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S-VHS & S-VHS-C

Introduced in Japan in 1987, S-VHS (Super VHS) is an improved version of the VHS standard for consumer video cassette recorders. more...

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Technical details

Like VHS, the S-VHS format uses a "color under" modulation scheme. S-VHS improves luminance resolution by boosting the luminance carrier from 3 MHz to 5.4 MHz. This produces a 60% improvement in (luminance) picture detail, or a horizontal resolution of 420 lines per picture height versus VHS's 240 lines. The often quoted horizontal resolution of "over 400" means S-VHS captures greater picture detail than even analog (NTSC) cable broadcast TV, which is limited to about 330 lines. In practice, when time shifting TV programs on S-VHS equipment, the improvement over VHS is quite noticeable. Yet, the trained eye can easily spot the difference between live broadcast TV and a S-VHS recording of it. This is explained by S-VHS's failure to improve other key aspects of the video signal, especially the chroma signal. In VHS, the chroma carrier is both severely bandlimited and rather noisy, a limitation that S-VHS does not address. To be fair, poor color resolution was a deficiency shared by S-VHS's contemporaries (Hi8, ED-Beta.), all of which were limited to 0.4 megahertz or 30 lines resolution.

In terms of audio recording, S-VHS retains VHS's conventional analog (linear) and Hi-Fi (AFM) soundtracks. As neither is changed from the VHS format, the linear audio track delivers sound quality scarcely better than AM radio. The Hi-Fi soundtrack is identical to that of VHS: an AFM (audio frequency-modulated) signal is sandwiched between the two carriers of the video signal, and recorded at a physically lower layer in the tape, literally underneath the video signals. This delivers excellent audio fidelity, approaching CD-quality. In addition, some professional S-VHS decks can record a PCM digital audio track (stereo 48 kHz), along with the normal video and Hi-Fi analog audio.

Nearly all S-VHS VCRs are backward compatible with VHS tapes, meaning S-VHS equipment is fully functional as a legacy VHS record/playback unit. Older VHS VCRs cannot view S-VHS recordings at all. Many newer VHS VCRs offer a feature called S-VHS quasi-playback (SQPB.) SQPB allows VHS players to view (but not record) S-VHS recordings, albeit at VHS quality levels. This feature is useful for viewing S-VHS-C camcorder tapes.

In recording mode, S-VHS VCRs require S-VHS videotape, which has a different oxide media formulation for higher magnetic coercitivity. (As a sidenote, most S-VHS VCRs can also make VHS recordings on S-VHS tape, and conversely, conventional VHS VCRs can record on S-VHS videotape. Both functions are useful for low volume, high-quality duplication.) Finally, recent model S-VHS VCRs offer a recording capability called S-VHS ET. S-VHS ET permits near S-VHS level recording on conventional, cheap VHS tapes, offering an economical way to get a better picture out of older VHS tapes. The S-VHS ET recordings can be viewed in most VHS SQPB VCRs and non-ET S-VHS VCRs.