Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 exptools; site ihu1m.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!ihu1m!heneghan
From: heneghan@ihu1m.UUCP (Joe Heneghan)
Newsgroups: net.video,net.analog
Subject: Re: How does Beta HiFi audio avoid head switching transients
Message-ID: <347@ihu1m.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 18-Mar-85 14:00:22 EST
Article-I.D.: ihu1m.347
Posted: Mon Mar 18 14:00:22 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 19-Mar-85 05:48:00 EST
References: <116@hydra.UUCP>, <106@nic_vax.UUCP> <465@cadovax.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 18
Xref: watmath net.video:1066 net.analog:206

> I heard a rumor that the HiFi audio signals are actually recorded
> digitally.  If this is true, it is easy to see ways where head
> switching would not be a problem.  However, I don't really know
> if these signals are digital or not.  Does anyone else?  If they're
> not, then how do they achieve any better sound than conventional
> audio recorders? (or do they?)

I think that "digital" is a commonly associated with high quality
and that analog  is considered as something less. There is no
reason to record in digital on a VCR when alalog can give you
the performance you need. What gives higher quality in
sound or even video is wide bandwith. Lightwave has very high
bandwidth which can be utilized in a lot of conversations in
the telephone sense or great sound reproduction in the audio sense.
VCRs encode a video signal which requires a wider bandwidth
than what audio does. Since they're using the video track for 
audio, this give a lot of bandwidth to encode the signal
in a very close way to the original.