Panasong AG-1980P audio hiss issues?
 

Hello this is a continuation of a previous thread that I have done before on this forum called, "Panasonic AG-1980P audio hiss?" The link to that forum is here: https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vid...-ag-1980p.html

However, to reiterate I bought a Panasonic AG-1980P VCR from Deter in 2024. So far, I have not had any problems in terms of picture quality. It's Line-TBC is really amazing and I have no complaints on that aspect. I will share two videos showing off how it deals with tracking errors like when a tape has two different control tracks or when a splice occurs.

My only issue is with the audio hiss that occurs on VHS tapes that are recorded in linear audio. Any tape that is recorded in Hi-Fi audio does not have any issues with audio, unless you switch off the audio using AUDIO OUT. What I am trying to say is that in Hi-Fi the Left and Right indicators are both on [L][R], pressing the AUDIO OUT button a couple times to turn it off [ ][ ] and hiss is present. I know some forums say that pressing the AUDIO OUT button should fix the issue, but it has no effect on tapes with Linear Audio.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/...asonic-AG-1980

To clear any confusion to what I am trying to say, I left a video called, "AUDIOOUT_EXAMPLE_C.mp4"

So far most movies has Hi-Fi audio which makes sense and I have one Home Video that was recorded with Hi-Fi audio (which is the video in the AUDIOOUT_EXAMPLE_C.mp4). I know Lordsmurf said that Panasonic VCRs do not bode well with the audio side of things which he said here:

I am not too sure that the issue I am having has to do with any damage to the VHS tape itself, it appears to be more so with the machine itself. One theory that lordsmurf had mentioned was that it could be an issue with the audio control head adjustment. Saying that the audio hiss issue may resolve itself by correctly adjusting the audio control head of the VCR.

There is also another minor issue with the Panasonic AG-1980P VCR that I have noticed. So, there are periods that I do not power the VCRs for months. Which I believe causes the VCR to spit out any tapes the first couple of times when I turn it on after months of being stored. I am just leaving this out here in the thread just in-case. I doubt that it has anything to do with the audio hiss, and it not accepting tapes for the first couple of tries could be the nature of the machine after not being powered on after a while. I say that because, when I turn off the machine for the night and turn it back on and insert a tape, it immediately takes it in.

Anyways, I will leave two videos which comes from the same VHS-C tape. This is to demonstrate the audio hiss further and to show that it does really well when confronted with some tracking errors.
The first video is just two recordings with different control tracks, I forget the term, but I know some VCRs freak out when the control tracks change. Which is why some machines only record on the video portion of the tape without recording over the control track. It is called: "Comparision_DifferentShots.mp4"
The next video is of a splice that I had to do on a certain section of the tape and I was surprised at how quickly the Panasonic AG-1980P machine tried to get a decent picture. The video is called: "Comparision_Splice.mp4"

Thank you so much for reading this thread haha. I hope that I give enough information and context with the explanation of my situation and the video examples that I have left. Hopefully, this is the last time I post about this.

I guess first questions that come to mind are:
1. Was it like that since you got it from Deter
2. What does he recommend doing to solve it?

Linear audio tends to be pretty good on AG1980's, but it can be somewhat tape specific depending on the alignment of the machine that recorded it.

You might also try making a test recording on your machine and seeing if its self-made tape has the same buzz or not. Could give some clues whether it is an alignment issue, but if the head is off enough, I'm sure you'd get buzz with that also though.

1. Tape hissing has been present since day one.
2. Highly doubt he will answer, from what I have seen, he only responds when he sells VCRs

Pretty much every tape that is recorded in linear audio has that buzz/hissing noise. Only tapes that were recorded in Hi-Fi will not have the hiss/buzzing noise. Unless, of course, you click on the AUDIOOUT button until both the left and right indicators are off which I assume is linear audio.

Ill do that when I get home. However, I do remember messing whether to record in L+R or linear as it was causing the recorded tape to not have sound on other machines. I forgot what I did that eventually got the recorded tape from the 1980P to have audio that could be played on other VCRs

Admittedly, I rarely ever make recordings on these because that's not a common use-case these days and playback is king. I've even had a few people have me disable the recording function so that tapes being played back have zero chance of being recorded over accidentally. If you're curious, that's just removing the recording tab detecting switch so that it thinks all tapes have the record tab removed.

I hadn't heard of these making audio recordings that other VCRs didn't interpret correctly though, so that could indeed be a clue of what's going on. I didn't know the audio out had any affect on how recordings were made, but it could be possible that does matter as i could see some editing use-cases where you might want to put different audio on the linear channel than the HiFi channel such as linear timecode (LTC) audio.

Ill have to check, because whatever "settings" I left it to record would have working audio on the playback of the AG-1980P VCR. The other VCR I would use was some cheap VCR machine that does not stereo audio. It only has left audio, so maybe the AG-1980P VCR recorded on the right side only? I am not sure, at this point I am saying this without knowing if it is true or not.

That noise in the linear audio is way too loud for normal linear noise and has a different character as well. Sounds like a fault in the machine or possibly outside interference, possibly a ground loop in cable connections.

He wasn't always like that. I've known him for 15+ years now. I can only assume his life priorities have shifted.

Timeline:
- We met ~2009 because he had VCR issues. Maybe lack of TBC issues, capture card/software issues. I forget details, would have to dive back into old posts. That was so long ago, even before my life-changing MS incidents.
- I helped him learn how to fix each issue, and also turned him onto AG-1980P decks.
- He took that AG-1980P info, picked my brain for more, and then ran with it. And I think he might know more than me now, on these decks. Student surpassed the teacher. Awesome! I forget where, which exact post, but he did credit and thank me for getting him started down the AG-1980 rabbit hole. Made me smile. :)
- After he finished his video work, he began to refurb these decks for others, mid 2010s. We needed a good alternative, after TGrant screwed so many of us with inferior half-fixed work.
- In recent years, mid 2020s, he's semi-retired from deck repair, maybe even semi-retired from IRL work, not sure.

He still logs in, reads, doesn't post much. He's never been a man of many words, and I am often the same. Sometimes people confuse that with "being grumpy", and I've been accused of the same.

As Aramkolt now knows, as deter learned, as I've long known, AG-1980P has many versions, and many quirks per version, and many quirks per unit. Sometimes, even after careful testing post-repair/post-refurb, it can be hard to find some of the faults. That's why they each give a warranty of X days, in case you do find a problem. (Note that JVC decks are not at all the same.)

So if your unique deck has suspected audio issues, perhaps it does. But we need to first do the scientific method, eliminate other more-likely possible causes. Which is what we're doing here.

If you're trying to use this deck for recording: don't. Get a cheap(er) non-TBC JVC S-VHS, use it. The 3800 and 4800 are great, as are a few others. I'd not go back further than 3600/4600, and I'd be wary of the 29xx/59xx units. The 29U is a candidate.

Aahh okay, like Aramkolt has said, ill record a tape with the AG-1980P and play it back to see what happens. Ill be home in a few short days and will be able to peform any test you all want me to do.

No no no. My Panasonic AG-1980P machine is used for digitizing tapes. I just don't see a reason to "turn off" its recording capabilities. That why I said, I wouldn't want to turn it off