DVD vs S-VHS vs VHS - Picture Quality Comparison
Dec 21 '00 (Updated Dec 22 '00)
I decided to compare the picture quality of DVD, VHS and Super VHS by performing a simple test:
Equipment: Sharp DV-600U DVD player, JVC HR3600U Super VHS VCR, S-Video connection, Panasonic 27G3 27” TV, composite video connection.
Test material: “Ronin” DVD with no Macromedia protection.
Media: SONY T-120VHG (High Grade), TDK T-120 Revue (Standard Grade), JVC T-120 S-VHS tape.
Method: I made short recordings of different sections of the movie in both VHS and S-VHS formats on the same tape and compared them to each other and to the DVD itself. SP speed (2 hours of recording on a T-120 tape).
Note: I used S-VHS-ET for SONY and TDK tapes (basically S-VHS format, but on standard VHS tape) and S-VHS on JVC tape (since it is a true S-VHS media).
Results:
The results could have been expected. As you probably know, DVD provides 480+ lines of resolution and is a digital format. S-VHS (super VHS) has 400 lines and is analog, VHS – 240 lines analog. But numbers themselves is no indication of the picture quality difference.
“Consumer Reports” magazine tested VHS and S-VHS VCRs three months ago and wrote that S-VHS recordings, although more detailed, have more “video noise” than top-rated VHS recordings. From this vague description one might get an opinion that the S-VHS is not worth the extra money and is overhyped by companies truing to sell S-VHS machines.
There is a big problem with “Consumer Reports” – sometimes I agree with their ratings, but sometimes one might wonder what they have been smoking. This is the case with S-VHS.
What I saw: the DVD provided the best quality, sharp, crisp with no noise and clearly defined edges. A+
S-VHS and S-VHS-ET is less clear, a little noisy (the amount of noise depends on the quality of the tape used), with “color bleeding”. B
VHS – blurry, much less detailed than S-VHS, but with a little less noise. The blurriness was most apparent in the episode where the camera shows Nice from the sea – unlike S-VHS (or DVD), you cannot clearly see the windows in the buildings (you just suspect that they are there by the change in brightness). It’s like if you wore glasses and took them off. D
BOTTOM LINE
Although both VHS and S-VHS cannot match DVD, among the two analog formats that allow you to record video, S-VHS is the clear (pun intended) winner. VHS will probably do if you have a small TV (20” or less), but for anything larger than 25” the difference is apparent. And since you can now get a S-VHS VCR for $160 (I got my JVC HR3600 for this price), you might consider getting an S-VHS machine.
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