[evelmunkey]

Hey guys, quick dumb question. I am trying to make acopy of a VHS on another VHS from VCR to VCR. This is how I have it hooked up can someone tell me what I am doing wrong.

VCR 1 has original tape
VCR 2 has the blank.

RCA cable on VCR 1 is hooked up to the "out" connection which runs to VCR 2 "in" connection. I press play on VCR 1 and record on VCR 2. It doesnt record anything. Please post if you can help. Thanks.

[uzi9mm]

the recording VCR has to be set to the proper channel... something like AUX, a/v, video 1, video 2.... something like that.

[Keyboard Cowboy]

WHOA! This is old school.


Look at the back of your VCR.
There should be the following plugs
AV Video IN
AV Sound Right IN
AV Sound Left IN
AV Video Out
AV Sound Right Out
AV Sound Left Out

Do not bother with your Arial IN and Arial Out. 99% it does not work when you are trying to link 2 VCRs together to copy tapes.

You will need some AV Cables. And the better quality, the better the image.
You will need 2 VCRs. One is a source. The other is the copy.

On the Source VCR, plug the AV cable into your AV Video Out, AV Sound Right Out, AV Sound Left Out.
Put your Orginal VHS Tape into your Source VCR.

On the Source VCR, plug the AV cable into your AV Video Out, AV Sound Right Out, AV Sound Left Out.
Put your Orginal VHS Tape into your Source VCR.

On the Copy VCR, plug the AV cable into your AV Video IN, AV Sound Right IN, AV Sound Left IN
Make sure you have the cables going
AV Video Out --> AV Video In
AV Sound Right Out --> AV Sound Right In
AV Sound Left Out --> AV Sound Left In
Set your Copy VCR to the AV Channel so that it will accept the AV in signals.
Put your Blank VHS Tape into your Copy VCR.

Press Record on your Copy VCR
Press Play on your Source VCR

And then walk away for the duration of the tape.

A few things to note.
1. If you are copying a 60 minute movie, make sure you have enough tape in the Copy VCR. Yes, you can cheat by using long play on the Copy VCR, but long play or extended long play looses a lot of quality.

2. Unless you have a standards converter, you will not be able to change from NTSC to PAL (C-Cam or what ever). If you are after a standards converter, they are hard to find. And expect to pay about AU$600 for one.

3. You can make mutlple copy by chaining VCR together, however the picture quality will go lower the further down the chain. It's not recommended.
Plus it does raise a few eyebrows with the police if they see this. (Trust me! I have had this happen twice)

4. Expect to loose image and sound quality on your copied tape. The only way to reduce this invest in some Gold or Silver AV cables.

5. Do get around Macrovision, you need some thing called a "VIDEO ENHANCER". I now that Jaycar electronics sells these things as kits that you can put together yourself. Otherwise Standard Converters have a habbit of working around Macrovision.
Really old VCRs (currently they would be around about 15 years old now) have this habbit of not picking up the Macrovision Signal.
And cheap VCRs (like your single head VCRs) also have a habit of not picking up Macrovision either. Please note that this bit of knowledge is about 10 years old, I am not sure about the current cheap VCRs.

Please note that I hope you are not using this knowledge to become a video pirate. Honestly, it's not worth it. 10 years ago, I was video pirate.
Firstly, I did have one of my freinds tell me to give it up as it was eating up my life. He had a point so I disided that I was not going to do it any more.

Secondly, the next day I got a visit from one of the local video distributors issuing me a cease and desist order. I agreed to the order, and I was rather thankful that they left it at that.
However now days with alot of the file sharing going on, I don't think you are going to be as lucky as I was.

[evelmunkey]

Originally posted by Harper
WHOA! This is old school.


Look at the back of your VCR.
There should be the following plugs
AV Video IN
AV Sound Right IN
AV Sound Left IN
AV Video Out
AV Sound Right Out
AV Sound Left Out

Do not bother with your Arial IN and Arial Out. 99% it does not work when you are trying to link 2 VCRs together to copy tapes.

You will need some AV Cables. And the better quality, the better the image.
You will need 2 VCRs. One is a source. The other is the copy.

On the Source VCR, plug the AV cable into your AV Video Out, AV Sound Right Out, AV Sound Left Out.
Put your Orginal VHS Tape into your Source VCR.

On the Source VCR, plug the AV cable into your AV Video Out, AV Sound Right Out, AV Sound Left Out.
Put your Orginal VHS Tape into your Source VCR.

On the Copy VCR, plug the AV cable into your AV Video IN, AV Sound Right IN, AV Sound Left IN
Make sure you have the cables going
AV Video Out --> AV Video In
AV Sound Right Out --> AV Sound Right In
AV Sound Left Out --> AV Sound Left In
Set your Copy VCR to the AV Channel so that it will accept the AV in signals.
Put your Blank VHS Tape into your Copy VCR.

Press Record on your Copy VCR
Press Play on your Source VCR

And then walk away for the duration of the tape.

A few things to note.
1. If you are copying a 60 minute movie, make sure you have enough tape in the Copy VCR. Yes, you can cheat by using long play on the Copy VCR, but long play or extended long play looses a lot of quality.
2. Unless you have a standards converter, you will not be able to change from NTSC to PAL (C-Cam or what ever). If you are after a standards converter, they are hard to find. And expect to pay about AU$600 for one.
3. You can make mutlple copy by chaining VCR together, however the picture quality will go lower the further down the chain. It's not recommended.
Plus it does raise a few eyebrows with the police if they see this.
4. Expect to loose image and sound quality on your copied tape. The only way to reduce this invest in some Gold or Silver AV cables.
5. Do get around Macrovision, you need some thing called a "VIDEO ENHANCER". I now that Jaycar electronics sells these things as kits that you can put together yourself. Otherwise Standard Converters have a habbit of working around Macrovision.
Really old VCRs (currently they would be around about 15 years old now) have this habbit of not picking up the Macrovision Signal.
And cheap VCRs (like your single head VCRs) also have a habit of not picking up Macrovision either. Please note that this bit of knowledge is about 10 years old, I am not sure about the current cheap VCRs.

An expert huh? Thanks, I think I just need to make sure its on the right channel. I will try when I get home. Thanks for your guys help!

[Keyboard Cowboy]

Originally posted by evelmunkey
An expert huh? Thanks, I think I just need to make sure its on the right channel. I will try when I get home. Thanks for your guys help!

Ex-Video Pirate Actually.

It's nothing that I try not to hide as it's commen knowledge with a lot of the older Anime Circles around here.

And honestly, it's some thing that does eats up your life.

[talldude123]

if you have a MONO VCR (like myself), you will need to hook up the RED audio cable to the Yellow video jack. Then, you will need to hook up the WHITE audio cable to the white audio jack.

If you dont hook it up this way, you will get pretty lousy sound. I have experimented with it, and i know...

[Keyboard Cowboy]

Originally posted by talldude123
if you have a MONO VCR (like myself), you will need to hook up the RED audio cable to the Yellow video jack. Then, you will need to hook up the WHITE audio cable to the white audio jack.

If you dont hook it up this way, you will get pretty lousy sound. I have experimented with it, and i know...

You need to have a mono to stereo AC Cable.
Not sure what would sound better.

VIDEO OUT --> VIDEO IN
AV MONO OUT ---> AV Sound Right/Left IN
Therefore you are recording your sound in HI-FI MONO!!!

VIDEO OUT --> VIDEO IN
AV Sound Right/Left OUT ---> AV MONO IN
Therefore you are recording your sound in just Mono!!!

However I have seen a lot of people just plug
VIDEO OUT --> VIDEO IN
AV MONO OUT ---> AV Sound Right
or
VIDEO OUT --> VIDEO IN
AV MONO OUT ---> AV Sound Left IN
Sounds sh!t house as you are only get one of the channels in the recording

Sound bad when you play it on stereo as you only get the sound coming one the left or right speakers. This is easy to fix as you adjust the balance on your speakers.

VIDEO OUT --> VIDEO IN
AV Sound Right OUT ---> AV MONO IN
or
VIDEO OUT --> VIDEO IN
AV Sound Left OUT ---> AV MONO IN
Sounds worst as you are only get one of the channels in the recording and there is nothing you can do to adjust it.


Sure, I can respect some one for not having the money for a stereo TV or VCR. But FFS get the right cabling. :mad:

[talldude123]

Originally posted by Harper
Sure, I can respect some one for not having the money for a stereo TV or VCR. But FFS get the right cabling. :mad:

Back when people bought VCR's, they didnt know what stereo/mono was, and i dont think most people will spend an extra $30 for a stereo VCR. Just like TV's.

[talldude123]

This should help. Kudos to Google Images.