VHS Based Tape Delay

technical questions/help
1

Installation Idea:

  • Create a VHS tape loop across two cassettes
  • Live camera feed split to V4 and VCR
  • First VCR records input from camera to loop
  • Second VCR plays from the loop
  • Playback sent to V4 for mixing with live feed
  • Mixer output to PVM

The intention is that the audience can interact with a lofi past version of themselves. Aiming for a video delay between 8 and 60 seconds.

There seems to be relatively little out there about this kind of analog video delay.

Possible Issues:
Have independent VCRs sync mechanically, their record and play speed need to match.

Friction in the loop stopping playback.

The playback VCR can’t establish stable tracking.

Any thoughts or technical advice for making this a reality?

1 Like
2

another thing to bear in mind with this idea is that VHS tapes have a helical scan. this means that the tape needs to move across the magnetic heads on a diagonal. this makes it somewhat more difficult to guide the tape to pass in/out of the unit and still hit the head correctly

1 Like
3

fascinating idea!

4

The only time I’ve heard of a similar setup was talking to an older video artist who had magnetic video tape reel-to-reel machines. Those got around the helical scan issue Paloma mentioned and the tape could easily run outside of the machines.

1 Like
5

Yeah open reel would be easiest, like with a couple Sony AV-86xx or AV-36xx, assuming you could acquire and restore them. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time.
With vhs, your best bet would probably be with a couple broadcast decks like the Panasonic AG-DS850 so you could have a sync reference and more control over the electronics calibration. But then you would need to heavily modify the deck to get the tape to move between players smoothly. There is a tension sensor that will stop playback if tension is too high or too low. And reel torque/speed sensors. I would try modifying a couple cassette shells so that you could still run the tape off the reels of each deck and trick the machine into thinking nothing weird is going on.

Another approach would be to pull the tape mech (including head assemblies) from each deck so you could set them next to each other, and then extend the wiring back to the electronics.

Not a light undertaking, but would be badass to realize.

6

Another consideration is that helical heads move really fast, so they don’t like tape splices. A splice or even a wrinkle in the tape can damage heads. Too abrasive.