SilverWook said:

CED audio is comparable to analog LD in some ways, but the nature of the format means discs can wear down over time and develop playback issues. Later stereo players added CX noise reduction.
Here are the specs from cedmagic.com
Audio Signal-to-Noise Ratio: >50dB (USASI), 70 dB (with CX)
Audio Bandwidth: 15KHz
Stereo Separation at 1KHz: 26dB
Dynamic Range Mono: 50dB
Dynamic Range Stereo: 70dB

Thanks for the information. Those specifications look pretty good, at least with CX noise reduction.

I’m not sure why some Thorn/EMI Beta titles don’t have Hi-Fi indicated on the cover. Any title released around or after 1983 should have it though.
Here’s a Thorn/EMI beta of Volunteers from 1985, and you can make out the Hi-Fi on the back.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Volunteers-BETA-Tom-Hanks-John-Candy-Rita-Wilson-1985-Thorn-EMI/392118623440

On the flip side of the same coin, I’ve seen the Hi-Fi logo used on Laserdisc covers. 😉

I got the VCR I ordered today, and it works fine (though the heads were quite dirty). However, this Terminator Thorn EMI VHS tape doesn’t have Hi-Fi audio, despite “Hi-Fi” being printed on its sleeve. When I set the selector switch to Hi-Fi I get dead silence. I tested a different tape that I have, which also has “Hi-Fi” printed on its sleeve, and the Hi-Fi track works fine on it, and has noticeably better sound quality than the linear mono track.

So, either Thorn EMI lied about this being Hi-Fi, or this is a bootleg tape that someone dubbed and swapped the sticker labels. The labels don’t show any signs of tampering, but that’s not conclusive proof that they weren’t swapped. With help from a hair dryer, you can sometimes get stickers off cleanly. I did notice that the record tab has very obviously been broken off. Normally, with pre-recorded retail VHS tapes, they never had that tab to begin with.

Edit: I just checked every retail VHS tape I own, and most of them never had a record-protect tab to begin with. However, three of them did have one that was broken off: Batman (1989), A Night at the Roxbury (1998), and Total Recall (1990).

Does anyone here have the Thorn EMI VHS release? I’d like to know if other copies have Hi-Fi audio.