Creating and Copying Tapes

Recording From Broadcasts

For those of you that are lucky enough to live where doramas are broadcast (see the links page), please follow these items when creating your source tapes, as well as the ones described in Making Copies for a Trade below:

Record the entire show. This means you not only record the show itself, but you should also record:
- The previous episode recap,
- The opening credits & theme song,
- The closing credits & theme song, and
- The next episode trailer.
Some people like to see all of the above, even if some of them (theme songs) don't usually change between episodes. The only exception to the above is when recording the 15-minute morning doramas: in this case, it's fine to record the opening and closing credits only about once per week or once per SP tape.
It's OK -- even preferred -- if you take out the commercials. You don't have to take out the commercials, but it's nice if you do. Besides making it nicer for the people you trade with, you will have the advantage of then being able to store 3 episodes on a T160 tape in SP format, thus storing an entire dorama on 4 T160 tapes rather than 6 T120 tapes in SP speed.
Leave a small gap between episodes. Especially if you're taking out the commercials, leave a one second or so gap between episodes on a tape. Doing so makes it much easier for someone to splice the episodes cleanly in a different way later. (For example, copying 2-episode SP T120's to 3-episode SP T160's, or copying individual episodes from tape to VCD or DVD.)

By the way, you can use EP and save tapes, but your tapes will degrade much faster. However, since tapes may be replaced soon by digitial formats, you may not care about the longevity of them anymore. Also, though your original tape may look very good, your copies won't look nearly as good as if you had used SP. SVHS-EP, though suffering from the same tape-degrade problem, will make nice copies.

Making Copies for a Trade

I know you think copying of a tape is obvious, but I've been amazed at what I received from other people. Please read these do's and don't's!

When you are making copies for a trade, please observe the following:

Never use a tape length greater than a T160. Tapes greater than a T160 tend to be too thin and break easily, and they put a lot of stress on your VCR's motor.
Use stereo equipment. Stereo VCR's are incredibly cheap now. If you don't have two stereo VCR's already, you should buy or borrow two before trading.
Never split episodes between tapes. An entire episode should be on one tape. Splitting an episode between tapes will make it harder for the copy receiver to make a copy for others, it will be a bit of a hassle for us couch potatoes to watch, and it will usually not save any tapes anyway.
Leave several seconds of blank space at the beginning of the tape. The blank space allows the person who receives your tapes to sync up their VCR's when making a copy themselves without missing the very beginning of the source tape. Also, some VCR's leave a multi-colored trace on the image when one starts recording. The trace lasts a few seconds, and the blank space gives a few seconds of lead for it before the actual content.
Eliminate or at Least Minimize On-Screen Indications. VCR's often put up on-screen indications of what they're doing (like Play or a time counter), especially when the VCR first starts. These can be very annoying, so you should avoid copying them if at all possible. Most VCR's, for example, write Play when they first start, and you can usually eliminate this on any copy by starting the source tape, pausing it, starting to record the copy, and then unpausing the source tape. Sometimes you can eliminate on-screen indications through changing the VCR's menu options. Also, some people won't be able to get rid of starting on-screen indications, so this is another reason to leave several seconds of blank space at the beginning of the tape. That way, you'll help them and the people they trade with by at least insuring that the on-screen indication is on the blank part of the tape rather than the content.
Send the label stickers that came with the tape. Some people use some of the stickers. It's fine to put on the spine or top sticker so you can write the show name and episode numbers.
Label the tapes with the show name and episode numbers. You don't want the person who receives the tape to have to figure out the order of the tapes. Without labeled tapes, they'll be forced to see a lot of spoilers while they're trying to figure out the correct order.
Use fresh tapes. Tapes don't record as well after they've been used.
Check all the tapes. Before you send your copy, briefly watch a bit from every tape to make sure the copy came out OK. Common defects to watch for:
- Visual lines or bars of static.
- Muddy or staticy sound. (Tip: it's very easy to hear sound problems by listening to the theme song.)
- Source tape counter wasn't turned off.
- Copy is blank or stopped recording in the middle.
- Tape is in the wrong format (SP vs. EP).
Besides the obvious solutions, if you see or hear problems, check that the connections are secure, try switching the play and record VCR, or use different VCR's. Note that different tapes from different people may produce different defects in your VCR's.

It's also a good idea for the person receiving the tapes to check them briefly when they get them for the same problems. People make mistakes and VCR's get flaky. If you catch the problem soon after getting the tapes, it's easier to ask for corrected copies.

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If you wish to join, change information, or quit the dorama trading club, you can do so on the Membership Changes page. Otherwise, you can send me mail at mic-h@mic-hworld.com.
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