dan@rna.UUCP (10/23/83)
I am new to the scene of home video and have a few questions, if someone wouldn't mind helping me out... - What is the balance point between tape quality and recording speed ? A high grade Maxell might cost $9-10. Is it as good at EP speed as a cheapo tape at SP ? - How much difference is there between SP, LP and EP ? Assume the material is MTV-type stereo music videos. - What are the choices and differences in tape brands (e.g. Scotch vs Fuji vs TDK vs Maxell, etc.) ? - If you already had a VCR with tuner and you needed a new color TV, why not just buy a color monitor (e.g. the kind used for home computers, NTSC) ? - My cable company will provide an FM tap for receiving MTV in stereo for MTV and HBO for $4/mo. I found out that just hooking up the cable to my FM receiver provides the same signal. Why can't I just get a 75ohm tap myself ? - What steps can one do to get rid of herring bone ? - What is the current state of descramblers ? How hard is it to build one ? Sorry I have so many questions... I am sure others would benefit from answers to these questions - I will summarize what I learn. Thanks. Cheers, Dan Ts'o ...cmcl2!rna!dan
dyer@wivax.UUCP (Stephen Dyer) (10/24/83)
Though the particular tape and tape deck you use are factors, in general a recording made at EP (6 hour) is going to be of lower quality than the same made at SP (2 hour), regardless of the tape. I often spent the extra bucks for the "ultra-fine" Maxell tapes, though I frankly didn't see much difference. Then, I noticed in video mags that plain old Scotch video tape was consistently rated the best (better than that Maxell, and even better than Scotch's high-end brand!) The Scotch brand is often available at reduced prices or with rebates, so you might want to try a cassette. Another factor arguing against EP speed, especially as it regards MTV, is that frequency response and wow and flutter are much worse at the EP speed. (You want hifi, maybe you should have gone with Beta HiFi.) SP extracts about the best you can out of the medium, about 30-10khz response, which is worse than a $100 cassette deck. Me, I use SP whenever I want archival tapes, and the program fits in 2 hours. For quick "time shift" uses, where I don't care too much about the quality, I use EP for economy. /Steve Dyer decvax!bbncca!sdyer