VHS Hifi?

[fidobsa]

For many years I've wondered why VHS was never taken up by hifi manufacturers as an alternative to cassettes. We all know that the small, slow compact cassette was really never designed for quality audio but the much wider tape in a VHS video cassette should offer much greater potential. If a hifi audio VHS recorder were available it could also give a new lease of life to the stacks of old tapes many of us have stashed away since getting DVD machines.

[Kent T]

The biggest problem was the thin tape in VHS and incompatibility issues between machines. Especially exacerbated when there's no picture present. VHS wasn't the best video format in the tracking or stability department to begin with. And most VHS Hi-Fi machines later on went to ALC which put them at a disadvantage. Most serious recordists who used a VCR for storage used a PCM adapter like a Sony PCM-F1 coupled with a Sony Beta or U-Matic VCR deck. Also, the compander technology used in VHS Hi-Fi could and did have pumping effects in the sound.

[fidobsa]

I was not thinking in terms of spinning heads or any other VHS technology. What I had in mind was something more like the old 8 track machines using the cassette just as a convenient package for holding tape. Speed and track width could be varied to balance playing time against sound quality.

[Skywavebe]

Hi Fido,
Kent T is right on in every respect. My comment is that if you take away the helical scan aspect of the VHS or any video FM audio encoded system, then you remove all of the benefit of using a 1/2 tape and get back down to the 1960 series 70 type decks Teac made which were larger tape width for better quality. Keep in mind the helical scan system gave the tape speed the equivalent of hundreds of inches per second tape speed as was needed for video bandwidth. I did work on a few PCM encoded audio units and also some higher end Pro cartridge video machines that employed PCM and the audio was very good. These were the Sony DVR line machines. The use of PCM takes you away from the analog of FM encoded Video tape audio to the digital realm kind of like a CD or DAT. I go along with VHS HiFi audio but I do not tell people to master on it as the Interchange issue shows up often with age. Of course I have been a Beta person from day one- no problems there!
In fact all of my Beta units still work.

[Skywavebe]

One additional item-
What you are talking about without saying it is the El-Cassette.

[Pacific Stereo]

One of the largest issues that was never completely solved was switching noise. With Beta HiFi, switching noise was quite audible. One of the things JVC did with VHS HiFi was to incorporate noise-reduction specifically tailored to help with switching noise. And there were certain machines that were optimized to minimize switching noise further, such as the TEAC MV-800 (which was a rebranded JVC with some tweaks, a lovely machine!).

But just like Elcaset, 1/2" tape whether helically-scanned or linear, is just too big and bulky to appeal to most consumers. Heck, they didn't even like Laserdiscs.

[DolbySProject]

For many years I've wondered why VHS was never taken up by hifi manufacturers as an alternative to cassettes. We all know that the small, slow compact cassette was really never designed for quality audio but the much wider tape in a VHS video cassette should offer much greater potential. If a hifi audio VHS recorder were available it could also give a new lease of life to the stacks of old tapes many of us have stashed away since getting DVD machines.

What you are describing requires folks to think in terms of making something what it isn't as opposed to dwelling on the limitations of what it is. I am still thinking about how this can be achieved. It would mean removing the helical scan head and replacing it with a purpose suited stationary (R2R-like) head, increasing the speed of the transport and, of course, changing (or creating new) bias points, playback and record amps/electronics, etc. *grin* But, you know, I'm betting that there is someone just crazy enough to do all that. If they succeed, they will have one helluva 2-track analog deck and plenty of tape to tape on! Of course, they'll need plenty of it since the record time of the average T-120 at a faster speed will go by quicker. Still, that indeed would be a cool project for the engineering, nut-job audiophiliac type. Any takers?

[Nakdoc]

In a sense Sony did this by including a 4 track stereo audio only option in their 8mm home decks.

[Pacific Stereo]

In a sense Sony did this by including a 4 track stereo audio only option in their 8mm home decks.

That was one of the coolest things about the EV-S700U. Six independent stereo tracks on one 8MM tape. While it was 12-bit with non-linear quantization, it wasn't bad at all. 24 hours of music on ONE 8mm blank was waaaaay cool.