D-VHS or S-VHS or VHS? All three formats look exactly the same; even S-VHS and VHS's camcorder tapes are the same. (D-VHS never received a camcorder format.
Canada's most affordable and flexible S-VHS/D-VHS To USB service.
- A personal service by a videographer with 20 years of video experience.
- Costs just $15 per video hour for USB transfers
- Costs just $20 per video hour for DVD; extra copies are just $12. Lowest professional transfer prices in Canada, but with the highest quality.
- Turnaround time of 2-4 days for 6 hours or less. 6.5 - 10 hours require up to 7 days. More than 10 hours will require additional time.
- S-VHS was used by many wedding videographers from the late-1980's up to the early-2000's.
- D-VHS was out from 1996-2007 and recorded 480i/480p/720p/1080i video to high-quality S-VHS tapes. Some people backed up their DV and HDV videos to D-VHS.
- NTSC/PAL S-VHS, S-VHS-ET and S-VHS-C to DVD or Computer file.
- Resume reels of actors, camera operators and producers provided for TV, movie industries and casting agencies.
- Verbatim AZO DVD's used for all DVD transfers.
- Check out the "About Trevor Thurlow" page for samples of D-VHS, S-VHS and S-VHS-ET video transfers, as I have used some SVHS and SVHS-ET tapes to record my community cable channel work.
- S-VHS transfers by S-Video; D-VHS transfers by HDMI
Here's An Actual S-VHS tape. As you can see, aside from the S-VHS logo in the upper right, the tape looks like a normal VHS tape, just with the large reels (although S-VHS tapes with the small reels have been seen), and it is possible to record on a S-VHS tape in a consumer VHS recorder.
So what is the resolution of S-VHS?
(Please click here for more on resolutions and the Kell Factor.)
S-VHS used a bandwidth ranging between 5.4 and 7.0 MHz to record it's luminance, with chroma being stored at 629 kHz; depending on your recording speed (SP, LP, SLP) the slowest speed (SLP) used the smallest amount of storage (5.4 MHz). With S-VHS the information was stored on tape in a single composite signal, while during playback the signal was converted to a component signal that sent the luminance and chrominance in seperate streams. When compared to Betamax (3.5 – 4.8 MHz luminance; 688 kHz chroma) and its improved version (Super Betamax 4.4 – 5.6 MHz; 688 kHz Chroma) SVHS was the superior technology in terms of luminance. When compared to Extended Betamax (6.8 - 9.3MHz, 688 Chroma), SVHS was the inferior technology.
S-VHS was also used in the professional world
by a few independent stations, but most professionals that used it were in the
wedding video business, since it was a cheaper alternative to Betacam SP that
provide a better picture with which to edit with (and the majority of the time, the final version of the wedding video was delivered on regular VHS). Broadcast S-VHS tapes were limited to a
maximum time of 3-hours in SP (NTSC, ST-182) and 4 hours, 20 minutes (PAL SE-260) mode, however, in the late-90’s and early 2000’s
many prosumer and consumer S-VHS machines were released that could record video
that was just a little softer than normal S-VHS tapes, but could record S-VHS
information on a regular VHS tape. Both
VHS and SVHS tapes use ferricobalt particle tapes to store information,
however S-VHS’s ferricobalt is formulated to allow S-VHS to record the higher
magnetic frequencies required for its luminance channel.
What is The Difference Between S-VHS and S-VHS-C?
Just like with VHS and VHS-C, SVHS-C is just a smaller version of a SVHS tape, containing less recording time.
D-VHS
What is D-VHS?
D-VHS originally stood for "Data-VHS", but was then changed to "Digital VHS". D-VHS is DIGITAL. Also, D-VHS used the same tapes as S-VHS (although there were D-VHS branded ones out there as well, but they were just a higher quality of S-VHS tape).
D-VHS was first released in 1996 as a Standard Definition consumer recording format that could hold up to 24 Hours on 1 tape. In 2002 JVC introduced the ability for D-VHS to record 480p, 720p and 1080i HD video. Some people used D-VHS to back up their Mini-DV, DVCPRO and HDV recordings, as they could transfer the footage from those tapes to D-VHS via Firewire 1394/i.Link as a PURE Digital copy, and then they could reuse their Mini-DV and DVCPRO tapes. However, D-VHS decks also had RF (for recording off-air), Composite, and S-VHS connectors that allowed people to transfer their analog recordings to D-VHS. They could archive S-VHS recordings on D-VHS via S-Video and have a High-Quality copy that was virtually identical to the S-VHS tape at bit rates of up to 28.8 Mbps in the HS mode using the MPEG-2 codec (slightly modified version of the MPEG-2 codec used on HDV tapes). Standard Definition video quality ranged from video that looked a little better than current streamed SD video in the LS3 mode, up to better than DVD's highest-quality in HS mode.
I can only transfer NTSC recordings.
Currently I use a HM-DHX2, the Japanese version of the HM-DH5U, to transfer D-VHS via HDMI. HDMI allows for digital-to-digital transfers, and works better with modern computers. I can do 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i via HDMI.
Foreign Conversions
Click here for a list of countries that used the various TV standards.
Trevor Thurlow Productions is able to transfer all NTSC and PAL/SECAM S-VHS/S-VHS-C recordings. While SVHS decks and camcorders were sold in SECAM regions, these machines would receive SECAM, but then convert it internally to PAL, and vice-versa on playback; therefore I am able to transfer S-VHS recordings made on equipment sold in SECAM regions, such as France, Russia and Egypt, as these are just PAL recordings. I can convert PAL S-VHS to NTSC DVD, and NTSC S-VHS to PAL DVD.
D-VHS is only available in NTSC. PAL D-VHS transfers are currently unavailable, although I can convert NTSC D-VHS recordings to PAL digital files..
How To Request A SVHS/SVHS-C/D-VHS Transfer
Please fill out the form at the bottom of the page and I will get back to you within 2-3 days. Please be advised that I will not be involved in blatent copyright piracy. Transfers of copyrighted videos will need a letter from the copyright holder saying that it is alright to transfer them. So I will not transfer copyrighted videos, such as "Star Trek The Motion Picture".
Transfers To DVD
All
DVD transfers use Verbatim AZO DVD-minus-R discs. I've used Verbatim
for many years and these discs are, by far, the best discs.
Transfers To Video Files
Options include transfers to MP4 and DV-AVI/DV-MOV on USB stick or Uncompressed hard drive. I can also send the final files to you over OneDrive.
Transfer Your S(uper)VHS & D(igital)-VHS To DVD Today!
Return To Video Transfers
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For more information on video transfer and video production services, please go to
www.trevorthurlowproductions.ca/transfers