P3D Re: "Terminology for two cents, Alex!"

[roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (John W Roberts)]

>Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 14:28:15 -0700
>From: ddd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: P3D  "Terminology for two cents, Alex!"

>   Historically, 'stereo' meant 'stereophonic', but only after it became 
>abbreviated. 'Stereophonic' followed 'Hi  Fi', itself abbreviated from 
>'High Fidelity.' (Anyone notice how 'HiFi' now refers to the imaging 
>circuitry in a VCR now? 

Actually, the Hi Fi in "VHS Hi Fi" *does* refer to sound.

A regular VHS VCR uses flying heads (mounted on that big spinning cylinder
inside the deck) for video, with the video information laid down on parallel
lines on the tape (slanted with respect to the direction of motion of the
tape), and ordinary linear track(s) for the audio. The quality of sound
that can be recorded on a magnetic tape is partly a function of the speed
of motion of the head over the tape surface. Since a VHS videotape moves
*very* slowly, the sound quality isn't all that great.

A VHS Hi Fi system still records the linear soundtrack(s), but it also
has flying audio heads, which move over the tape surface at the same
speed as the video heads, thus creating the potential for much better
quality audio recording. If you play back a tape with VHS Hi Fi audio
the player will normally select the Hi Fi tracks for sound output, and
ignore what's on the linear track(s).

John R


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