VHS Counter To Timecode Chart

(From The Avid Yahoo User's Group)

QUESTION
I need to grab some wonderful focus group stuff off of VHS. The client logged the clips on their home VHS deck that has a counter that starts at "0000" and goes to "9999." It's an old fashioned counter instead of the "control track counter" like 1:15:02.

Fifteen years ago when I was at the Pentagon, we had a chart that was probably that old, that showed the conversion from on set of numbers to another. Does anyone have one of these?
I've googled away, but cannot find one.

ANSWER
No one chart would work. It depends on the VHS deck.
Those numbers are totally arbitrary and bear little relationship to real time.

The counter, like an odometer, basically counts revolutions (geared down of course). An odometer is counting revolutions of a fixed circumference (the tire), but your the circumference on the tape pack continually changes, so there is not a 1:1 ratio.

It will also depend on the speed of the tape (SP, LP, EP) and the size (30, 60, 90, 120, 180) as well as the size of the hub.

Consequently, even a chart may not work, unless it takes into account all of those variables.

It might be quicker to simply purchase a modern VHS machine for your client and have them re-log it.

The problem with not having an accurate log is that seldom do they transcribe the entire focus group. They may not even transcribe them verbatim at the edit points which will make your job hell.

[Okay. Time for TiVo folks.]