How exactly do VCRs work?

[Marvolo]

How exactly do VCRs work??


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRNv4uM6auI

[Bwaak]

This is a nice video. I am a bit irked by him calling a VHS cassette just "a VHS", and by using "cassette tape" instead of "tape cassette", and by implying that VCR is what plays a VHS (and only VHS). He named the scanning method - helical, but does not explain where the name comes from, and what are other methods of recording to tape (hint: transversal). He does not explain why the tracks should be long. He mentions the control track, but does not describe how synchronization works in detail. He mentioned multiple heads, but described only the pair used for Hi-Fi audio, what other heads are used for? How a camcorder is different, having a smaller drum? He does not describe how the signal is formed, what types of analog video recording there are/were, what other systems use similar approach to VHS, how these systems including VHS evolved over time. So, mostly mechanical stuff. But, as a 3D model, this is an awesome video, no doubt.

For video heads explanation, there is this one, incorrectly deinterlaced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXFB7lX35KQ

I highly recommend these channels:

https://www.youtube.com/@misu4602
https://www.youtube.com/@video99couk
https://www.youtube.com/@12voltvids

[lordsmurf]

I still remember people (and kids) saying that they had "a bunch of VCRs at home", referring to the tapes.

When that video was new, forum members commented on it over at digitalFAQ.com
Overall fine, but details were a mess.

There is this really neat 80s video that explained VHS in depth. I have it myself somewhere, saved to local drive. And then I know it's on Youtube. Like always, the good stuff tends to get buried, and the crap is found in the search algorithm.