Post by mreightthreeone on Oct 22, 2017 20:49:05 GMT
So, I thought I'd throw in my two cents on the whole thing. I've done a lot of tape ripping over the years, and while I think this guide is pretty good in general, there are a few things I want to add and a few things I disagree with too.
First off, I think you have the stereo VCR part completely and utterly wrong. To begin with, most mono VCRs tend to be low-end models...in short, they suck. A lot. "Mono" usually equated to low-end models for people on a budget, which means they usually were of crappier build quality as a result. The average stereo (aka hi-fi) VCR still plays tapes miles better than the average mono VCR, even if the tape has no stereo track.
As for "stereo audio doesn't age well", this is also very rarely true. You are correct that stereo is more suspect to crackle and unwanted noise, but when it's good, it BLOWS linear audio quality out of the water (though admittedly a tape that was recorded in stereo will still play its mono track much better than a tape that was recorded in mono only, in my experience). It depends on the tape more often than not, but I've seldom had crappy luck with the hi-fi track (especially when it comes to commercial releases). I don't know if you have a terrible VCR or just have had bad luck with tapes, but almost 80% of the time the stereo track is generally error-free. There will always be crackle here and there, but at a tradeoff of much less white noise and crisper audio quality, it's pretty hard to pass up. If the hi-fi track is riddled with horrible non-stop crackle throughout, okay, THEN I'll agree it's better to switch the tape to linear audio, but that's nowhere near as common a case as you make it sound like.
The other thing I want to add is DO NOT CHEAP OUT ON THE VCR. A lousy mono 2-head VCR you find beaten up at Goodwill for one dollar is not going to do the job well. In fact, if you're searching for a VCR, make sure the VCR actually works first -- when you initially buy it, test a "worthless" tape on it first (preferrably a commercial release, a Disney tape for example -- easily replaceable). If you still feel paranoid about EP (6-hour speed) tapes, I know Viacom usually cheaped out on their commercial releases (the orange Nickelodeon tapes being a good example) and duplicated them in EP, so you can also try those out if you're ever unsure. JVC is definitely the best brand to go for given they made the VHS format in the first place, but generally Sony and Panasonic VCRs do the job well too. Some of the brands to avoid are General Electric and Phillips, though generally you can tell if a VCR is cheaply made just by looking at it.
There are also high-end S-VHS units that do time base correction and digital noise reduction that you wouldn't find in a regular electronics store like Best Buy; these are crazy expensive though and only worth it if you're *really* serious about tape preservation, but I actually have one of these myself (A JVC SR-V101US) and I absolutely love it. It helps reduce picture wobble and cleans up a lot of the grain that plagues the VHS format. The one thing I have to complain about with it though is that it sucks at mono audio (there's a very loud "buzz" that is very noticeable, which is completely absent on stereo; some noise removal in Audacity has helped mitigate it a bit though). Again though, I won't reccomend actually buying one of these unless you're going to be really serious about it.
For the copy protection, it can be hit and miss. On a DVD recorder, it is generally impossible to bypass. On a capture card though, it depends. On my Dazzle, it passes through just fine but the picture you get has its white balance completely thrown for a loop, leading to overbrightened visuals; from what I hear, black-and-white recordings are made unwatchable if they were copy protected due to this, but color recordings fare okayish. I've been looking around to see if there are any cards that play Macrovision-protected tapes with little issue, but I have had no such luck yet because people seem to not notice the white balance issue more often than not.
TV recordings, as I'm aware, are never copy-protected. From what I've been told, the Macrovision copy protection standard actually violated a dozen broadcasting standards (but was okay for commercial releases), so broadcasters were never allowed to put it on their signal. But like you said, sometimes a bad signal will get mistaken for copy protection by the player (which is just as well, Macrovision is literally just an intentional tape error), so that can be a nuisance.
I personally rip with VirtualDub since I like to have more freedom over what my format will be; also, I prefer x264vfw over MPG anyway, since x264 is close to the MP4 standard which is way more efficient with compression. This is a bit more advanced though and not something I will get into.
That's about all I have to say on the matter. Hopefully this helps anyone else who is looking to rip tapes.
First off, I think you have the stereo VCR part completely and utterly wrong. To begin with, most mono VCRs tend to be low-end models...in short, they suck. A lot. "Mono" usually equated to low-end models for people on a budget, which means they usually were of crappier build quality as a result. The average stereo (aka hi-fi) VCR still plays tapes miles better than the average mono VCR, even if the tape has no stereo track.
As for "stereo audio doesn't age well", this is also very rarely true. You are correct that stereo is more suspect to crackle and unwanted noise, but when it's good, it BLOWS linear audio quality out of the water (though admittedly a tape that was recorded in stereo will still play its mono track much better than a tape that was recorded in mono only, in my experience). It depends on the tape more often than not, but I've seldom had crappy luck with the hi-fi track (especially when it comes to commercial releases). I don't know if you have a terrible VCR or just have had bad luck with tapes, but almost 80% of the time the stereo track is generally error-free. There will always be crackle here and there, but at a tradeoff of much less white noise and crisper audio quality, it's pretty hard to pass up. If the hi-fi track is riddled with horrible non-stop crackle throughout, okay, THEN I'll agree it's better to switch the tape to linear audio, but that's nowhere near as common a case as you make it sound like.
The other thing I want to add is DO NOT CHEAP OUT ON THE VCR. A lousy mono 2-head VCR you find beaten up at Goodwill for one dollar is not going to do the job well. In fact, if you're searching for a VCR, make sure the VCR actually works first -- when you initially buy it, test a "worthless" tape on it first (preferrably a commercial release, a Disney tape for example -- easily replaceable). If you still feel paranoid about EP (6-hour speed) tapes, I know Viacom usually cheaped out on their commercial releases (the orange Nickelodeon tapes being a good example) and duplicated them in EP, so you can also try those out if you're ever unsure. JVC is definitely the best brand to go for given they made the VHS format in the first place, but generally Sony and Panasonic VCRs do the job well too. Some of the brands to avoid are General Electric and Phillips, though generally you can tell if a VCR is cheaply made just by looking at it.
There are also high-end S-VHS units that do time base correction and digital noise reduction that you wouldn't find in a regular electronics store like Best Buy; these are crazy expensive though and only worth it if you're *really* serious about tape preservation, but I actually have one of these myself (A JVC SR-V101US) and I absolutely love it. It helps reduce picture wobble and cleans up a lot of the grain that plagues the VHS format. The one thing I have to complain about with it though is that it sucks at mono audio (there's a very loud "buzz" that is very noticeable, which is completely absent on stereo; some noise removal in Audacity has helped mitigate it a bit though). Again though, I won't reccomend actually buying one of these unless you're going to be really serious about it.
For the copy protection, it can be hit and miss. On a DVD recorder, it is generally impossible to bypass. On a capture card though, it depends. On my Dazzle, it passes through just fine but the picture you get has its white balance completely thrown for a loop, leading to overbrightened visuals; from what I hear, black-and-white recordings are made unwatchable if they were copy protected due to this, but color recordings fare okayish. I've been looking around to see if there are any cards that play Macrovision-protected tapes with little issue, but I have had no such luck yet because people seem to not notice the white balance issue more often than not.
TV recordings, as I'm aware, are never copy-protected. From what I've been told, the Macrovision copy protection standard actually violated a dozen broadcasting standards (but was okay for commercial releases), so broadcasters were never allowed to put it on their signal. But like you said, sometimes a bad signal will get mistaken for copy protection by the player (which is just as well, Macrovision is literally just an intentional tape error), so that can be a nuisance.
I personally rip with VirtualDub since I like to have more freedom over what my format will be; also, I prefer x264vfw over MPG anyway, since x264 is close to the MP4 standard which is way more efficient with compression. This is a bit more advanced though and not something I will get into.
That's about all I have to say on the matter. Hopefully this helps anyone else who is looking to rip tapes.