Edit Points: Editing VCRs

Mike Loehr
December 1995

Imagine two VCRs sitting side by side. One is a regular VCR, like the one perched atop most TV sets across the country. The other is a deck built especially for video editing.

To VCR users who don't edit their videos, these two decks are basically the same. Both play and record tapes, both have blinking clocks, and both require at least a masters degree to program the record timer.

Those who do edit, however, see big differences between them. The edit VCR has features that will make the editing process more efficient and much easier. The regular VCR doesn't.

So how can you tell the difference? The jog/shuttle knob, audio and video insert buttons, and a funny-looking jack labeled "Edit Control" are good places to start.

In this month's column, I'll cover these and a host of other features that set editing VCRs apart from regular VCRs. I'll also point out features any useful editing VCR should have.

A flying erase head is one of those crucial features that make an editing deck an editing deck, because it makes for glitch-free video edits. Without a flying erase head, pictures jump, roll or break up at the moment the edit happens. Unless you want your videos to have that "amateur look," don't edit without flying erase heads.

Real-time counters record tape movement in hours, minutes and seconds. With real-time counters, you can refer to scenes on a tape using times. (For example, you can note that the shot of Bill falling off the horse is at 00:12:05 on the tape.)

All 8mm and Hi8 VCRs and camcorders include these two edit-friendly features. VHS users aren't quite as lucky. Since VHS was around long before consumers had the need or desire to edit their videos, many ordinary VCRs don't have flying erase heads or real-time counters.

VHS machines, particularly older ones, have simple counters that mark tape travel with arbitrary numbers. The reference numbers from one VCR usually don't match numbers from another, and neither relate to actual tape time. That makes finding exact parts of a tape more difficult, especially if you search the tape using a different VCR.

When shopping for a VHS format edit deck, check the specs for flying erase head and real-time counter. It's especially important if you're considering a regular home model. New home VHS decks may have these features. Dedicated edit VCRs certainly will.

If you're considering a used or rebuilt VCR, make sure it's got at least a flying erase head, or it will do more harm than good for editing.

Beyond the erase head and tape counter, edit VCRs have a bunch of features and functions that serve one purpose: to simplify your editing. Some you can live without, others you shouldn't.

An easy way to keep track of which features matter most is to draw two columns on a blank sheet of paper. Label one, "Must Have," the other "Nice to Have." Read along and write each of the following features in the appropriate column based on your budget and needs. Take the list along when you shop for edit decks, or keep it handy as you surf through video catalogs. (Also, when your list of "Must Have" and "Nice to Have" features is complete, check out Videomaker's VCR Buyer's Guide in the April, 1995 issue.)

• Jog/shuttle control. This special set of knobs makes finding exact in and out points much simpler than searching with pesky transport buttons. Still frames and slow motion searches are a breeze. You'll almost certainly enjoy editing more with one of these controls on your edit deck. Pros have had jog/shuttle controls for years--now consumers do, too.
• Audio level controls. Ever tried to record someone's voice at a whisper and wound up with an annoying ambient "roar" on tape?
  Blame the automatic gain control (AGC) inside the VCR. AGC boosts sound levels when they get too low, and reduces them when they get too high. At low levels, the AGC boost puts an unnatural amount of ambient noise on tape. Noises like the hum of air conditioners or fluorescent lamps--things our ears barely notice while in the room--come across like a low-flying jet.
  Manual audio level controls allow to prevent this ambient roar by setting VCR record levels manually. Make sure the deck has good audio meters so you can see the levels as easily as you set them.
• Audio insert/dub. A must-have if you want to add narration or music to a video after you finish shooting. Most of us do, so audio dub belongs in the "Must Have" column.
  Note that on all VHS-family decks, audio dub replaces only the linear audio track. For Hi8 users with PCM digital audio, audio dub replaces the PCM audio track. Users of 8mm and Hi8 units without PCM audio are out of luck, since it's not possible to dub the standard AFM audio.
  The other VHS family audio format, hi-fi, records sound underneath the video signal. Like 8mm AFM, you can't dub to the VHS hi-fi tracks.
  
• Video insert/dub. This features is identical to audio dub, except it inserts new pictures instead of new sounds. If you want to replace existing images on tape with new ones while leaving the original audio track intact, you need video insert.
  Currently, the only consumer formats capable of a true video insert are those in the VHS family (VHS, VHS-C, S-VHS and S-VHS-C). Many of these VCRs allow you to replace the video and hi-fi tracks without affecting the linear audio track. Until you get up into the $6000 plus range of professional VCRs, no Hi8 or 8mm unit offers video dub.
• Microphone jack. It may seem like a simple feature, but many decks don't provide it. If you want to narrate your videos or add other sounds only a microphone can pick up, consider a deck with a mike input. Otherwise, you'll need a stand-alone mixer to get the mike's signal on tape through the VCR's line-level audio input jacks.
• S-video support. Jacks labeled "S-video," found on S-VHS and Hi8 format edit VCRs, are the gateway to cleaner looking dubs and edit masters. These formats offer higher resolution, as well as the S- video jacks to help preserve it.
  Standard RCA or BNC-style video jacks carry composite video signals. As the word suggests, composite video signals mix different elements of an image into one signal: the horizontal and vertical sync pulses, the brightness and color information.
  Blending the signals means you need a simpler cable to transmit video between machines, but it weakens picture quality and stability in the process. S-video keeps the brightness and sync information separate from the color signal so pictures look better, especially after multiple generations.
  To use S-video in your projects, you need two decks that support it and cables to hook them together. If your projects need to look the best they possibly can, get high-band decks and camcorders that use S-video.

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