I remember someone using a VCR tape for audio recording from the radio.
He set the record time to six hours and when recording, would write down
the time in order to locate a desired segment at a later date.

How is the sound quality at such a slow tape speed? Speech may be
acceptable, but would music still be of good enough quality?






mike

m II wrote:
I remember someone using a VCR tape for audio recording from the radio.
He set the record time to six hours and when recording, would write down
the time in order to locate a desired segment at a later date.

How is the sound quality at such a slow tape speed? Speech may be
acceptable, but would music still be of good enough quality?






mike

The sound quality is more than adequate for shortwave. Many VCRs act
funny if you try to record without video present, so you need to use
the VCR in simulcast mode. It doesn't matter what video you use. THe
VCR needs the video for timing.

I think recording on the PC is less work, plus you can use sound
editors such as Audacity, SoundForge, etc.

m II wrote:
I remember someone using a VCR tape for audio recording from the radio.
He set the record time to six hours and when recording, would write down
the time in order to locate a desired segment at a later date.

How is the sound quality at such a slow tape speed? Speech may be
acceptable, but would music still be of good enough quality?



If you're using an earlier, linear track only machine, slow speed
audio can be pretty poor.

VHS Hi-Fi, though, can be surprisingly good even at the slowest speed.

I frequently used a VHS Hi-Fi machine for airchecks when producing
large scale field events that would sometimes run two or three days.

The audio was always so good I never had to be embarrassed about the
quality when I presented a recording to a client, or host sponsor.







mike

I hate to sound smart but you can easily buy a voice recorder for cheap
or an mp3 recorder (hell if you have one they might have one there i
know mine does) or a mini disc recorder if your so incline.VHS sound
quality deteriorates quickly,after a few plays it would be starting to
go funny.Also with the first two you dont need to buy any medium maybe a
USB drive if you want it to be completely portable.

Yours truly
Adam

I agree with adam here.

I use a mini-disc recorder for this. Great application.


adam wrote:
I hate to sound smart but you can easily buy a voice recorder for cheap
or an mp3 recorder (hell if you have one they might have one there i
know mine does) or a mini disc recorder if your so incline.VHS sound
quality deteriorates quickly,after a few plays it would be starting to
go funny.Also with the first two you dont need to buy any medium maybe a
USB drive if you want it to be completely portable.

Yours truly
Adam

On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 05:04:48 GMT, m II wrote:

I remember someone using a VCR tape for audio recording from the radio.
He set the record time to six hours and when recording, would write down
the time in order to locate a desired segment at a later date.

How is the sound quality at such a slow tape speed? Speech may be
acceptable, but would music still be of good enough quality?


Use VHS HiFi. It records with an FM carrier. Excellent quality. Use
a cheap video camera to record a clock.

If the VCR is of a stereo Hi-Fi vintage than the audio is recorded
digitally. It is fairly close to CD quality. Few people are aware of this
fact.
The recorded audio is much better than the heavilly compressed digital mp3.


"m II" wrote in message
news:QPXxg.141889$I61.17781@clgrps13...
I remember someone using a VCR tape for audio recording from the radio.
He set the record time to six hours and when recording, would write down
the time in order to locate a desired segment at a later date.

How is the sound quality at such a slow tape speed? Speech may be
acceptable, but would music still be of good enough quality?






mike

wrote:

The sound quality is more than adequate for shortwave.

I've used a VCR for recording AM radio in the past. It sounds quite
well. In fact, I remember WFAN using videotapes for airchecking their
programs - in addition to the standard reel-to-reel decks - back in the
early 1990s. The video section of the VCR was just taken from the
surveilance cameras.



Many VCRs act
funny if you try to record without video present, so you need to use
the VCR in simulcast mode. It doesn't matter what video you use. THe
VCR needs the video for timing.

Yup. I never hooked up the video on the machine when I recorded that
one time. I got a rolling black screen - but the audio played OK. I'm
sure that it could have been improved with a video signal.

Stephanie Weil
New York City

On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 11:18:21 -0500, "SeeingEyeDog"
wrote:

If the VCR is of a stereo Hi-Fi vintage than the audio is recorded
digitally. It is fairly close to CD quality. Few people are aware of this
fact.

FM, not digital.

VCR Hi-Fi records/reads audio two ways:

The old analog way with the linear audio track on the long side of the tape.
This mode is FM and is backward compatable with non-HiFi recorded tapes.

The HiFi audio mode is Pulse Code Modulation. PCM is used to record audio
with the video head but separate from the video. The video head takes a
swipe across the tape. When it reaches near the bottom, it stops recording
video and starts recording DIGITAL audio using the same head.

During playback, the head listens for video sending it to the screen and
when it reaches the end of a swipe, shifts its attention to audio sending
the digits to a circuit that converts the signal back into stereo sound.

If the DIGITAL audio is not present on the tape the HiFi VCR will use the
old analog FM linear audio track instead.

In the 1980s and 1990s, some people used the Hi-Fi tracks on VHS and BetaMax
VCRs to record audio. This was a stopgap measure while affordable digital
audio was being developed and sounded far better than audio cassettes.

"David" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 11:18:21 -0500, "SeeingEyeDog"
wrote:

If the VCR is of a stereo Hi-Fi vintage than the audio is recorded
digitally. It is fairly close to CD quality. Few people are aware of
this
fact.

FM, not digital.