Anyone who has recorded video on a VCR has been enticed by the LP and EP (a.k.a. SLP) recording modes. Wow, 8 hours of video on a single videotape? That sounds too good to be true!

Well, actually, it is. More video content on a single tape comes at the expense of video quality. This may not seem important now, but when you watch your video in the future, you’ll wonder why it doesn’t look better! Plus, long-play settings often record sound in mono, making the audio quality poorer as well.

And most importantly, videotapes recorded in LP or EP are significantly harder to transfer to DVD. This is mostly because VCRs have trouble tracking LP or EP tapes that were originally recorded on another unit. LP and EP tapes are also more prone to dropped frames during the video conversion process.

So do yourself a favor: Just buy more tapes, and avoid using any longer-play modes if possible. Stick to SP!