GoVideo GV8050 manual VHS Format, Linear Audio Track, Video Track

8mm and VHS Formats

VHS Tape

Audio Track

Video Tracks

Control Track

VHS Format

VHS videotape is 1/2" magnetic tape that carries three ‘tracks’: a linear audio (sound) track, a video (picture) track, and a control track. The video track also contains the Hi-Fi audio.

Linear Audio Track

You can think of the linear audio track as a sort of audio cassette tape that is attached to the videotape and carries the sound. Because the linear audio track is actually a separate track, you can erase and record over this track only, leaving the video portion of the tape intact. This is what we call Audio Dub; see the Adding New Audio section of this manual to learn how to do this.

Video Track

The video track is actually a series of frames, similar to the series of frames that you see on movie film. Videotape can be recorded at one of three speeds: SP, LP, and SLP. Set the record speed in the VHS Menu. Your Dual-Deck VCR will automatically play a tape at the speed at which it was recorded.

SP, or Standard Play, is the fastest speed. A T-120 tape records for two hours in SP. In SP, the individual video frames are spaced further apart on the videotape than at the slower speeds. This gives you a better quality picture, and we recommend using this speed to record or copy material where picture quality is of top importance to you.

LP, or Long Play, is twice as slow as SP. A T-120 tape records for four hours in LP. SLP (Super-Long Play) records three times longer than SP, a T-120 tape will record six hours of material. In LP and SLP, the individual video frames are recorded closer together. If your material was recorded on a 4-head VCR, the picture quality will be good, but you will lose some clarity compared to SP. Linear audio quality also deteriorates somewhat at LP and SLP speeds.

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