Audio Recording on VHS HI-FI tapes (or Beta Hi-fi)*

Well if you get no noise or dropout, then I'd tend to agree. It's been a long time since I listened to VHS Hi-Fi on my main audio system, so perhaps they finally got it down. But the noise I did heard on my early machines would have been at or below the noise floor of the cassettes of the day. And of course, VHS-Hi-Fi had much better frequncy response than cassette. But I'd have to say, all things being equal, I'd take tape hiss over that type of noise anyday.

I guess I'm not too surprised that few people heard this noise in the early machines. IIRC, it was actually pretty similar to the noise I heard on the MFSL Beatle discs. And it seems like not too many people noticed that.

 

The way Hi-Fi audio is written on VHS tape is odd. And when it is not tracking correctly due to a poor recording, it is bad.

The hi-fi signal is written over the video signal. And when it is right, and when it hangs onto the tape, it lasts.

Maxell did make some nice cassettes, and their VHS hi-fi tape was also fine, very smooth and shinny, more so than other brands, as I compared. I read some of the reports that said most all video tape was good quality, and that there was little difference in "HI-FI" branded tapes. But there was a difference, lower hiss, richer sound, and fewer (if any) drop outs.

Often I'll do a CDR from a VHS Hi-Fi soundtrack, a music program like Pete Townshend's Deep End Brixton concert, or Tom Petty's Pack Up The Plantation, I am impressed with the way these tapes, and the soundtracks have held up. Even old rentals can be found to play flawlessly.

 

I made a few 6 hour Christmas VHS Hi-Fi tapes, quality was perfect for seasonal listening...When the CDR arrived I was hooked! Bye, Bye VHS Audio!

 

Yes, I'm replying to a decade old thread. Welcome back from the archive!

This word "archive" has been used to sell a lot of hardware and software over the years....

 

I need to listen to some of my old VHS Hi-Fi tapes again soon just to see what's up with them.

I have the Abbey Road MFSL LP on a Maxell Gold XL primo special high end extended range with 24k golden etched foil label hi-fi tape. I'd bet the bass will still hammer the walls down, and no drop outs. Lol!

 

I was looking at another thread the other day discussing compact cassettes which got me thinking about the often forgotten HiFi VCR format and its brief period of home audio supremacy.

I had a Pioneer VHS Hi Fi VCR in the mid 1980s which was capable of excellent recording and playback. It was much better (going by specs) than the top cassette decks of the day and had separately controlled line inputs, with vu meters and, like three head tape decks, playback the material from the tape as it was recorded. When in Hi Fi recording mode, it would use the entire 1/2" width of the video tape via a heli-coil drum, rivalling the best reel to reels of the day, though by this time they had largely faded out of view in home audio.

Both VHS Hi-Fi and Betamax Hi-Fi delivered sonic performance that rivalled CDs - eg a fairly linear full-range frequency response (20 Hz to 20 kHz), excellent 70 dB SNR, second only to CD in a dynamic range of 90db and channel separation (more than 70 dB).

I used to record my LPs to the HiFi VCR using TDK-SAX tapes. In A/B tests, the tape was indistinguishable from the LP source. Around 1987 replaced the Pioneer with a Panasonic which was also a Hi Fi VCR of a very high standard. Around that time I purchased my first CD player. A/B testing showed it was almost indistinguishable - you really needed to concentrate hard and it was only a faint hiss and faint tape compression on some peaks that gave it away - and that was with a young man's ears.

A few years later the Panasonic was stolen and replaced with a current model. By then, the Hi Fi VCRs were dumbed down, no longer having separate line controls or meters, automatic level controls etc. They never performed as well as the earlier ones. Although I never heard one, the Sony Betamax Hi Fi VCR was considered to be the best of the lot. Many of them found their way into professional use and for many years after they were discontinued, they were commanding high prices in the used market.

Have you had any experience with these machines for home audio? What was your memory of them?

 

In 1983, my dad purchased the JVC HR-D725, the first Hi-Fi VHS recorder on the market. Sound quality was starting to matter more and more to me and I was able to convince him we should get it. It was built like a tank (and weighed about the same as one too) but was pretty wonderful. Tracking was a piece of cake with it's fine-tuning tracking knob. It had excellent video editing and sound dubbing features and even showed you approximately how many minutes were left on a tape.

While I did like the sound quality, they never became a useful audio recording medium for me, due to "noise bars" that would create a static-like sound occasionally during a recording.

 

I had a Sony Beta Hi-Fi in the early 80's I used for making mixes for parties and such. I thought it was awesome. I have no idea where that machine or those tapes got to.

 

I still have my Sony HiFi deck but will probably never need it again as I have long ago transferred my Betamax tapes to DVD and later to my NAS. Is there still a market for this type of used hardware? There is definitely no point for me in keeping it if I could find a buyer.

 

It sucked. I had a Sony VHS Hi fI and the image was constantly jumping bringing the sound with it...and those tapes, you were never able to find what you needed on them. It was big advancement when they were finally available...but the fun didn't last.

 

Not to mention the incompatibility between machines, the sometimes audible compander.

 

This was my first Betamax Hi-Fi machine. It was the first Hi=Fi machine and I remember demo-ing Apocalypse Now for friends. I was amazing for the time!



Went to Goodwill MANY years ago.... I was the champion of dead formats. Went from CED discs to Betamax to Laser....

 

internal pioneer photo in 3....2.......

 

I never experienced problems like that. The biggest issue I had was the cumbersome VHS to store music compared to a compact cassette, though 4 hours worth of playback is good and it certainly would have been more convenient than reel to reel tapes.

 

When I got my first job, I purchased a Hi-Fi VCR deck and hooked it up to my stereo system in the mid 80's. It was a bugger trying to tune into the channels. I certainly was no near as technical as the OP, he seems to know his way around these things much better than me.
I used it mainly for MTV and live broadcasts to record. I remember having stored numerous concerts on VHS tapes. For the life of me, I can't remember the brand name though I remember buying it at Sears for around 500 dollars. Yes, ridiculous.

 

Yeah they were good for recording MTV, I did the same. However their big sound advantage came when you used the audio Hi Fi mode. In that mode you could not also record video as it used the entire width of the tape for audio, rather than just a fraction of it for audio and video.

 

I remember getting The Song Remains The Same movie when it first came out on HiFi VHS, I was ecstatic......
And it played pretty cool too...

 

After I got out of college in '82 I worked for a video equipment rental service. I got a used pro level JVC hi fi vhs, and later had a pro sumer Mitsubishi.

I used them to record live concerts (I had a Sony monitor/tv that could output stero line output), as a mastering deck for my TASCAM home studio multi trak, and for a while, I would copy friends cd's that I didn't own.

For the time, it was the best tape recorder for consumers short of something like a Studer out of a recording studio. Much better than cassettes.

 

Used to use them for airchecks of my wifes radio show. The audio quality at EP was as good as the SP quality, so we could set a timer and not miss anything if she started early or ran long.

 

To correct you, sir, Sony never made a VHS machine...only Betas. EDIT: I stand corrected. They did make VHS machines towards the end.

 

In the early to mid 1990's, I was 10 degrees separated from Pearl Jam and the live shows I was associated with were always recorded to VHS. I never witnessed other bands using this technique but I'm sure it was the norm at some point.

 

No, towards the end, Sony did make VHS

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SLV-N700-Hi-Fi-VHS-VCR/dp/B00008RS95

 

Yes. I stand corrected. I remember now...

 

Interestingly, Sony made some of the best quality prerecorded VHS tapes. The Siouxsie and the Banshees video collections Once Upon a Time and Twice Upon a Time were two of the best looking videos we owned. Even though it wasn't their format, they kept their high standards.

 

The tapes I made sounded fine. MFSL LPs to VHS were pretty cool. But it was difficult to find a certain song one might want to hear.

I have a stack of VHS tapes that are labeled Hi-Fi Audio 1, Hi-Fi Audio 2, etc. They are loaded up with material that I felt was important at the time to preserve from mint vinyl.

I've since gotten everything there to CD-R, and do not play those tapes at all. But I really need to play them one more time before the end just to enjoy my work. I remember playing Rickee Lee Jones album from the mint MFSL pressing, that tape sounded really great and analog-ish in the best way.

As I said before, I got none of the poor tracking issues others sometimes report. And I used the expensive Maxell Hi-Fi tapes. Damn they were smooth!