I was wondering if anyone here remembers rental tapes from the 1980 - 1984 period first time around?

I ask as it seems to me that this period of video has very weak and poor sound. The TV volume has to be up so far and the sound is boomy and hissy. I try to sneak an old tape on when we are watching a film but soon the grumbling starts. I have tried different VCR's but it is the tape. The audio is linear mono but that is not the issue as I have some later linear mono films that sound fine. Both Beta and VHS.

Whetever the root cause of the weak sound is I don't know, but I am surprised that this has never been mentioned more and was not rectified back then. Perhaps the sound has got quieter over time on the tapes or the TV's were better back then?

I don't know but I would appreciate your thoughts.

Hi-fi stereo video recorders and tapes didn't start appearing until the mid-80s and only really took off when the NICAM system started broadcasting nationwide in around 1990. As I recall, most of my old mono tapes sounded pretty awful through a stereo video.

The later linear mono films you have were probably mastered with two identical mono tracks for optimal presentation on a stereo VCR.

My bruv has a garage full of those tapes. He collects them. He has everything from early Dr Who episodes put on video, to classic railway tapes.

The quality is not good like you say and the volume sometimes has to be on 65 or something.

Those tapes have a mix of hiss, hum and roar - in a sort of mush. It is down to sloppy processes I am sure as I have recently watched Indiana Jones on a linear mono Beta tape and the sound was boxy and faint whilst the Poseiden Adventure was booming and muffled. The Land Of No Return needed a volume setting of almost all the way over and really, the quality control is very low. The Sound Of Music should be renamed 'The Sound Of Hiss'. Why did people not speak up and complain in 1981, 1982, 1983...?
Or did they not notice or not care?

I tried my own linear mono recordings and they were fine (just a little hiss) and the linear mono MGM musicals I have like Singin' In The Rain from 1985 are superb compared.

They are the 78 records of today. If that makes sense!

A good comparison but I'd go with:

PHILIPS N1500/2000 = cylinder recordings
Betamax = 78rpm discs
Mono VHS = 45rpm discs
Nicam stereo VHS = 33rpm discs in glorious stereo

Hi-Fi tracks on videotape allowed for cd quality sound.
If you're used to that then old linear mono will sound shit.

Film fans like myself got Nicam players in 1986 once the BBC announced Nicam but before they decided to wait another 2 years.
But it did mean that we had access to superb quality stereo sound from most major films long before stereo was available for broadcast in general.

Even Hi-Fi mono was always a good sign as it meant the traditional VHS hiss was absent .

Hi-Fi machines were still not mass market for a very long time but it does mean that my Grange Hill tapes from 1990 onwards and The Brothers from UK Gold 92-94 are excellent quality sound compared to the rubbish recorded on mono machines.

Thanks for the thoughts. To be fair, linear mono can be good - especially on recent JVC Hi-Fi tapes with good response. An older mono only deck probably records and sounds better than it did when new - what with the better tapes and digital sound from FreeView.

Oh well, it is all history now I suppose - but very relevant as I have quite a few tapes. I am sure others do too.

Yup vhs stereo was the only good thing about the format. Higher quality than youd think

The only problem with HI FI Stereo on VHS tapes was you could have problems with tapes that were a bit worn. Rental tapes i especially had problems with. You could get the HI FI sound going on and off or even worse hear a horrible crackling sound.

Early recorders didn't have the range compression system (equivalent to the Dolby setting on audio cassette systems).
Also very old tapes will be prone to "print through" (I think it's called) so the audio from adjacent loops in the cassette combine over time.

These tapes are almost 30 years old, so there is going to be a lot of wear, especially with linear audio that dosn't sound good at the best of times.

The magnetic layer is probably flaking off as well.

Yes that was the number one problem with Hi-Fi tapes.
Shop tapes were hit and miss and if they'd been recorded on less than perfect machines you ended up with the problems you mention.

If you were like me and recorded a lot off the tv to archive a major problem was finding that your current VCR didn't like the HiFi track recorded by your previous machine .
This is why I started renting my VCR's so I could change them every few months - 4-6 hours a day recording classic tv from UK Gold and Bravo wore them out quite quickly.

But when it worked well it did sound very nice through the sound system.

Linear mono was very poor because of the hiss.
It was rarely acceptable unless you only watched via your tv speakers as going through any sound system magnified the hiss terribly.

Commercial Hi-Fi tapes could also had the rumble thats been mentioned before.
The far too frequent problems with HiFi tracks on tapes is the main reason I decided to scrap movies on tape and switch to Laserdisc which was a breath of fresh air especially when we got access to the US market thanks to Pioneers dual system players.