# What's the fastest way to record onto a VHS, in commercial quality? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2023, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-way-to-record-onto-a-vhs-in-commercial-quality/980577 "2023-03-02T03:59:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-way-to-record-onto-a-vhs-in-commercial-quality/980577/1 "2023-03-02T03:59:30Z")
Okay, odd technical setup question: say I needed to dub commercial-quality recordings onto VHS, on a regular basis (say, a few dozen a week, all of different subjects, not giant production runs of one movie), from a digital source. Is there any faster way to do it than a real time duplication, _without_ having to use a full, commercial-scale [high-speed duplication machine like a Sony Sprinter](https://www.broadcaststore.com/store/prod_detail.cfm?eq_id=424369)? I’m guessing “no”—as this would be at best a strange, niche need for an eyebrow-raisingly obsolete format. But I thought I should ask to be certain. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-way-to-record-onto-a-vhs-in-commercial-quality/980577/2 "2023-03-02T05:21:45Z")
Well, if you duplicated the digital source and had your hands on a dozen VHS recorders, you could do them in parallel in real time instead of sequentially. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-way-to-record-onto-a-vhs-in-commercial-quality/980577/3 "2023-03-02T10:42:20Z")
Which, I think, is the method used by pirates back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![jdc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@jdc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jdc)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-way-to-record-onto-a-vhs-in-commercial-quality/980577/6 "2023-03-02T22:22:34Z")
Much easier to purchase a DVD duplicator, say 1:4 or 1:6 and make DVD’s. They do high speed duplication so you can make quite a few duplicates quickly and they are pretty cheap. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-way-to-record-onto-a-vhs-in-commercial-quality/980577/7 "2023-03-03T02:12:22Z")
There used to be commercial VHS machines which could record faster than real time, IIRC. Not sure what they used to cost, I guess the question is - what’s your time worth? If I had to do this, absent commercial fast recording equipment, I’d line up a row of VHS decks that respond to the same remote, and start recording the pack of them at once from the same feed. Worst case, you have a static introduction slide screen that gets recorded at first - and once you’ve started recording on all the decks individually, you start up the video feed. A few extra seconds on some tapes would not be a big deal. Just make sure there’s some black screen for a while at the end of the video giving you time to stop recording, so you don’t end up recording your Windows desktop at the end. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-way-to-record-onto-a-vhs-in-commercial-quality/980577/8 "2023-03-03T14:44:08Z")
Is this anyone **STILL** manufacturing VHS tape decks/VCRs? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-way-to-record-onto-a-vhs-in-commercial-quality/980577/9 "2023-03-03T15:09:51Z")
Nobody is manufacturing VCR’s anymore. The last company making them was Funai Electric in Japan and they ceased production in 2016. > **[R.I.P.: The world's last VCR will be manufactured this month](https://money.cnn.com/2016/07/22/technology/vcr-funai-last/)** > > Japan's Funai Electric, which claims to be the world's last VCR manufacturer, says it will cease production of the video-cassette recorders this month. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-way-to-record-onto-a-vhs-in-commercial-quality/980577/10 "2023-03-03T16:52:48Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Well, if you duplicated the digital source and had your hands on a dozen VHS recorders, you could do them in parallel in real time instead of sequentially. This. Old VHS recorders must be a dime a dozen. The biggest challenge would be converting the signal to the best video format (S-Video?) and splitting the analog signal to multiple VCRs. Did any later VCRs come with HDMI inputs? ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-way-to-record-onto-a-vhs-in-commercial-quality/980577/11 "2023-03-03T16:59:35Z")
Distribution amp to split the signal with no loss. Yes, S-Video is best. No HDMI input VCR.