>This is certainly what I do, using NICAM audio recording on standard >videotape. Use standard play mode, as results are usually disappointing in >long play. 4 hr tapes are no problem. NICAM records digitally, but performs >data compression by using non-linear law AD and DA conversion, so the >results are acceptable but not quite as good as DAT (which is straight PCM).
Not true. NICAM is the digital format in which TV audio is broadcast. HiFi VHS VCRs (even ones with NICAM decoders built in) record stereo sound as an analogue signal on the tape, using FM. So the record signal chain is: NICAM --> analogue --> FM analogue ---> tape If you go into the audio in of the VCR instead of recording off-air you just miss the NICAM decode stage off the front. >NICAM encoding is very different from ATRAC used in minidisc technology, >which uses psycho-acoustic prinicples to suppress some low-level signals in >the presence of larger amplitude information. Unfortunately, domestic video >machines usually provide no direct way of getting at digital outputs and The audio does not exist on the tape in digital form (at least on consumer units). Christopher Hicks ----------------------------------------------------------------- To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
