Has anyone noticed a difference in quality between “Standard Grade” (about $1 apiece) and “High Grade” (about $1.67 apiece) VHS tapes? Is there actually a difference in the quality of the magnetic tape contained within the cassette? Is there actually a difference in the amount of interference, background noise, or static between different grades of tape? To me, this sounds like a scam of Sony, TDK, Maxell, etc. This makes a big difference costwise if one plans on taping, say, the entire series of the X-files.
In my experience there is a distinct difference with the higher grade tapes having better color and sharpness. I generally get TDK tape because Costco carries it and stick with highest grade tape for movies and time shifting. Do a test yourself and compare back to back. I don’t expect an engineer to take my word for it. See if any difference is worth the price differenc to you.
FWIW if you are intetested in getting the best tapes look into a JVC S-VHS recorder. They make the only one that will record S-VHS with standard tape. Of course if you record in S-VHS mode you can only play back on an S-VHS deck but even the standard recordings I’ve made on mine are better than I’ve gotten from previous decks. Part of that may be an S-video rather than single coax video connection to the cable box.
I used to work in the video industry, and I know a little bit about this. The answer is… it’s sort of a con, but open to interpretation.
The manufacturers produce the tape in very wide sheets which are sliced into narrow strips, three-quarters of an inch or half an inch wide, to make the blank video cassettes we all use. Generally, for any given brand, the ‘regular’ and ‘high quality’ tapes come from exactly the same sheet. This makes it sound like a con - it’s just good marketing to sell two ‘grades’ of tape because some customers want cheap buyt functional and others ‘aspire’ to better quality and want to think they are paying extra dollars to get extra performance.
But hang on… if you quiz the mfrs about this, they will (reluctantly) admit it’s all from the same sheet of tape… but they will say the ‘high grade’ stuff always comes from near the centre of the sheet of tape, while the ‘regular’ stuff comes from nearer the sides. It is suggested that for various reasons to do with the way the oxide coating is applied to the vinyl, tapes cut from the centre are going to give moderately improved performance in the long term. This suggests it’s not such a con after all.
But hang on… if you then quiz the mfrs further and ask what, precisely, makes the tapes better if they come from nearer the centre, and what technical proof they have that such tapes are going to deliver either better picture quality or better long-term performance… they haven’t got any good science to back up the claim. This suggests hey, maybe it is just god marketing after all, and not really based on any provable superiority.
I only know all this because a producer I used to work with got fed up with the high costs being charged for ‘premium quality’ video tapes, and tackled Sony on this question of different grades of tape. The above facts only emerged slowly over the period of about 6 months of correspondence and calls. Having gone through this process, this produced thereafter insisted that crews he hired should use ‘regular’ priced tape, which saved him quite a lot of money.
Please note the subtle point above that this argument pertains to two grades of tape from the same manufacturer. If you are comparing two different brands, one of which is cheaper than the other, there may well be differences that matter. However, these are unlikely to have anything much to do with the actual brown shiny tape, which is pretty much the same stuff. The differences are much more to do with how well the actual cassette itself is made… the plastic, the quality of the moulding, the metal bits, the internal gear thingy… some cassettes are cheap and tend to fall apart while others are quite rugged and tend to last.
And I think that’s probably a far more comprehensive answer than you thought you’d need, or would be necessary. It’s amazing how much it’s possible to know about things nobody ever asks about (except here on the SDMB).
Trivia gem: originally, VHS stood for ‘vertical helical scanning’.
Yeah. And NTSC stands for, "Never Twice The Same Color "
Cartooniverse
Thanks, ianzin, that helped out a lot. After your post, I will definitely be using standard grade VHS tapes. Since I am planning to tape the whole X-Files series, you probably just prevented me from foolishly spending at least $50 more on expensive tapes.
In case there are X-Files fans out there, TNT is showing final episodes of the X-Files right now. Then, starting September 29, they will start over again with number 1 and show them in order (8 episodes per week). There are about 200 total episodes in the total 9 seasons. Each season on DVD costs over $100 at Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. There is no way I am paying that much.
Err,Engineer Dude , how long are you planning to keep this X File archive? If you have plans to keep them for posterity I’ll give you 5 years before VHS players start to be phased out and you need to look at digitising your VHS tapes which don’t really cut it as an image source. The extra money spent now on DVD may well be justified in the long run… just a thought.
I agree with swagman. magnetic tape can be affected by a lot of things. Heat, humidity, even rewinding after playing will cause some data to be corrupted. Keeping them close to a tv or stereo is another. I bailed on vhs 4 years ago, I remembered 8 track tapes and how much I lost.
Some “high grade” video tapes rely upon chrome oxide instead of the usual “mud” (ferrous oxide) coating on the mylar ribbon. The enhanced coercivity and memory of chrome oxide can provide greater longevity and quality of signal.