dwhitney@uok.UUCP (01/08/85)
This question may already have been addressed here, so please forgive if this is a repeat. Having recently gained a certain amount of interest in the VCRs with greater sound capabilities, I am now thoroughly confused regarding the distinction which is painstakingly made by the various VCR manufacturers between a "STEREO" unit and a "HI-FI" unit. I thought the difference was merely a marketing ploy; now, I've come across those who tell me that the two audio formats are incompatible, that the stereo movies I have purchased will not reproduce stereo in a HI-FI recorder system. Others have siad that there is no such problem. What, in a nutshell, is the difference??. Although I would appreciate any input, my recorders (and any subsequent purchase of a hi-fi/stereo VCR) would be of the VHS format. Thanks in advance David Whitney ctvax!uokvax!uok!dwhitney
ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (01/14/85)
> I am now thoroughly confused regarding the distinction > which is painstakingly made by the various VCR manufacturers between > a "STEREO" unit and a "HI-FI" unit. I thought the difference was merely Once again, almost every VCR on the market today is STEREO. It has two tracks along the edge that are roughly equivelent fidelity to a crappy cassette. HIFI multiplexes a higher fidelity audio track in with the video and is layed down withh the video head. > I've come across those who tell me that the two > audio formats are incompatible, that the stereo movies I have purchased > will not reproduce stereo in a HI-FI recorder system. They are incompatible, but that doesn't mean they can't coexist. I would venture to say that all HIFI decks are perfectly able to replay the old stereo signals when the HIFI isn't on the tape. The Beta HIFI tapes may also be played on non-hifi machines because they also record the old style stereo tracks as well. VHS detracters say VHS HIFI tapes can't be played on older machines without degredation of the video component. I don't know if this is true, or just SONY propaganda. -Ron
ralphd@teklds.UUCP (Ralph Durtschi) (01/22/85)
[] I have just done a bunch of investigation into the Stereo/HI-FI area before purchasing a JVC HR725 HI-FI VHS recorder and here are some of my findings. OLD STYLE STEREO was produced by Beta and VHS the same way. By recording the sound on the edge of the tape (linear track). This caused problems because the tape moves very slowly past the stationary audio heads. (Generally, the faster the tape moves past the head, the better the sound quality.) The sound quality varies widely with recording speed and even at the fastest speed the specs are lousy. HI-FI STEREO is produced by mounting the audio heads (in VHS format) on the rotating drum with the video heads. Therefore, the heads move past the tape at a much higher rate. The recording speed has little or no effect on sound quality and the frequency response is flat from 20Hz to 20KHz with an unde- tectable amount of wow and flutter. Supposedly, the specs are just slightly worse than digital sound. On the HR725 you can actually record four separate sound tracks. Left HI-FI, right HI-FI, left linear, and right linear. Audio dubbing can only be done on the linear tracks. All of the HI-FI recorders I looked at were downward compatible. ie. They all contained the old style audio heads in addition to the HI-FI heads so all of the old recordings will still work just the same at least on VHS machines. I say that because Video magazine (I'm 80% sure) said that BETA HI-FI played only mono with the stationary head, I have not verified this however. My machine has a knob that allows you to adjust the sound to come from the linear tracks or the HI-FI tracks or any mixture. Believe me, I can hear a very BIG difference in quality as I rotate the knob back and forth. Hope this helps, Ralph Durtschi....hope I'm right 'cuz I hate those flames. newly born again video junky
custead@sask.UUCP (Der cuss) (01/26/85)
>> VHS detracters say VHS HIFI tapes can't be played >> on older machines without degredation of the video component. I don't know >> if this is true, or just SONY propaganda. I wouldn't worry about it! The other night I rented two VHS tapes: one HI-FI, one not. My machine is not HI-FI. The HI-FI tape had far better video quality. (It was new in the store). If there is theoretical degradation of the video component, it is probably not discernible to the viewer. In my case the degradation of the tape which had been rented many, many times far swamped any effect of whether HI-FI was present or not. (What was interesting was that the HI-FI tape was not Stereo, for an obvious reason: the movie had not been recorded in stereo to begin with.) L. R. Custead Department of babbling about video Univ of Sask