problem recording audio only with a JVC BR-S800U

[jhess]

Hi,

Nice to (virtually) meet you- my name's Jon.

I"m a home recording musician that likes to record using analog technologies. I read that HiFi VHS was a higher quality recording medium than the audio cassette tapes I normally use, so I found an inexpensive JVC BRS-800U on eBay and am giving it a go.

I downloaded the manual but there aren't step-by-step instructions, just a key to functions. So far I'm just hooking things up blindly and pressing buttons :P

I can monitor the input of my source (rcas int hifi audio in) just fine (and the fidelity through the headphone jack sounds superb). I'm pressing the record and play button simultaneously.

But on playback I hear nothing. It's either not recording, or I'm not routed to monitor. Or both.

I've heard that some VHS recorders will not record audio without video input. This thing is like the NASA control center- Id be surprised if it needed video to record audio, if set up properly, but either way, I'm clueless.

Is anyone familiar with this machine, and if so, can you walk me through what I need to do to record audio-only?

Thanks!

[Brad]

There are two level meters on the front, switchable between HiFi and normal linear. What do they have to say about the presence of audio on your recording?

[jhess]

No movement, which suggests nothing was recorded, huh?

[Brad]

Indeed. Can you confirm that VCR works properly with a regular tape?

[jhess]

I tried a recorded tape when I first got it and heard nothing through the headphone jack, but I'll check again later when I'm where the machine is. Thanks for your time with this- I see by your avatar you've got one of them.

Jon

[smrpix]

VHS HiFi works by leveraging the faster head to tape speed of the spinning video heads. The audio is embedded in the video track, so yes you need a video source. Some decks may provide it internally, but yours apparently does not.

[jhess]

Thanks so much!

Yeah, I tried a normal, non-hifi tape and can hear the audio playing when the JVC is set on "normal".

I'll let you know how it works out when I find the proper cable to hook up my TV.

Again, thanks for your time.

-J.

[jhess]

Thanks smrpix and vaporeon800.

[jhess]

Alright. Just tried to record my audio with a video source (which tested fine in another VCR) connected to the unit's video input.

No dice, did not record the audio.

Any suggestions?

-Jon

[smrpix]

It's been a loooong time since I've used those decks, but as I recall there were a number of switches, front and back, for mic and line levels, monitor outputs, manual and automatic gain. If you've checked all of that and it's still not working I'm not sure what to tell you.

[jman98]

Well, you wouldn't be the first person to be cheated on Ebay or Craigslist by buying defective merchandise. Good luck on a return, especially if the seller marked it "as is" and you missed that in the ad. Note that there are limits of maybe 40 days for protests on Ebay sales, so the clock is ticking. If you paid, say, $15 plus shipping and thought you were taking advantage of the seller, maybe the seller was craftier than you think.

We're long enough past the VCR era that in my opinion ANY purchase of used VCRs carries a high element of risk.

Even if all works well and you get a fix for the problem or a refund on the purchase, I'm not sure your main premise, namely, that this is a better idea than using audio cassettes (ANOTHER dead format) is right. Even if you get this working, sooner (probably) or later (less likely) the VCR will stop working. What exactly are you going to do then? We're already at a time when existing higher quality VCRs have been rode hard and put up wet, so to speak, and the useful life is mostly used up in them. It's just going to get worse. A few years down the road you'll be hard pressed to buy any piece of crap VCR you can find with HiFi capability to try to save your precious tapes. Note that I said "try" - NO guarantees.

Dude - do yourself a favor and find a better technological solution to your problem. Can you not just record to a PC? Others do it. Tapes in general are awful long term storage media and you seem to me like you're living in the 80s. I've got a relative who is hardly an IT geek and 30 years ago he used to record to cassettes and even he has figured out a way to record to his PC for his homebrew recordings. It's LONG past time to give up the stones knives and bear skins (Star Trek reference).

[jhess]

Thanks smrpix! The function of the switches are straightforward (enough), so yep, I'm at a bit of a dead end with those. What I'm wondering is if there's a menu choice (of which there are jillions) that's affecting my attempts to record internally.

There's a way to default to the factory settings so I'll try that next if no one else familiar with the unit chimes in.

[jhess]

Hey smrpix,

I've ascertained that my machine will record regular video/audio when connected to the regular source inputs.

I understand higher speed equaling less noise and multiple heads (playback, recording and erasing) from audio tape recording. So- a fourth head (the "faster head") is the high fi head?

Just trying to deduce the point of failure.

Thanks again for your time- J.

[smrpix]

The HiFi head is actually the video head, the one spinning on the drum. HiFi audio is part of the picture information.

The "regular" audio recording and erase heads are stationary, like on an audio recorder.

Worst case scenario for you would be if there is something wrong with the circuitry between the audio inputs and the recording head. I don't have the knowledge to diagnose that, but it's looking like a possibility.

More complete explanation here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS#Audio_recording

[jhess]

Thanks smrpix!

[turk690]

The HiFi head is actually the video head, the one spinning on the drum. HiFi audio is part of the picture information.

This is true only with NTSC Betamax (hi-fi audio subcarriers are very fortunately situated in between chroma and luminance so the whole can be multiplexed as one signal and recorded by a pair of heads; so yes it can be construed hi-fi audio is part of the picture information).
But for PAL Betamax and VHS, hi-fi audio heads are discrete and separate from the video heads as they all spin around the drum.

[Megahurts]

Have you tried cleaning the heads?

There are 2 audio heads on the spinning drum. If one head is clogged the Hi Fi audio will be muted.

[jhess]

Megahurts, thanks for a technical suggestion that I can get my head around. smrpix, thanks for the link.

I really appreciate the responses, folks. I'm extremely non-linear in my thinking; it's been a good exercise to read the unit's manual- a bit like studying a language closely related to English.

Jon