drmatt wrote: > The "hifi" track was placed alongside the video with an extra set of > heads, and obviously the non-hifi linear track had to remain where it > always was and contain a replica of the audio for compatibility with > other decks. There were i think a few decks that offered linear stereo > audio too, but not many and I don't think it was very good (particularly > when long play came along)..
The inclusion of linear stereo on VHS tapes was actually a backward step in terms of sound quality because the two tracks (plus a separation gap) had to be fitted into the fairly narrow portion of the tape not scanned by the spinning heads used for the helical video stripes (& a couple of adjacent "hi-fi" analogue stereo audio stripes) previously used for one mono track. Even at SP, the linear tape speed on VHS was only about 2ips. This made the linear audio -*more*- sensitive to "drop-out" which was a major problem with all analogue tape devices, & would have made audio replay worse even via a mono TV & increasingly so as the tape was repeatedly played. Don't even think about long play!! Dolby NR technology all on analogue tape recordings, whether VHS, cassette or open-reel was offered to reduce constant tape hiss levels, but made "drop-out" worse: anyone who bought even a high-spec 4-track open reel machine like a Revox A77/B77 with or without Dolby NR usually came to regret not going for the 2 track alternative offering (which played the tape in one direction only) because that arrangement doubled the width of the audio recording on the tape and was less susceptible to "drop-out", albeit by doubling the cost of the tape required to make the recording in the first place. Increasing the tape speed on open-reel machines (a high-speed 15/7.5/3.75ips variant was offered by Revox in addition to its more popular 7.5/3.75/1.875ips model) also tended to reduce "drop-out" whilst simultaneously increasing the fidelity of the recording: downside - more tape required, again. When you consider how prevalent Dolby encoding/decoding was, this was actually an early "marketing" triumph because it actually solved one problem by making another more irritating one worse... Dave :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Golden Earring's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=66646 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=106519 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
