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Antiquities: A Second Approach to VHS, Hi-Fi Stereo and Soapy Video

2020 year. The quality of the video material of the last five years is so high that it seems as if it was cooler and no longer needed. The approach is 8K format, 32 million pixels in each frame, you can already buy a suitable monitor or TV, but not enough content. About five years later I will buy a new smartphone, make an 8K video selfie, and in all its glory I will consider a bunch of new wrinkles, gray hair and wrinkled face textures.

As you grow older, you make progress, move along the rails of life for a while with it, and then you lag behind: health is no longer right, emotions have faded, the strength of habit takes its toll. More and more often, in response to any novelty, of a technical or cultural plan, you grumble: they invented why, scattered on garbage, but nowadays ... So, nowadaysmovies were not watched on a computer. There was no YouTube, the value of moving pictures was higher - it’s still necessary to get a video cassette.



I keep a diary of a collector of old pieces of iron in a Telegram .

In the beginning there was a TV


It all started with the fact that in April 2020 I bought a CRT TV. Well, I bought it, took it for free from the person who wants to free up the space of the owner. It was such a moment in my retrohobby when you first do something, and then regret it: the 28-inch widescreen Sony was absolutely unbearable. But since it happened, you have to buy a VCR, and more. Yes, I already had an idea about the “quality” of VHS, and even visually compared it with DVD and 4K in a previous article on the topic. I wondered why videotapes are like that?

Somewhere in the depth of specialized knowledge, this comes down to parameters similar to those of audio cassettes: signal-to-noise ratio, permissible frequency range, various interferences in the process of magnetic recording. It’s correct to justify all this, and even more so to measure not by eye, but by instruments - while this remains beyond my capabilities. But you can conduct an experiment.


The photo above was taken with a modern digital camera and cropped to an aspect ratio of 4 to 3. I brought the vertical resolution to the standard 4K - 2160 pixels. At the beginning of the 2000s, I bought the first computer video card with a TV-out and even then was surprised how dull the image on the TV is compared to the monitor. Although it seems there and there at that time there was a similar cathode ray tube.

Indeed, monitors of those years received an image from a computer in analog form, but the type of connection was component: Red, green, and blue components of the video signal, plus synchronization, were transmitted over separate wires. This provided high resolution and decent image quality. Even now, VGA-connected LCD monitors give the picture a little worse than DVI and HDMI. Household TVs worked with a composite signal: it is transmitted along one pair of wires, and contains two superimposed components: brightness and color. The video format complies with the analogue broadcasting standard, and let's not even remember today that there were a lot of these standards. Do not go into this topic .


Let us dwell on the PAL standard : it provided the transmission of 625 image lines, of which 576 were visible. Take our reference photo, reduce it to a resolution of 768x576 and burn it to a DVD with a maximum bitrate. The photo above shows the capture of a composite video signal from a DVD player. This is our source for VHS. I wanted to show that before you enjoy the quality of a VCR, you need to understand that at the entrance to it was not at all ideal at the present time. Of the theoretical 576 TV lines, the actual resolution of the composite signal is 400, after recording on VHS it drops to 200-250.


We record the picture on VHS, reproduce and digitize it back using a DVD recorder (on the left is a composite output from DVD, on the right is VHS). The signal parameters on the magnetic tape are the same as for the incoming video signal: 625 lines, 50 half frames per second. The bandwidth is reduced, the equivalent of "resolution" for the analog signal. In the composite source, the bandwidth is 5 megahertz, on VHS - 3 megahertz. The number of lines does not change, but, as can be seen in the picture above, the clarity of the image suffers, and most of all - color reproduction. Add to this the traditional consequences of recording on magnetic tape: more noise, the penetration of interference from an adjacent frame. Get a warm tube image.



Final comparison ( source)) To the right is the present. On the left is how we watched the video 30 years ago. VHS has never been the best composite video carrier. Even if we forget about professional equipment, there were consumer formats with much more worthy characteristics. But VHS was cheap and easy to use, and this is often more important than "quality." However, choosing a VCR to my collection, I wanted to get closer to the times when VHS was more expensive than a car.

When the VCRs were big


If you already buy a VCR in 2020, then you need to take the best. Home video technologies on VHS developed until the advent of DVD in 1996, but I absolutely do not like the look of that “late” technique. I will give a photo of the device from the previous article. It is generally from the beginning of the zero, but the trend is clear:


Boring, simple, no screen. Okay, let's take something from the second half of the nineties:


Photo from here . A little better, but still not the same. I want a holiday, but here it is not, some gray everyday life. You can’t even say that VHS devices have survived the simplification - you can find the device filled with features of the sunset era. Maybe I'm just not a fan of nineties design. You need to climb further into the past, but there is another risk: the older the device, the more likely it is to be broken. The fewer devices in fair condition. The more incomplete, rotten over the years of storage in the barn trash. The probability of getting a broken brick is greatly increased.


And in the end I bought a Sony SLV-815 tape recorder. The top model of 1991, a device with a bomb design, with wooden panels on the sides and to the maximum stuffed with features. A serious video editing VCR made to look good in a rack with Hi-Fi.


The VCR was sold marked "estate", as a rule this means that the first owner is no longer with us, and the hired manager is responsible for selling things, who will not check anything. There are two conclusions from this: the external condition is likely to be good, but about working capacity you will have to play the ebay lottery.


And so it happened. A sticker from a Sony service center, alluding to service or repair in April 2002, was encouraging. Externally, the device looks new, the screen is working, only segments that burn constantly (hours) have faded noticeably. To my deep satisfaction, the VCR started working almost immediately, although not on the first try, but on the second.


Only during playback is the crunch of gears well audible - would be lubricated. Tape recorders of this era suffer from a fracture of the plastic elements of the mechanism, dried capacitors, sawn heads (if used constantly). And they are simply complex, requiring the restoration of certain experience and qualifications.


Why is this tape recorder good? What were the important criteria for choosing VHS in those days? Something is not relevant at all now, for example, flexible programming of recordings for the year ahead. The basic division of video equipment was this: a full-fledged video recorder (equipped with its own TV receiver, can record TV programs in real time and on a schedule), a video player (only plays tapes) and a recording video player (can record, but not equipped with a tuner - the TV should work with it, no programming recording).


What else is there? Editing features. The panel has an encoder with a rotating central part and a rotary ring - almost like in professional equipment. With it, you can control the video at different speeds, in slow-motion mode or frame by frame. Exactly put the tape in the right place and turn on the recording, with a seamless transition between fragments. You can overlay a different sound track on the video. Or even connect a microphone and add directorial commentary to the record of a trip to the bathhouse.


The recorder is equipped with a LANC interface for interacting with other devices. For example, he can give a command to turn on the satellite receiver and switch it to the desired channel. Or you can buy a special editing console, as in the picture above, and at the same time drive two video recorders (or a tape recorder and a camera). Yes, this unit can be controlled using Arduino .


In general, it turns out to be quite functional, albeit a consumer thing for a non-poor enthusiast. For editing video from a camcorder, creative recording and editing from a TV or other source. I will add a couple of interesting findings to the description of the features. This is the Video Programming System, an older implementation of the PDC standard . At least on European television, code signals for the start of broadcasting were transmitted. The VCR was able to receive them and adjust the schedule so as not to record a piece of the previous program or the next.


Another term of the late eighties is Simulcast. This is when broadcasting a TV show on TV is accompanied by synchronized stereo audio transmission on the radio at FM frequencies. For this case, the SLV-815 provides a special mode: we write video from the air, and sound from an external radio receiver.



The on-screen menu in 1991 was still new. The advertising slogan “Digital Picture” in SLV-815 refers to it, digital image processing is not here. But there is a “picture-in-picture” mode (we watch a video cassette, we watch TV when the necessary program starts there). The settings of TV channels and a couple of useful functions are removed from the on-screen menu: “rewind the tape to the beginning and discard” (for rental), “rewind to the counter zero” and so on. In addition, as required from a functional video recorder, this Sony can predict the remainder of the tape. All this is very cool, but the soapy VHS retroexperience would not be complete without another inevitable accessory.

Tsar Remote



He is huge! Designed for enthusiasts, the control panel provides control over all the functions of the VCR. And if this seems not enough for you, just raise the lid. There seems to be a button for everything.


A significant part of the console is reserved for recording programming. For this, an LCD display is provided: you can set the start and end intervals of recording directly on the remote control, and then transfer it to the VCR with one click. It is impossible to understand all these features without instructions, although I didn’t have to do much - set the correct time on the VCR.


Of course, I figured out how to do it, but it didn't help much. The date on the remote control is set in the most curved way: by "rewinding" by days starting in January 1991. Moreover, the calendar is limited to 2006 from the top - apparently the developers considered that after 15 years no one would use this device. Do not guess!

The console is designed to work in a complex expensive home system. With it, you can control three video recorders at the same time, and turn the TV on and off. In fact, it is beautiful, but uncomfortable: most often I use the remote control from the TV. It is smaller and allows you to control the basic features of the tape recorder.

Hi-Fi stereo and shame on bobbins



In the previous review of video equipment, I just mentioned the Hi-Fi Stereo mode, and now I decided to study it more carefully. The VHS standard provided for recording sound on a separate monaural track using a stationary head. Accordingly, the sound quality depended on the speed of the tape, and it is low in VHS - 2,339 centimeters per second, half as much as the audio cassette. In 1984, they came up with another way: to record sound using two additional heads on a rotating drum, just like video.

This was not an easy task, since the tracks with the video are located as densely as possible. They did this: the sound is written to the tape before the video. The video signal partially erases the audio tracks, but due to the difference in head azimuth and signal strength, the sound can be read and decoded. And it’s exactly what is encoded: using frequency modulation, the analog signal is “driven” into the frequency range of about one megahertz, to reduce interference from the color and brightness component of the video. Frequency distribution using VHS Hi-Fi is shown in the graph above (from this document ).


Despite all these manipulations, the audio signal in Hi-Fi Stereo mode remains analog. But its parameters are seriously increasing. And if so, I want to somehow objectively measure them. This did not work right away: the VCR is not friendly with the desktop, taking a lot of interference from it (and it seems that it does not like the presence of nearby switching power supplies). I had to measure using a laptop running on batteries.


From left to right: VHS Hi-Fi, a standard audio track, also in LP mode, and for comparison - the first type of audio cassette and a modern digital audio player that served as the source for all tests. The hi-fi track shows the result at least as good as a very good reel tape recorder at 19th or 38th speed. The theoretical dynamic range of the standard is 80dB or better. In practice, I got 77dB, and given the age of the device, it’s worthy. On a traditional magnetic tape, such a result is possible only with a noise reduction system. But the main thing is a flat amplitude-frequency characteristic and a low level of distortion. By the way, is the frequency response of a VCR limited? What if you apply a test signal in the range of up to 48 kilohertz?


Generally not limited - within the usual plus or minus 3dB, the upper limit of the frequency response ends almost exactly at 30 kilohertz. You can record high definition sound if someone suddenly comes up with this. So, is VHS Hi-Fi the best (and last) carrier of warm tube sound on magnetic tape?


Almost nuuu. The problem is that audio is recorded in 1/50 second chunks. The slightest synchronization failure - and a terribly annoying crack appears. In the video above, I gave an example of such characteristic distortions. It’s easy to call them artificially, just “knock down” the signal synchronization by manual adjustment. But sometimes they appear on their own: tape defects, worn mechanism, storms on Mars. Better cassette, but without these artifacts.


In the eighties and nineties, VHS Hi-Fi was an attractive topic for music lovers and audiophiles. Sound characteristics do not change in any way even when switching to a lower LP recording speed. You can record six hours of music on a three-hour tape. Even if you can avoid interference, it is not very convenient. The format is strictly stationary. Navigation is difficult, although the VCR can set markers and move between them. In general, not quite my choice.

But VHS Hi-Fi seriously improves the impression of watching movies on video tapes. Yes, the picture is slightly fuzzy, but the sound is fine, no worse than a digital soundtrack. In the video above, I recorded a comparison of VHS Hi-Fi with a standard track in SP and LP modes. In the first case - a decent sound without complaints. Standard audio is monaural (some tape recorders were able to record stereo there) and bearable. The sound in LP mode is more like the sound of a radio point. Recording vintage videos with stereo sound is a pleasure. You can also record a tape with a double or even a triple audio track. For example, we write the original sound of a movie without translating to Hi-Fi. Then separately - transfer to a standard audio track. In the settings of Sony SLV-815, you can arbitrarily switch between audio tracks,output one of the stereo channels or mix all at once.

Corporate video or what was missing in childhood



In the VHS reality of the early nineties, I was at the very bottom of the VCR experience. I had videotapes either self-recorded (with interference), or rental (of terrible quality and of unknown origin), or purchased (a little better, but still pirated). I tried to fix it, especially now it does not present any problems at all. VHS is still regarded by most people as old junk.


There were a lot of releases on the video, they can be found for free, with self-delivery, or cheap, or a little more expensive, but sealed. I purchased several tapes from Europe, with an original soundtrack. These are late editions, usually wide-format, in a standard plastic case, or even collectible - in a box and with beautiful printing.


Watching a theatrical version of a movie on a video is a controversial idea. Recall about the resolution of 200-250 real TV lines. Wide-format black bars will devour one-third of the format’s small capabilities; the output will be a picture that can roughly be compared to digital video in a resolution of 335x100. Therefore, a regular release on VHS cuts the image around the edges to get rid of the black bars. About half the theater shot is lost. Sometimes, the truth is the opposite.


The famous shot from the "Independence Day", known as TUCHA FZNAMZON, is presented in all its glory precisely in the television version. In a wide format, half of the inscription in bad Russian is cut off.


Since I mistakenly bought two editions of the first three films about Indiana Jones at once, I can compare a large-format edition with a regular one. They were sold like that: to choose, look at the director’s plan in its entirety, but with black stripes, or without stripes, but with any luck. Here you can notice that the image does not occupy the entire frame area. The fact is that the correct, vintage CRT TV does not show it (a phenomenon known as overscan ).


We have long been accustomed to the fact that modern TVs and monitors show the entire image, with perfect geometry. And then the picture on the TV was projected with a margin, and the noise from switching heads in the lower part of the frame had to be removed. Returning to the “lines” or “TV lines”: not only is the resolution at VHS low. So you still will not see part of the useful signal.


I would like to show my new thirty-year video recorder at work, but uploading films to YouTube is not a good idea, even for research purposes. One of the tapes in my collection is from video rental. They are distinguished by the presence of the trailer of "new" films in the beginning. Here is one of the trailers and show. Here, the video was captured by another recorder that takes into account the overscan phenomenon and additionally cuts off the edges of the image. By tradition, I converted the original picture in the PAL standard to 4K format.


And once again, look at the frame from the movie. Almost all films are now available in FullHD or even 4K resolution. Another way to measure progress over the past three to four decades. Is the VHS format adequate in 2020? It is interesting only if you, like me, are fond of retrotechnics. I am incredibly impressed with both the design and capabilities of my VCR. But the limitations of magnetic video recording of not the highest quality are obvious. Even if you watch the above video examples on the phone.


I will say this: VHS does not need to look at LCDs in principle. Only CRT, only hardcore and age-appropriate equipment. The old TV adds its own distortions to the VCR, but it makes the picture juicy, it creates exactly the mood with which we watched the video in the eighties and nineties. For such vintage sensations, in fact, I get all this trash.


Authentic films of that era, preferably with a characteristic one-voice translation, are perceived on VHS perfectly even in 2020. Video clips of the eighties are often recorded in “composite” quality from the beginning, and look soapy even after re-release on digital media in 4K, like the video clip above. This is the right content for which I purchased the correct set of devices. Unlike audio cassettes that sound normal , vinyl that is undergoing a renaissance, the age of analog video is now very noticeable. Returning to VHS is akin to buying Spectrum or the early IBM PC, traveling back in time, swimming through the waves of memory. The study of ancient artifacts, and at the same time an attempt to understand himself. Or simply an illogical way to achieve spiritual comfort by building a time capsule in your office.

That's how we live.

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