VHS or SVHS
John T. Hollaway Jr.
Should I get a VHS or an SVHS VCR?
I am considering the Toshiba 752 (VHS) or a low-end SVHS deck from
Panasonic or RCA (725).
Currently have cable and watch rental movies, but plan on getting
DVD or LD and possibly DSS. TV will be either 35" CRT or a rear
projection.
Are the SVHS decks backwards compatible? (can I record onto a
regular VHS tape and playback on a regular VHS deck?) Will the
picture quality of rental tapes be as good on the low-end SVHS
decks as the Toshiba 752?
--
Regards, John
jt...@austin.ibm.com
Louis A. Carliner
If you want picture resolution of your tapes that are the equivlalent
to the Muntz TV's of the 50's, then go with VHS. If you want recording
quality at the very convenient to store EP speed that is substantially
equivalent to broadcast quality, go with S-VHS on S-VHS tape stock.
If you are doing serious camcorder work, go with S-VHS both for your
camcorder and editing deck. You will not suffer substantial
generational loss in your edit master. If all you are going to do is
to watch raw footage exclusively, then VHS will be fine, as a typical
copy will be a resultant blackish ugly smear job!
>--
>Regards, John
>jt...@austin.ibm.com
Louis A. Carliner
Your source for video calibration expertise for the four-state
area UNTIL OCTOBER/NOVEMBER, 1996, by an ISF/Joe Kane trained specialist equipped with both
the Philips color analysr and ISF optical comparator.
Phone: (301) 340-6120
email: lcar...@idsonline.com
Bruce Ferry
John T. Hollaway Jr. wrote:
>
> Should I get a VHS or an SVHS VCR?
>
> I am considering the Toshiba 752 (VHS) or a low-end SVHS deck from
> Panasonic or RCA (725).
>
> Currently have cable and watch rental movies, but plan on getting
> DVD or LD and possibly DSS. TV will be either 35" CRT or a rear
> projection.
>
> Are the SVHS decks backwards compatible? (can I record onto a
> regular VHS tape and playback on a regular VHS deck?) Will the
> picture quality of rental tapes be as good on the low-end SVHS
> decks as the Toshiba 752?
>
> --
> Regards, John
> jt...@austin.ibm.com
Just making S-Video your connection medium will improve quality from your
VCR no matter what the tape you are playing is. SVHS recorded stuff
definitely looks better and I can vouch for the Panasonic being able to
record standard VHS for viewing on other VCRs OK. In fact, if you don't
use a SVHS tape you can't get SVHS recording.
Darryl Clark
Definately get SVHS. With DSS and other quality sources, you won't take
60% reduction in picture quality that you would with VHS.It's not just a
matter of superior resolution;colors will look far better.On a large
set,the difference is noticeable to any one who is not legally blind!
Buying a VHS machine is a waste.Junk!After you get a large set with DSS or
DVD (if it is any good), you will toss your old vhs machine and buy a SVHS
machine.Why waste the money?SVHS tapes can not be played back on VHS (with
the exception of those rare macchines with quasi svhs).For time shifting,
this doesn't matter.
yu10...@yorku.ca
On 6 Aug 1996, Darryl Clark wrote:
> Definately get SVHS. With DSS and other quality sources, you won't take
> 60% reduction in picture quality that you would with VHS.It's not just a
> matter of superior resolution;colors will look far better.On a large
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What?!?!!? Are you kidding me? The color on SVHS is just as crappy as VHS.
MARTY D PAULIN
"John T. Hollaway Jr." <jt...@austin.ibm.com> wrote:
>Should I get a VHS or an SVHS VCR?
>
>I am considering the Toshiba 752 (VHS) or a low-end SVHS deck from
>Panasonic or RCA (725).
>
>Currently have cable and watch rental movies, but plan on getting
>DVD or LD and possibly DSS. TV will be either 35" CRT or a rear
>projection.
>
>Are the SVHS decks backwards compatible? (can I record onto a
>regular VHS tape and playback on a regular VHS deck?) Will the
>picture quality of rental tapes be as good on the low-end SVHS
>decks as the Toshiba 752?
>
>--
>Regards, John
>jt...@austin.ibm.com
yes SVHS decks are backwards compatible...
I have a Toshiba SV970 SVHS deck and I use it for normal VHS dubbing
regularly... in fact, the SVHS decks are designed such that they will
automatically switch to normal VHS for playback of non SVHS tapes...
there is a little hole in the plastic of the SVHS blank that tells the
vcr that it's an 'S' tape... a common trick that I have heard is to drill an
identical hole (the SVHS hole) in a BASF standard T120 , and you will
supposedly get acceptable quality in the SVHS mode...
as far as picture quality, in the non SVHS decks, the term VHS_HQ applied to
a bunch of different picture enhancement features that boosted chroma and
brightness etc...the unfortunate thing was, however, that different
manufacturers and models had differing combinations of the HQ enhancements, and
all manufacturers were putting the HQ logo on their decks, despite differences
in
the number and type of circuts included...if I remember correctly, the rule was
that a manufacturer had to have 3 of the 5 HQ features to put the logo on their
product...
so it's worth researching which of the HQ features any given deck has...
as well, be aware that there are still a few hybrid decks out there, that allow
SVHS playback but not recording in the 'S' mode
David Boeren
MARTY D PAULIN (mpaulin) wrote:
: "John T. Hollaway Jr." <jt...@austin.ibm.com> wrote:
: >Should I get a VHS or an SVHS VCR?
: >
: >I am considering the Toshiba 752 (VHS) or a low-end SVHS deck from
: >Panasonic or RCA (725).
I'd definately go with the Panasonic SVHS if I was in your position.
: yes SVHS decks are backwards compatible...
: there is a little hole in the plastic of the SVHS blank that tells the
: vcr that it's an 'S' tape... a common trick that I have heard is to drill an
: identical hole (the SVHS hole) in a BASF standard T120 , and you will
: supposedly get acceptable quality in the SVHS mode...
You can drill a normal tape, but the quality is FAR from "acceptable". Even
if you drill a HiFi or even higher quality VHS tape, you will not be pleased
with the results.
: as well, be aware that there are still a few hybrid decks out there, that
: allow SVHS playback but not recording in the 'S' mode
I believe what you refer to here is the "Pseudo-SVHS" feature that used to
on some high-end VHS machines. I don't think any of these are still made,
but maybe. In any event, they played the SVHS tape in VHS resolution, so
this is definately NOT much of a useful feature.
Nigel Pond
My experince of drilling out standard VHS tapes differs. I use top of
the range JVC non-VHS tapes drilled out. The quality, while not S-VHS,
is an improvement over standard. And as you cannot get the JVC t.o.r.
S-VHS tapes in 240 minute lengths in the UK it's a good compromise.
--
The views expressed herein are the personal views of the writer and are
not to be considered endorsed in any way by E.I. du Pont de Nemours and
Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates.
Axel Vetter
In article <akemiDw...@netcom.com>, David Boeren writes:
>You can drill a normal tape, but the quality is FAR from "acceptable".
>Even if you drill a HiFi or even higher quality VHS tape, you will not be
>pleased with the results.
I found out not all high quality VHS tapes which run well in VHS mode give
a good SVHS picture when drilled. The TDK tapes I use in Germany are
better as "SVHS" tapes than the Sony UHG, but not in VHS mode. The picture
has less noise and the resolution is visible higher than if recorded in
VHS, but I have to leave the "intelligent picture" switch on my Mitsubishi
SVHS deck on, otherwise the picture may be crappy.
Bob Velkov
From ak...@netcom.com (David Boeren) -
> I believe what you refer to here is the "Pseudo-SVHS" feature that used to
> on some high-end VHS machines. I don't think any of these are still made,
> but maybe. In any event, they played the SVHS tape in VHS resolution, so
> this is definately NOT much of a useful feature.
Mitsubishi still made pseudo-SVHS decks.
---
Bob Velkov
Bob.V...@par.univie.ac.at
http://www.vcpc.univie.ac.at/staff/bob/
news
ak...@netcom.com (David Boeren) wrote:
>MARTY D PAULIN (mpaulin) wrote:
>: "John T. Hollaway Jr." <jt...@austin.ibm.com> wrote:
>: >Should I get a VHS or an SVHS VCR?
>: >
>: >I am considering the Toshiba 752 (VHS) or a low-end SVHS deck from
>: >Panasonic or RCA (725).
>
>I'd definately go with the Panasonic SVHS if I was in your position.
>
>
>: yes SVHS decks are backwards compatible...
>: there is a little hole in the plastic of the SVHS blank that tells the
>: vcr that it's an 'S' tape... a common trick that I have heard is to drill an
>: identical hole (the SVHS hole) in a BASF standard T120 , and you will
>: supposedly get acceptable quality in the SVHS mode...
>
>if you drill a HiFi or even higher quality VHS tape, you will not be pleased
>with the results.
As a general statement, and given your emphasis on FAR, I strongly disagree.
I have used drilled TDK EHG HiFi and not only is it "acceptable", I
see very _little_ difference from the real SVHS tapes. At SP, I
don't see any difference at all.
YMMV, with different decks, tapes, etc.
>
>: as well, be aware that there are still a few hybrid decks out there, that
>: allow SVHS playback but not recording in the 'S' mode
>
Rose Haupt
In article <4v25o4$7...@service3.uky.edu>, ne...@illumine.engl.uky.edu says...
>
>>: there is a little hole in the plastic of the SVHS blank that tells the
>>: vcr that it's an 'S' tape... a common trick that I have heard is to drill an
>>: identical hole (the SVHS hole) in a BASF standard T120 , and you will
>>: supposedly get acceptable quality in the SVHS mode...
>>
>>You can drill a normal tape, but the quality is FAR from "acceptable". Even
>>if you drill a HiFi or even higher quality VHS tape, you will not be pleased
>>with the results.
>
>As a general statement, and given your emphasis on FAR, I strongly disagree.
>
>I have used drilled TDK EHG HiFi and not only is it "acceptable", I
>see very _little_ difference from the real SVHS tapes. At SP, I
>don't see any difference at all.
>
great in S-VHS mode.
Tim Haupt
Mike Chadwick
Dear all,
I work as a cameraman/editor for York University. We only
use S-VHS standard. While you can fool any machine by drilling a hole in
the right place of a VHS cassette, thereby making it S-VHS, it is not
advisable.
The quality is lower on the cheaper cassette, but the main reason
is to avoid drop out on the single coated VHS cassette, compared to the
double coated S-VHS. You can not run the risk of drop out for professional
productions on your master edit, but more importantly on your camera master.
Mike C.
Craig Siever
Agreed, but for _non_critical applications such as time shifting favorite
tv/cable shows the modified cassettes produce a higher quality picture than
VHS recordings on VHS tapes. The two main advantages are that it doesn't
harm the vcr and it is _much_ more economical than SVHS recording media. In
nonarchival applications I can see no reason not to use VHS cassettes that
have been modified utilizing a soldering iron to add the identification hole.
Disclaimers: I use modified tapes in time shifting only. The data is viewed
once and then recorded over. The question of durability and multiple playback
qualities need not be addressed in this application. I utilize SVHS tapes to
dub the only other video source that I own that has similar performance specs,
my LD. It's more a matter of convienence for me as my LD requires manually
flipping each side of a disc however I _do_ appreciate the improved display
qualities of a true SVHS tape over modified VHS tapes in this application.
Regards,
Craig
pho...@mersinet.co.uk
In Article<Pine.SGI.3.91.960820...@tower.york.ac.uk>, <cor...@york.ac.uk> writes:
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> From: Mike Chadwick <cor...@york.ac.uk>
> Newsgroups: rec.video,alt.home-theater.misc
> Subject: Re: VHS or SVHS
> Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 10:40:11 +0100
> Organization: The University of York, UK
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>
> Dear all,
> I work as a cameraman/editor for York University. We only
> use S-VHS standard. While you can fool any machine by drilling a hole in
> the right place of a VHS cassette, thereby making it S-VHS, it is not
> advisable.
I know this is off-topic a bit, but i`m curious if you do any
genlocking, as i`ve currently got a bit of a project on the go, and i`m after
some tips on getting good results..... Any ideas ?
We`ll be using an Amiga with a GVP G-Lock (which has S-VHS and
composite inputs / outputs) as well as mono sound input / output.
The output doesn`t have to be broadcast quality, but reasonable
picture quality will be required for playback from video to a single TV.
I`ve heard you can get a timebase sync to help stabilise picture
quality for about £130 (for the Amiga ;-) ), but i`m about as new to this as
you can imagine, and i`m not entirely sure if this would be necessary unless
broadcast quality became an issue.....
If anyone has, or could point me towards information on the subject
it`d be greatly appreciated :-)
Jeff Lindholm
> I`ve heard you can get a timebase sync to help stabilise picture
>quality for about £130 (for the Amiga ;-) ), but i`m about as new to this as
>you can imagine, and i`m not entirely sure if this would be necessary unless
>broadcast quality became an issue.....
> If anyone has, or could point me towards information on the subject
>it`d be greatly appreciated :-)
the TBC (time base corrector) that i have seen that is good is the
"kitchen sync", and i think it is a dual TBC, either that or you need
two of them (one going in, one going out), i know the video toaster is
useless without them, and they do wonders for NTSC/PAL quality and
stability...the bad news, i think they cost $800 or more each...
short of that, try one of those $30 video enhancers, the ones that
take macrovision out....i think you would be surprised what a
difference one of those will make...
regards
Jeff Lindholm
jlin...@state.ma.us