Captured sound quality?
 

Hello,
Captured sound quality can be better or not for the same tape if we use two different (cheap vs top s-video)vcrs?

Not really.

There's caveats, but broadly speaking, the differences will be vanishingly small.

S-VHS and standard VHS both lay down the same audio tracks, there's no differences there. There's VHS HiFi to contend with (and linear stereo) but broadly speaking most machines will sound very similar to one another.

Don't buy in to any nonsense about getting a 'better' sound card unless you have something incredibly modest and over 15 years old, anything made since Dubya was the president of the US is going to meet or exceed all requirements of VHS capture.

Yes it's hard to generalize. There's some evidence that cheaper as well as later model vcr's had noisier linear audio playback quality, which unfortunately doesnt help capture of audio on older home video camcorders like VHS, VHS C and Betamovie where linear was the only audio track recorded.

But it's not just the vcr, it's also the way it's used at capture. Often for best audio extraction at capture, the vcr needs a small tweak of the audio head to align it to the audio track on the cassette played. Often that small tweak makes a dramatic improvement in quality. But it appears few people bother with this.

It's not really straight forward no, SVHS decks would often share the audio circuitry with the cheaper non-svhs models in the same lineup, the differences being mostly in the video circuitry (they did sometimes have an added impedance roller not always present on the non-SVHS, variants to stabilize tape speed a tad which may or may not have an impact on wov/flutter). There may also be differences in components and ICs between different manufacturers and decks which may or may not be better/worse.

Some specific PAL JVC HR-S9xxx SVHS decks list "high grade audio parts" in the noted features in the service manuals compared to the cheaper variants (including SVHS ones), though that seems to amount to just a few capacitors around the hi-fi IC being different.

Then there is also certain late model VCRs, particularly late model JVC which seems to have some general issues with linear audio, i.e my early 2000s JVC HR-XVS20 SVHS deck has some notable distortion on linear audio, while my cheap LG and Samsung decks from the same time do not and the linear audio sounds notably better.

Besides audio head adjustments to perfectly match the recording, there could also be some merit to changing/improving some of the components around the audio amplification circuitry, and maybe also shielding, but would really need to do some A/B testing on those things.

Great thank you guys I want to capture some cassettes but only audio is important. So now I need find vcr.. I think about panasonic NV-F65 HQ..

Connection: rca <> jack <> pc <> audacity, will be ok?

If it's just for audio (linear) I'd just use 'any' machine I could get my hands on.

If it's linear audio, we're talking well below audio-cassette levels of fidelity so I wouldn't invest too much in the project.

The NV-F65 should work decently well if it's in good condition yeah, it's a older (around 1989) but solidly built deck afaik. I have the slightly newer F77 and the audio side of things on it seems to work well. Though be vary that given the age it's a possibility that the power supply capacitors could be going bad if it's been used a fair which cause interference on audio among other things, though it's repairable if one has some basic soldering experience.)

Another factor that can impact audio performance (linear track) is head condition/wear. Also, dirty heads can effect performance significantly. Machines that have come out of a commercial/production environments are especially likely to have high hours and head wear. Whether or not the recording was using Dolby or other noise reduction could be another factor.

While some VCRs may have been better than others out of the factory and thus are potentially better in the future, the use and aging process may have hurt some more than others. It comes down to the individual machine.

Mainstream, studio release commercial tapes will generally have good audio (not so much if EP/LP recording). However, home video usually has poor audio quality due to use of crummy camcorder build-in mics, large mic-to-talent distances, and venue background noise.

Yes, a dirty/worn/misaligned A/C head (or worse, all three) can really degrade playback. I'd love a dollar for every A/C head I've cleaned, relapped and aligned to the tape being played. An unworn, clean, aligned-to-the-tape, head. For serious audio transfer work this is fundamental.

Is it easy to do this? Or does anyone know of a reliable online demonstration of the correct way to tweak the audio head?

My recent captures from SLP speed tapes all have a high pitched tone emitting throughout, blocking any chance of a good treble signal. I'm capturing from a JVC SR-MV45. I tried my best to fix most of these in audacity, playing around with Noise Reduction, Notch Filter, and the equalizer until it sounds ok enough to settle. The end result will typically remove important areas of the high end EQ and it just doesn't sound that great.

I originally thought the audio had degraded over time, but on a hunch, I later played these same tapes on an RCA 4-head home theater and the audio quality is suddenly hugely improved. So now I'm sure the audio head of the JVC is the culprit. For the moment, my plan is to capture audio from another VCR separately and combine the video and audio later. But I'd rather just have a strong audio signal from the JVC.

SLP runs at the slowest VHS tape speed (1/3rd) so it has the the poorest sounding audio on VHS. All we can do is work to capture it at its best, not degrading it any more than it already is. Easier said than done though. One part is extracting the strongest signal from the audio track. The other is minimising noise and interference, such as the annoying tone you mentioned. Many simply assume the poor audio was always that way, or the tape has degraded. But often these tones are not from the tape but from the VCR itself as you discovered. Notch filtering can help. The most effective filter is often a modern Dehum tool in an audio restoration package but of course it's better to use a deck which doesn't add the interference in the first place. I've worked out my own custom mods such as an easily adjustable audio head azimuth, better internal shielding of the audio head and cabling, and a lower noise preamplifier, but that's probably beyond most people. So unfortunately there seems no simple turnkey fix.

As noted earlier in the thread me and others have observed that these very late JVC decks often have flawed linear audio with distortion/whine, so maybe your JVC suffers from the same problem. Have not managed to find what causes it, but it's way more notable than just some quality difference between audio circuitry in different vcrs (though I have also experienced similar symptoms on certain Samsung and LG vcrs as well). Just misaligned azimuth compared to tape won't cause this on it's own, it tends to cause muffled/weaker linear audio instead. (If the audio is bad due to off azimuth/misalignment it can make other interference more notable though.)

It involves having the top case of the VCR removed and very carefully adjusting one small screw on the audio/control head while listening to the audio. The correct non magnetic screwdriver with an insulated shaft and handle is important to avoid damage to the deck. Of course there may also be potentially dangerous live high voltage inside the deck so this is only for those who know what they are doing.

I found an online photo of the insides of the deck and identified what looks like the azimuth screw if that helps at all.

But again even at its best, SLP audio will fall well short of SP audio. The aim is to make it sound as good as it can sound. It will never be as clear as LP or SP can be.

Its not hard if you know what you are doing. But be aware that as you adjust the linear track head the control track head also is adjusted. That might cause issues with later tapes, and it might be difficult to "walk the cat back" when done if you do not have the necessary technician skills and tools.

One work-around is to record audio only on another VCR that gives you good audio (sounds like you have one) and then combine the good audio with the good video.

If you plan to try tweak your VCR I suggest you find the service manual for it to be sure you have the right screws and information on aligning it if necessary when done.

When adjusting linear audio azimuth I've not noticed picture degradation. But a simple test might be to play back a tape on a deck with no auto tracking, adjust audio azimuth and watch for a change in signal level on the tracking meter, as well as look for increased picture noise or instability due to mistracking.

If there is a change, can it be corrected with manual or auto tracking? A good way to find out is to test it.

I've posted the video demo before, see here
https://youtu.be/fazLIPQqKLk
Key step : work with an old analog tv. Disable auto tracking.