Noise Processing on Mitsubishi S-VHS

I have a Mitsubishi HS-U69 S-VHS machine, about five years old.

I've noticed when listening to the audio tracks with headphones that there is a very audible noise reduction thing going on. Sounds very much like a single-ended dbx processed sound- during quiet sections the audio blanks out, and with say, a quietly recorded piano, you get that familiar "pumping" type of artifact. If I stick the tape into a second (cheap) VHS, that artifact is gone, so thankfully it's not stuck to every tape I've recorded!

When I bought this thing it was replacing a standard VHS machine which was also a Mitsubishi (don't remember the model number.) Now the audio on that old thing was fantastic, sounded great. So I figured I was safe with a new Mitsubishi (wrong!)

I'm now planning to get a new S-VHS before they aren't around anymore. Needless to say, I'll be bringing along the headphones and my own demo tape to the store for auditioning!

Does anyone have suggestions for machines that don't have this unwanted (and unnecessary!) noise reduction?

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Michael

 

All vhs hifi machines use (complimentary, not single-ended) companding noise reduction on the hifi tracks. Maybe the Mitsubishi's was over active? What happens if you listen to the linear track (probably "mono") instead?

 

Just made a recording of and old Stereophile cd onto the Mitsubishi. The cd features a "true stereo" recording, meaning a live performance made with two microphones only. Lots of room ambiance or "air." I purposefully made the recording at a low level to magnify the effect I was describing.

On playback, the noise reduction (gate?) falls in whenever the vocal stops or when the piano is in between notes. The gate is two channel, meaning that if the right channel (the vocal) stops, that channel effectively shuts off, leaving no ambiance on the right and throwing the whole recording off balance. Very disturbing. The effect is lessened when the recording is made at a higher volume of course, but this obviously still affects a recording with a naturally wide dynamic range.

When switching the monitor to mono during playback, I'm hit with lots of noise (hiss) as well as a bit of hum, so indeed the mono is the linear track.

I find this frustrating, because as I said in my previous post, I never noticed this artifact on an older Mitsubishi VHS deck (which I used to record (dynamic) cds onto for two-hour compilation tapes.)

It would be great if this "feature" was switchable, but it's not. There must be manufactures out there that put more value into the audio portion of their machines, I just need to find out who they are.

My intention is to use a (new) S-VHS deck to transfer my collection of t.v. performances by my favorite music performers to DVD-R when I'm up and running, so the audio is a big concern to me. I really do hear the difference, and it bugs me!

Michael

 

Try the JVC S-VHS decks. I enjoy mine and haven't had any mechanical problems now for the couple of years since I bought it (knock on wood). I don't know whether they'll have the sound problem you describe as I haven't listened that critically to them. I believe they have a couple of models available.