In Reply to: RE: How often do you see someone admit to that in an audiphile forum? posted by JBen on March 16, 2012 at 08:18:29:
The VHS and Beta HiFi machines weren't actually digital, they used FM recording. Which as far as I know made them the only FM audio tape machines.
Sony did make the PCM-F1, a 16 bit, 44.1 kHz digital audio adaptor for 1/2" tape machines. I had one at home because I was designing a digital audio editor for it so I had an opportunity to compare it directly to VHS Hi-Fi. The F-1 was actually a very good sounding device, much better than the professional PCM-1610 (which recorded on 3/4" tape and was used for CD mastering) or the CD players of the time. In fact, when I tried A/Bing it with LP, I couldn't hear any difference.
VHS Hi Fi sounded just as good, but had that faint buzz pumping in the background on some music, e.g., solo violin. On the other hand, the digital signal went where the picture was, so you couldn't use it and record video at the same time. And F-1 was a separate box, and cost over $1000. So it was never really adopted by home recordings, but found a role in professional audio (which is why I was designing an editor for it).
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Follow Ups
- RE: How often do you see someone admit to that in an audiphile forum? - josh358 08:35:43 03/16/12 (2)
- RE: How often do you see someone admit to that in an audiphile forum? - JBen 09:02:12 03/16/12 (1)
- RE: How often do you see someone admit to that in an audiphile forum? - josh358 09:28:49 03/16/12 (0)