Is a UK PAL (PAL I) VHS or S-VHS video tape compatible with a continental Europe PAL (PAL B, PAL G, PAL H, PAL D, PAL K etc) VHS/S-VHS player?
I've read that the difference between UK PAL and Continental PAL is the carrier frequency used for the audio. But is that referring to:
- the (now former) analogue TV broadcasts
- the encoding on the tape
- or both?
I am aware of the VHS PAL I standard for the UK and the VHS PAL B/G etc standard in continental Europe.
According to these links, if the SCART output is used, then the audio is available. The links say that the difference in audio encoding is only related to the RF (Radio Frequency) signal i.e. broadcasts:
My use case is for using a continental video player from Germany to play UK VHS PAL tapes and convert the video and audio digitally.
My thinking is that the PAL variation refers only to a broadcast signal input into the recorder for recording and once on the tape, PAL is PAL is PAL - in that the audio and video are recorded in exactly the same way so that both video and audio is output when played back through SCART/S-Video/composite video and audio outs.
Also, related to S-VHS in general: there are 2 types of audio - linear and HiFi (S-VHS only, apparently) - is it possible for a VCR to advise me which one is on the tape during playback?
Setup:
- Model: JVC HR-S9600EU (not EK - UK) - one of the apparently higher quality machines, according to:
- Canopus ADVC100 attached to computer via Firewire
PAL standard references: