Oddity Archive: Episode 202 - History of VHS, Vol. 3 (S-VHS)

[@Robertsshed]

From my own personal experience S-VHS had two special tricks up it's sleeve. Firstly from speaking to a lot of people who developed museum installations they said S-VHS was incredibly reliable. I can vouch for that because I have long been involved with a railway museum that had a 10-minute video playing on constant loop on a Panasonic S-VHS machine, eight hours a day from 1989 till 2005. The tape only needed replacing twice during that period. Secondly S-VHS could record teletext signals perfectly.

[@nathanwatson01]

Strange, because both of my S-VHS decks are broken.

[@pokepress]

The reliability is probably a function of it largely being restricted to high-end VCRs.

[@DanknDerpyGamer]

So ... you had to replace the tape approximately every 5.33 years? Not bad for continuous playback IMO.

[@Robertsshed]

@@DanknDerpyGamer Yep, and it was still working when it was decommissioned. It was replaced with a DVD player which needed to be replaced every year, but management in care because they only cost about £20 each at that point.

[@battra92]

The only people I know who had any use for SVHS were anime fansubbers. In the 90s the Laserdiscs were fed into Amigas and the distro masters were on SVHS. These masters would be duped down to standard VHS for distribution.

[@FinalBaton]

Was just gonna say this.

[@NickBartolo]

Yep.

[@AnOfficialAndrewFloyd]

The one standout of fansubbers was VKLL with Sailor Moon and Kaitou Saint Tail fansubs. They would run the laserdisc through the genlock direct to tape each time. Each tape they made was essentially 1st gen.

[@anthonyperkins7556]

Home video enthusiasts and video production companies also used S-VHS to shoot and edit videos on.

[@mrFalconlem]

wrong, I got a SVHS in 1991, and have over 1,000 svhs quality off air tapes. Used svhs up till 2005 for regular recording. Mainly stopped cause recordable DVD was good enough to switch to.

[@cjpvideo]

"Prosumer" analog formats like SVHS were welcomed as a cheap option for independent videographers to produce videos with their own gear. It's around this time that home video studios became a thing. Software has since leveled the playing field.

[@karolkozik5918]

True. But some people still hung up on using magnetic tape up into the early 2010s, with DV and HDV, including Ben, trusty carpetvison.

[@Nomad-Rogers]

And also great to record sound from reel to reel or The LP record.

[@anthonyperkins7556]

It's a shame S-VHS never really took off because it was a big step over VHS with slightly crisper sharper 400 line pictures that were a big improvement over VHS's 250-260 lines resolution. You could also get better sharper copies by editing on S-VHS and making final acceptable third generation copies on regular VHS that haven't lost much in quality terms.

[@Meebzorp5200]

We used SVHS decks at the Art Institute for 2D/3D animation video output. The quality was very good for tape and we used those for our portfolio reviews where potential employers would set the deck to 4x speed or higher to zip through your portfolio tape.

[@shadowpresident4203]

The Chicago Art Institute always seemed to be ahead of the curve in terms of technology. They have their own U-Boat fleet and everything... I used to go there every so often, and take pictures of the famous artwork with my low-res 2 MP digital camera, which was pretty good back then. Not sure if that's the same Art Institute.

[@NJRoadfan]

The last Super VHS tapes I purchased was back in 2000. The tapes were impossible to find in 2008, heck Digital VHS tapes were impossible to find in 2008! My highschool AV department and TV studio did have SVHS editors and a AG-456 camcorder though. That camcorder only rarely came out though as the teacher treated it like it was his child. As for what made SVHS special...... it was the VCRs. Those late model JVC decks were equipped with an excellent time-base corrector and dynamic noise reduction filter called "DigiPure". It made crappy VHS tapes looks surprisingly good and corrected alot of playback problems as well. There were other gimmicks like the dynamic drum that always breaks, but those came with standard VHS decks too.

[@johnathin0061892]

I duplicated hundreds of VHS tapes on a JVC 9911U. That thing could play anything. Not just worn tapes, not just mega cheap quality tapes, or home recorded tapes with dodgy tracking, but tapes recorded from lousy off air reception with all kinds of time base issues that made standard VHS lose grip on the picture. Salvaged some rare and quirky stuff that only aired once that way.

[@honestguy7764]

In regular decks, the JVCs B.E.S.T. system was excellent to playback Lp mode tapes from friends, wheras a sony deck would fail miserably

[@5speedfatty]

wow look at that timing , I wake up open youtube and theres a fresh hot Archive video waiting for me to enjoy!

[@venomousslayer8663]

Same here, only i came home from work.

[@louiseogden1296]

😘

[@Kenneth_Mac_Pherson]

Off this weekend, enjoying a cuppa Joe & a smoke. ALWAYS NICE to catch up w/Oddity Archive!

[@5speedfatty]

😆

[@ABCEasyas--]

"hypersensitive 1990's high school AV geeks have an Oddity Archive merchandise burning" A little close to home, eh?

[@Capturing-Memories]

I'm a proud owner of JVC HR-S7600AM the only S-VHS machine in the whole world that is true NTSC/PAL(525/625) and equipped with a line TBC/DNR. Also a Sony ED Beta EDV-7500, And JVC HM-DH5U D-VHS machine with HDMI out, yes HDMI out. The 3 most high end machines when it comes to playback and recording.

[@DoubleMonoLR]

You can technically get a standard VHS deck with HDMI out as well, in a DVD VCR combo deck. I don't have one myself, though mine does output VHS via Component, not that there's too much point of course as it just internally converts it from composite. An HD CRT with HDMI input would be a nice match for your D-VHS machine :)

[@joelucayt]

I found SVHS extremely useful when copying movies from Blockbuster. It blew away copying to standard VHS, even though the source was standard. 2 SVHS tape decks, with S-Video connection made a pretty damn good copy. And I never bought SVHS blanks....I simply bought high quality standard tapes and drilled a hole in the case where needed!

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

Yeah. Not as much generational loss.

[@equid0x]

I worked at a small local station around 2000 and they were using SVHS for field work and editing down to umatic which was still in use for the primary station feed.

[@minscandboo1213]

Can't wait for the episode on D-VHS

[@wattehel]

Some local stations here in LA did use SVHS for news and showing commercials most noteable is KDOC.

[@owensmith7530]

I'm in the UK, I bought a Panasonic NV-HS950 S-VHS deck in the late 1990s and it was great. For recording off air PAL TV it had much better picture quality than VHS and I never looked back. I still have the deck and it still works. And I still have 8 brand new JVC 3 hour S-VHS tapes in the shrink wrap, the last of a large box of them I bought. I use the deck now for occasional transfers of old tapes, the time base corrector and digital noise reduction do a great job cleaning up old VHS tapes. And as someone else said, it could record Teletext perfectly. A lot of deaf people in the UK bought S-VHS because they could watch the Teletext subtitles on playback. My last hurrah recording on the deck was sending the S-video output of an early digital TV set top box to it, and that was another step up in picture quality. The colour was most improved, and given the low chroma resolution on S-VHS I can only conclude it was because the signal had never been composite encoded.

[@Psy500]

SVHS did okay for what it was. The more expensive tapes limited it to a niche market with SVHS ET being the only thing normal users would care about. SVHS never had any chance of replacing VHS as most people would prefer cheaper tapes.

[@johnathin0061892]

It is a shame S-VHS was so expensive and never caught on, it was a huge, and much needed, improvement to VHS

[@verynoiceroxx542]

Somewhat, the chroma/bandwidth of it was still very much awful, but still a touch better than regular VHS.

[@johnathin0061892]

@@verynoiceroxx542 Yeah, VHS needed all the help it could get!

[@skk3940]

Once svhs came out...the manufacturers shudda phased out regular vhs ... lowered the price..and svhs would have to be adopted. Hate that we had to deal with vhs for 20 years.

[@ThriftyAV]

Toward the end, prices dropped a LOT. I picked up my JVC unit on clearance at Best Buy for little more than the cost of a standard VHS unit back around 2000... oh man, that was two decades ago!

[@AmstradExin]

Here in Europe it caught on and it even made changes to the SCART connector...We then had two connectors on our VHS recorders. The Black one for RGB and a special blue (Sometimes also orange?) SCART connectors, changing the RGB signals to Chroma/Luma. The reason many adapters to chinch also include an S-Video connector on it, to break out the signal.

[@VectraQS]

I loved my HR-S3500U (S-VHS ET). It made great recordings and transfers. Like a moron, I took it apart to clean it, broke a ribbon cable, tried to replace it with wires, and ruined the circuit board. At work, I got to transfer some tapes on a BR-S811U. Absolute beast of a deck. Its only flaw is that it cannot play back LP/EP recordings.

[@surrodox]

Well, there's potential one use case for SVHS in offair recordings, D(2)MAC sat recordings in uk/europe where some DBS channels like BSB (British Satellite Broadcasting) and movie channels like Filmnet being broadcast in that standard.

[@5roundsrapid263]

8:27 A young Tori Amos!

[@roberteverett8463]

Cornflake Girl

[@derekjtaylor]

Correct! That is her!

[@vconqwstify]

That answers my question!

[@syferdet]

22:31 So, did the surfers die in the waves and turn into shells or something? More beer for that guy then.

[@M1nd_Pa1nt]

I finish a college midterm to find a new Archive. Yay!

[@mightyfilm]

I honestly thought that the footage at about 21:05 was going to be an example of the tape or machine freaking out. Low pitched voice, it sounded like it was skipping. But it's an actual piece of (for lack of a better word) music that's going "and he was..look look...and he was...look look."

[@joojoojeejee6058]

S-video connector (as part of the SCART connector) certainly was a "thing" in Europe much earlier than the mid-1990s. S-VHS never really gained momentum in Europe, even though PAL TV-broadcasts were of better quality than NTSC and S-VHS was perhaps a more substantial improvement in capturing those broadcasts than it was in the USA. I guess VHS was "good enough" for most people, but it really didn't look pretty, even by the "standards" of that time. We knew perfectly well that the quality could be better than it was, much better.

[@Foxonian]

I still have my Panasonic S-VHS VCR. Haven't used it in years though.

[@Foxonian]

@ReturnoftheBrotha Pretty sure it does. It's from the mid-90's.

[@EvaFull]

Always a better day whenever you see a NEW ODDITY ARCHIVE in your subscriptions. Now time to get to learning.....

[@BertLensch]

I always wondered about the history of S-Video. My original PlayStation had either composite or S-Video connections and it wasn't until I got my first HDTV that I noticed the difference between the two. Thank you for the technology lesson!

[@suedenim]

Likewise. I never had any real experience with S-VHS, primarily because its brief heyday coincided with my "starving student" days, but I always did wonder exactly what the deal was with S-Video inputs and outputs.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

@@suedenim My first DVD player has S-Video. We also had a JVC, I think it was 27 inch, we had gotten a few years before. That had S-Video. Unfortunately most of the first DVDs released were a very wide aspect where the TV was 4:3. Even with the DVD player having a zoom, the resolution ended up rather limited.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

Like for example I am looking at a DVD that came with the player, it is 2.35:1 aspect.

[@manFromPeterborough]

@@jeffkardosjr.3825 2.35:1 is shit for home video, it should have been zoomed up to standard 16:9 on DVD

[@TweeterMan287]

10:44 That you, Ben?

[@ABCEasyas--]

"sounds like Yello was drunk and covered 'Rockit'" Nailed it!

[@Aeduo]

It sounds like they seemed intent on keeping S-VHS a high end tier that they could upsell, but it seems like that just killed the format entirely. If they were willing to make at least S-VHS playback standard on any new VCR by 1990, the situation with the format would've probably gone much different.

[@CommodoreFan64]

Agreed if they had only reduced the cost of SVHS down to VHS levels on both tapes, and recorders, and slowly phasing out VHS, then I think it would have had a much better chance, but the other problem was many people even by the late 90's still had TV sets that only had RF jacks as they did not replace their TV unless it died, and many of those same people did not know, or care to know an RF jack from composite, or S-Video input, they just simply wanted it to work!! Ala my parents no matter how much I tried to drill it in their heads.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

@@CommodoreFan64 Sony had a rivalry with JVC so they were hesitant to put S-Video on their Trinitrons where you could really appreciate the quality. So only a limited number if them had that input.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

@@CommodoreFan64 And with the jacks, I've noticed many people too, even those who should know better, limiting their DVD players by just using the audio and composite cables provided. If they just had two more RCA cables, most of these people could be enjoying component.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@jeffkardosjr.3825 Component was something you did not see on a lot of lower, and even mid ranges TV's back when DVD came around, same for DVD players till they started touting 480p Progressive scan features. My 27in Panasonic curved glass CRT TV in my game room for retro stuff from about 02 has component, composite, and S-Video input, along with RCA stereo output jacks to hook into an audio receiver, but I have a 19in Emerson(Funai) from just a few years later as one of my backup sets, and all is has is stereo composite sadly, but the picture is very nice clean, and clear for a CRT TV made in the mid 00's(all 3 of my sets where free, and I have the storage space for them, so I can complain), and my 3rd being a 19in JVC I'ART model with the same inputs/outputs as my Panasonic.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

@@CommodoreFan64 But DVD has remained popular well into the LCD era. Even before the more fool proof HDMI started to pick uo.

[@Smashmilk]

I'm pretty sure Techmoan did a video on it . Good video tho . I remember my parents returning the betamax In late 80s . My dad was kindof of sore about it cause the beta player wasn't cheap when he bought it and its live span wasn't very long.

[@MitchellHang]

You’re probably thinking of D-VHS.

[@GeoNeilUK]

You missed out the C64 also using Y/C video. Also, I'm not sure if it's just me, but I'm pretty sure the S-Video connector was also known as the SVHS connector. Wouldn't SVHS tapes be more like Metal tapes than Chromium tapes? Furthermore, over here in Europe, we used SCRT which natively had composite video and RGB (three seperate monochrome images, each filtered through red, green and blue respectively) it had to be altered with a different pinout to carry s-Video which removed the RGB capability... (and we never even had component video until HD became a thing) What I also wonder is why SCART was never used for HD video. Also, I'm guessing that RGB had the most chroma information (after all, it was all chroma) but would also be the least ineffcient; a black and white picture would have to be conveyed by feeding the same black and white picture (which is all luma) over the red, green and blue lines; any other format would just carry the luma information and eliminate the chroma information. I'm kind of wondering where D-VHS or D-Theater fit into this story? The next video (possibly alongside Techmoan's digital audio on VHS recorder and those weird computer data backup systems that I think have been featured by LGR or 8-Bit Guy?) maybe?

[@surrodox]

I believe the c64 luma/chroma system is called LCA, check one of 8bit guy videos out about the c64 And don't forget W-VHS, which's MUSE in a VHS tape, like Hivision laserdisc.

[@GeoNeilUK]

@@surrodox 8 bit Guy is a big pre-Amiga Commodore fan!

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@GeoNeilUK You have to understand here in the US after the C64, and C128 machines a lot of Commodore 8-bit users just ended up making the switch to IBM /IBM clones, or Apple Mac as those were the next big things being pushed here, and outside of a few rare TV ads, some magazines, or shows like Computer Chronicles on PBS the Amga, and even ATARI ST just where not talked about outside professional fields, or niech groups. I knew no one who had an Amiga growing up, and only knew about them again because of shows like Computer Chronicles where they usually pushed the higher end Amiga 2000 machines with things like Video Toaster cards installed, and no kid I knew could afford something like that.

[@GeoNeilUK]

@@CommodoreFan64 Yeah, the Amigas we had over here were the keyboard-is-the-PC models: the A500, A500 Plus, A600 or A1200, certainly very capable machines but used largely in the same way that we used the 8-bit micros (ie almost entirely as games machines) The Atari ST was popular with musicians at the time because of its built-in MIDI interface and being a *LOT* cheaper than a PC of the time. We had big box Amigas too, but let's face it, they were dream machines for all of us!

[@DavidWood-rc6gj]

Some people and even some manufacturers did call it an “SVHS” connection - although this is misleading. S-VHS was not the only thing that used it, it was also an option on many game consoles as well as other devices. Also, even standard VHS recordings could benefit from it, even though standard VHS decks usually didn’t feature it.

[@jonathankleinow2073]

7:15 In addition to the Mitsubishi sets, at least some of the RCA ColorTrak 2000 sets from the late 1980s also included S-video inputs. A quick Google found a photo of a ColorTrak set made in June 1988 that has an S-video input, as well as a SCART connector that RCA called "EIA Multiport.'" We had a 27-inch ColorTrak 2000 when I was a kid that, sadly, we disposed of when the flyback transformer started to go around the turn of the century.

[@DanielHuman1996]

ADAT was a popular 8-track digital format that recorded on SVHS tapes. You could buy brand name ADAT tapes from Alesis, but they were only repackaged SVHS tapes in a hard shell case!

[@rwdplz1]

I have a few S-VHS decks and yeah, the difference is negligible.

[@AmstradExin]

Maybe you have NTSC, but in PAL the difference is quite big. Especially on prerecorded tapes. S-VHS killed V2000, VCR and Beta here.

[@Yeen125]

AmstradExin If I were to take a guess, it’s because of PAL had more lines of resolution and better chroma/lumina separation compared to NTSC; so S-VHS worked better to PAL’s advantages and quirks than NTSC’s.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

It depends on your source video. Cable was long limited by RF as were over the air broadcasts. It really helps if it is a digital receiver such as satellite or ATSC with S-Video output and you're on a channel where they didn't compress it to heck.

[@FinalBaton]

Great vid Benny boy. I didn't even know there were prerecorded movies sold on SVHS. Ha! learned something today

[@italovalerio]

Great history. I'm back to SVHS because a project to remaster old master records in VHS and S-VHS, 30 years. Some records S-VHS is impressive about sound and audio quality, 30 years after.

[@ChadQuick270W]

Great series here and I look forward to the D-VHS episode. Fitting that JVC made the last VCR’s as they invented the VHS format.

[@jamesmoss3424]

S-VHS was a good idea. 😀👍📼

[@betaman7988]

Yesterday I picked up 54 VHS tapes for free. I was extatic right up until the point in which I noticed about 40 of those tapes were SVHS and incompatible with my machine... Off to eBay for a new VCR I guess

[@BeefyMon]

I owned a Mitsubishi SVHS deck from 1996-ish, and another that was “quasi-svhs” (it would play back, but not record in full svhs quality). It was fantastic for dubbing, as generation loss was minimal. I also used SVHS to offload, or “print to video” my Adobe Premiere or After Effects projects from my Power Mac 8500/120. Its massive 2GB drive would fill up quickly, so I had to archive my videos somehow.

[@alleykat6273]

I wish u-matic caught on as a consumer format, quality still holds up today

[@TTVEaGMXde]

But only for 1 Hour

[@Kenneth_Mac_Pherson]

From ~ 18:53 to 19:02

[@dangerouslytalented]

It was great with strong colour, it looked like film when you had vivid reds and blues to work with

[@astrojazzman]

This is my favorite KZbin channel!! Keep up all the amazing work Ben!!!! L.A California 2020

[@Capturing-Memories]

One of the best decks ever made in history of VHS, I have the HR-S7600AM which is PAL/ NTSC/ MESECAM version in native 525/625 no conversion, I used it for most of my captures in my channel.

[@derekroberts6654]

8:22 Ok, Bennyboy! I saw Tori in that “Just Right Cereal” commercial! Im calling the feds, youll be lucky if the CIA doesn’t come knocking at your door! 🤪😆

[@OddityArchive]

...and here I was picking that ad for the cheese factor. I really, honestly didn't recognize her--if anything, I thought it looked more like Yeardley Smith.

[@derekroberts6654]

@OddityArchive Tell it to the judge when he sentences you 48 hours of non-stop Sid and Marty Krofft and Electric Company soundtrack music combined with skits from Hee Haw...

[@louiseogden1296]

Regarding chroma etc, Are you going to do the history of colour TV?

[@nuNWO]

I had the UK version of the JVC S-VHS with the green lit buttons... but in a gold coloured case. In the UK with more tv lines to record it may have made more sense perhaps than in the states? The gold machine and the special button with its few mb of digital processing power really was a "wow" ;)

[@TTVEaGMXde]

NTSC 3.579545 Mhz -1.5 Mhz Sideband = 2.079545 Mhz Y/C Separation Limit , PAL 4.43361875 Mhz -1.3 Mhz Sideband = 3.13361875 Mhz Y/C Separation Limit , ED Beta does not use Metal Oxide Particles

[@Kylefassbinderful]

I'm super excited for the vol. 4 D-VHS episode.

[@adrienfourniercom]

Back in 2000, we all taped our Masters into SuperVHS tapes, at my Art college. But yet, Premiere and Final Cut can only render a maximum quality of DV 720X576. So... Yes, we used to spread shit on a wedding cake.

[@3Cr15w311]

Some TV stations used SVHS for news gathering.

[@DanknDerpyGamer]

Holy crap new Oddity Archive awesomeness? **squees with joy**

[@Roofae]

19:45 I did that trick myself when I worked in cable access.. a little work with a pocket knife, and ta-da, instead of paying $20 for a "proper" S-VHS, I "made" one out of a $5 cheapie VHS tape. Maybe not the best mov ein the long term, considering, but I was rather broke and still needed tape stokc on which to record in the field. That was my only reasonable option

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

I have some lower grade tapes that have the punch out clearly marked.

[@SFtheGreat]

Believe me, when I tell you this. Pre-recorded S-VHS will return to the market.

[@BELCAN57]

So could you say that demand for ED Beta was "soft"?

[@heggy_69]

Damnit I was just about to comment the exact same thing lmao

[@BELCAN57]

@@heggy_69 Great Minds......

[@ThriftyAV]

I had that same mis-informed "ET" discussion with one of my commenters who was dissing my ET unit.

[@shadowpresident4203]

The Mitsubishi HS-423UR just might be the company's best product since the A6M Zero long range fighter plane.

[@laserdiscphan]

I have a single S-VHS release from Super Source Video--The Terminator. As expected, looks better than VHS, but less than Laserdisc. I did always find it odd that even JVC and VHS's main rival, Sony made some really amazing S-VHS decks despite it being such niche product incorporating some of the designs and editing capabilities that they put into their previous high end Betmax decks like the SL-HF1000. I was using S-VHS for recording off of TV/Cable up until I got a DVD Recorder in the mid-00s. Made some really good recordings of UFC PPVs over the years!

[@DavidWood-rc6gj]

It should be noted, that you don’t need S-Video to see a resolution increase in S-VHS. Also, you don’t need S-VHS to notice a difference with S-Video. Even standard VHS recordings could benefit from keeping the chroma information separate, but it just happened that standard VHS decks usually didn’t have S-Video connections.

[@everygamersdream72]

Even though they actually could record a type of separated video right? "video under"?

[@DavidWood-rc6gj]

Well It's The Big O Yes, even with VHS VCRs that didn’t have S-Video inputs, the chroma was still separated internally. They could have benefited from having S-Video ports on them, but it probably just wasn’t worth the manufacturing cost, especially considering that most people who were fine with standard VHS VCRs would just connect them via RF anyway.

[@artistwithouttalent]

My grandparents bought an SVHS-ET deck in the late '90s, and TMK they still have it.

[@elijahmodnar1]

i had a stereo vhs mitsubishi deck that had SQPB in 94, It was a multisystem model as am in london.

[@spencergrady1656]

I own a HR-S8000!! Bought it thrifting for 30 bucks and also have your backup deck as well!! I’m obsessed, hopefully one of these days I come across some real svhs tapes, still haven’t found one.

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

Someone needs to compare SVHS and VHS movies side by side to see the difference in quality.

[@OddityArchive]

Here ya go. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKGQh2yrg7Gkd7M

[@BenKirb]

Some sentences you say in a nutshell: *IT* THEN *THEY* .

[@tomservo5007]

I think 'signal' would have been a better word than 'data' when referring to analog video information transmission (air/cable)

[@pokepress]

Honestly, a lot of folks might be more familiar with the connector than the tape format. Technically, the last major device to support it was the Wii U released in 2012.

[@alphabetaxenonzzzcat]

It's kind of a shame that it never really caught on to the mass market - but was a niche thing. What should of happened is the price of the machines and the tapes should of dropped after a few years, then it could of been the next step up from VHS.

[@geoffhunter7704]

I still have my Panasonic M10 HiFi VHS 1989,MS 5 SVHS and AG 455 Reporter Camcorders +2 edit decks they are still used today as i have access to a retired Panasonic service mechanic though service parts are becoming very rare and recently t was forced to buy via e bay a dead MS5 SVHS for spares for $41 to get the part reqd.I first came across SVHS in March 1988 buying a MS1 Camcorder in 1989 with mono sound only a disappointment though my local dealer did say that Panasonic were bringing out a hifi model soon i had to wait 3 yrs for this to happen.However i still use my SVHS gear though i went up to Canon DV then on to SD Card but its rewarding to use older technology these days.

[@shadowpresident4203]

I recently had to transfer a couple of training videos from S-VHS and Betamax to modern format. I suggested just ripping them to a hard drive, but was told that I needed to burn a copy to recordable DVD as well. Welcome to the (modern?) era... Good thing they had someone on staff who might (or might not) know a thing or two about video piracy.

[@peterp2626]

Good video. But it would've been nice if you showed a side by side comparison with regular VHS.

[@GODCONVOYPRIME]

I was wondering if you have anything planned for us, your faithful viewers, this halololoween?

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

About how the makers of technologies cripple themselves..... why were CRT manufacturers so hesitant to put digital tuners in them when digital television became standardized? I've even noticed this with some portable LCDs. To make matters worse most converer boxes were just limited by composite. No S-Video or component. Computer monitors by then were also mostly HD. Somebody should have mass produced digital tuners with VGA, RCA audio, and 3.5mm outputs.

[@JetScreamer_YT]

It's amazing how limiting our TV's were. Or, how crappy a picture we tolerated. I blame static. VHS was ugly, but better than antenna static. As a kid I watched a 5inch black and white Ota! As you can see, I love the Jetsons. I knew in the late 70s, that I would have a wall sized TV someday. I didn't expect the robot vacuum. That's a bonus.

[@mix3k818]

Will there be word about D-VHS? EDIT: nvm, nice to hear you'll make a part 4. :D

[@deathstrike]

Techmoan has an excellent video on DVHS so that one and Bennie boy's part 4 will be interesting to compare when he releases it.

[@TMS5100]

@22:02 Looking forward to the D-VHS episode 😍 😍 😍

[@stephanthienel]

my grandpa adopted S-VHS in the early 90s. All my childhood videos are on that format :)

[@AussieTVMusic]

By the time s-vhs became affordable the DVD recorders took off. I just sold my svhs vcr.

[@skk3940]

Indeed...my first stand alone dvd recorder was from Costco...a Liteon. It could record full NTSC 480 and play divx files. To this date...I have two standalone Liteon dvd recorders that still function. I use them to archive shows off the DVR.

[@manFromPeterborough]

@@skk3940 DVD recorders are shit for dubbing from DVR via RCA patch cord, it is double digitising aka 2nd gen, after my DVD recorder f**ked up I embraced the USB PVR tech, dubbing to ext HDD

[@daveinthailand]

I had a few svhs decks and the difference was like light and day on PAL machines couldn't go back to standard vhs after you had used SVHS

[@NickBartolo]

The SVHS connection was more important than the format.

[@NB1980]

So what was that little bit of music at the very end? I heard part of it once a long time ago and never again until now.

[@RaymondHng]

I still have a working JVC S-VHS deck.

[@pokepress]

Would it have been better for them to add a higher-speed mode like was done with some audio cassette decks? Obviously you’d have less recording time, but for budget production, I don’t think it would be a huge deal to just buy more tapes.

[@hobbesmeow]

pokepress Speed increase doesn’t increase quality on a hélicoïdal recording.

[@vicariousgamer2871]

HA! And me back when, my main issue was getting pissed off about the tracking. But hey, a construction worker isn't much of a video quality connoisseur. "Pause the film... who want's another beer." Benny, do you have a VCR for sale ?

[@Nomad-Rogers]

Separate video cables don't get the respect they deserve, I would have changed the audio to s-video cables for balanced audio (L/R) as well as adding HIFI balanced audio to my tvs if I was JVC.

[@randersonctr77]

I love this channel!!!!

[@CAHSR2020]

That sharp bell sound is really harsh on the ears.

[@alanadame1653]

This reminds me of the GM low tune music

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

Laser disc quality? Regular laser disc is limited by composite.

[@shadowpresident4203]

Back in the day, you could buy bulk packs of S-VHS tapes at Sam's Club or Meijer, and S-VHS VCR's were still sold up through at least the early to mid 2000's. I had a Macrovision decoder, that would bypass the copy protection on VHS tapes. Later on I had a DVD DeCSS decoder, and you could copy DVD's onto really high quality S-VHS which was only a small step down from DVD. Ultimately it was all pointless. There are more good movies to watch. There's no point in pirating stuff I've already rented and seen, because I'd rather just watch something else anyway. Even back then I found myself just renting another tape, and nowadays with streaming services there's really no point in piracy.

[@oscodains]

I think the box is there just to avoid having to sync audio and video...

[@OddityArchive]

Interesting theory, but wrong. As of episode 174, the mic runs to a Zoom H4N Pro, which runs from its headphone jack out to an 1/8" mic input on the camcorder. No resync necessary.

[@Patrick_AUBRY]

I own a donated ED Beta :-) ...and the demo tape shown at 13:56🤓

[@mustangrt8866]

S-VIDEO aka that plug nobody uses

[@xprcloud]

ET=EatsTape :-)

[@VSigma725]

SuperBeta had one indisputable advantage over SuperVHS: SuperBeta could be recorded onto normal L-750 Beta tapes, so you only needed the fancy VCR to get better videos.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

What do you mean?

[@VSigma725]

@@jeffkardosjr.3825 Super VHS could only be properly recorded onto Super VHS tapes, but SuperBeta could be recorded onto any Beta tape.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

@@VSigma725 There's the ET mode. Now my AG-456 doesn't have that mode. However a hole can be made in a regular VHS cassette to switch to S-VHS mode. I have a non S-VHS Maxell that has it marked out where it is to be punched or drilled out.

[@belstar1128]

Nice i always wondered what was up with svhs i saw it back in the day but i was really young.

[@KarstenPHT]

Hi. i have an episode request. Can you please talk about Phillipine EBS? Thanks.

[@DanZero77]

So I guess ED (Beta) was not for everybody....

[@barefootandindependent]

I feel like we should hang out!

[@shadowpresident4203]

I always wonder about the audience for these exotic, super high-end ludicrously priced Japanese electronics from back in the day. A $2000 VCR (over $4000 today adjusted for inflation) was a BIT less ridiculous in a day when even a cheap VCR was like $400, but still... Are these all just oil sheiks filming their cousin's wedding, or what?