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From: rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: Using HiFi VCR's (not VHS!)
Message-ID: <930@opus.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Nov-84 02:39:29 EST
Article-I.D.: opus.930
Posted: Mon Nov  5 02:39:29 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 8-Nov-84 07:35:14 EST
References: <-1460382@sysvis.UUCP>
Organization: NBI,Inc, Boulder CO
Lines: 22

> ...  Keeping the price of the "top of the line" cassette decks in mind,
> 
> 	"Why would anyone buy an audio cassette deck for any reason? "
> 
> For "pure audio sound quality", a Beta-HiFi VCR will outperform these decks
> (*AND* the treasured vinyls on turntables) by several orders of magnitude...

[I don't know if I'll grant "several orders of magnitude", but let's set
that aside for the moment...]

The answer is simple:  the media.  A video cassette is about three times
the size and cost of an audio cassette.  Forget about portable players (the
Sony "Walkman" style) and forget about car players.  Do you really want two
copies of everything you like to listen to?

Of course it's easier to get good audio out of a VCR with a well-designed
audio subsystem (which has finally happened!) - there's a whole bunch more
tape to work with.  The cassette creates a lot of cost-vs-performance
tradeoffs to achieve its convenience.
-- 
Dick Dunn	{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd		(303)444-5710 x3086
   ...Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.