#1  
08-24-2015, 02:57 PM
Dead Christmas's Avatar
Dead Christmas Dead Christmas is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 95
Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post
Hail!

I'm looking for some excellent, or best-of-the-best SVHS blanks that aren't Fuji "Master" "Double-coated". I didn't research before I bought them, thankfully, it was just two.

Oh, and do I need to worry about tape-length? I hear that longer blanks are made of a thinner tape, and are more prone to tearing.

Thanks!
Reply With Quote
Someday, 12:01 PM
admin's Avatar
Ads / Sponsors
 
Join Date: ∞
Posts: 42
Thanks: ∞
Thanked 42 Times in 42 Posts
  #2  
08-25-2015, 02:59 PM
lordsmurf's Avatar
lordsmurf lordsmurf is online now
Site Staff | Video
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 13,501
Thanked 2,447 Times in 2,079 Posts
Fuji tapes were actually pretty lousy. The VHS was terrible, and the S-VHS was mediocre. The colors were off, and the grain was crud.

Only Maxell S-VHS was worse, as it was very "eat-friendly", and would often be feathered in decks. It has some sort of construction issue. The tape was just designed badly. Furthermore, the actual recording was smeary. The Maxell VHS tapes, by contrast, were excellent. Gold and HiFi VHS were preferred.

Sony S-VHS was excellent. Color not as good as TDK, but grain held tight.

TDK was best -- both VHS and S-VHS. I only have 3-4 of these left myself. The cost about $6 each back in the late 90s, when the tapes were being clearance out by higher-end electronics stores. They had been $10-15 each beforehand.

JVC S-VHS was also best, but harder to find. JVC VHS was easy to locate.

Anything over T-130 was thin tape, yes. But it was a VHS speed. I never saw any S-VHS tapes beyond T-120. VHS T-160 was problematic, and T-200 (mostly Memores VHS) was terrible.

Sometimes I miss tapes.

- Did my advice help you? Then become a Premium Member and support this site.
- For sale in the marketplace: TBCs, workflows, capture cards, VCRs
Reply With Quote
  #3  
08-25-2015, 04:29 PM
Dead Christmas's Avatar
Dead Christmas Dead Christmas is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 95
Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post
Thanks for your response!

Can you point me to TDK's best SVHS-C, and best SVHS-normal tape? I very seldom record anything over five to ten minutes, so I don't really need all that extra tape. However, it would be nice to know both sizes, in case I end up needing it. I already have a VHS-C adapter.

Oh, that reminds me. Will A VHS-C adapter allow a SVHS deck to play those tapes? Or, am I going to need an SVHS-C to SVHS adapter?
Reply With Quote
  #4  
08-25-2015, 05:03 PM
lordsmurf's Avatar
lordsmurf lordsmurf is online now
Site Staff | Video
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 13,501
Thanked 2,447 Times in 2,079 Posts
I was referring to S-VHS. If you want S-VHS-C, then JVC is your only choice. The only compact S-VHS cameras that I ever saw were from JVC in the late 90s, and they produced the media to go with it. S-VHS-C tapes were not easy to come by even then. You have zero chance of finding them now, aside from eBay.

I see some tapes listed there now, but I'd be wary of storage conditions. And then I wonder if any of those were ever for sale in the USA, and were just "gray market" imports for media sold in Japan or Europe. In fact, most of the tapes on auctions are non-USA to begin with.

Why on earth would you want to record this format? All "C" formats of VHS were awful.

- Did my advice help you? Then become a Premium Member and support this site.
- For sale in the marketplace: TBCs, workflows, capture cards, VCRs
Reply With Quote
The following users thank lordsmurf for this useful post: Dead Christmas (08-26-2015)
  #5  
08-26-2015, 12:51 AM
Dead Christmas's Avatar
Dead Christmas Dead Christmas is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 95
Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post
Oh, I was under the impression that more than one company made S-VHS-C. Well, nix that, then.

Is this the kind of tape that I'm looking for?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-NOS-4-TD...item2ee51c4a32
Reply With Quote
  #6  
08-26-2015, 08:06 AM
lordsmurf's Avatar
lordsmurf lordsmurf is online now
Site Staff | Video
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 13,501
Thanked 2,447 Times in 2,079 Posts
It appears that more than 1 company did make the compact S-VHS-C tapes, but only JVC was available in North America (USA/Canada). Everything else was European or Japanese. I'm not 100% certain on this, but that's what I remember from the 90s.

Those TDK tapes would be excellent full-sized (non-compact) S-VHS tapes, assuming they've been stored properly. If they're been stored in an attic, garage or basement, then forget about it.

The price looks close to what it was 10-15 years ago, which I find amusing. A quality DVD blank is about 20 cents, but a quality tape is still $5+. Most people would have a fit if a blank disc cost $5 each! And the DVD blank can store more video, at higher resolution quality, with no chroma noise, with only the colorspace reduced from 4:2:2 equiv to MPEG 4:2:0. Go figure. Even DV shooting is better.

- Did my advice help you? Then become a Premium Member and support this site.
- For sale in the marketplace: TBCs, workflows, capture cards, VCRs
Reply With Quote
The following users thank lordsmurf for this useful post: Dead Christmas (08-26-2015)
  #7  
08-26-2015, 10:07 AM
NJRoadfan NJRoadfan is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,155
Thanked 357 Times in 293 Posts
The tapes you are looking for are those TDK XP Super Pro. They were also available in "C" format too. I have a few in ST-120 length purchased new when I got my JVC deck. Can't say I record much to analog video formats these days though.

Also, you can use DVHS blanks to record SVHS video (the sense hole for SVHS tapes is present on all DVHS tapes). They were available from JVC, Mitsubishi (JVC rebrand), Maxell, and Panasonic. One bonus is that they typically came in longer tape lengths. DF-300 was the most common length which is equivalent to a ST-150.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
08-26-2015, 10:57 AM
Goldwingfahrer's Avatar
Goldwingfahrer Goldwingfahrer is offline
Remembered
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 453
Thanked 84 Times in 74 Posts
Quote:
DF-300 was the most common length
Yes, DF-300 are here most tapes.
But there is also DF-420 tapes.
Have a few more original packed in camp


Attached Images
File Type: jpg D-VHS_300_420.jpg (120.7 KB, 10 downloads)
File Type: jpg DF-420.jpg (98.1 KB, 10 downloads)
Reply With Quote
  #9  
08-26-2015, 12:37 PM
NJRoadfan NJRoadfan is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,155
Thanked 357 Times in 293 Posts
Wikipedia claims that DF-480 tapes were available, although I have never seen them. I would be hesitant in using them in a SVHS deck though as they may be rough on the thinner tape. One thing to keep in mind about SVHS tape prices, there is still demand for them for use with the Alesis ADAT multi track digital audio recorders.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
08-27-2015, 04:14 AM
Goldwingfahrer's Avatar
Goldwingfahrer Goldwingfahrer is offline
Remembered
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 453
Thanked 84 Times in 74 Posts
Quote:
Wikipedia claims that DF-480 tapes were available, although I have never seen them
I also have not seen any.
300 I need here.
420 are still packed original.

Quote:
One thing to keep in mind about SVHS tape prices, there is still demand for them for use with the Alesis ADAT multi track digital audio recorders.
Bands I have until early 2015 ordered here see Fig.
Broadcast 120 minutes

Alesis ADAT I have no device, only the predecessor
Sony PCM 501 ES
Output in 44.1 KHz


Attached Images
File Type: jpg S-VHS-Paket.jpg (49.8 KB, 10 downloads)
File Type: jpg Quantegy.jpg (35.1 KB, 9 downloads)
Reply With Quote
  #11  
08-27-2015, 05:37 PM
Dead Christmas's Avatar
Dead Christmas Dead Christmas is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 95
Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post
Yeah, these FUJI Masters are awful.

There's a constant crackling effect, I believe that's caused by tracking errors? Audio dropouts are very frequent, too.

I haven't been able to do any video recording, as the tape doesn't want to playback the video I record, I just get a buzzing sound.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
08-27-2015, 09:08 PM
lordsmurf's Avatar
lordsmurf lordsmurf is online now
Site Staff | Video
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 13,501
Thanked 2,447 Times in 2,079 Posts
The tapes themselves rarely cause tracking errors, even when a tape is crap. The recording unit is at fault.
And yes, you're describing an alignment issues ("tracking" issue).

- Did my advice help you? Then become a Premium Member and support this site.
- For sale in the marketplace: TBCs, workflows, capture cards, VCRs
Reply With Quote
  #13  
08-28-2015, 02:05 AM
Dead Christmas's Avatar
Dead Christmas Dead Christmas is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 95
Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post
I got around to uploading a video from the Panasonic. Are those video dropouts the video becoming darker?

There's some noticeable compression, I neglected to adjust the bitrate for maximum quality, and instead, I exported with "smallest file-size settings". The actual tape looks much better resolution-wise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hChZ...ature=youtu.be
Reply With Quote
  #14  
08-28-2015, 12:28 PM
lordsmurf's Avatar
lordsmurf lordsmurf is online now
Site Staff | Video
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 13,501
Thanked 2,447 Times in 2,079 Posts
Why do you need tapes to play older tapes? I'm confused on what is going on here.
Is that a Panasonic S-VHS VCR? If so, it may have bad caps.

- Did my advice help you? Then become a Premium Member and support this site.
- For sale in the marketplace: TBCs, workflows, capture cards, VCRs
Reply With Quote
  #15  
08-28-2015, 01:02 PM
Dead Christmas's Avatar
Dead Christmas Dead Christmas is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 95
Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post
I don't understand the first part of your question.

Yes, it's a Panasonic AG-7400.

The audio crackling went away, I think it was just all the cables the VCR had plugged into it.
Reply With Quote
Reply




Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Converting SVHS videos and later SVHS decks Jpass9992 Capture, Record, Transfer 10 08-21-2015 02:41 PM
Light Scribe DVD+R blanks any good? sa5150 Blank Media 2 07-26-2014 06:13 AM
Panasonic AG-1980 playing non-SVHS as SVHS? cyber-junkie Videography: Cameras, TVs and Players 15 04-21-2010 03:48 PM
Is this DVD recorder and SVHS player good for capturing VHS/8mm tapes? ramrod Capture, Record, Transfer 1 10-12-2009 10:54 PM

Thread Tools



 
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:29 AM