Tape duplication question

[Ron Stoole]

I usually only produce video footage for various interactive multimedia productions that we do on CDROM.

Recently I have been asked to do video work which needs to go to tape, so I purchased an S-VHS tape deck and recorded my productions direct from my computer (using a Matrox 2500 card and Premier 6) to the deck to give to the client as a master.

I was disappointed with the output as there seemed to be quite a big picture loss going from digital to analog.

So my question is this... should I rather output back to Mini DV format onto a deck or my XL1s, and then get a professional company to produce the master? Would a professional dupe company have equipment which would do a better job then my S-VHS deck and be able to produce a master which is at least close to the digital output, or would it essentially be the same as using my S-VHS deck?

Is there equipment that I can purchase which would produce a better analog copy, then my $150 JVC deck that I bought from Circuit City that is reasonaly priced? If so, what?

Thanks for any advice folks,

Ron

[Ken Tanaka]

Ron,
Have you looked through this thread? It looks like much the same subject as your interests.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2365

[Ron Stoole]

Ken:

Yes, I read through that thread, but that seems to be all about mass duplication.

My question relates to giving my clients(s) a master tape which is a close to the digital version as possible in terms of quality.

How do you minimize loss of picture quality? Will more expensive equipment do better than my $150 S-VHS deck. Will I do better by going to a professional duplicating company?

What do you do?

Regards

Ron

[Ken Tanaka]

There are various gizmos available that claim to help you produce better VHS copies. For example:

http://www.elitevideo.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/online-store/scstore/p-80.html?L+scstore+zbfr2188+1060798355

I'm sure that some can be beneficial and some are snake-oil. But the bottom-line is as someone here recently remarked: VHS at it's best is crap.

Have you considered using DVD for distribution?

[Ed Smith]

DV has a minimum TV resolution of at least 500 lines and so converting down to S-VHS, which has only 400Lines of TV resolution, there will always be quality loss.

How many heads has your S-VHS deck got?

All the best,

Ed

[Chris Hurd]

With S-VHS decks, you get what you pay for. I bought a $400 JVC HR-S9800 with a time-base corrector and noise reduction, and have been very pleased with the results.

[Ron Stoole]

Mmmm..OK I think I get the picture.

I'm editing using a very high resolution SONY monitor (PVM-14M2U) producing 600 lines of resolution, so when I have to go down to 250 lines it looks crap (as Ken so eloquently put it).

I guess there is really no way of overcoming that technical truth - 250 lines is not as good as 600 - period.

Also, if one is going to mass distribute a tape for general consumption, you have to play to the lowest common denominator which is VHS. Not everyone has S-VHS recorders or TV'S.

Roll on HDTV!

Thanks everyone for your input...

Ron

[Rob Lohman]

Ron. S-VHS recorders tend to do better "normal plain" VHS
recording as well. So this might be interesting for you.