5 ms·

Even with a standard bias tape, with a halfway non shitty deck one could do a little bit better than that though. Linear VHS audio which this clearly is (on an

Even with a standard bias tape, with a halfway non shitty deck one could do a little bit better than that though. Linear VHS audio which this clearly is (on an aged tape) has especially bad SNR and response, much worse than a compact cassette. On the other hand, HiFi VHS audio for a time was basically practically the best at home recordable audio format (reel to reel was cool but quite a bit less common). I’m not sure what speed that tape is running at but I’m going to guess LP, + the effects of age +/- dirty tape heads — someone with too much time on their hands could analyze it and figure it out. It looks like the original ad was shot on 16mm film.

omginternets 4y ago
What’s NR and SNR?
- aaronbrethorst 4y ago
  noise reduction and signal to noise ratio, presumably.
- mh- 4y ago
  NR = Noise Reduction https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_reduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_reduction
- danachow 4y ago
  NR is noise reduction. It’s the thing that made Dolby a household name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system SNR is signal to noise ratio.
  - newsclues 4y ago
    Wasn't surround sound what made Dolby a household name to the later generation?
    - Wistar 4y ago
      Perhaps although I have always associated the name with noise reduction.
    - chasil 4y ago
      Dolby B Noise reduction was followed by Dolby C some years later. This was visible in the market first, and very prominent to later users of cassettes in HiFi systems. I still have a deck that implements Dolby B and C, as well as dbx NR. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dbx_(noise_reduction) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dbx_(noise_reduction)
      - listenallyall 4y ago
        I remember paying a lot of money for a tape deck with Dolby C (B was pretty ubiquitous) and being disappointed, like it flattened the music too much. Dolby C reminded me of the Apple ///, it was over-engineered and simply not better than the enormously popular product preceding it.
        dylan604 4y ago
        Lots of high hats were lost in the Dolby NR schemes, especially if you had it enabled on a recording that was not encoded Dolby at all.
    - danachow 4y ago
      By the time surround sound was brought about in the 80s, Dolby was already a pretty well recognized brand and the Double D symbol associated with noise reduction on audio cassettes. And it's doubtful whether Dolby would have been around to bring Surround sound to market if it weren't for their success with tape NR. Adults with disposable income introduced to Dolby Surround in the 80s for their home theater were still commonly using audio cassettes (no other recordable medium in the US really took off until CD-Rs - MiniDiscs had a small following, DAT even smaller and DCC failed completely (and probably just as well)) - so it's not even a later generation. However, it wasn't uncommon for a household to have multiple HiFi systems and maybe a Walkman or two - while Dolby Surround and home theater was comparatively less common.
dylan604 4y ago
I'm aware the sound wasn't from a cassette, but it's strikingly ironic to me. Very fitting. Coincidentally, I used to record a weekend radio show that was on for 6 hours straight on to VHS tape HiFi tracks for playback later without having to flip the cassette.
- danachow 4y ago
  Indeed, was not ragging on your comment. The opposite… now that cassettes are hipster Hi-Fi these days for some dumb reason. Compact cassettes were a fantastic design and set of engineering compromises for their time - a time that has long passed.
  - Maursault 4y ago
    > now that cassettes are hipster Hi-Fi these days for some dumb reason That's really ridiculous. But when tracking, I like to give artists the choice of various R2R tape formats, as the technology got really very good before it was abandoned[1], and with it comes one of what are really non-linear effects, tape compression or tape saturation, which happen to sound pretty good when properly executed. Some people really love The Beatles production quality and want even thinner, slower tape. But I know that's not what you were talking about. Analog tape cassettes iirc had 1/8" width of tape for 2 stereo tracks in opposite directions, basically a half-track stereo tape at 1+7/8ips, so effectively 4 slow mono tracks each 1/32" wide. The wider and faster the tape the better fidelity, so even metal cassettes were very poor quality, even compared to most consumer 1/4" R2R, and especially compared to 16-bit CD audio. [1] Actually, tape was never completely abandoned, as tape formats are still produced and available, and there are even boutique R2R manufacturers, and even the ridiculously expensive profusely audiophile selections are still somehow compelling.[1a][1b] [1a] https://thereeltoreelrambler.com/2020/05/16/introducing-the-brand-new-metaxas-t-rx-tape-deck/ https://thereeltoreelrambler.com/2020/05/16/introducing-the-... [1b] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc4UgRXD22o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc4UgRXD22o
  - KerrAvon 4y ago
    What’s really ludicrous is that you cannot currently buy a new cassette player with good sound quality. With vinyl, you can buy an excellent new turntable if you’re willing to throw money at it. You cannot do that with casettes. Utterly pointless.

omginternets 4y ago

What’s NR and SNR?

aaronbrethorst 4y ago
noise reduction and signal to noise ratio, presumably.
mh- 4y ago
NR = Noise Reduction https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_reduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_reduction
danachow 4y ago
NR is noise reduction. It’s the thing that made Dolby a household name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system SNR is signal to noise ratio.
- newsclues 4y ago
  Wasn't surround sound what made Dolby a household name to the later generation?
  - Wistar 4y ago
    Perhaps although I have always associated the name with noise reduction.
  - chasil 4y ago
    Dolby B Noise reduction was followed by Dolby C some years later. This was visible in the market first, and very prominent to later users of cassettes in HiFi systems. I still have a deck that implements Dolby B and C, as well as dbx NR. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dbx_(noise_reduction) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dbx_(noise_reduction)
    - listenallyall 4y ago
      I remember paying a lot of money for a tape deck with Dolby C (B was pretty ubiquitous) and being disappointed, like it flattened the music too much. Dolby C reminded me of the Apple ///, it was over-engineered and simply not better than the enormously popular product preceding it.
      - dylan604 4y ago
        Lots of high hats were lost in the Dolby NR schemes, especially if you had it enabled on a recording that was not encoded Dolby at all.
  - danachow 4y ago
    By the time surround sound was brought about in the 80s, Dolby was already a pretty well recognized brand and the Double D symbol associated with noise reduction on audio cassettes. And it's doubtful whether Dolby would have been around to bring Surround sound to market if it weren't for their success with tape NR. Adults with disposable income introduced to Dolby Surround in the 80s for their home theater were still commonly using audio cassettes (no other recordable medium in the US really took off until CD-Rs - MiniDiscs had a small following, DAT even smaller and DCC failed completely (and probably just as well)) - so it's not even a later generation. However, it wasn't uncommon for a household to have multiple HiFi systems and maybe a Walkman or two - while Dolby Surround and home theater was comparatively less common.

dylan604 4y ago

I'm aware the sound wasn't from a cassette, but it's strikingly ironic to me. Very fitting. Coincidentally, I used to record a weekend radio show that was on for 6 hours straight on to VHS tape HiFi tracks for playback later without having to flip the cassette.

danachow 4y ago
Indeed, was not ragging on your comment. The opposite… now that cassettes are hipster Hi-Fi these days for some dumb reason. Compact cassettes were a fantastic design and set of engineering compromises for their time - a time that has long passed.
- Maursault 4y ago
  > now that cassettes are hipster Hi-Fi these days for some dumb reason That's really ridiculous. But when tracking, I like to give artists the choice of various R2R tape formats, as the technology got really very good before it was abandoned[1], and with it comes one of what are really non-linear effects, tape compression or tape saturation, which happen to sound pretty good when properly executed. Some people really love The Beatles production quality and want even thinner, slower tape. But I know that's not what you were talking about. Analog tape cassettes iirc had 1/8" width of tape for 2 stereo tracks in opposite directions, basically a half-track stereo tape at 1+7/8ips, so effectively 4 slow mono tracks each 1/32" wide. The wider and faster the tape the better fidelity, so even metal cassettes were very poor quality, even compared to most consumer 1/4" R2R, and especially compared to 16-bit CD audio. [1] Actually, tape was never completely abandoned, as tape formats are still produced and available, and there are even boutique R2R manufacturers, and even the ridiculously expensive profusely audiophile selections are still somehow compelling.[1a][1b] [1a] https://thereeltoreelrambler.com/2020/05/16/introducing-the-brand-new-metaxas-t-rx-tape-deck/ https://thereeltoreelrambler.com/2020/05/16/introducing-the-... [1b] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc4UgRXD22o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc4UgRXD22o
- KerrAvon 4y ago
  What’s really ludicrous is that you cannot currently buy a new cassette player with good sound quality. With vinyl, you can buy an excellent new turntable if you’re willing to throw money at it. You cannot do that with casettes. Utterly pointless.