Which way to go???

[Jo]

I am looking to make recordings of a Radio programme which will be
broadcasting five times weekly, 2 hours per programme.

I have considered using a VCR (Sony SLV-715 four head) connected to Hi-Fi
deck, as vcr tape is so cheap now and running a 240 tape on long play mode
will give me 8 hours record time.

Alternative is buying a decent used Reel to Reel machine such as Teac or
Revox, but how many hours will these tapes run to and is the audio quality
that much better than my idea of using my VCR. Looking on eBay i see these
machines going for anything from £200 upwards....and that would buy me a
hell of a lot of vcr tape!

Appreciate any helpful comments.

Thanx
Jo

[nmm]

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 6:40 PM, Jo > wrote:
>I am looking to make recordings of a Radio programme which will
>be
>broadcasting five times weekly, 2 hours per programme.
>
>I have considered using a VCR (Sony SLV-715 four head)
>connected to Hi-Fi
>deck, as vcr tape is so cheap now and running a 240 tape on long
>play mode
>will give me 8 hours record time.
>
>Alternative is buying a decent used Reel to Reel machine such as
>Teac or
>Revox, but how many hours will these tapes run to and is the
>audio quality
>that much better than my idea of using my VCR. Looking on eBay i
>see these
>machines going for anything from =A3200 upwards....and that would
>buy me a
>hell of a lot of vcr tape!
>
>Appreciate any helpful comments.
>
>Thanx
>Jo
>
>

VCR!!!

most radio and TV stations have switched to VHS HiFi machines to log
their programs now.

You also have the advantage of programming the start and stop times,
just like a VCR. If you want to make sure you never miss your
recording times, put the whole system on a UPS.

VHS tapes are cheap and plentiful.

[Jan Holm]

nmm wrote:
> most radio and TV stations have switched to VHS HiFi machines to log
> their programs now.

And switched again !!!!
http://www.looprecorder.de/task_archive_broadcasting.php

Jo - for what purpose are you making these recordings, logging, backup ?

Regards
Jan Holm

[William Sommerwerck]

A 7" reel of 1 mil tape (1800') at 1.875 ips gives (3h 12m of continuous
recording. On a quarter-track deck, you'd get 12h 48m of recording (enough for
six shows), but you'd have to flip the tape in the middle of two of the shows.
If you paid $12 for the tape, that would be $2 per show.

If you used a two-hour VHS tape running at 1/3 speed, and it cost $3, you'd get
three shows on one tape for $1 per show. You can often find high-quality tape
for less than $2 per cassette. Good tape is cheap enough. Don't buy off-brand
tape.

The VCR _must_ have a provision for recording external audio. And the VCR also
needs a video signal at the same time, or it won't record properly.

[Jo]

"Jan Holm" > wrote in message
...
>
> Jo - for what purpose are you making these recordings, logging, backup ?
>
> Regards
> Jan Holm


Pure nostalgia Jan.

A DJ who i often listened to as a teenager back in the 60's on Radio
Caroline (a Pirate Radio Ship), who now has a regular weekly programme on
BBC Radio. He has been 'off air' since August last year after being
diagnosed with Cancer, but is now returning to work next month.

Jo

[Brendan Thompson]

"Jo" > wrote in message news:NVwZb.123$8N6.79@newsfe1-win...
> I am looking to make recordings of a Radio programme which will be
> broadcasting five times weekly, 2 hours per programme.
>
> I have considered using a VCR (Sony SLV-715 four head) connected to Hi-Fi
> deck, as vcr tape is so cheap now and running a 240 tape on long play mode
> will give me 8 hours record time

Audio quality at long play is horrible. If you must use VHS, use single
play, but with a longer tape, say a 5 hour tape.

Seeing as you have a computer, why not consider recording to computer,
converting to a format to something like shn or ogg or something and then
burning to CD as data files - you'd get PLENTY of time on a CD that way, and
each cd can be labelled and stored - you may fit a whole week's worth onto
the CD if you do the maths right, then you can simply write the dates on the
cd case's spine. You can even download little programs that will record at
the right times etc if you set them up right...

[Jo]

"William Sommerwerck" > wrote in message
...
> A 7" reel of 1 mil tape (1800') at 1.875 ips gives (3h 12m of continuous
> recording. On a quarter-track deck, you'd get 12h 48m of recording (enough
for
> six shows), but you'd have to flip the tape in the middle of two of the
shows.
> If you paid $12 for the tape, that would be $2 per show.
>
> If you used a two-hour VHS tape running at 1/3 speed, and it cost $3,
you'd get
> three shows on one tape for $1 per show. You can often find high-quality
tape
> for less than $2 per cassette. Good tape is cheap enough. Don't buy
off-brand
> tape.
>
> The VCR _must_ have a provision for recording external audio. And the VCR
also
> needs a video signal at the same time, or it won't record properly.

Thanks to all of you who replied to my posting. You echoed my thoughts re.
VCR versus Reel to Reel. The vcr i have (i own two of them) was made by Sony
approx 10 years ago and cost £500 ($930) back in 1993/4....not cheap but
unlike modern day vcr's costing a fraction of that, this model is still
serviceable with all parts still available. Only repair i have had done has
been a new power supply in one, and capacitors replaced in the other.

Jo

[Mike Rivers]

In article <NVwZb.123$8N6.79@newsfe1-win> writes:

> I am looking to make recordings of a Radio programme which will be
> broadcasting five times weekly, 2 hours per programme.
>
> I have considered using a VCR

That will work fine. In addition to the long recording time per tape,
you have a handy built-in timer to start and stop your recordings.

If you want to do better, you could pick up a used DAT recorder. You
can record 2 hours on a single tape (longer than that is risky with
many decks), or if you are willing to settle for a lower sample rate
and less interchangeability among decks, you could go to the 32 kHz
lower speed that's offered on most Sony DAT decks, but I think I'd
prefer the HiFi VCR overall.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[Romeo Rondeau]

> Audio quality at long play is horrible. If you must use VHS, use single
> play, but with a longer tape, say a 5 hour tape.

Audio quality is fantastic if you record on a HiFi VCR with no AGC at any
speed. You are more prone to dropouts at the slower speed, but with good
tape and a clean VCR, it's not too much of an issue. I think you are
referring to the linear audio track, which IS horrible.

>
> Seeing as you have a computer, why not consider recording to computer,
> converting to a format to something like shn or ogg or something and then
> burning to CD as data files - you'd get PLENTY of time on a CD that way,
and
> each cd can be labelled and stored - you may fit a whole week's worth onto
> the CD if you do the maths right, then you can simply write the dates on
the
> cd case's spine. You can even download little programs that will record at
> the right times etc if you set them up right...

I would trust a VCR first, but that's just me, although the computer route
would be cheaper... providing that you can spare a PC for the task... and
it's close to your stereo :-)

[Jo]

"Romeo Rondeau" > wrote in message
...
> > Audio quality at long play is horrible. If you must use VHS, use single
> > play, but with a longer tape, say a 5 hour tape.
>
> Audio quality is fantastic if you record on a HiFi VCR with no AGC at any
> speed. You are more prone to dropouts at the slower speed, but with good
> tape and a clean VCR, it's not too much of an issue. I think you are
> referring to the linear audio track, which IS horrible.
>
> >
> > Seeing as you have a computer, why not consider recording to computer,
> > converting to a format to something like shn or ogg or something and
then
> > burning to CD as data files - you'd get PLENTY of time on a CD that way,
> and
> > each cd can be labelled and stored - you may fit a whole week's worth
onto
> > the CD if you do the maths right, then you can simply write the dates on
> the
> > cd case's spine. You can even download little programs that will record
at
> > the right times etc if you set them up right...
>
> I would trust a VCR first, but that's just me, although the computer route
> would be cheaper... providing that you can spare a PC for the task... and
> it's close to your stereo :-)
>
>

Thanx for the advice "Romeo" tho i must admit never having tried using my PC
before to do this. What type of programme/software would i need installed to
do it? I'm familiar with burning CD's...done plenty of that.....but never
recorded audio from radio to PC. Hard drive is plentiful (240GB) plus 512ram
with 2.6gHz Processor.

Jo

[James Perrett]

Jo wrote:
>
> "Jan Holm" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Jo - for what purpose are you making these recordings, logging, backup ?
> >
> > Regards
> > Jan Holm
>
> Pure nostalgia Jan.
>
> A DJ who i often listened to as a teenager back in the 60's on Radio
> Caroline (a Pirate Radio Ship), who now has a regular weekly programme on
> BBC Radio. He has been 'off air' since August last year after being
> diagnosed with Cancer, but is now returning to work next month.
>
> Jo

Are we talking about Johnny Walker by any chance?

Cheers.

James.

[Marc Wielage]

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 15:40:21 -0800, Jo wrote
(in message <NVwZb.123$8N6.79@newsfe1-win>):

> I am looking to make recordings of a Radio programme which will be
> broadcasting five times weekly, 2 hours per programme.
>--------------------------------snip----------------------------------<

I record several radio shows off-air every week to help me with long commutes
(or in the case next week, several plane flights).

After trying cassettes and other formats, the one that worked the best for me
was MiniDisc. The sound quality was more than a match for FM radio (at least
in the high-quality SP mode), and the convenience and cost was great. Unlike
VCR's or open reel, I can listen to the shows on MD while I jog, drive around
in my car (on an in-dash player), or while I'm in my office.

If it's a long show, you can either use the higher-compression "MDLP" modes
(up to 5 hours on a disc), or use multiple machines, which is what I do.
Sometime in April 2004, Sony will be updating the MD format as "Hi-MD," which
will allow up to 7 hours of very high-quality sound on one disc, or 40 hours
of compressed sound, which is very impressive.

--MFW