On Sun, 21 Mar 1999 13:22:12 -0800, "Shane Martin" wrote:

>What is the best method for making good quality VHS duplications.
>I have shot in s-vhs and transfered to Media 100 with s-vhs. Then I have
>transfered back to s-vhs for my master tape. The s-vhs master is all right
>but when I make a copy to vhs the copy is totally below standard.
>Then I tried the same thing with DV. Going from the DV s-vhs "out" to the
>Media 100 then back to the DV with s-vhs "in" to make the DV master. The DV
>master is noticably better then the s-vhs master.
>When I make the a copy to vhs from the DV master the vhs copy is still
>below the standard that I want to achive. I am getting a termendous amount
>of loss when I make the vhs copy.
>I even made a copy directly to vhs from the media 100 and I was surprized
>at the loss on the vhs tape.
>Am I missing something(other than betacam)??
>Is there a VCR or a dupliction device that helps to reduce the loss when
>video is transfered to vhs tapes.

We all hope for cheap DVD writers/media soon, but 'til then,
the copies of our pristine DV master-tape masterpieces go
out on (ugh...!!! ;-) VHS ('less th' client wants a mini-DV
copy...), with all that means... But there is a bit of hope:
"pre-equalization". With a decent video EQ between the good
master and the (ugh...) VHS, one can get somewhat improved
VHS copies (though they will still not look like Hollywood's
best VHS efforts, which can be quite pleasant...;-). My VHS
deck tends to increase color saturation - and "sharpness"
is a euphemism when "VHS" is in the same sentence...! ;-)
With the EQ, I make some reduction in color saturation,
sometimes some reduction in blue, an increase in contrast,
and an increase in sharpness - this helps when making the
VHS copy (the raw EQ'd image is not what I would want to
look at for very long, but the compensations made for the
VHS deficiencies get a better-looking image on the VHS
tape...). (I use a Videonics VE-1a...)