A Hi-Fi Unicorn - The first Integrated Digital Audio Tape Recorder (Patreon)

Recording PCM Digital Audio Tapes before the CD : Technics SV-P100

Before the CD came out, you could record your own digital audio - on tape. Have a look at a HiFi unicorn, the Technics SV-P100 - the first integrated digital audio tape recorder. In this video you'll get a demo and hear about the history of PCM recording onto tape. This all took place years before the introduction of DAT - (Digital Audio Tape). If your'e interested, here's my video all about DAT that: https://youtu.be/F4K1QKKPX_g 00:00 Intro 02:34 A tour of the machine 04:38 Cutting-edge for 1980 08:14 Getting around the tape 15:53 A potted history of PCM 20:30 A quick look inside 22:04 Digital in and out? 26:43 What about VHS HiFi 28:38 Wrap up 31:17 14-bit play-out All music is from the Youtube Audio Library. https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music?nv=1 I Have a Reservation - Tracktribe So Smooth - Danny Kean/Doug Maxwell The Jam - Slynk & Mr Stabalina Over Time - Vibe Tracks Special thanks to the following invaluable online resources. http://www.wishbookweb.com https://worldradiohistory.com https://www.hifiengine.com https://www.hifi-archiv.info http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com https://www.discogs.com FAQs Q) What would happen if you tried to play a normal video on the SVP-100? A) It’s mentioned in the video at 26mins 21secs - but you can see for yourself at 24mins 20secs just after I turn the machine on. You can see here what the output from the SV-P100 looks like with no tape playing. B&W stripes. That's the only video output the machine will produce. It’s either this screen with digital data or this screen without. Also the sound would be silent, because there no analog audio capabilities on the SV-P100. Q) Could you dub the digital output signal to a normal VHS machine? A) It might be possible but also consider how Technics only recommended one specific Pansonic U-Matic machine as a suitable dubbing device even though at this point Panasonic also made a whole range of VHS video recorders. This is likely because a normal VHS recorder couldn’t record a sharp enough signal. I believe that U-Matic by this point had around 330 lines of resolution as opposed to approx 250 on VHS. The composite video output circuitry in the SV-P100 was specially configured for the digital video signal transmission. It’s highly likely that it will output slightly more resolution than a normal VHS machine would be capable of capturing. The SV-P100 can however capture that resolution on its built-in VHS tape recorder because the video recording circuit isn’t standard, it’s monochrome for a start and no doubt it’s able to record a slightly higher black and white video resolution than a normal VHS video recorder could. Perhaps a decent 1990s VHS machine might stand a better chance than a 1981 VHS recorder, but even if it worked perfectly - it’s all academic as the only recordings I have on PCM VHS are just copied off an MP3 player. It would be easier to copy those MP3 files instead. If I had some rare original PCM VHS tapes I wanted to back-up, it would be better to try and capture these with a video capture card to get an off-tape backup. Alas though I don’t have any PCM tapes other than the ones I made myself. ---------------SUBSCRIBE------------------ http://www.youtube.com/user/Techmoan?sub_confirmation=1 -------------Merchandise----------------- https://teespring.com/stores/techmoan-merch -------------SUPPORT--------------- This channel can be supported through Patreon https://www.patreon.com/techmoan *******Patrons usually have early access to videos******* ----------Outro Music----------- Over Time - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/VSSswVZSgJw ------Outro Sound Effect------ ThatSFXGuy - https://youtu.be/5M3-ZV5-QDM