remember this actor. I forget his name but he was pretty famous.
Excellent video, thanks for the upload!
Thank you for the upload! :)
So to get True Digital Hi-Fi audio from a VHS-VCR, you need to disconnect the Video Heads. Problem with this Is the Machine will see this and refuse to work, But there Is away around this. I have been using these for recording Mix Tapes for Friends for Years. They still come up to me and say, that Tape you did for me back In the 80's, still sounds as great today 2021 as It did back then. Thanks for Sharing.
Hi-fi is still analog not digital.
What ?
There was this thinking back in the 20th century that if you actually studied about and KNEW your product inside out, you'd have a much easier time selling it. The problem with sales people today is that NOBODY wants to learn anything but...EVERYBODY wants a 100k base salary.
Amazing video
Great video!
This is cool but also ironic in a way that anyone who recorded and exported this edit did probably not understand interlacing themselves... all the stripes a bit ruin this historic footage...
I barely notice it, I am more annoyed about the fact the VCR used has some issues with playback plus no TBC was used or at least they could have cropped out the head switching noise!
Also was exported to 30fps instead of 60
@@dlarge6502 that's common among regular VHS users, bad deinterlacing, strikes much more than VHS artefacts, especially on a VHS.
Yeah, the modern way of deinterlacing is you separate both frames and can make new frames with each interlaced part - thus making the 30fps NTSC VHS video become a fluid 60FPS video! Some capture cards can do decent upscaling too.
Dude, what. A tape like this was almost definitely stored unideally due to the dealer not needing it anymore as their inventory became all 3 and 4-head recorders. When that happens, degradation happens, and sometimes you can keep up with adjusting the tracking but sometimes no matter how much you adjust it, there's going to be snow.
If YOU knew anything about actually working with tape, you wouldn't be embarrassing yourself here. but, here you are with your 4k mindset thinking you need to see everything all the time......LOL.
VCR HiFi audio is another area where Betamax was superior. Think of the tape as the dial on an FM radio. The luminance or black and white portion of the video signal is like a radio station on the dial, higher up in the frequency band. The color signal is separated and recorded at a lower frequency. The Hifi audio is yet two more "FM radio stations" added to the tape in between the color and luminance space on the dial. Radio and TV stations need space or empty channels between them to avoid interference. The VCR tape bandwidth has the same issue. In Betamax they were able to squeeze in the two* audio FM signals in between the luminance and chroma carriers. The Betamax luminance signal is higher in frequency and that is why it had better picture quality as well. And the same video heads also recorded and played back the HiFi audio. Separate rotating audio heads were not needed in Betamax. But on VHS with it's lower luminance carrier frequency, there was no room for the FM audio carriers. So they had to come up with this depth recording kludge using two more heads.
While VHS HiFi did perform well most of the time, if a tape had poor interchange or "tracking" you could get either a good picture or good HiFi audio by adjusting the tracking control. But not both! Due to the additional HiFi audio heads and their separate physical tracks under the video tracks, the VCR could only optimize one or the other if they were not aligned when recorded. As Betamax used the video heads for HiFi audio, this problem did not occur. Adjusting the tracking on a Betamax with a rented tape improved both the video AND HiFi audio playback.
* In Betamax there were actually four FM audio carriers, two for each audio channel, for each of the two video heads. This had to do with the azimuth video recording technology where the azimuth effect did not work at the lower audio FM frequencies. Same problem with the chroma signal but that was fixed by other means in the video playback chain.
Video2000 system from Philips/Magnavox had the heads mounted on piezo electric crystals, and used dynamic tracking. No manual tracking needed, perfect special effects like freeze frame, and using just half the tapewidth making a reversible tape possible, all while just using two heads.
My 2001 - 2003 3x Samsung hifi VHS VCR's are 6 heads. 1 of them is SVHS with a DVD player built in too.
Wait a sec, where did 3 and 5 heads come from! And there is a big difference in ep and sp! But it's a great video. My family got our first 2 head top loader for $500 in 1983
They wrong explain ep and sp
I remember 3 head VCRs. What I don't understand is how using heads that aren't 180 degrees apart doesn't cause picture problems.
@@MrDuncl The heads used for playback are always 180 degrees apart, and only ever 2 of them used at one time. Just different heads for different playback speeds, and then additional heads (3 head and 5 model models) to enhance the special effects.
this Dude Sound like The VoiceIn Jurasik Park 1 The Dino DNA Guy
I know I might think stupid, but for deep thoughts, I really hope this technology upholds nowadays. Analog is humane, natural and realistic. There's no doubt that such audio and video technology is far beyond 21st century industry. I do think VCR, DAT reach the peak in human audio industry. Those flac, wav, dsd, ape etc, they didn't make things more reality, they just focusing too much on higher definition, sharpness etc.
I am not sure how to put that, but I kind of understand it. Not only in a metaphorical way, but also in reality. I had a bunch of LP tracks that I had access to from the CD version. Of course I jumped onto that as there was no surface noise, no interfaces that could change the audio (jack-to-jack audio cable, no physical contact with the media like tapes or records have, change in mixing to accomodate the flaws of vinyl records and/or tape, et cetera) and I loved how clean the digital, 16-bit sound is. I sat there, smiling and knowing this is the real deal straight from the masters.
Last week I purchased a plugin called "Sketch Casette 2" as VST3, now adding subtle, simulated analogue errors - drop-outs, lowpass filters, wow and flutter. This is mostly for "dramatic cassette" effects, but I think I kind of grown that white noise (hiss) actually can ease off of the "sharpness" of audio. Almost like using sandpaper to carefully (!) take off some of the sharpest edges. Having clinically clean sound (16-bit is already overkill, people use 24-bit for some reason too) is maaaaaaaaybe sometimes not the best goal to achieve. As master? Yes, of course. But for listening, adding a bit of randomness can be the cherry on top of the cake.
Brilliant!
I remember the month Panasonic invented double azimuth !
JVC, 1976.
Ah, production music from KPM at 13:50 - Newsweek by Graham Francis DeWilde from 1983.
I had a VHS, where it was LP, double time and EP three times. EP dropped each second half frame and the non HiFi sound had telephone quality
I hope I can still tell this difference from just the labeling on the outside of the VCRs that I find at the thrift store. Or by Googling the model number.
Maybe someone can explain auto tracking. :)
The heads move up and in order to get clearer picture
@@seamusmckeon9109 Nice! But why is it called auto?
@@Florentina-ox9xq Because it is auto(-matic)
@@dxgeist Ok...
The heads don't move (unless you are talking Video 2000). Beta and VHS have a sync track similar to the audio track indicating the start of each frame. The tracking control on an old VCR changes the timing between getting a sync pulse and the rotation of the drum. Get it wrong and mechanical inaccuracies mean the rotating head could be scanning across the join of two tracks degrading the picture.
When you press play on an auto tracking VCR it sweeps the tracking backwards and forwards while monitoring the picture for the best picture and least noise. The process takes about one second. I am surprised how well it works on the cheap Funai VCRs that were the last sold. There again the internal circuitry in those could be far more complex than the first VCRs which were only just starting to use ICs.
Nice info
Hey, this video looks nice! Do you mind if I take this video and deinterlaced it to make it 60fps?
…
If they have the raw capture and if the capture it at 720x480.
Super Cartoonist It doesn't matter of it's 720x480 as long as it's qtgmc
I absolutely LOVE it that you made it look like it came from the actual VCR! As a VCR collecting and VHS tape collecting junkie, I'm proud of this.
Jenny Wakeman it did
It really came originally from a VCR ^^
It certainly wasn't going to have come from a DVD. VHS was the most common form of video distribution back then. A decade later my first Computer CD ROM drive came with a VHS tape explaining how to install it.
Some of the comments on here are just bizarre. Where else would it have come from, if not a VCR?!
Now I understand why my multi standard VHS produces a poor picture in SP picture search
It records in SP only, but being a multi standard recording in LP/EP was not a priority
Outside of the US, SP was default and we are better off for it. LP looked terrible.
ah now I understand why my VCR has 5 heads. Its really a 3 video heads and 2 Hi-Fi heads. Which makes sense as it has one of those frame by frame advancement wheels on it, which apparently would look like crap with only 2 video heads in SP mode.
the older i get the more i get to wonder about this "use to be popular" technology... its funny thinking about how kids these days have no idea what a vcr is...
@Pat B oh wait yes they do , oops mybad
In the 1980s there were numerous comments about how only kids were Tech Savvy enough to be able to set the clock on a VCR !
@@MrDuncl It was true. I did when I was 8, this was in 89 so it still qualifies. I read the manual through once, put it down and set the clock and night timer for Prisoner Cell Block H at 11pm if I remember rightly. I also set it up out of the box and tuned in all the channels. The most used timer was set for the start of Going Live on Saturday mornings.
We were a lot more tech savvy (And smarter) back then. I guess this is why I have a lot of old tech like VCR's and HiFi systems. I miss those days!
what's a dvd player? whats cable television?
@@MrDuncl as a 10 year old in the 1988, I was the only one in my family who could set the record timer on our Toshiba VCR.
I’ve got videorecorder portable Hitachi VT-8E PAL with 5 head video, audio stereo linear and SP-LP for PAL only 😜
I have the same model too. It does indeed have a 5th head for special effects and it's my only linear stereo machine.
I like how you made it look like it really is coming from the VCR.
That’s because it *IS* coming from a VCR!
yet it should have been deinterlaced.
How the picture and audio information is exactly recorded and played back is still witchcraft to me 😜
Holy cow! Where can I get one of these technological wonders? Do they sell them next door to the flying car dealership?
Possibly, is there a charity shop next door?
QUESTION: I cleaned the VCR heads. I used paper and the 91% rubbing alcohol. The tapes played with improved video and audio. Everything seemed fine. But then I put the cover back on the VCR and the video problems and audio problems returned. I then cleaned the heads again. This time when I put the cover on the VCR the video problems no longer existed, but there was still a slight "static" hiss type of noise. This happens EVERY TIME. I have tried this over a dozen times and the moment I place the cover onto the VCR while a tape is playing, the static "hiss" starts to be there. What is causing this and how can it be corrected?
It seems that there are grounding issues with your cover. Please check for a correct reassembly and for the quality of wearable components.
9:45 "The rolling bar does not actually exist."
we've been tricked, we've been backstabbed, and quite possibly, bamboozled
OH SHET
No, it's an artifact of recording displayed video with a non-synchronized video recorder. It's similar to the effect of watching wagon wheels on western shows and movies rotate "backwards" even though the wagon is moving forward.
No, your saying it wrong. He's meaning that it doesn't exist to the eye, only on cameras. (Not you, Ronald.)
Dan gilvezan! 80's spidey and bumblebee!
What I don't understand is why they didn't simply mount the heads on piezo actuators in order to compensate for any variance in the position of the heads compared to the track of the tape. This is how it was done on decent quality VCRs in Europe at the same time.
Does playback and record use the same head on the spinning drum, as does one head is used in audio tape recording?
Yes, the same heads that plays also records.
Хороший рассказ.
I love all the errors, jitter, and noise that randomly pops up from time to time.....I dare someone to try to simulate that using photoshop studio and make it look authentic
So that means my 6 head VCR is like 4 heads for video and 2 for audio?
Yes!
Was this video recorded with a 1-head VCR?
In two head (not dual azimuth). You told each head are record on track and another head has recored another track. In pause mode, the tape has been stopped, one head are scan on track? OR two heads were scanned two tracks? Thank you.
Two heads take turns scanning two tracks. The heads are deliberately offset by a tiny amount so their paths don’t overlap.
Wrong explain about EP and SP. 2 Head optimized for sp speed.(standard play) ep mean extended play. If want to play or record ep mode you must have 4head vcr. If im wrong please correct me
Not true. Later 2 head machines from the late 90s refer to EP as SLP and can record/playback the speed.
Video is about NTSC; in case you think about PAL you are right
Early 2 head machines were optimized for SP since it was the only speed. Later 2 head machines had comprimise head widths not optimal for either. The later machines during the race to the bottom had 19 micron heads only so if you recorded on SP two thirds of your tape would be blank. Many of the last machines advertised 19 micron heads as if only having those was a good thing. VHS was poor quality as it was and many people recorded everything on EP, even on earlier machines that had good SP heads, but they didn't know any better and got the worst quality possible.
You are wrong and correct depending on where your VCR is in the world.
The deck may record in SP speed( 33,35 mm/S), and SLP/EP speed( 11,12 mm/s) only, however it may playing LP ( 16,67 mm/s), LP modus is only in playback.
Matsushita National Panasonic decks VCR may record in LP modus( 16,67 mm/s) Matsushita and others VCR like Magnavox rebadged Panasonic, or Quasar
4 heads.........bringing better 90s freeze frame porn than any other system
Bumblebee voice actor?
Is that Bumblebee?
vhs should be kodak positive film tapes projectable, really analogical like vinyls are for music
Shoulda deinterlaced for RUclips. The interlaced video makes it look like there were jaggy interlace artefacts on the original video, which there weren't - these were only introduced when uploading to RUclips.
I'd prefer use of a tbc to get rid of the head switching noise over deinterlacing, you can barely notice the latter.
2:30 30&60 FPS folks lol
A E S T H E T I C
And philips V2000 system did all of this with just 2 heads.
But the long time it took them to master that tech (launch 1980) left them behind VHS and Beta...
He didn't go over Flying Erase Heads
This amazes me.
Wish this was deinterlaced :P
👍hi all vhs fun.
Just me in the 80s like waiting for spider man and his amazing friends to start
Even this video has tracking issues...hahap
I don’t think the tape has tracking issues, it’s just very dirty and it has a lot of static.
Why does the guy that uploaded this vide had it ripped with the interlaced baked in?
Interlacing?
I'm more annoyed at the lack of TBC, the head noise at the bottom!
@@dlarge6502You must be batshit crazy if interlaced video encoded as progressive with a lossy codec doesn't annoy you as much as head switching noise
I want video head for my Panasonic super 3 head vcr whose video chip is damaged. Where I can get that. Kindly help
This VCR is rebadged by JVC. Japan Victor Company. Victor made Gramophones at end of 19th century in America, with the mark with the dog Nipper( on Japanese VHS Decks, and D-THEATER decks) , listening gramophone " His master's voice "
Am I stupid or something why can't I understand this
Don’t try to understand it. Just feel it.
Nah this shit is just pretty technical and I think it was intended for people who already worked in the industry. Not for every random person to understand.
My tapes look like garbage after 20 years man
Which means the less heads your vcr have, the most your vhs will live
Today's below 20 years old people don't know the term VCR and Tape Recorder
I'm 19 and I've used VHS and Compact cassettes many times. We did get a DVD-player in mid 00s but we used our VCR a lot more than it because of the ability to record TV programs.
Our VCR is a pretty nice 6 head Hi-Fi stereo unit. Sanyo VHR-777
I'm 21 and I do use a VCR.
I'm 16 and I use music cassettes and vhs still.
I'm 16 and I still record in vhs
I’m 13 and still use a vcr
He keeps looking "up and to the right". HE'S LYING! (Or is he telling the truth? I can never remember.) LET'S GET HIM ANYWAY!
As usual, They ignore the LP (4 hour) speed.
By 1987 LP was being removed from most machines for recording. I bought my first HiFi machine (Mitsubishi HS421UR) in April 1987 and it had LP. The next year in early 1988 I bought a second HiFi machine, a Mitsubishi HS413UR and it lacked LP and most machines by that time had gotten rid of it. I doubt any machines had heads optimized for it.
That's because of regional difference. The US had EP and it was the standard mode of a VCR in the US, LP was useless when your public wanted EP as standard. Most people never recorded in SP because they didn't care or didn't know to switch to SP each time they turn on the VCR.
In the UK and other parts of the world we had it opposite. SP was standard and the default mode for the VCR when turned on, we got LP to extend recording time and EP was introduced much later when we had VCR'S with NTSC playback, because it turns out your NTSC tapes are recorded in EP...
@@3Cr15w311 LP was the only standard extended play mode outside of the US so while you were having it removed we didn't have EP added till the late 90's early 00's to support NTSC playback
444 likes. Don’t wanna like this but can’t help it...
this video is wrong SP speed is standard play 4hrs tape gives 4hrs.EP is extra play 4hrs tape gives 12hrs in EP and 8hrs in LP.
in this video guy is constantly saying that EP is standard play. but its not
In the US EP was the standard speed because of marketing. VCR's defaulted to EP when you turned them on, and in the US tapes were sold in EP lengths. In the UK we got it the other way, we got SP by default and SP tape lengths on the packaging, we also got LP, which is not EP but a different speed entirely. Much later on we ended up with EP as well so had SP and LP and also EP. The UK VCR'S with EP were the ones that support NTSC playback, as guess what, NTSC tapes are EP by default.
The guy is correct, you remember only a regional difference.
Great video !!!