Using modified VHS for ADAT

bmlns

New member
Hi, looking for some advice on ADAT tapes here...

I'm thinking about modifying VHS tapes for use with an ADAT. I've read that if you drill a 3mm hole on a VHS it can be used as a S-VHS, the only drawback is lower video quality. I'm not concerned with video quality as I want to use it for sound recording with a synced pair of ADATs. Has anyone tried this? How does the sound quality hold up?

I'm assuming I'm better off using S-VHS but I have a lot of old VHS cassettes lying around, and if I can modify them to S-VHS and save a couple bucks without losing a large amount of quality/running into technical problems I would be a happy man.

Thanks.
 
Try it if you like, but you may be in for a sad surprise.

Keep in mind that an ADAT is recording digital data, while both VHS and SVHS were (I guess still are) analog recorders. The downside of problems with the fidelity of your media in analog recording is some loss of quality. The downside of such problems in digital recording is dropouts, pops, noise and quite possibly a complete refusal to play at all. Also, I think one of the differences between SVHS and VHS media (in addition to being optimized to record a higher-frequency signal) is VHS has lower coercivity, so even if you do manage to get a playable recording, it may not be so playable a few days later.
 
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