The official "I still use VHS" thread

[Username1]

While I quit buying new tapes, I tend to judge quality by the picture stability on my worse machine at the slower speed. For that I found that Fujifilm HQ tapes still available believe it or not at Hanaford supermarket for $7.99 t-160 3 pack. Target has Sont HQ T-160 8 pack for $18.00 and Sont T-120 4 pack for $6.99 I also found that lots of people who sell lots (Lots as in 10, 20, 30 tapes) of tapes on ebay have for the most part only used them once or twice, are pretty good quality and even the old off brand tapes work very well. I guess Sony and Fuji either had good quality, or were manufacturers for other branded tapes, and these two actually "make" the stuff.??? Anyway those two brands seem to be in most stores. Sears has some off brand I don't remember the name. Iff you look around near the bottom of the shelf between the moth balls and esso motor oil you can still find VHS tapes in yer town. Funny thing also seems the really old stuff came in so many different lengths. I got 100 minute, 130 minute, 145 minute, 170, 180, I even got a buncha MGM Studio Grade T-120's Neato package, nothing special but they do weigh a bunch more than the FUji's and Sony's. And if you type in blank VHS tapes into Google there are lots of mail order places to get them at less than walmart prices for new ones. Buy.com and others.

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by Username1

While I quit buying new tapes, I tend to judge quality by the picture stability on my worse machine at the slower speed. For that I found that Fujifilm HQ tapes still available believe it or not at Hanaford supermarket for $7.99 t-160 3 pack. Target has Sont HQ T-160 8 pack for $18.00 ...

Personally I would avoid T160-T180 etc tapes unless you really need the extended time. The tape is thinner and that includes a thinner oxide coating, which yields less of the FM-RF signal (b&w or luminance part at 3.4-4.4mHz on standard VHS) from the tape picked up by the heads and on to the head amp circuit. Can be several dB lower, which makes for a noisier picture. Also can reveal minor tape path or skewing problems that a T120 tape works fine with. More dropouts in the video and hi-fi audio too. Did a lot of testing on various brands of tapes when I was in the VCR repair biz for 25+ years. My favorite brand of tape is/was Fuji. Fuji supplied OEM tapes for JVC the "Inventor of VHS".