Early LD's have all sorts of rot problems that can affect the audio, and non-CX encoded tracks have varying levels of noise depending on the quality of the video master. Had the unrestored Vertigo been remastered on LD with a digital track, it would be a whole different story.

After going through three dodgy copies of Grease in search of a decent track, I'm not eager to repeat that experience. Beta was first out of the gate with Hi-Fi, so there are more early releases that have it. Most of the old beta tapes I've encountered actually have aged gracefully.

Aluminum Falcon, are you sure your VHS copies are not the restored version?