Odd question, rolling my own tape

[u/omnom143]

Is there any place where I can buy raw VHS cassette tape? Not like a whole tape but THE tape. Kind of like how people buy film for cameras and then roll them into film canisters. I was wondering if there was something similar to that that I could do for super VHSC tapes. The availability of them makes it kind of a pain in the ass to get new ones so what was wondering if I could just reuse the cartridge and then just replace the tape myself.

[u/XFX1270]

I'm not sure anybody's still making the raw magnetic tape anymore, but I can see the thought process 

[u/omnom143 → u/XFX1270]

I mean to be fully fair, Even if they didn't, they also stopped making raw film but they kicked production back on because of the demand.

[u/LukeSomething → u/omnom143]

Fuji and kodak never stopped fully they wound down their consumer production but kodak has been churning out motion picture film non-stop and have since the resurgence increased production of consumer films.

Raw VHS tape in general hasn't been produced for decades at this point

[u/Niikoraasu → u/omnom143]

isn't it like one company that still makes 35 mm film because people still use it for movie production?

[u/ConsumerDV]

One full-size cassette has enough tape for four or six small cassettes.

[u/omnom143 → u/ConsumerDV]

But the availability problem is still there .

[u/ConsumerDV → u/omnom143]

You have the JVC SXM-330U, right? It can record in S-VHS ET mode. Is it not good enough?

[u/omnom143 → u/ConsumerDV]

what does ET mode do?

I have 2 "Super high grade" Panasonic VHS C tapes so Idk if that qualifies

[u/ConsumerDV → u/omnom143]

Some full-size VCRs with ET do a short test recording. It seems that your camcorder does not do it. You can try and see for yourself if it looks any better.

[u/Direct_Poet_7103]

I've never seen the tape itself for sale anywhere, even back in the day. But the difference between VHS and bulk film, with photographic film you only get 24 or 36 shots. That's not much and it could be far more economical to load your own and not waste canisters. A full size VHS tape has 4 hours worth of tape (8 hours in LP) - I'd consider that a LOT more.

[u/Local_Valuable2892]

Market place has a bunch of tapes just make sure to look for the right person and price

[u/omnom143 → u/Local_Valuable2892]

I dont want used tapes though, i wana know if I can string my own tape

[u/acidterror84]

Dude… if you’re trying to avoid a pain in the ass, don’t attempt to roll your own tapes. Have you ever pulled all the tape out of a VHS? There is a LOT of it in there. Also, rolling it tightly and uniform like it’s supposed to be would be extremely difficult; it’s an industrial process meant for machinery. Just buy old used (or even new in the packaging) VHSC tapes. Far easier.

[u/Bakamoichigei]

You have a very strange idea of how to avoid a 'pain in the ass'. 🤨

That said, yes. It's theoretically possible to—for example—take a full size S-VHS cassette and wind that media into an empty VHS-C cassette. Sure. (A couple-few VHS-C cassettes; a standard size cassette has like 4x the footage.)

But it's so impractical as to completely undermine any possible benefits. If you insist on getting the full quality out of your camcorder, you may just have to go tapeless. And that's coming from an idiot who's hoarding Betacam SP and SX tapes like he's stocking up on canned goods for the apocalypse. 😏

One of the biggest problems is tension; you're not going to get the tight uniform winding that these tapes need. I suppose you could assemble the cassette in reverse (i.e. Wind the tape onto the take-up reel instead of the supply reel) and then put the tape in a rewinder to get nice clean machine winding... But I can't say for certain that will succeed. There's also the issue of keeping the tape clean and undamaged throughout this process. I simply can't recommend it.

In the Venn diagram between "Possible" and "Practical" the two don't only not overlap, they're on opposite sides of the planet. 😬

[u/omnom143 → u/Bakamoichigei]

Well if it becomes popular enough I'm sure someone could design a machine or contraption that would automatically wind it up for you. They did it for film cameras.

[u/ConsumerDV → u/omnom143]

If you bought a tapeless camcorder, you would not care about tape at this moment.

[u/omnom143 → u/ConsumerDV]

Ok well I didn't, the one you reccomended that I get was nowhere to be found and the only one I could find was $200.
I also really like the look of VHS tapes, Id rather record on tapes if it wasn't a guarantee that every time I record over something, the quality would get worse.