Does Hi-Fi VHS tape have that warm "analog sound", IYHO?

Was that just early on? Did VHS Hi-Fi get better? My el-cheapo Sanyo Hi-Fi decks made some good-sounding CD and LP dubs - certainly better than the old Dolby B cassette deck I had access to. Like I said, I need to drag out my 10-year-old Panasonic VHS Hi-Fi/DVD deck and try playing a few of those back.

 

The decks actually got worse after a while, to the point of trash. A cheap hi fi deck was just that, cheap. And my guess is your Dolby B cassette deck had the same pedigree, cheap.

 

Did the kind of tape make a difference with sound? I remember owning a few of these:

 

Oh, I'm sure it was cheap - it was a borrowed Mitsubishi (or as I called it, Mitsucheapie...) from a rack system. I don't think it was awful, but it wasn't a Nakamichi Dragon either...

 

Sorry, but if it was from a rack system it was trash. Harsh but true. Low fidelity was it's best offering under the best of recording conditions. Components like that really have no place in the discussion of any attempt at achieving reasonable audio sound quality, much like AM radio, terrible even under the best of circumstances.

 

Tape quality made a big difference, I was using some high quality camcorder tape then later S-VHS tape for best results.

 

Yes, the PCM audio on Video 8 -- particularly the "Multi Audio" function, which I believe let you record up to 8 hours of stereo on a single tape -- sounded very good. The only problem there was that you couldn't edit worth a crap, but that was generally a problem on DAT as well.

TDK S-VHS tapes were fantastic. A great S-VHS deck with TDK tape could actually make acceptable standard-def recordings. But Hi-Fi still had its problems.

 

For sure, I was using TDK S-VHS tapes for some time and was very pleased with them.

 

Oh, I don't know about that. My old Sony rack system had the nicest receiver I've ever owned. The UI was simply perfect. Damn thing sounded great, too.

 

I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but I've never heard any "rack system" that was nothing other than low fi at the very best. And even that is pushing it.

Perhaps your level of expectation is skewed, which is understandable, depending on your available $$$ but rack systems were of and intended to be a cheap, low cost option meant to give the visual impression of something really great, but in reality they were not.

In fact given the prices charged they were frankly really poor sounding for the cost to value ratio. Someone with a few audio smarts could easily piece together a separates system for the same price as any "rack system"...and blow the rack systems audio quality out of the water.

 

I got my DAT machines around 1990, editing was possible with Soundesigner II and an Apple computer, around 1994 for me. I was getting better sound with the Technics DA-10 machines—essentially a Panasonic 3700 with "consumer" grade electronics and some species of copy prevention. A couple two three mods later, and using an outboard A/D in the form of a t.c. electronics M 2000 and I was getting more than reasonable results. Much better than Betamax + a Sony 501 A/D. The built-in recording capabilities of the Betamax were worthless in comparison.

 

The dedhedz used to count HiFi VHS as half a generation in their lineage...

 

Man, this website will not let me post photo's. I tried linking to my DRIVE and my Facebook but woudlnt work. Oh well.
VCR's are great nostalgia fun. The only real benefit that would apply to anyone, not just me for my various reasons, but there are movies on VCR that are not available on NetFlix or Amazon. Also, sometimes, the DVD version that you can only buy used can be really bad quality. Noisy and compressed.

 

Depends on the rack system. Sony dropped some pretty high-end components into their better systems. About the only weak links were the speakers - I've never been terribly impressed by Japanese speakers - but they certainly weren't "low-fi".

 

I did this the day Stevie Ray Vaughan died, to capture KFMH out of the Quad Cities memorial.

 

i've since added a MITSUBISHI HS-U80, the one VCR i've lusted after for years, to my roster. it's physically gorgeous as can be, IMO,
but the overall performance is, -for VHS- kind of... Average. the JVC HR-S8000U definitely has it quite handily beat, and that deck's MSRP was like a full $100 less than this beast was in 1988, at that;