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Old 04-08-2017, 07:52 AM
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Reel to Reel video question

I have some tapes gathered by a fellow TV junque broker that are 1 inch. I spoke with a few media techs at work that tell me WQED-13 in Pittsburgh has the only "local" working player.

I recall operating Sony VTR when I was in high school but I think it was 3/4 inch. . Are 1 inch players a rarity?
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Old 04-08-2017, 03:00 PM
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Dave:

1" was a post production/TV broadcast format. Machines cost $75,000 and up. Arguably the best analog video recording format ever invented. Ampex and Sony were the major players in "type C" recording, as the standard was referred to.

Digital recording technology gradually made the format obsolete. There should be some transfer or post production houses that have working machines but I bet the cost to use them will be high. I would bet a Philadelphia TV station has one or two working units as there is a lot of material archived to 1". I would guess that NFL films has working machines.

Are you looking to just find out what is on the tapes or do you want copies made?
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Old 04-08-2017, 08:24 PM
Chip Chester Chip Chester is offline
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Try calling around to Pittsburgh video production facilities. I know there was a big one in Sewickley, and they definitely had 1" machines, but that was a while ago.

There are 'obsolete tape duplicators' who will transfer it for a fee. I know of a few around my town, but the owners are rightly cautious about threading up tape from unknown heritage, as far as storage goes.

There were two main different types, Type C being prevalent in the US. Type B championed by Bosch. I've seen both around town.

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Old 04-10-2017, 01:37 AM
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While C format was the most common 1" VTR, with the bosch B format also used in broadcast there were several earlier 1" formats. These were sub-broadcast, for industrial etc uses. Ampex had the VR5000/7000 system which was the ancestor of C format. IVC had their 700/800/900 series VTRs. Philips had a 1" system too. All totally incompatible with each other and later systems except you could probably modify a C format machine to play Ampex 5000/7000 tapes.
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Old 04-10-2017, 07:15 AM
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3 Formats for 1 inch

Type A used by Ampex (VR7800) and IVC. Called type A because it is an alpha wrap around the drum. Tape looped back over itself. One of the reasons for its demise was there were no digital TBCs out at the time. The only TBCs were analog and they couldn't handle the errors coming off the tape.
Type B used by Bosch Fernseh. It is a half wrap around the scanner. Not very popular.
Type C used by Ampex, Sony, Hitachi, RCA. It is an omega wrap around the drum. Sony and Ampex independently developed their formats and found they were very close. They both decided on a compromise and type C was born.
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Old 04-10-2017, 01:21 PM
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Thanks for all the information. I am only holding the tapes for another VK member who these will be shipped to. I do remember that the Sony 3/4" did an omega wrap - thanks!
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Old 04-11-2017, 12:41 AM
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The VR7800 (VR7803 in 50Hz countries) was the top of the range VR5000/VR7000 series machine. Ampex evolved the VPR1 based on the 5000/7000. The VPR1 could play 5000/7000 tapes. C format was derived from the VPR1. While the basic video track geometry was unchanged there were several differences, notably in the control and audio tracks, which means a C format machine can't immediately play A format tapes.

Some years ago I put an A format tape on a C format machine and got some kind of picture. the FM deviation was wrong, sync was poor and sound was absent.

Some of the history is given here: http://www.labguysworld.com/Ampex_VPR-1.htm

c1975/6 I went to a lecture in London given by representatives from Ampex and Bosch. The Bosch guy was German and thought he had a sense of humour. Imagine a German accent here: "Ve haf ze B Format vich ist ze Bosch format und zey haf ze C Format vich ist ze compromise format" I think it got a laugh.

I think the term "A format" only came into use after the B and C formats were invented. I had been using a VR7003 since 1971 or so and never heard it called A format either in speech or literature until after C format was developed.
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Old 04-13-2017, 06:52 AM
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I remember the VPR1. It had no shuttle knob. But the VPR2 did. Both of those machines the reels turned in opposite directions. There was no reel servo, AST or editing either.
(AST allowed still frame in stop.) Believe AST was an option on the VPR2.
Fortunately my station waited till the VPR80 came out which overcame all those shortcomings.
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Old 04-14-2017, 02:23 AM
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AST (the video head mounted on a piezo crystal so it could follow the racks more accurately, including in stop/fast/reverse) was perhaps the one single development that made C format a huge success in broadcast. B format just couldn't match that sort of agility without framestores which weren't economically viable in the 1970s.
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Old 04-14-2017, 08:15 AM
Chip Chester Chip Chester is offline
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Yup on that. I was using mostly Hitachi HR-200s around then, and their name for it was HST -- Head Scan Tracking. Used to own a couple a while after that. They were barely-working transports, with weak heads and no TBCs. Ended up giving them to a museum for kids to disassemble for fun.

That was my first realization of the nature of large Japanese manufacturing companies. Cargo ships, vibrators and 1" video machines -- all by Hitachi. Mitsubishi: Cargo ships, cars, and TVs.

Chip
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