JED@SU-AI.ARPA (Jim Davidson) (03/16/86)
The April "Stereo Review" has the results of a comparison test between Beta Hi-Fi, VHS Hi-Fi, and 8mm. General conclusion: as an audio recording medium, VCR's don't quite cut it, especially compared to the original descriptions of near-CD quality. But, they're still pretty good. First, the structure of the test: ABX double-blind. Under this method, a reference signal (X), is compared to two other signals, A & B. One of A or B is equal to X. The test checks whether the listener can reliably tell which one is the same as X (and if there is a difference, which is preferred). SR ran a similar test a few months ago, on CD players. Conclusion was that, using music (as opposed to test signals), listeners could *not* consistently distinguish between CD players. Things were different here. Listeners could distinguish between the formats, and had things to say about all of them. The overall conclusion was that all three formats had problems. The listeners, who didn't know what the sound sources were, thought that in some cases they were listening to turntables (?!). The machines: JVC VHS; Pioneer Beta (presumably Sony-made); Sony 8mm. The three formats were compared to each other, and to a reference signal recorded with an outboard PCM module. Listeners could reliably pick out the reference signal, and preferred it to the others. Regarding direct comparisons between the formats: 8mm was noticeably different from the others (not suprising, since it's missing the high end), but was felt by some to be "smoother". VHS & Beta were felt to be brighter than 8mm but had other problems (such as mechanical noise). VHS was preferred over Beta, although the latter was said to do better on transients. SR also did some electronic testing, to check out the differences. VHS came out of this the best: flat response over the whole range. 8mm, of course, disappears above 15kHz. Beta started to roll off at about 11KHz, and was slightly down over most of the high end. The listeners were surprised when they were told of the sound sources; a number of them were Betaphiles. The conclusion was that VCR audio will not replace reel-to-reel tapes. On the other hand, the music in the tests was selected in part to show up the problems and differences in the formats. For a lot of material, or in less-than-studio conditions, this just isn't noticeable. Also, many of the listeners owned hi-fi VCR's, and said that the problems didn't seem significant when they were watching a video. (This has been my impression.) Finally, of course, hi-fi audio beats the pants off linear.
MRC%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA (Mark Crispin) (03/16/86)
Jim -
I believe that Pioneer actually makes their own stuff. There are
differences between audio and video performance in different makes of
VCR's. Did Stereo Review state *why* they used a Pioneer Beta Hi-Fi
(remember, Pioneer builds all four consumer video formats -- Beta, VHS,
8mm, and Laser, but only specializes in Laser) for their Beta reference
instead of a Sony? After all, if anything other than a top-of-the-line
JVC were used for the VHS reference people would be screaming "fix" --
rightly too, because there are plenty of trashy VHS VCR's out there.
In any case, I don't consider a test significant unless it compares
the products from the primary sources for the comparitive products. As
repeated tests in Video and Video Review have shown, all Hi-Fi VCR's are
emphatically *not* the same.
-------RSHAPIRO@A.BBN.COM (Richard Shapiro) (03/17/86)
The recent Pioneer SuperBeta (roughly equivalent to the Sony SLHF-400) is reported by VIDEO magazine to be made by Sony. I don't know if Pioneer makes any other Beta's (I've never heard of any); and I don't know how reliable VIDEO is in this regard. But the rumor, at least, is that at least one Pioneer Beta is a Sony by another name. The Sony SuperBeta I recently bought has provisions for recording digital sound, as produced by a PCM device. I don't know anything about this technonlogy (CD's use pulse-coded modulation, right?) but I assume it's significantly better than VHS or Beta HiFi audio. My question is, are ?Pulse Code Modulators (is this what they're called?) available at the consumer level? Who makes them and what do they cost? Anyone done any testing on this kind of audio (no video -- the users manual on the Sony says that entire width of the tape is used for audio in this mode) recording on a VCR? Thanks for any information, Richard Shapiro -------
jmturn@RINGWLD.UUCP (03/18/86)
>The Sony SuperBeta I recently bought has provisions for recording >digital sound, as produced by a PCM device. I don't know anything >about this technonlogy (CD's use pulse-coded modulation, right?) >but I assume it's significantly better than VHS or Beta HiFi audio. >My question is, are ?Pulse Code Modulators (is this what they're >called?) available at the consumer level? Who makes them and what >do they cost? Anyone done any testing on this kind of audio (no video -- >the users manual on the Sony says that entire width of the tape is used >for audio in this mode) recording on a VCR? Well, Sony makes a unit called the PCM-1, which retails for about $1700. It claims (or at least, the people I've talked to claim) it will place PCM encoded stereo on a normal VCR (i.e., off the shelf VHS) Save Your Vertical Blanking Intervals _ for Big Cash Prizes! / \ | * | James Turner \ _ / (The Ringworld Engineer) --------------------------------------------------- | ARPA | ringwld!jmturn@CCA-UNIX.ARPA | --------------------------------------------------- | | decvax \ | | | sri-unix \ | | UUCP | !cca!ringwld!jmturn | | | ima / | | | linus / | --------------------------------------------------- | MAIL | 329 Ward Street; Newton, MA 02159 | --------------------------------------------------- (The views expressed in this message have been computer enhanced for your pleasure.)