VHS HI-FI Sound: Test Results Revealed
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- The VHS VCR for Audio?. Are you tired of poor audio quality. You can use your old VHS and your old VHS tapes. Look no further! In this video, we conducted tests to show you how to get the best audio quality from your old tapes. The results are in and they are very very good! Watch now to learn how you can get the best quality available for recording analog.
VHS HI-FI Sound Test Results: HI-FI Stereo VHS audio recordings. How good are they?
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Thumb change Monday 2200 vie drop, change again 15.00 tuesday 5 9 2023 ?
I used VHS Hi-Fi Audio for many years from 1986 up to the early 2000's. It was a great audio archiving format giving damn near digital audio quality on cheap (compared with reel-to-reel) tapes. Tape to head speed was the equivalent of about 102 ips on open reel. The greatest problems with the format were tracking issues (resulting in a "motorboating" buzzing sound) and sometimes incompatability between decks. DAT actually suffered from a lot of the same issues as it used the same rotating head drum (albeit in miniature) as a VCR. Dropouts on the tape would also cause either a quick sound glitch or a mute in the audio. This could be minimised by using high grade (rather than standard grade) blank tapes from good manufacturers like TDK, Sony, Maxell, etc. There is also a low level noise that comes from the head swiching system in the VCR, but it was pretty much un-noticable at normal audio levels. I used the format mainly for archiving radio broadcasts, and only recently finished transferring all the tapes to digital audio files. It was definately one of the "best kept secrets" in the audio world at the time.
Fantastic video loaded with information on such a niche topic, well done. I have played around with hi-fi vhs for audio and could not distinguish it from the source at all in an a/b test. And I was using audacity hitting the "solo" button between the two tracks with them in sync too. My ears could not hear any difference. Considering how many people owned them compared to cd players in the 80s, it's a little surprising that not many people caught on. In the digital age it was almost boring to use, no distortion to flavor the music like a compact cassette will subtly give you, it's like hearing digital. But in the analogue age it would have been amazing. Record your vinyl, compact cassette, 8 tracks, reel to reel etc fresh out of their packaging. Or pre-recorded music that never happened that could sound like a perfect copy of a reel to reel master. I mean, it performs so good that hi-fi vhs even could have been the master tape instead of reel to reel. It even keeps virtually perfect playback speed, a one hour album had a tiny fraction of a second difference from source, that tells me that it automatically adjusts in real time. Another thing to consider is how affordable these were when compared to cassette decks considering how much more advanced this technology is. You'd think a VHS player would have cost an arm and a leg, but most households owned at least one. What an opportunity to be had that was missed by almost everyone.
Years ago I befriended a TV repairman in town. He had an old Fender 8X4X2 amplified mixer sitting in a corner, doing nothing. Long story short, he let me borrow it to mix down my budding MIDI music studio. Not the best choice but it was better than nothing. One day he called me and said he needed it to do a "gig". A bunch of "Wedding Band" musicians were getting together at a Senior Citizen center to jam, play what they were into...which was swing. And he wanted to record their sound. "...o-kayyy" I said... you need a VCR for that? "...well, that's when I learned that a hi-fi stereo VCR records audio at CD quality. "Really?!" Yep! Even on the slow EP speed. Think about it - One TS-160 video cassette tape plus one HiFi Stereo VCR using the red and white audio inputs to record will yield 8 hours of CD quality audio. Whatever source - radio, vinyl, cassette, even a hi-fi stereo cable box. And, being it was a VCR, I could use the timer to record off the radio or cable if I was away from home. Thank you, Jerry Cardone...wherever you are!
Years ago I befriended a TV repairman in town. He had an old Fender 8X4X2 amplified mixer sitting in a corner, doing nothing. Long story short, he let me borrow it to mix down my budding MIDI studio. Not the best choice but it was better than nothing. One day he called me and said he needed it to do a "gig". A bunch of "Wedding Band" musicians were getting together at a Senior Citizen center to jam, play what they were into...which was swing. And he wanted to record their sound...using a VCR....."...o-kayyy" I said..."you need a VCR for THAT? "...well, that's when I learned that a Hi-Fi stereo VCR records audio at CD quality. "Really?!" Yep! Even on the slow EP speed. Think about it - One TS-160 video cassette tape plus one HiFi Stereo VCR using the red and white audio inputs to record the audio will yield 8 hours of CD quality audio. Whatever source - radio, vinyl, cassette, even a hi-fi stereo cable box. Thank you, Jerry Cardone, where ever you are!
Wonderful story.
In the 90s, my old band used to master our demos to VHS tapes. We used them for duplication to cassettes… this was before it was financially viable to release CDs.
That is such a good use for it.
Finally a video featuring HiFi VHS with actual data instead of opinions showing how good it is. Excellent video. BTW you could have just used a HDMI->Analog audio adapter to capture the screen from laptop and not need another video source. I did a project like a year or so ago.
Thanks for the idea! And thanks for the feedback
I knew it was rock solid from my personal experience - I've never seen the white noise and frequency sweep tests though myself so thanks for your efforts - that's really the cats meow and explains why I always perferred this format over DAT.
It is nice when the tests confirm your thoughts.
We could add (for the technically inclined :) that VHS HI-FI is FM modulated, similar to an FM station, with some audio compression/expansion to lower noise and improve the dynamic range.
That is correct, and it does a good job, with a good tape .
8:14 interesting that you show this particular JVC S-VHS recorder wondering "Where have the controls gone". The answer in this case is that the European (PAL) version had all the controls and the US (NTSC) version didn't.
I happen to own the PAL version. I recorded several E300 tapes on it with 10 hours of music each, with markers so I could search for particular music later on. I remember it insisted on getting a video signal with the audio to work properly so what I did was I put it in simulcast mode and recorded a TV channel as video and the audio input (connected from my receiver) as HiFi audio. I also recorded CD's by using my Amiga as audio and video input so I had the Amiga CDTV player (with track number and time code!) on the tape with HiFi audio.
You had it sussed. Well done.
10:50
how is it analog?
If you slow down the tape will it slow down the music? Just like a normal analog tape deck?
I learned about this way too late. I wish I knew about this in the 1990s!
Most people did not realise how good it was.
Hi-Fi VCR sound cannot capture all the sound like CDs can because Hi Fi VCR is analog which creates inaccurate results and less fidelity than to a CD, and consumer level which has a lot of background noise. It's just like RUclips audio which doesn't contain all the sound as a CD because of audio compression, which is way worse.
I used to use it to record party tapes ( 8 hours long ) and to record from the radio on my JVC HRD 750 EK and then my Mitsubishi S VHS 1000 - always got great sound
Those machines were really good
Try doing VHS tape loops good quality though and cheap
hi very good points in the video you are very right i had a deck with the big VU meters the deck went bad so i went over to betamax
the betamax hi-fi started to play up wear on tapes wear on decks
there is one video format that is wow
i picked up betacam first gen deck used WOW the sound on the decks make vhs look silly
i have betacam sp and higher i work on my decks all the ones i have are working note there's a lot of fans
on the deck not for home using decks
there's alot of new sealed tapes around for silly low money
there's only one good thing for vhs on ADAT decks i am finding home deck wear out to fast
betacam is 40 years old and they are still purr like my cat
Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the video and found the points to be accurate. It's always fascinating to hear about people's experiences with different video formats. Keep enjoying your Betacam decks and the great sound quality they provide!
It’s a shame most vhs hi fi player/ recorders stopped putting adjustable VU meters on them also most don’t include a headphone jack. How does one know the recording leveled for audio in. Plus’s they are just cool. Even the cheapest Cassatt decks have these basic features.
Whilst I agree with you 100% about it being a disappointment about the VU and Adjustments can I add a positive light here.
The main reason they removed the bits was cost. Most people, I would say 95% did not use VHS Hi-Fi as a recording medium. They played Stereo Hi-Fi tapes into the Stereo TVs that were few and far between with the speakers on either side of a 22" screen and that was that.
Most TV was mono, then when NICAM in the UK started they had the ability to record High Quality DIGITAL sound. Whether they wanted to or not. But Most people wanted East Enders (soap) recorded 3 times a week and that was all they knew or cared about.
So the market was small for "Real HI-FI fans". The plus point is that VHS Hi-Fi at least on the one I tested is set to record well with a good input level. i.e. line level. It is pre-set because TV sound is always at the same levels when transmitted. Signals from a Video source are also pre-set i.e. a Sky or Cable box. so again no need to have adjustments. The HIFI recording was not Auto level controled so it was just good.
If you use Line and not headphone outputs to feed the HI-FI VHS, it will always just be correct. be that CD or Tape or record. Line level will always be correct. ALSO because it is so good, if the level is a bit low you can turn up the volume on playback knowing the noise etc is not on the signal.
For real adjustments, a cassette deck or other recorder used as a pre-amp gets around all the problems in one go.
Back in the day 1990's ish i tried VHS Hifi sometimes it was fine sometimes it was hyper sensitive to tracking even when i used tdk EHG so for me it never replaced the audio cassette and a few years later i swapped to minidisc and then to CDR! eventally i used dvd-r and dvd+R for audio. Nothing fancy but i was recording stuff off the radio so would use my Hard drive recorder to record stuff unattended via freeview to the HDD, would edit it later to remove the extra 5 minutes either side that i had allowed and then recorded it to dvd on a 4 hour dvd you may get maybe 4.5hour audiotime due to variable bit rate(or whatever it was called) as you were recording a black screen.
Tracking can be a problem. particularly between different machines, LP ( EP?) made it a lot more tricky.
Just to add it is better I find if you record at EP speed as it stops the head switching noise as the tape is moving slower against the drum the sound isn't compromised .
A lot of people say EP is subject to tracking problems between machines. I say if it works, it works.
On the JVC VCR I was using, in EP I could hear some typical noise you have when tracking is not 100% correct iny speakers. It was quite noticeable at high level. The SP was clearly better for me.
I was going to try my 1992 Panasonic nv f 55 with it's busy sounds but two dodgy phono cables and my 1988 onyo reciever reciever has a dodgy specker protection relay and needs a dose of contact cleaner , but the Panasonic nv f55 does have recording level adjustment but does sound great the receiver playing video through the recover ,i reckon this recorder is better at audio than the more modern players .
The only thing that lets the sound quality down is the head switching bussing noice on a lot of vhs recorders but otherwise a fantastic media to record on ..
I think that was tracking. It was annoying, but not all decks/tapes suffered.
4 hour long mix tapes!
You can do 8 hours but they may not track properly if stored. so yes 4 four-hour mix tapes.
@@GaryKeepItSimple I ran out of luck, the VCR turns on but won't accept a tape. I'm guessing the belt got a bit weak. On the other hand, I found maybe a dozen old tapes; mostly Profi Gold (aldi or lidl store) branded (some are identical to the emtec tapes I got) and a TDK all EHG and labeled 100% HiFI stereo VCR.
It appears the VCR can play NTSC tapes on a PAL TV that can do 60Hz. I think it's worthwile to operate on the patient over winter.....
VHS HiFi is good, but not as good as digital.
You are correct. but the spec is really close.
People like myself are fixing broken vhs tapes with Scotch tape it starts playing again with out no problem's everything proven vhs tapes out doing people's thinking now days and damage blue ray disc movies doesn't play at all only vhs tapes don't stop playing at all everything proven vhs tapes don't have to be updated at all like internet does in the future
VHS tapes are very good and if treated correctly will last for a long time and they do not scratch. I Like VHS.
Vhs tapes don't stop playing at all everything proven people like myself are buying VCR players cleaning tapes vhs movies offline now days
I like VHS and Beta.