X-Phil_Harris
Imported Account
Nov 12, 2003, 11:27 AM
Post #5 of 6
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: I am trying to make the best copy of tapes I can using 2 jvc video cassette players.I am going out the back of the player and into the face of the recording player.I am not getting the crispest of recordings and a little color run.There is a mode for playback called edit it is supposedly used for dubbing,anyone know about this.And the tapes are tdk vivid.
Speed and tape quality are your biggest issues. VHS is an extremely "dirty" medium. And when you copy a VHS tape to another VHS tape directly from consumer deck to consumer deck you are going to lose a minimum of 10% and as much as 50% of the quality you had on the tape you are using as a master. What causes the difference in the loss? The speed of the machine that is doing your duplication RECORDING. For example, if you are copying a tape that was recorded at the SP mode (2 hr speed) onto another tape that is going to be recorded at the SP speed, you will generally lose 10% of your signal. If the machine you are recording the copy onto is running at the EP (6 hr. speed) you will lose approx. 50% of your signal.
The reason you lose so much quality is the tape is moving so slowly in the machine that it places scans made by the video heads practically on top of the previous scan made by those heads. Huh? Ok. Try it this way. Imagine trying to read this followup response if the space between the lines of type was non existant or worse still, overlapping somewhat. It would be very hard to read clearly. That's why pros never use slow speeds for anything! Most pro decks don't even offer the option of running at any speed other than SP.
Ok, What if the master tape you are copying was recorded at the EP mode? That means you're starting with 50% of the possible signal to begin with. Now, if you copy it onto a tape at the SP mode, you're still going to lose another 10% leaving you with 41% of possible signal on your copy. If you copy an EP tape onto another tape at the EP speed you'll lose 50% of the orginal 50%. That will leave you with on 25% possible signal. And frankly, anything below 95% of possible quality with VHS begins to have the color runs you're complaining about!
So how do pros copy a VHS tape? They use a Time Base Corrector (approx. $1500.00) and a processing amplifier ($1500.00) and a distribution amplifier approx ($500.00), and finally good decks (about $1,000.00-4,000.00 each) And if I get these pieces of equipment will the copy be as good as the original? Nope. You'll still lose between 1-3% of signal.
The better the quality of the tape you use, the more you'll be able to cut your losses.
If you're trying to copy a copywritten video and want a decent copy, it's not only more legal to just break down and buy another legal copy but it's also going to be a whole lot cheaper than setting up a good dup system just to bootleg a tape.
Good luck
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