VCR Hi-Fi Stunning Sound Quality!!

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by Ken80s, Jul 6, 2025.

  1. Ken80s

    Ken80s Well-Known Member

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    Was never own one before but started collecting after getting my hands-on...out of curiosity. The analogue sound quality really blows my mind..much superior over cassette tapes. Just score another unit recently to my collections, spent hours of restoration. Now I have 4 units mostly Sony and I recommend one should try venture

    This unit Sharp model VC-H93 (titanium head drum) from the late 80's, front control panel board cracked due to rough handling by the courier service.
    InCollage_20250707_071019866.jpg
    Painstakingly reattach back the broken traces..worst case this is a 2 layer board.
    InCollage_20250706_224754458.jpg
    Screenshot_20250707_074859.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2025
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  2. Ken80s

    Ken80s Well-Known Member

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    Last edited: Jul 6, 2025
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  3. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    Now that's a labor of love, cool unit. Do the HiFi units record differently or can I play a HiFi recorded tape in a regular player.
     
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  4. Longman

    Longman Well-Known Member S2G Supporter

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    Nice

    Having just written about the first Panasonic HiFi VCR here
    https://www.stereo2go.com/forums/th...le-deals-catalogue-may-1985.10611/#post-86551
    I wasn't expecting to find a Back to the Future tie in

    Every HiFi VCR I have seen also records and can play back the old style linear tracks down the edge of the tape. However, with tape speeds lower than compact cassette those will never reach compact cassette quality. In contrast the HiFi audio is recorded in a similar way to the video and is close to CD quality as explained here.


    I actually got my first HiFi VCR in 1992 after when I saw an ex display one one for under £300. By that time I already had a good collection of Pre-Recorded VHS Music videos. I still occasionally buy them. Last month I got "The Best of OMD", released in 1988 in VHS HiFi. I would have preferred DVD, but it seems they never released one.

    Fun fact. There are videos from this olde time quintet which were only ever released on VHS

    Where did the last 29 years go ?
     
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  5. Ken80s

    Ken80s Well-Known Member

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    When playing a Hi-Fi tape on a mono VCR, you'll only hear audio from one channel, and the quality will be noticeably lower than the original Hi-Fi recording
     
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  6. Machaneus

    Machaneus Well-Known Member

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    Great work @Ken80s ! Several times I have come across broken pcb's , although dreadful to see, at the end had good results, certainly a painstaking job.
    I use cyanoacrylate glue to bond the broken parts , for me it works really well.
    Titanium coating to drum head , brilliant !
    The tv picture on your video looks also great.
    I had a deja vu , here's a post from the old s2g .
     
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  7. Longman

    Longman Well-Known Member S2G Supporter

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    Interesting to see that NICAM (a digital sound standard developed by the BBC) was used outside of Europe.
    Seeing that sent me down a NICAM rabbit hole. It seems it was first used for the links to the transmitters.
    https://www.bbceng.info/Technical Reviews/pcm-nicam/digits-fm.html
    Look at all the racks of equipment. In the early 1990s I worked on equipment packaged like that.
    By then a NICAM decoder would just be a couple of ICs small enough to put inside a TV or VCR.
    TDA8204B Datasheet(PDF) - STMicroelectronics
    My 1992 Akai had NICAM and the sound quality was far better than the normal mono TV broadcast sound.
     
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