VHS for recording and playback?

[systemerror909]

Okay, so I've finally settled into my new dorm room and i'm deciding what to do with all the **** the previous guy left in my room (among other things a bag of month old chinese food ). Anyway, he left a sony Vhs vcr that claims "hifi stereo" I've heard somewhere else that people have used these things for relatively high quality audio recordings. I would love to copy some of my friend's vinyl since I don't yet have a turntable, and was wondering if anyone could give me feedback to see if it was worth it, or possible mods to make ton the thing.

[mastertech]

from memory yes vcr hifi can record as good audio as vynil ,save
yourself the trouble and buy a turntable, you can find cheap ones
too.

good luck

[SY]

With a sound card and CD burner, you can do about a million times better for recording quality and durability.

Best thing to do is to go down to a local pond or stream, tape a bunch of firecrackers to the VHS player, set it afloat, light the firecrackers, push the player out farther into the water (do that pretty quickly unless you seek martyrdom or enjoy being called "Stumpy"), then watch the fun. Taping a plastic Captain to the top adds a nice visual thrill as you watch the ship go down for the last time.


Only do this where legal. Of course.

[Jezz-the-Fezz]

Experimented with this some years ago - although the frequency response can be excellent (some are/were virtually flat from 20Hz - 20KHz) they use a tremendous amount of compression to keep the noise down. Also, unless it's a professional jobbie, it'll have automatic record level; quiet passages will roar with noise & it'll kill your crescendo's. Other than that, you'll still need to record a video signal when you tape the audio or you won't have any pitch stability.

If you rip the unit to pieces, you'll find a superb motor which with a little enginuity could be used as a turntable drive motor...

[dnsey]

Digital recordings used to be made using outboard A-D converters and Betamax recorders (the audio was recored as a 'video' signal).
The converters do turn up still at very reasonable prices, and AFAIK would work just as well with VHS.

[johnnyx]

I made a compilation for a party on one. A 180 minute tape lasts 6 hours in long play, and there's no loss of audio quality unlike the deterioration of video in long play. Imagine the time it took to record six hours worth of tracks from vinyl and cds; but at a party you can just leave it running, no changing records (or djs), so you can concentrate on getting drunk. There's another plus - there's nothing to damage or lose once drunkenness sets in. I thought the quality was good, like fm radio. My recorder had LED vu meters to set the audio signal levels, so it didn't suffer the compression problems some would have. These were the days before computers.

[neazoi]

I am thinking of taking apart all the electronics of a hi-fi stereo VHS and keep the mechanical construction. Then build some fine quality audio electronics for it.

One thing I consider is the Record head. Does anyone know how audio recording is done, how many tracks has the head for audio etc. Or maybe I can use the video head? Please help a bit. The tape width is enough to ensure high quality but the head has been designed for fideo so It cannot compare to the reel-to-reel decks.

Hey, maybe I could buy a reel-to-reel and ruin it's head to fit it inside the vhs, but why on earth one should do this? ..for the compact size of the vhs tape compared to reel-to-reel oe would say..)

[AuroraB]

Regular VHS, HiFi or not, have their audio heads rigged alongside the video drum, thus providing a linear audio track, along with the sync signals. Rebuilding a VHS recorder for audio use is surely a futile task, in my opinion, if practically possible at all -( well - anything is possible if you throw enough money at it.....)

Sony, however, had a stationary Video8 machine, which was true audio PCM... don't remember the type number tho'....

[walterwalter]

Actually, there were a couple of digital audio recorders on VHS cassette, based on VHS video transport. Technics and Hitachi for sure and maybe some other manufacturers were producing them. Those were professional quality machines, really expensive back than. I've recently bought one, and waiting it to arrive, it is about 20 kilogram. Unfortunately, it seems that nobody bothered with the VHS analogue recording-reproducing device... Could be a real good performer...

[scott wurcer]

Originally Posted by AuroraB

Regular VHS, HiFi or not, have their audio heads rigged alongside the video drum, thus providing a linear audio track, along with the sync signals. Rebuilding a VHS recorder for audio use is surely a futile task, in my opinion, if practically possible at all -( well - anything is possible if you throw enough money at it.....)

Sony, however, had a stationary Video8 machine, which was true audio PCM... don't remember the type number tho'....

I still have some that are 30 years old, the quality is about AM radio. In any case there was a separate HiFi FM modulated signal for the sound as well as(for compatibility) the bad little cassette heads on the edge. One channel frequently missing. Imagine an audio cassette crawling along at that speed.

The HiFi track was a little better I would say. I also think there is a problem with the rotary heads leaving the tape between fields that was fudged with the HiFi system. By todays standards this was a horrible kluge.