passing VHS/SVHS tapes around

I've been asked to post this by a couple of collegues who need new VCRs and are considering tipping thier toes into the S-VHS arena, but they have a few questions first.

A lot of S-VHS machines advertise a feature called ET, stating it can give upto 60% better recording resolution. Is this accurate or just marketing hype.

Can they use standard VHS tapes (HQ or not) in thier S-VHS machines. Do they have to drill a hole in the tape.whats the quality difference between cheap VHS, HQ VHS, and "proper" S-VHS in a S-VHS machine?

If they drill a hol in the VHS tapes, can they still use them for recording in VHS machines.


Can these recordings be seen on standard VHS machines, i.e. can they lend the tapes to thier firends.

VHS machines that can play S_VHS recordings, can they only do this on VHS tapes or can they read S-VHS tapes (i.e do they look for this extra hole that seems to be required)

Thanks

Dont have an ET machine myself but as far as I know, its a way of recording SVHS onto normal VHS tapes. This is where the 60% better picture comes from as the luminance signal is recorded at a much higher bandwidth than with normal VHS.

As for playback on normal VHS machines - well one of my old VCRs had a SQPB mode where it would playback SVHS recordings in normal VHS quality.

Dont know how widespread this feature is.

I use three DVHS decks and a reasonable spec SVHS for my recordings, so I'm a little out of touch with standard VHS, but when asked about new VCRs I now recommend the SVHS-ET machines because for such a low price, they do give an easy way to experience SVHS, and although ET doesnt appear to be as good as a pure SVHS recording (due to the tape stock) its supposed to look a lot better than normal VHS.

[Paul G]

I know of a professonal vcr repair man who altered his S-VHS vcr so that it would record on standard vhs tapes (in S-VHS mode).
Nice to know that the experts can be just as tricky as the rest of us.

[Berisford]

Up until my Panasonic s-vhs-c camcorder expired i always bought standard vhs-c tapes and drilled a small hole in the base to make the panny think it had a 's' tape.

I could never detect any less quality in these tapes versus the more expensive 's' tape!

[mart.stokes]

S-VHS tapes are just very high quality VHS tapes with a little hole in. You can record VHS on to an S-VHS tape in either a VHS machine OR an S-VHS machine (there is normally a menu option on an S-VHS machine). Normal VHS tapes can be used to record VHS in an S-VHS machine. You can use a VHS tape in an S-VHS machine with a little hole drilled in it to record in S-VHS BUT the quality will not be as good as using a true S-VHS tape because VHS tapes are of a lower quality (the charge you more money for an S-VHS tape and it is not just for drilling the hole). Some people use S-VHS tapes in their VHS machines to record VHS just because the quality is so much better than standard VHS tapes.

Is S-VHS ET just the deck ignoring the lack of the hole on the VHS tape? In other words is S-VHS ET the same as drilling the little hole in a VHS tape to make the deck think it is an S-VHS tape? I suspect not, I suspect S-VHS ET compensates better because it knows it is recording on a lower quality tape (but I have no evidence).

Clear? No? Sorry!

We've managed to find a site who has compared various tapes (VHS and S-VHS) using an 'scope. Makes for very good reading...

http://www.cam.net.uk/home/hembrow/svhs/