Is their anybody trying to save the old Broadcast VTR,s ,

Yes - can't find the links right now, but I'm sure someone here can

I know a guy who had an old RCA 2" quadruplex machine (TR-70B IIRC) in his garage, which he planned to restore to operation in his spare time. Unfortunately, his garage burned down before he got that "round tuit" that he needed...

I just watched some go into the skip . (-3) .Betacams that I grabbed !
If it,s not HD DUMP IT!
If we don't save this Gear Now its gone for ever .

I had 3 Ampex 1560 broadcast VTR's that were given to me along with over a hundred tapes with TV shows and commercials and movies(1960's-the early 70's). I also got a TK-31 Camera and VDC. I gave them to a Boise Broadcast foundation since I did not have room. They were very happy to get them. The guy who picked them up used to work at that TV station(KBOI) when those were in use. Most of the tapes were in color so they would not work on the B&W players(as far as I know).

I have an Ampex 660 "portable" 2 inch B/W machine which is perhaps similar to the 1560s mentioned above:

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=164777&d=1253157225

I understand from a broadcast engineer that the 660s were marginal for broadcast use, but at only 95 pounds or so, and with a handle on each end they were considered to be "portable". :scratch2:

jr

I have several and wouldn't mind some more. A picture can be found at www.chalkhillmedia.org . Just scroll down the home page a bit.

What about M2/Betacam/D2/DVCAM/ etc

What about M2/Betacam/D2/DVCAM/ etc

Sold my last two MII machines about three years ago to an outfit that was digitizing their entire library. Happy to see 'em go, and for real money, too.

D2 machines are kept by a few local post houses for access to their tape library elements. A year or so ago, running examples were a hundred or so.

One local house has held on to one Sony 1" machine. I had some footage transferred from it last year.

BetaSP, DVCPro and DVCAM are still in my racks -- I'll probably keep them all for quite awhile. I have a BVU-800, too... mostly for ballast. Also, a Betacam non-SP machine, which should probably find a new home.

HDCam (or whatever Sony calls it) and XDCAM are still in frequent use.

Chip

You will find, most of the above has been junked by TV Stations & Post houses already. If it is Tape Dump it ! If we don't save this Gear Now its gone for ever (Like the Cameras).
Wish I had more room . It made me sad to see Good working Kit being Dumped .

I know this foundation I gave the stuff to wont throw it away. They are trying to preserve some Idaho broadcasting history. Once gone, you'll never get it back. Unfortunately some of the stuff got scrapped like the camera power supply and cables and lens'. I was going to restore it to working condition but without those parts, they're pretty useless except for displays. I was lucky to get that before the scrappers did.

I have found that some broadcasters are not willing to put their old equipment in the hands of collectors, regardless of price. Instead they choose to pay recyclers to haul it off and dispose of it. It seems their legal departments think this old equipment represents a long term liability to them if they give it away. I think there are just too many lawyers....

I agree.
If we inverted the ratio of engineers to lawyers to engineers in America and in American government then things would probably run a lot smoother.

I don't exactly hunt down broadcast VTR's, but I do save tape decks whenever I can.
The only notable things I have tape wise are Sony's first U-matic deck, and their AV-5000A nonstandard color EIAJ decks...not exactly broadcast quality, but not quite off-the-shelf consumer stuff either.

Makes me wonder what happened to the Betacam machine that was sitting around while I was putting in time at a film co-op last year. It could still be there. They still use Super 8 cameras.

I aquired a Sony BVH-1000 & a BVT-2000 TBC a few years ago and have built up a small collection of type C 1" tapes. I used to work with the RCA gestation of the same VTR back in the early 80's in the Chicago market and was familiar with maintaining them. I stumbled on this one while on a trip to southern CA. It was cheap but no guarantee to function. It was clean and the drum appeared to be ok plus the fact I was driving back home to Salt Lake City so I thought I'd take a chance on it. Turns out the VTR still runs great and it appears it was fairly well maintained over it's life. I aquired the TBC through an Ebay auction about a month later and it too still works perfectly. It's all set up in a roll around rack now and my tape collection is growing. I recently aquired some NASA 1" master tape's that are probably one of a kind and I am always looking for more tapes to add to the collection. Hint Hint!

Mark

I got a fun story. The NBC affiliate in New York City donated two late 50's video tape machines to my alma mater of St. John's University back in 2005. The TV/Film department , seeing no value in the machines, promptly took them to the dump. This is one of the many reasons why I do not like that crappy school.

I got a fun story. The NBC affiliate in New York City donated two late 50's video tape machines to my alma mater of St. John's University back in 2005. The TV/Film department , seeing no value in the machines, promptly took them to the dump. This is one of the many reasons why I do not like that crappy school.

How dumb was that? Good grief Charlie Brown.

I have owned a variety of quadruplex machines over the years. I have a AVR-1 that is going through the total restoration now. I also have BetaSP, MII, 1"C, and DVCPro. Gotta save what we can... too many are going to the land fill. I know of a tractor trailer half-full of early RCA quad machines that were "free" if you were willing to take the stuff in the other half of the truck. The other half was full of not-legal-in-the-USA microwave equipment. I suspect it has gone to the dump along with some really minty early RCA vtrs...

Here is a restored Ampex VR 1000 in Munich's Deutsches Museum (as of 2006).

http://i.imgur.com/vSdpSZ5.jpg

http://www.vtoldboys.com/VR1000_06.htm