[QuadList] OT: is S-VHS "obsolete" in copyright law's eyes?

[James Snyder]

SVHS (or "Super VHS") used different carrier frequencies for the luma 
and chroma part of the signal.  If a deck was good enough, SVHS could 
record the luma signal (at 400 lines of resolution based on the 
bandwidth it could record on the tape) better than the best NTSC 
signal (which tops out at about 330 lines of resolution based on 
actual bandwidth).  The chroma was still color under and still 
suffered the vagaries of VHS processing, but it had better resolution 
as well.  The Y/C (or 'SVHS') cables were designed to keep the luma 
and chroma separate so they wouldn't inject as many NTSC artifacts in 
to the SVHS video.  NTSC artifacts are, of course, mainly crosstalk 
between the luma and chroma subcarriers.

The quasi-SVHS playback systems could playback the higher carrier 
frequencies of SVHS, but only had the video bandwidth of VHS, meaning 
that Panasonic's SQPB feature could playback an SVHS tape at VHS 
quality.  Not as good as true SVHS, but at least its playable.

My first SVHS deck was a Toshiba SV-700 that I bought in 1990.  The 
years I used it looked SO much better than the VHS I had done 
previously.  As time went on, the JVC models really didn't look much 
better than you're run-of-the-mill VHS, but the Panasonics and the 
DVHS players from Mitsubishi and JVC still reproduced SVHS at top 
quality.  What a shame there are no machines in production today that 
can reproduce what SVHS could record.

Lastly, I'm fascinated by the subject line's question: "is S-VHS 
"obsolete" in copyright law's eyes?"  What on earth does the 
Copyright law have to do with a format being considered obsolete?

James
------------------------------------------------
James Snyder
Senior Systems Administrator
Library of Congress -
   National Audio Visual Conservation Center (NAVCC)
Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division (MBRS)
Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation
http://www.loc.gov/avconservation/packard/


>I was always under the impression that the only real advantage of 
>S-video was on the TV set end.  By avoiding the chroma separation 
>circuits in the TV you got a little bit better picture.  The change 
>in the quality was not that much as far as I was concerned.
>
>The quality difference between regular and S VHS to me was not that great.
>
>Chris Hill
>
>On Feb 27, 2012, at 11:56 AM, Walter Forsberg 
><walterforsberg at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>  Hi All-
>>
>>  I'm wondering if anyone might corroborate my impression that there 
>>are no DVD/VHS combination decks currently being manufactured that 
>>support native output of S-VHS. Looking around, it seems like while 
>>S-VHS tapes can be read by some of the combo decks 
>>still-in-production, the signal is down-rezzed (terms like 
>>"quasi-playback" are used) to VHS levels of resolution.
>>
>>  Thanks, in advance, for any thoughts!
>>
>>  Walter Forsberg
>>  Please trim posts to relevant info when replying.
>>
>>  Change subject to reflect thread direction. Thanks.
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>Please trim posts to relevant info when replying.
>
>Change subject to reflect thread direction. Thanks.
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