VHS HiFi VCR for audio use......read on....

Cogsinister

Cogsinister

Super Member
I have been looking for a VHS HiFi VCR for over a year now in order to try using it as a means of recording 4 or 5 hours of radio programs......

Well over the weekend at my semi-local thrift one turned up..a Toshiba of around 1989 vintage....in a very dirty state, covered in dust and goop.....i thought for $3 it must be worth a try.....i expected it to be dead........

Well after some cleaning and a spinning of the head drum to free it.....oh and a replacement belt (had one in my belt stash that fitted) its running like a champ.....and i can get over 8 hours of audio on one tape !!!

And goodness me it sounds fine !!!!

No manual input level controls.....but its auto level seems to do a nice job...

No sign of buzzes just noiseless recordings......very dynamic.......i think i will give it a bit of a test over the next few weeks.......

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Oddly enough, the Sony Betamax was used for the same purpose when it came out. It was found that a good precentage of the units were purchase just for that purpose, recording audio. The over all quality was better than some of the other recording devices available and the tapes were by far much cheaper and easier to store.
 
I used to use a super vhs recorder to record my local college radio station (WRAS Atlanta), and got very good results. Then along came the minidisc format...

Glad you like your VCR.
 
From wikipedia .....

"Around 1985, JVC added Hi-Fi audio to VHS (in response to Betamax's introduction of Beta Hi-Fi.) Both VHS Hi-Fi and Betamax Hi-Fi delivered flat full-range frequency response (20 Hz to 20 kHz), excellent 70 dB signal-to-noise ratio (in consumer space, second only to the compact disc), dynamic range of 90 dB, and studio-grade channel separation (more than 70dB). "


"The sound quality of Hi-Fi VHS stereo is comparable to the quality of CD audio, particularly when recordings were made on high-end or professional VHS machines that have a manual audio recording level control. This high quality compared to other consumer audio recording formats such as compact cassette attracted the attention of amateur and hobbyist recording artists. "
 
I picked up a JVC hi fi for the same purpose. There is a college station that plays the blues for several hours on Saturday.
I think now is the best time to pounce on the hi fi VHS`s because even the best ones are being ignored at all sales.
Keep your eyes open still I bet you can upgrade that one soon enough.
 
zman said:
I picked up a JVC hi fi for the same purpose. There is a college station that plays the blues for several hours on Saturday.
I think now is the best time to pounce on the hi fi VHS`s because even the best ones are being ignored at all sales.
Keep your eyes open still I bet you can upgrade that one soon enough.
Click to expand...

I am using it to record the output from the local french language Radio Canada music station.....they have a great Jazz show on in the evenings for 3 hours then another world music show for another 3.....now i can record it all and listen to it the next day....fantastic.....

Well after a year of looking this is the only hifi vcr i have seen round here......i dont think the locals here bothered much about sound quality with there VHS tapes.....
 
That's a really cool VHS. My dad says that old vcr's are not worth picking up, since the rubber would dry out or something. If I found one like that i'd grab it. Looks really well made...i'm tired of the vhs/dvd combos breaking because they are all junk meant to last a year.

By the way, if you get the radio you want to record over the air, We use a product called the "radioshark", which records radio to the hard-drive, you can schedule it even. I record 5 hours of "blues before sunrise" every sunday morning. With a decently sized drive you can store many, many hours. I haven't tried pure audio with vhs, though:scratch2:.

by the way, there are a ton of "hi-fi vhs" systems out there, most put on that label as a marketing term, however, yours looks to be the real deal, toshiba made some nice, fairly heavy (as I recall) players.
 
33&athird said:
That's a really cool VHS. My dad says that old vcr's are not worth picking up, since the rubber would dry out or something. If I found one like that i'd grab it. Looks really well made...i'm tired of the vhs/dvd combos breaking because they are all junk meant to last a year.

By the way, if you get the radio you want to record over the air, We use a product called the "radioshark", which records radio to the hard-drive, you can schedule it even. I record 5 hours of "blues before sunrise" every sunday morning. With a decently sized drive you can store many, many hours. I haven't tried pure audio with vhs, though:scratch2:.

by the way, there are a ton of "hi-fi vhs" systems out there, most put on that label as a marketing term, however, yours looks to be the real deal, toshiba made some nice, fairly heavy (as I recall) players.
Click to expand...

Yes it is very well made.....before VCR's went BPC !!!

No computer recording for me thank you......i prefer my old VHS tape...

The Tosh is real HiFi standard recording under the video signal...not the old linear stereo that was recorded on the edge of the tape and sounded awful....

Most old VCR's i have found dont work for one reason or another....a belt replacement and a roughening up of the idler tire can get them back on the road with a little effort.....
 
one time

I picked up a Marantz HI-FI stereo VHS VCR way back when it was new for $1000. Used it as a tape deck a few times. The sound is excelent. The damn plactic push button controls sucked. Last time I used it was probably 20 years ago. I think it was "acting up" as far and the buttons go. Its been stored for decades.

It really, really soured me on new equipment and Marantz name. I started to think all the new stuff was BPC. I see now that some stuff was actually OK.

A good quality hi-fi stereo VHS would be worthwhile picking up dirt cheap and cleaning and maybe re-belting. Its my understanding that the audio portion is quite good. I see a lot of new VHS tapes in the thrift stores here. Cheap!

Not quite as cool looking as a nice reel-to-reel though.
 
Now is the right time to snatch up VHS Hi-fi VCR's which can be picked up very cheap. I would avoid the newer ones that are very lightweight. I like the ones from the late 80's the best. I'm happy I found a Panasonic VHS Hi-Fi a year back for $9.99 just after my Sharp VHS Hi-Fi just kicked the bucket.
 
Alaric said:
I have a JVC Hi-Fi VCR and I won't be letting it go anytime soon. :)
Click to expand...

I have a Lovely JVC of about the same age as the Toshiba.....Mono only tho.....we use that for general video use (we have 100's of tapes) its built like a tank......
 
Many of the older models do have audio only, level control, editing functions, and headphone jack. I used to record band demos with my Sharp (very heavy and deep).
 
I used to record with a guy on a 4 track..he would then mix it down to VCR to remaster it. Sounded better than the R2R we initially began recording on.
 
AnalogDigit said:
Now is the right time to snatch up VHS Hi-fi VCR's which can be picked up very cheap. I would avoid the newer ones that are very lightweight. I like the ones from the late 80's the best. I'm happy I found a Panasonic VHS Hi-Fi a year back for $9.99 just after my Sharp VHS Hi-Fi just kicked the bucket.
Click to expand...

99.9% of the VCR's in the thrifts and SA, and yard sales are all of the plastic featherweight junk variety.......

This was a very rare example......it was very very dirty......i cant believe i got it so clean looking !!!!
 
Cogsinister said:
Yes it is very well made.....before VCR's went BPC !!!

No computer recording for me thank you......i prefer my old VHS tape...
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, it was just a comment on what I do, rather than what I suggest you do:thmbsp:. I like vhs myself, still watch movie on it sometimes, may not look the best, but when movies are $1 at goodwill, i'll warm up the vhs player for movie night:yes:.

The Tosh is real HiFi standard recording under the video signal...not the old linear stereo that was recorded on the edge of the tape and sounded awful....

Most old VCR's i have found dont work for one reason or another....a belt replacement and a roughening up of the idler tire can get them back on the road with a little effort.....
Click to expand...

Huh, didn't know there was a different way vhs recorded audio. I will have to look into that, as I suspect our player is the edge-format. When I find a old one i'll have to grab it and try to get it working, if not, nothing lost as around the goodwills/etc have them for about $5 or less. can always use transformers, etc. Will definately look for a real hi-fi one though, and I may have to even attempt recording music and see how it comes out:yes:.
 
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