Alice Averlong🏳️⚧️bad idea for an experiment:
take a betamax tape, and a vhs tape. open both casettes, remove the actual tape, and put the beta tape into the VHS cassette.
First of all, it won't play. obviously.
but then see if we can record to it and play it back.
where's a VHS rewinder when you need one?
why VHS beat Beta in one, oversimplified example:
The reel on the right is beta. the reel on the left is VHS. A bigger reel meets it holds more tape. More tape means it can record for more minutes.
Beta tape is now wound onto the the VHS reel.
Now I need to unwind the other reel of the VHS tape and splice it back together
Now I need to unwind the other reel of the VHS tape and splice it back together
how do you unspool half a kilometer of tape?
a power drill, obviously!
okay, tape is back together. Now I'm going to manually rewind it, because I don't want to risk my VCR slamming into the end of the tape at high speed.
I should 3D print a VHS-reel-to-drill adapter
and it gave a signal! it's gibberish, of course, but I'm amazed. I thought the VCR would just stop or show nothing.
So this is what happens if you play a Beta tape on a VHS VCR: gibberish lines.
I am currently recording a video onto the Beta-VHS tape. You can probably guess what video.
Here's a GIF of what it looks like in action
And here we go! So the answer is: YES.
You can absolutely record VHS signals onto Beta tape.
(The pause at the beginning is just me not starting the blu-ray player at the same time as I hit record on my VCR)
There's no audio, but I'm not sure if that's a problem with my setup or a technical issue with the tape. I'll have to play around with it
okay yep: I hadn't connected one of the cables to my PVM correctly.
The audio is fine on the VHS-recorded segment. There's no audio on the beta-recorded segment.
also I've ejected the tape three times now with no snags. It definitely isn't exploding my VCR that I can detect.
I wound it the wrong way, it hit the end of the tape, and snapped.
I probably should have used a higher infill, but fundamentally this is a kinda bad idea.
I redesigned it: Instead of having a bit, I just put a hole in it, and then jammed a double-ended hex bit into it.
Now I can use it on my variable-torch screwdriver, and it works just fine!
Now I can use it on my variable-torch screwdriver, and it works just fine!
@gewt suggested I repeat the experiment with some u-matic tapes, but unfortunately they're a different width: 3/4 inch (1.9cm) instead of 1/2 inch (1.3cm) like VHS and Beta.
prokyonid
vxo@prokyonid @foone @gewt and allow you to bring the absolute magic of Ampex sticky shed tape stock to the VHS format! YAY!
(Ampex and Sony branded tapes used that same absolutely cursed media. I have thousands of those at work with file footage on them and they have to be baked before playing, sometimes multiple times.)
Rue Mohr@foone no safety tho, it could break the tape
@RueNahcMohr the screwdriver will stall if it exceeds the torque limit, so it shouldn't be too risky for the tape
Kit Bashir@foone stealing that idea for my smd component tape winder. I handily have a shitload of hex brass and aluminium rod I bought for stock; yay past me.
Chuck@foone But you have to set the torch very low though right?
@ChuckMcManis yeah. I set it as low as I could and still have it turn the reels
Dreaming of dad jazz.@foone I was honestly expecting this turn of events. Stem breaks --> some sort of hex adapter
niarbeht@foone this thread is great