Until cheap digital recording became available in the mid 2000's, LP Hi-Fi VHS was how many commercial radio stations would archive their output for the mandated 42 days required by the Radio Authority. I still have many of our old tapes and even at LP, providing the machine wasn't hitting its limiter, the quality is actually very good.

@andydelle4509

3 жыл бұрын

In the USA commercial TV stations often logged their air feed for proof commercials ran. They initially used reel to reel security video tape recorders but when 6hr VHS came along they jumped on that. far cheaper and reliable than those old security camera recorders.

@jamiey5779

3 жыл бұрын

I did read somewhere that LP doesn't reduce audio quality of Hi-Fi VHS audio recordings? SP recordings apparently just use less tape overall.

@chinnyvision

3 жыл бұрын

@@jamiey5779 You are far more susceptible to dropout and other tape damage. Nothing quite like the farting noises of some dropout that might not have impacted an SP recording.

@Defensive_Wounds

2 жыл бұрын

Albeit a little bit grainy video, the audio is fine. I would normally record in SP mode for 99% of my things. I have over 2000 VHS tapes.

Once Used a HIFI VHS deck to record a Jazz Concert at "The Rhythmic Club" Islington. I basically did this by asking the in house PA engineer to give me an output feed from his desk and then fed this into the line inputs of my HIFI VHS deck. This actually work really well. Very nice recording which I later mastered to DAT and CD back home.

Incredibly low wow and flutter in VHS, no azimuth settings, no speed issues. HiFi VHS is the best sounding analog format

@musmodtos

3 жыл бұрын

You're right, it's essentially a non-issue as the control-track takes care of the micro-adjustments during playback, video-tape by nature had to be very finely timed for it work. I'm putting up a video myself in the New Year comparing various 'novel' analogue recording methods compared to compact cassette. I have a Panasonic AG-7750 sitting next to me which is about to record a test on to a brand new archival grade S-VHS cassette.

@ET3Roberts

3 жыл бұрын

@@musmodtos I always have to turn my amp down about a 1/3 from the DVD audio level when watching a VHS tape. The THX sound on a VHS tapes still gets me fired up.

@KenjiUmino

3 жыл бұрын

@@ET3Roberts i assume you have to turn your amp down because most VHS movie's audio tracks are a bit more compressed (and thus "louder") than their DVD counterparts - this did bleed over to VHS at some point shortly before VHS became obsolete. i guess at that time they just didn't bother to apply another mixing pass for the different media releases at least that is what i observed. while we had the loudness war in the music world and everything got compressed and loudened way too much, the exact opposite happened in home video. since the late 90's or so, the difference between soft and loud parts in movies is almost too much for casual movie watching at home IMO. i always have to engage DRC on my surround reciever when i want to watch a movie at night (or during the day even) because i usually wanna be able to understand what people are saying so i turn that thing up to where "normal talking" in movies is equally loud to "normal talking" in real life ... and then the talking is over and the next scene involves explosions and collapsing buildings ... and suddenly my sound system in the living room (including a 15" sub) rattles the plates in the kitchen.

@lauratiso

3 жыл бұрын

There's no wow and flutter at all, since NICAM is a digital audio encoding :)

@musmodtos

3 жыл бұрын

@@lauratiso Very true but NICAM was a transmission format, it wasn't used for recording on tapes, that was always done at FM Stereo in the case of VHS Hifi. NICAM wasn't encoded on to the tape.

This was a well kept secret that I shared with a lot of people when I was into this format. I used to record music for parties, 4 hours of music on one cassette and let it play. Of course this was days before CD changers. On top of that, the quality was nearly as clean as digital, depending on the source. Back when everyone was striving to get digital quality music on cassette, I was recording everything I had on VHS cassettes. It was a mostly a convenience factor along with high quality audio. I used to call it my poor man's DAT, even though it is an analog recording, but a damn good one. I could not afford a DAT in the late 80s when they slowly started to get released after the RIAA Sony thing resolved. Anyway, I still have several cassettes with music on them and a few HiFi VCRs. I still play them today, even though I have a real DAT. I still think these VCRs are great and way less finicky than a DAT. One thing I did test was the quality difference between SP, EP and SLP. Aside from losing hours of recording time, I did not hear a enough of a significant difference in the quality to record at a higher tape speed. Could just be my subjective opinion though.

@KenjiUmino

3 жыл бұрын

if you share a "secret" with a lot of people - doesn't this defeat the purpose of a "secret"? it certainly isn't a "well kept" secret any more then. :)

Watch ebay prices skyrocket due to the techmoan effect

@stevesstuff1450

3 жыл бұрын

They have been for a while now.... the prices shown here were from unfinished Ebay auctions; these decks go for a fair bit more, and have done for some time - between £50 - £100 quite often! Good value for a HiFi recorder, but still expensive for 'just' a VHS deck!!

@MatrixAlphaCWX

3 жыл бұрын

They are climbing. I grabbed 3 yesterday on ebay before they went over 20$ Haha. Mine are all Sony Combo Dvd/VHS Recorders.

VHS Hi-Fi is the ultimate analog audio format, accessible to all. No calibration needed, no bias adjustments, no noise reduction debates, no azimuth blues and absolutely no wow&flutter... Just high quality analog 20-20KHz bliss, and that's Hi-Fi! For vinyl recordings archive, home studio rehearsals, long play streaming selectas, or even as mixtapes masters. VHS-Hi-Fi is so good and soooo cheap today... Really sounds astonishing, great dinamics (>90db). An experience that any real tape head must enjoy. Cheers 🇵🇹

@hafibeat834

Жыл бұрын

Sorry, the "ultimate" analog format would be Open Reel Tape with 15 ips. No professional used this format outside the video-world for a very good reason: The modulation that converts the audio-signal to HF - pls. see my comment above...

@chrisharding5447

10 ай бұрын

Beware of long term corrosion degradation due to moisture, though...

@sc0or

8 ай бұрын

90dB is a myth. People shared real measurements. For 0dB input signal, THD is at about -70dB level. for -20dB input signal, THD stays at the same level. This is unavoidable due to a decoder IC (which is not high-end in any vhs recorder). They don't call it "noise", but in fact this isn't a sound either. Of course it's far from MC/R2R tape THD, but those highly integrated ICs can have additional side effects (like dynamics, tonal integrity, etc)

What you did not mention was that VHS HiFi started the whole home cinema craze. Prerecorded cassettes came out with HiFi tracks so films had superb audio. Dolby noticed this and as many releases on VHS had the surround info embedded in the two HiFi tracks, they brought out a 'Dolby surround' chip, later followed by a Dolby prologic' one, for amp manufacturers to incorporate into units, creating the first AV amps. I was a teenager at the time and took advantage of this development, and boy, was it fun!

Brings back memories, used to have a couple of VHS HIFI tapes with music for parties, I think it was up to 8 hours in LP mode and it was still pretty good quality.

@alicesaber8339

20 күн бұрын

DVHS in LS3 MODE can record 24hours of DVD quality

Since I've used VHS quite a bit for two channel analog audio, here's a nugget of information regarding the EP/SLP speed. The bottom line is, the sound quality itself is basically the same. There is little if any difference. However, tracking is fussier. In audio tapes recorded at that speed, a bit of tracking adjustment on other VCRs is normal. At SP it is much more forgiving.

@musmodtos

3 жыл бұрын

Very true, essentially all VHS speeds will lay down the same amount of audio signal, but tracking, as you've rightly pointed out was a pain between machines outside of SP speed. I run a video transfer business and am blessed to have a stack of professional rack-mount studio S-VHS machines (AG7350/7650/7750) as well as a Betamax SL-HF950 Hifi machine too, and a very late stereo V2000 machine. I also have a very rare DAV unit (a relative of Video 8) which although digital is quite cool to play with and delivers fantastic quality for a 1985 domestic digital tape, 8 Stereo tracks simultaneously too. I'm posting a video up in a few weeks comparing them all for sonic use, the results might be quite interesting.

Please don't bin the fried Panasonic VCR. Those NV-70s are great decks, definitely worth a repair. If you are not interested in reparing it or get it gepaired, give it to someone who is interested.

@djsherz

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed. Chances are the electrolytics in the power supply module have dried up - common problem with those machines.

@mrnmrn1

3 жыл бұрын

@@djsherz Unfortunatelly, nowadays these are much more problematic. They are not drying, but leaking and corroding the board. And often not just on the PSU, but on *every* boards. Pinch roller is usually shot, and broken loading motor clutch is a very common failure, and quite PITA to fix in this variant of the G-mechanism, IIRC you have to disassemble the whole cam gear assembly to get access. This one was playing well a day before it blown up, so it is confirmed that mechanically it is OK-ish, so it's a good candidate for a repair-refurb.

@paulb4uk

3 жыл бұрын

i would not either common for psu,s to go due to bad caps on panasonics quite a desirable machine i have a few panasonics a 1985 nv730 an nv f55 and a f75 i would not bother with the later mid mount machines there mostly cheaply made junk.

@paulbarnett5056

2 жыл бұрын

Could also be a fuse

I’ve used VHS for audio since the 90’s and just now it’s starting to come up on the internet.

@sgtcreasegrease

2 жыл бұрын

I'm here because I saw an interview with DJ Stretch Armstrong talking about how he would use hifi vhs to record broadcasts of the Stretch and Bobbito radio show on wkcr. Used to mess around with it a bit in the 00s. Recorded my cassettes onto vhs to free up cassettes. Now as a producer I'm interested in doing it as a mastering technique.

I used to use VHS tapes to record from the radio too.

@scottpeterson7500

3 жыл бұрын

Me too😎🍺🍕

The first album that the band Primus released in 1989, "Suck on This", was a live album that was recorded on-location (at the Berkeley Square club in Berkeley, CA) to a Tascam Portastudio 388 (8 tracks on 1/4" open-reel tape), and mixed down to 2-channel stereo on--you guessed it--Hi-Fi VHS, with the LP and CD releases mastered from it. The album sounds pretty good overall.

@morbidmanmusic

Жыл бұрын

I had that tascam. It was a huge step down Fromm my 80-8 but still an awesome piece.

@harperoliver2670

Жыл бұрын

Strange, didn’t think I’d find a fellow Primus fan here

@chrisharding5447

10 ай бұрын

That's pretty cool!! Musos who are screaming to get outta the garage can be very clever, utilising the small amount of pooled equipment in ways that can have outstanding results. U hrd oysterhead? Claypool and Stewart Copeland, I don't remember other member, apologies..!!

Years ago the only way I could get a recording of the long version of Deep Forest's "While The Earth Sleeps" (with Peter Gabriel) was from the end credits of the film it was made for - Strange Days (Ralph Feinnes and Angela Basset) so I recorded it from the VHS over to my tape deck and was blown away at how clear and good the source was. Was pretty much CD quality to my untrained ears...

I used my Mitsubishi Hi-Fi VHS to record the top 102 songs of the year from the radio on a six hour tape with indexing. If I remember correctly the SNR was better than most CD players of the day.

@hafibeat834

Жыл бұрын

No, it was far far away from 16 Bit PCM... It was not even better than a good cassette-deck with Dolby.

@danieldaniels7571

Жыл бұрын

​@@hafibeat834 it was substantially better than any cassette deck

I used to use Hi-Fi VHS for all my cassette 4 track , two channel master mixdowns from my Fostex X-15 and later a Tascam. Thanks, Tony!

@zeusapollo8688

3 жыл бұрын

Always thought a four track based on vhs tape would be good. Wider track/faster speed. A moot point in the digital world

@TheChrisheath7

3 жыл бұрын

That is odd. I used to do exactly the same thing in the early 90s - bounce 4 tks down from Tascam to stereo on the Hifi VHS, then copy back up and add a couple more parts. Then I got a minidisc machine which did the job equally well.

@TheChrisheath7

3 жыл бұрын

Fantastic frequency response and dynamic range. S/N ratio was like 90dB or something similarly insane.

@flyingkillerrobots877

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheChrisheath7 Yeah - all that went out the window when I got a Zoom digital multitrack with built in CD burner/drum machine/amp mods in 2000. Great little machine - made in Japan. These days, I'm using an iPad through a Focusrite iTrack dock (Focusrite preamps/Line/Midi /etc). for tracking. Much more convenient, lol.

@DZobe-nz7dl

2 жыл бұрын

I know right...you'd think since vhs is much wider in width than cassette they would've made a 4,8 or even 16 track machine. If they can fit 8 tracks on cassette, I own 2, then it should have been easy. Imagine a 16 track portable analog recorder. Also the tape is rarely exposed to air in vhs but cassettes easily get dirty and gunked up. Someone missed the boat so let's build one

Yes, the early Hi-Fi VHS machines even had a Simulcast or 'Radio Record' mode that would let you feed-in stereo audio from a tuner, and then overlay it with the recorded picture (for example, Last Night Of The Proms with audio from Radio 3, or Top Of The Pops with audio from Radio 1). This was in the few years before the dawn of NICAM Digital Stereo, so recordings would usually be in mono. PS: Your NV-F70 probably has a dodgy low value start-up cap in the primary of the power supply (a common fault), or a shorted zener protection diode caused, again, by leaky capacitors drifting in value. Usually quite an easy fix in the right hands..

My VHs tapes from 1991 play today just as good as they ever did in 1991...

@scottpoerschke8807

Жыл бұрын

Still crappy

A lot of us did this back in the day. We would record up to six hours of music on these then let play during at cookout or Church gatherings. All you needed was a VHS HiFi system and you were ready to go. I still have three VHS tapes with 18 hours of Music on them. This was my original "External Drive" for Music storage.

VHS HiFi has some dynamic compression issues, but otherwise sounds good. It also can have audible buzz, caused both by crosstalk from the video sync, and from the head switching of the HiFi audio heads. Non of these issues were very audible in this experiment, although the very beginning showed a bit of the dynamic compression issue.

@mitduschzentrale

3 жыл бұрын

Hifi Head Switching def. was a problem, especially with piano music.

@danieldaniels7571

3 жыл бұрын

The dynamic range compression is coming from he decks automatic level recording. Decks with manual recording levels and VU meters didn’t do that.

@mrnmrn1

3 жыл бұрын

@@danieldaniels7571 Yes, most of it is caused by the ALC, but I think some kind of limiter is built into the manual level control models as well, to prevent overmodulation. But maybe, if you are very gentle with the rec level, that limiter might not kick in. I should test it, I have three NV-F70s (one genuine Panasonic, and two Blaupunkt rebadged RTV-810s), but all of them are very broken currently.

@danieldaniels7571

3 жыл бұрын

@@mrnmrn1 I’ve never had that problem recording with a deck that has VU meters, but always made a point not to go more than a tiny bit into the red. The noise floor is so low on VHS HiFi that there’s no need to push the levels.

I am using HiFi VHS to record rare LPs my friends giving me to listen

It's my favorite underground format. I used to mix my master 4track mixes to it. It was considered the Poor man's DAT!

I remember once in the days of VHS that our families favorite radio station was having all day telethon charity fundraiser, so I recorded a continuous six hours of it by connecting the output of the radio to the sound input of the VCR set to SLP.

I experimented with VHS HiFi audio recording back in the day... it does work very well.. although for some strange reason we tended to use open reel / high end cassette decks ... I also have a Sony PCM recorder like yours and its a lot more portable.. it would be interesting to AB between a live recording between a Sony PCM and one of these

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I used a Panasonic Hi-Fi VHS machine to record orchestral concerts from FM radio and I thought the sound quality was outstanding.

Thanks man, I saw your video just hours before I was set to buy a reel to reel recorder and you saved me $250 !!!

Used to run a mobile disco in the 80’s. We used a service called video pool that produced vhs tapes of all the current music on a monthly basis. Used 2x hifi videos and tv’s. Sound quality through the pa was brilliant.

Back in the old days, I used VHS hifi for copying CD audio. Had audio cassette decks but they couldn't match CD quality. But VHS hifi could come very close. And the VCRs and tapes were cheap, compared to DAT which nobody I knew could afford. It worked resonably well for home use. The main problem was having to play the CD into the VCR in real time. It took hours to record and hours to play it back. Nowadays, the problem is that I don't have a working VCR any more. Last time I moved, nearly all my VHS video and the VHS audio went to the landfill. Sad times.

@gazjones4763

3 жыл бұрын

I got my first dat recorder in 1999 for free. My college lecturer said that things been sat there for 8 years and never used. Just fucking take it. No way could i have afforded one otherwise.

I thought I was the only one who used the hifi "videos" for sound only back in the day.... Nice video and a tri down memory lane !!

For those interested: make sure you get a recorder with RCA in- and outputs (for line in and out), then it's very easy to incorporate in a normal hifi-setup, or to connect to a mixer. And no need to worry about any noise reduction! Looking back to living in Amsterdam in the 90s, I used a SONY SLV-E80 to record nighttime radio shows (mostly ambient house), relistened and indeed: re-recorded on regular compact cassette. The manual stated 80 Db signal-to-noise ratio, which was hard to match on a cassette deck. But... a midclass SONY cassettedeck cost a third of that videorecorder... Now I have recently bought a SONY SLV-E90 (which adds useless editing options, but also a display-upgrade and manual setting of recording levels) and I will indeed use it to record record playing sessions (I'm not saying I DJ :-) ) in a local restaurant. Used to do it with cassettes, but had to keep my eye on those, as the sessions are 6 hours long. On long play I will only need one tape! Prices in The Netherlands for a Hi-Fi unit are 30-50 euros, and upwards for higher spec JVC/Panasonic/Sony. So, in short: I didn't care about the all-talk video, I can totally relate!

@Andersljungberg

7 ай бұрын

VHS-hi FI had a built-in noise reduction system. Which should not be confused with a Salora's VHS that had Dalby but it also didn't have the tone head on the video drum. And didn't sound as good

@Andersljungberg

7 ай бұрын

Bruce Springsteen's first album was well recorded on cassette tape. or any of the first albums. They probably use noise reduction for cassette tapes without noise reduction having too high a noise level. Especially if you are going to use the cassette tape to create a commercial item like a Vinyl record

I still love VHS. There's nothing quite like a 1980s episode of Inspector Morse on VHS, seeing all the old cars and quiet streets. There's just something about the lack of colour and gloss I like too. Never recorded audio with one but will have to have a go now

Another interesting video from the cassette guru I never thought about using a VHS for audio recording before

Adamo we made that I still have the master VHS still sounds amazing. All recorded live, everything bleeding through everything else, but man, it feels like it's a practice in front of you. Desk recordings at gigs dint always work as the output has bn made for the f.o.h. mix So sometimes the output is all vocals or drums, or no guitar. I have many of them, but when you luck out on a good live mix, it's AWESOME!!!

Now I never knew this actually was a format type!! Every day is a school day!!

@Ashivlogzz

3 жыл бұрын

A 90s kid would know

@derekporter7658

3 жыл бұрын

@@Ashivlogzz Child of the very early 70's. That format passed me by!

@xaverlustig3581

3 жыл бұрын

@@derekporter7658 What format passed you by, you mean VHS or the fact that you could use it for audio-only?

@derekporter7658

3 жыл бұрын

@@xaverlustig3581 I knew vhs existed as a video recording format, but not an audio only format. Hope that explains my post.

Ideas are good and I left a box of VHS tape on the curb yesterday. Live and learn thank you for the lesson.

The evolution of VHS was pretty amazing. The first one my family owned was a toploader bought around 1981 and the earliest ones even had giant chunk-chunk tuners in them. They weighed like 50 pounds and there were thousands of parts in them. The last ones were so light that pushing in the tape would make them slide across your entertainment center and they were better in every way to the first ones. They went from a thousand 1975 dollars to 49 1998 dollars. I have a mitsubishi from the early 2000s that has auto-biasing and SVHS plus q-svhs that does outstanding high-res video on the cheapest oldest tapes I have. It was only like 150 dollars. The audio quality is outstanding too.

@danieldaniels7571

3 жыл бұрын

You should check out DVHS. It does digital HD at 1080i

Back around 1985, I used VHS-HiFi to record my dad's and friends' CDs. I used SLP (6-hour) mode. I played those tapes MANY times with NO degradation!

That Panasonic deck is probably one of the best Vintage VCRs you could get

I used to put all my records on vhs and use it for parties. You'd get 3hrs of music non stop.

Awesome! I've been doing some audio recording on VHS for a make believe radio for Halloween and Christmas. My friends love them. Good to see I'm not alone. Will watch .Thanks

I recall making 6-8hr music vhs tapes on our Samsung deck. Awesome sound - the vhs format added a lot of warmth to CD sound, and rolled off the harsh highs. Recently discovered that re-encoding audio to 24kbps HE-AAC+v2 sounds identical to vhs hifi

@fungo6631

7 ай бұрын

You must be either using a great encoder or you're half deaf.

There were actual professional studio equipment that recorded in vhs tapes, so it's not as crazy as it may seem

@hafibeat834

Жыл бұрын

These professional VHS-Recorders used 16 or even 20 Bit PCM-Decoding. No comparition to "Hifi-VHS".

@fresita_jugosa

Жыл бұрын

@@hafibeat834 it's not that simple. There were several standards used before DAT came and blew everything up. There were fully new formats like those used by AKAI Adam, Tascam and others, based on Hi 8mm tapes with completely different helicoil scanning and encoding that the one used for hometaping, and there were also professional VHS recorders that used the VHS Hifi tracks and encoding of the home camcorders. I can tell because I've personally used them. This "format" war was a craze from the first half of the 90s, very entertaining indeed.

@hafibeat834

Жыл бұрын

@@fresita_jugosa Yeah, whatever. I used several (almost all) formats since the late 80ties too. But actually it's that simple: HIFI-Video is not a reliable format compared too open reel for it's HF-Modulation and wanky construction. And with 16Bit PCM - as the Sony open reels, the PCM-Decoders for VCR from Sony, and the DAT-Decks from the mid-eighties, every analog-format became fully obsolete. The format "craze" was long solved in the nineties, as nobody who could affort a (consumer) DAT-Deck used analog two-tracks anymore.

@fresita_jugosa

Жыл бұрын

@@hafibeat834 Yeah, whatever

Tip: Use NiMh rechargeable batteries in your remotes, like I do... It saves me money, and is less likely to make a mess if forgotten.

@RyanSchweitzer77

Жыл бұрын

Right on--I do the same myself for my remote's batteries. NiMh cells are practically leakproof (due to their composition, I'd reckon) and you can give 'em a recharge when dead--no need to keep using up alkaline cells. :)

Looking forward to the recording, nice video Tony.

Great video as usual Tony. This video brought back a ton of memories as I used my Radio Shack HI-Fi VHS to make extended DJ mix tapes. I actually still have my mix tape of party music I made for my wedding. Unfortunately, I've loaned out my only working VHS HiFi deck.

@alanh8863

3 жыл бұрын

IIRC, my Radio Shack HiFi deck ran from 80-20,000kHz vs 20-20,000kHz. I don't remember much in the way of low-end bass loss, which probably had more to due with owning really bad speakers. Sounds like a new video idea.

Oh yeah, I did this all the time. The tape speed on a casette is 1 7/8 ips. With the helical scan of the VHS, the tape writing speed was something like 19 FEET per second. The sound was pretty amazing.

A really enjoyable and well made video, many thanks! We have the same Toshiba dvd/video combo too, it's awesome

i still have a JVC Hi-Fi VHS that i bought in about 1985 stored up in the spare bedroom with all my old PC and audio gear i might just get it out and give it a try and i still have the remote and i took the Batteries out lol

Used to do this to record my DJ mixes then play back from the Hi Fi VHS to cassette for high quality dubs :D

I my self was shocked when i recorded a few vinyl records and Cds on VHS especially when you use the High Grade TDK and Maxell high grade Tapes. I was blown away with the sound detail captured as clean as my source using a Sony HiFi VCR.

I was doing this 20 years ago. Our local radio station had a 4 hour country music oldies show on Saturday morning, so I'd dutifully tape it every week.

I love vhs hi fi audio recording. The sound is superb. It’s unfortunate that VCR’s stopped putting audio controls and VU meters on the units. Without them how do you know your input recorded volume? To low? to high? How do you record without volume controls?

@into.cassette

Жыл бұрын

This was my problem, too. My workaround: record 1 test run with short clips of each track, copy/pasted 9x, in incrementally increasing volume levels. (Loop the loudest part of each track, crop, normalize, copy/paste 9x, set clip volumes ascending from -9dB to -1dB.) This gave me a sample set of 9 versions to choose from, while allowing me to save space on tape. (I only wanted to use one 120-min tape and didn't want to re-record the whole thing 9x, making it more “used” with each recording.) Listening back, I took notes on which was my favorite track, then re-recorded the full length track [at the “best” gain level] back to tape. This way, I was able to limit myself to 1 VHS re-recording on a NOS TDK T-120 from 1980 via Sony SLV-775 HF. If you're interested, the album is called VHS Volume 2 and drops 12/23/2022. I'm @into.cassette. Cheers!

@danieldaniels7571

Жыл бұрын

A VCR with manual audio recording levels and VU meters is essential to recording good audio tapes. The high-end decks had them until the very end.

@Hugh_Hunt

3 ай бұрын

A secondary unit with VU will give you a great reference point (cassette deck will work). The record level is pretty close to 'line' anyway. But yea, set everything up and record a minute or two and have a listen.

Fantastic video my friend. I still have one of these. I think i'll add it to my own analogue studio setup.

@charlesloukas1946

Жыл бұрын

I am going to try EVP on VHS HI FI !

great video! wich MOTU interface do you have?

Really cool to see this video, I just made a video on this exact topic and posted it onto some audio forums. Man oh man did the old tape heads get real mad at me for even (jokingly) suggesting a VCR is the world's cheapest Reel-to-Reel. Glad to see someone else make the same comparison! Cheers, Mario

@CassetteComeback

Жыл бұрын

Tapeheads forum is the pits.

I did often record music on my HiFi VHS. The were better than most of the casette decks back in the days. Also because of tape size an speed on a VHS mashine. Much less tape hiss, you did not need Dolby. The old mono tracks on VHS were really bad, but the Hifi tracks were a whole other level.

Great video 👌 Excellent job, you inspired me to get my Panny NV-HS850 s-vhs machine out and run it up. I bought it originally just for video editing as I had some original Pro svhs videos and I was into amateur video recording. But as it happened dv came along shortly after I bought it so I never used it for editing, in fact I put probably less than half a dozen tapes as we had a Sony slv 474 for every day use. I'm going to have some fun tying in with mini disc, cd and my old reel to reel. New subscriber too 👍

When recording audio on VHS, how does one set or adjust the audio levels? My current VCR doesn't appear to have any way to adjust the audio record level, and I can't recall any of my previous VCRs having that feature either.

@musmodtos

2 жыл бұрын

Some of the very top end domestic models had audio level controls. As they were built for recording off-air at defined audio levels many decks expect IBU standard levels which is a bit of a sticking point.

@mbvideoselection

Жыл бұрын

I never found it to be an issue. Level in was the level you got out. No need to set a level.

I dug up my grandpa's old ep vcr and recorded about 4 hours of my music onto a blank. I didn't expect much, but I was blown away to hear the audio quality of that tape. 240 minutes of hifi sound on a single-sided tape that I didn't need to flip. I just put in the tape, listened to all 4 hours, and it auto rewound and ejected. Pushing that tape in to play once a day might become a bit of a habit of mine

You might be VHS Cassette Comeback now! Nice video. I have a few HI FI VCR's I may try it for analog recording. But I will tell you we had one of the original Panasonic in 1979 and the tracking drove me crazy every time.

@CassetteComeback

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, but as there's no picture to track, maybe this will be easier?

@Gary-Goodridge

3 жыл бұрын

No it is not.

@xsc1000

3 жыл бұрын

@@CassetteComeback VHS HiFi track is recorded the same way as picture by rotating heads. So good tracking is necessary.

I've been "quietly" building up my HIFI VHS setup for a little while now. Very few peeps talk about this in my circles. Yet, I'm a HUGE cassette tape,VHS, and MD fan. And this video just gave me inspiration to refocus on this project. Now is the time to actively test it on my end. Thx for the in depth video, and acknowledging that this IS STILL a thing. Peace...Netm8kr

Excellent video Tony, thanks!

This idea was mentioned in Stereophile 20 years ago. I have over a hundred VHS HIFI tapes that are music only. It is a great medium to record music!

@carlfuggiasco7495

3 жыл бұрын

They actually record when at the fastest speed .....close to that of a hirez RR deck.

When I was giving up my turntable in the early 90s I transferred a bunch of albums to HIfi VHS. Sounded great.

This video has just reminded me that for a year or so before introducing a MiniDisc recorder into my home studio, I had a transition period where I’d moved away from ‘mastering’ on a Fostex X26, to a stereo video recorder (Nicam?) - which had far superior recording quality over that old 4-track. I’d totally forgotten about that and now I want to find my mid 90s ‘techno’ on those video tapes!! I’d completely forgotten this 😂.

Was there not an analogue and digital component recorded onto the tape when dealing with a hifi VHS deck, my mistake it records diagnoly along with the picture in analogue

I discovered hi-fi audio back in the day and started to record mixtapes to be played back at home on my fathers vhs hifi… he had high end equipment, and it sounded as good as a cd with no background hiss

Happy days! Was hoping that you would get round to doing this. Have been stocking up on VCR's and blank tapes in anticipation. Will enjoy watching this. ( By the way, our local charity shop sells video tapes again).

The dead Panasonic Will be aged Capacitors, definitely worth repairing. Great video as usual 👍👍

@thisisnev

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed - having manual level controls will be a boon for master-quality recording.

@mrnmrn1

3 жыл бұрын

Nowadays, unfortunatelly there're much more going wrong with them. Some of them has leaky capacitors all over the boards, not just in the PSU. Pinch rollers are usually shot, either stone hard and/or cracked. Loading motor clutches also breaking in them. The part is still available, but quite PITA to replace in these earlier G mech decks. You have to remove the loading motor, and IIRC it means removing the cam gear assembly as well. If you misalign something there just by one single cog teeth, you are screwed. So yeah, definitely worth the repair, if you or a buddy of you can do it. But if you want a paid reapir on these, that will be expensive, because it's a lot of work. If you will be able to even find someone who will do it at any price.

I used a hi-fi vcr as part of my home recording set-up in the late 80’s/early 90’s alongside Tascam & Yamaha 4 track cassette recorders. Great way of keeping partial mixes available that you could go back to, loss of quality over a couple of generations was far better than could be achieved on cassette tapes. I still have my Aiwa hi-fi vcr just in case the need ever arises !

I first heard about this from Anadialog, and picked up a deck and tapes. It was so good and got hooked. No hiss and great dynamics, just have to allow time for the hifi signal to kick in. I've tried regular and hifi tapes, and I don't hear any difference. Maybe the hifi tapes are more durable. I use a preamp with volume control to adjust the recording level, as it seems what level I put in is what is recorded. I haven't tried the SP vs LP either because no remote, but have read it doesn't affect it much. I can put multiple albums of an artist on a tape and then listen for hours. And it is easy to move from one system to another. I still love my compact cassettes as the sound and experience is what appeals to me. I basically just love playing with all the different formats of music, from digital to analog to see what you can get out of them. Truly a fun hobby!

@CassetteComeback

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah. If this was expensive, then I don't know if I'd be this enthusiastic, but they're literally giving these things away at the moment and they're brilliant for analogue recording.

@kevinstaib715

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I get most of my gear through thrift stores. Don't have the budget otherwise, but its fun to hunt and see what can find. Well at least did before the pandemic. Not so easy right now. But will again when things are better.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, I used my Toshiba VHS hi-fi to record audio. I had my Amiga 500 plugged into the video input and I'd make video titles with Deluxe Paint to go over the audio. This made it easy to find a song in fast visual search mode. My Toshiba hi-fi was from the mid 80s and was a beautiful unit with level controls and LED VU meters. I wish I still had it.

Great job. Inspired me to pop my tape into my 86 Yamaha hifi VHS deck. Still sounds great. I recorded Cock Sparrer onto a JVC tape from a CD.. now this is fun because I plugged a PS1 into the VCR. So you can use the controller to change the video while recording both AV signal and make cool patterns to accompany the music. Try it it’s fun! Then you can play your artwork at parties for background 🤙🏻

Hell... years ago I used VHS tapes as 8-track recording tapes... It's a shame it didn't last...

Thanks for your post! I forgot this audio record player ....

dammit man, now I need to add VHS to my mastering chain. cheers for the flac demo, sold me on it!

@Netm8kr

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah fam... Now the secret is "ALIVE" again. Those LoFi tracks will sound GREAT. Trust...

Tape speed doesn't matter on VHS Hi-Fi, the relative tape-head speed is way higher than any other analog audio recorder could dream of, SP or the slowest EP it's all the same.

@JoshGarsideMeyers

2 жыл бұрын

Doesn't that only apply to the video head since it is spinning, but not the audio head since it is stationary like any audio tape recorder?

@leandro842

2 жыл бұрын

@@JoshGarsideMeyers no... the stationary head attend to ordinarie audio track. In this case we're talking about Hi-Fi wich uses the video track as well, in other words, helicoidal scan.

I used to record all our gigs just by lining out to my vhs hi-fi from the desk. Still got them all, some mixes were great, I sometimes lined in a video camera but it was usually just hanging from the desk area..

@Cassette Comeback I definitely remember different VHS tape formulations back during the 1980s and early 90s. If you exposed the tape itself you could see the different color shades of dark brown or dark grey, and more or less polished tape surfaces as well. They would even advertise that fact on the labels, sorry it's been so long I can't recall the technical aspects of what those specs were.

One thing to note was I need a TV picture input in order to record the audio from the radio etc. In other words I couldn't just connect the audio to my tuner and expect it to record to VHS HiFi.

@elosocano

2 жыл бұрын

I had a Zenith that was made to record in VHS HiFi without the need for a video input. Excellent audio and used it until the processor went.

@RayleighCriterion

2 жыл бұрын

My Mitsubishi Hi-Fi VCR didn't care, I would record 6 hours of audio off the radio.

@Evan2

Жыл бұрын

I have a couple JVC VCRs that seem to record and play happily with no video input.

@mbvideoselection

Жыл бұрын

I used a Sony SLV-E700 and it didn't need a video signal to record Hi-Fi audio either. The problems came however when in more recent years I went for JVC and Panasonic decks with TBC. Those decks can't cope with audio only signals (even with TBC switched off). So I kept some non-TBC models to play back audio only tapes. The best being the Sony SLV-F900 which has digital everything except TBC and gives the most stable playback of absolutely anything thrown at it, video or audio only.

I used a Panasonic VCR too, for Audio recording. Thanx 4 the video. Btw. Whats the name of the audio track.

In the 90's when I played in a band. We used a Panasonic VHS as a master tape for our live gigs. We played electronic music and as we needed playback for most of the music live we used the VHS and it was brilliant!

Are the levels automatic on these VCRs or they're fixed to expect a line level signal? Never knew this

@xsc1000

3 жыл бұрын

There is ALC, no fixed levels. But better recorders had manual recording level control.

I did this in the 90’s on my JVC VCR. Even on long play it sounded excellent! I remember thinking why aren’t people doing this?!

@izzzzzzzzzzzie

Жыл бұрын

I knew a guy who dubbed his cassette tapes onto Hi-Fi tracks to improve the sound.

The reason, I think, that the audio sounds between so similar between LP and SP is because the record head for hi-fi audio is on the helical scan head, which is still moving at the same rate across the tape in a diagonal pattern as the tape moves along. SP was overkill.

In the mid 80s, we had a CD rental shop downtown. I owned a Panasonic NV-70s including full service documents. So, the project was, modifiing the FM sound to meet the highest standards. For this, I switched off the video signal and boosted the FM sound signal slightly. This modification got rid of the noise from the head switching, which is the only disadvantage with VHS HiFi. After this, I copied a large amount of CDs onto E240 tapes in LP. In the end, I had some 100 cassettes full with music. I documented it by hand into a notebook. At this time, I hoped, that there will be a chance one time to convert it to digital media. Well, I had to wait 'til 2003. By that time, batch converting to MP3 was possible via the Messer software, which divided the tracks. So each morning, after work and at bedtime I put in another tape. This took me several months. In the end, it ruined the old panasonic NV-70. So, for the last few tapes, I had to get another VCR. So, in the beginning, I started dumping it to CDs, later DVDs and then portable HDDs. And now, the whole stuff fits onto a SD card inside my smartphone. Minor drawback, still no ID tags since this has to be done manually. Instead, I scanned the pages of the old notebook and saved it next to the mp3s. :))))) Later, I dumped most of my videos to DVD just before the tapes deteriorated. Pew...

VHS tapes have 20hz-20khz of audio range, a Reel to Reel at 7.5 ips is 30hz-24khz on my Akai GX220D. VHS Hi-FI was really really good.

So, is there a particular type of tape that you need to use or failing that a type of tape that is best to use, because it's going to give you better lasting and better quality. My primary concern is trying to find a quality cassette that will last and still have good music quality. Any suggestions? I have a few old VHS decks, and a few hundred tapes laying around, so, am set up to get started, or...? Does it take something more? Also, if you or someone else would like to make a video explaining precisely how you would go about doing this, that would be really great. Thinking back it seems that I actually did this myself but, at the time I had a nice reel to reel and that was just cooler, and I didn't pay much attention to the sound quality coming out of the VHS. But having lost my reel to reel in a house fire and having all the stuff to do this if all I need is a good high five Panasonic deck and some good tapes then let's go for it but I can't remember how I did it either. Help me help me!

Having a 240 minute tape using EP mode, we could have 16 hours of continuous play!

I have serveral video tapes recorded off my JVS Super VHS stereo VCR. Unfortunately I only transferred a few of them to my computer before the belt broke in my tape drive. If is hard to find a repair service nowadays that I can afford. Maybe next year. Great video! Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

Some radio stations used VHS HiFi recording to record and playback non stop music through the night when there were no programmes scheduled, and the recordings sounded good too.

Yes indeed, I have had much success using Hi Fi VHS throughout the 90s - my Sony SLV 494 (with VU meters) served me well when I recorded + mixed music for the entire 6 hours of my wedding reception in '99. Had a dozen or more of 6 hour mixes recorded on TDK HiFi VHS cassettes whose audio quality was superb. The non-profit radio station where I volunteered also used 4 HiFi VCRs to log all of their broadcasts as required by the CRTC in Canada. Nice video Tony!

I’m living in the past , I have 3 video decks , one built into a small tv , and about 200 tapes that I’ve been watching on and off for 35 yrs, also have a hi fi with audio tapes , and lots of mini discs and 3 mini disc players ,, and of course cd and players , cheers Shane uk 🇬🇧

I started using video tapes to record stereo music about 5 years ago and I still do. I've recorded video albums from DVDs or music videos with stereo soundtrack in Hi-Fi format and I am extremely satisfied. I have an AKAI GX-266D tape recorder but unfortunatlely I can't compare the audio quality with the one on video tapes because I don't have quality reel to reel tapes. Of course, I also record or listen to music from audio tapes or mini-discs from time to time, which I alternate with music recorded on video tapes. I own two Hi-Fi stereo video recorders with 6 heads, a Funai and a Daewoo VCR / DVD combo as a spare, bought quite cheaply about 5 years ago. By the way, cool video. A big like as always!

I used to use a 1991 JVC hifi VHS VCR that had a db meter with individual controls for each stereo channel, it had many other options such as smoothing and sharpening to make the video part better but the audio was where I used it like a recordable CD. I could record amazing stereo audio on it as is. But then came SVHS and DVHS which I never had, sadly... Also in 1981 there was a short lived Technics VCR that used VHS tapes to record audio onto them digitally!!!!! There are ways to store digital files onto a VHS tape today that makes a tape a large hard drive but on a long life tape. I regret throwing that JVC away into a bin in 2007 when it finally died. In hindsight, I could have fixed it! But I had 2x new Samsung Hifi VHS Vcrs... of which only one works now. 2:41 - those words will sound quite outdated now and even moreso in the future my man!

Back in the 90's Panasonic made a 7750 Super VHS editing deck that was around. $5k, $8K in today's dollars. Two types of audio, one hi-fi with 90db of dynamic range and Dolby noise reduction which could be engaged. They sell for around $400 now, are built like tanks and I recall the audio being exceptional. And the had XLR inputs and outputs. Add an inexpensive mixer and some mic's and it would be a nice tool for recording bands live. I don't know where you could find SVHS tapes, though.

Theres a large British heart foundation charity store near me with dozens of video recorders in. Especially variants of that panasonic

@charlesloukas5909

3 жыл бұрын

Please tell me where it is

You also have the SVHS standard, not sure how much difference the better tape/heads would potentially make to the HiFi audio and if they're basically the same standard audio-wise.

i think SP means Standard Play? LP = Long Play

@SeboDigital

3 жыл бұрын

Yep! And EP - Extended Play or SLP - Super Long Play

@Gary-Goodridge

3 жыл бұрын

Ep was not common in uk

@gazjones4763

3 жыл бұрын

Its mad they allowed pre recorded tapes in the US to be recorded in long play.

@Gary-Goodridge

3 жыл бұрын

NTSC

@geezheeztall8590

3 жыл бұрын

Yes. It’s “Standard Play”, meaning default speed.

what about thos special hi-fi vhs tapes... is there a difference to the regular vhs tapes? i heard that you can get cd like soundqualltiy from a hi-fi vhs

@Dan-TechAndMusic

3 жыл бұрын

If you mean blank VHS tapes sold as "Hi-Fi tape", it's really not any sort of special variant. Often it's just good grade tape that will perform well for this task. A VHS Hi-Fi recorder will always record Hi-Fi to a blank VHS, unless the tape or recorder has severe issues.

@erwintimmerman6466

3 жыл бұрын

Well, it depends. The hifi signal is written on a deeper level on the tape than the video signal is, and a hifi tape more easily holds that signal at the deeper layer. That said, I always used cheap tape and never had a problem at the time. But if I play back those tapes now, they make this “motorboating” kind of sound as if the tracking of the tape was slightly off. So my recordings from that time have become close to unlistenable. Better tape maybe would have prevented that. If you’re only recording to play it back within the next few years, or will be transferring to digital anyway, any type of tape will do.

@Gary-Goodridge

3 жыл бұрын

This distortion and motorboating was a common problem. Most people did not realise this as it was most often on tapes borrowed from video rental . They assumed wrongly that the tape was faulty. The comparability was not universal. And relatively few people had hifi and they did not swap music tapes. And most did not connect to sterio systems.