[QuadList] Quantel DFS3000 vs NEC FS-10 timeline

[Ted Langdell]

On Jul 13, 2009, at 1:33 PM, Dennis Degan wrote:

>
> 		On Jul 12, 2009, at 11:36 PM, Dave Sieg wrote:
>
> > It was the first digital frame store / frame synchronizer made in  
> the late seventies.
>
> 		I say:
>
> 	The first synchronizer was the NEC FS-10.  NBC was the first to use  
> it, I think in Burbank to sync the network feed to local house  
> timing back in 1974.  This device took up an entire 7-foot rack and  
> must have weighed several hundred pounds.
> 	WSM-TV in Nashville bought an early one right after NBC.  Here's a  
> picture of it:
> 		<http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdegan/558110461/>
>
> 			Dennis Degan, Video Editor-Consultant-Knowledge Bank
> 	  					NBC Today Show, New York



Quantel's Chinese website
http://quantel.cn/site/en.nsf/html/MCLN-6QLDXV

has a history outline that reports:
1975 Quantel demonstrates the DFS 3000, the world’s first digital  
framestore synchroniser. TV coverage of the 1976 Montreal Olympic  
games is transformed with synchronised shots from an airship ‘blimp’  
freely used and quarter-sized picture inserts mark the genesis of  
digital effects.

The 20th anniversary "Digital Factbook" has quite a bit of useful  
information:
http://www.quantel.com/repository/files/library_DigitalFactBook_20th.pdf

Haven't been able to google up anything concrete about the NEC unit,  
except for this snippet of an IEEE article:

Quantel, The First Fifteen Years - UK Broadcast Manufactuerers ...
But Quantel was not alone in the market place, competition came mainly  
from. NEC who offered an NTSC synchroniser. The 5U dimensions of the.  
DFS. 3000 were ...
ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel3/5081/13870/00640336.pdf?arnumber... - Similar -
by P Owen - 1997 - All 2 versions

So, is it likely that Quantel had the first PAL frame sync (owing to  
it's UK base) and NEC the first NTSC, due it its American television  
roots?

Was NBC a beta test site for the NEC unit?

The NEC unit was also discussed on the list back in April:
http://mail.quadvideotapegroup.com/pipermail/quadlist_quadvideotapegroup.com/2009-April/000543.html


Ted


Ted Langdell
Secretary
Skype: 	TedLangdell
e-mail:	ted at quadvideotapegroup.com

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