[QuadList] Ampex/Toshiba and Quads made outside the US including Bosch--2.2MB of pix

Tue Jun 2 20:04:01 CDT 2009

Hi, David and list...

On Jun 2, 2009, at 11:28 AM, DCFWTX at aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 6/2/2009 11:11:56 AM Pacific Daylight Time, ted at quadvideotapegroup.com 
>  writes:
>
>> The Toshiba/Fuji reel is interesting, because Toshiba was at one  
>> time Ampex's Japanese partner in a company making Quads for the  
>> Japanese market.  Has me thinking that perhaps it was recorded on a  
>> Toshiba-made machine. Now if we could find someone in Japan who  
>> knows the background of Japanese Quad manufacture and deployment...
>>
>
> I think Richard Diehl knows more about the Sony 2" quad situation.  
> Sony did make a 2" quad machine, however I don't know how wide  
> spread it was in use, or if it was to Ampex standrard. Toshiba did  
> make one as seen in Korea (I have a picture from a friend who saw it  
> while stationed in the military there). Toshiba made a Colortec/ 
> Amtec unit that saw a brief introduction in the U.S. before some  
> sort of patent infringement issue came up. I have what apparently is  
> the second one that ever entered the U.S. So, the "Toshiba was at  
> one time Ampex's Japanese partner in a company making Quads for the  
> Japanese market" statement is interesting due to the previous  
> problem with the Toshiba Amtec/Colortec unit. I am CC'ing Jim  
> Wheeler on this.
>
> The Germans made quads (Bosch). The Russians had some sort of quad  
> based on an AVR-1 that "disappeared" for several years behind the  
> iron curtain, suddenly to "reappear" coincidentally when the Russian  
> made "Kadar 5" (?) came out. This is a story I've heard several  
> times over the years and may be somewhat distorted or dead wrong.
>
> One last thing about Japanese NTSC recordings: Their black level  
> setup is "zero", not 7.5.
>
> David Crosthwait

Some references:
For more background on the Ampex/Toshiba (and Sony Quad) I'd refer you  
to Page 93 of "The History of Television, 1942-2000" by Albert Abramson.

Also see Page 160 of the book "Magnetic Recording" by Eric D. Daniel,  
C. Denis Mee and Mark H. Clark.

The chapter on Quads by John C. Mallinson says that after the 1956  
Quad demo at NAB, a four-month
"free exchange of technical ideas" was permitted between Ampex and  
RCA, with Ampex gaining access to
RCA's color information and "RCA acquiring Ampex's quadruplex scanner  
know-how."

In 1959-1961, Mallinson reports that Ampex and Sony "engaged in a slow  
motion duet" with many visits of
each company's engineering teams to the other company's facilities.   
Ampex's main interest was "in gaining
access to Sony's knowledge and experience in producing solid state  
electronics.
The negotiations apparently fell through over patent and intellectual  
property disputes."

Ampex under pressure:
There was pressure for Ampex to do something to get into the Japanese  
market.

For one thing, Japanese companies were filing patents that threatened  
Ampex's position,
and were making VTR's that resembled the Ampex machine.

Sony had made an (unlicensed) Quad machine based on the Ampex standard  
in 1958.
Take a look here:
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/capsule/09/index.html

Sony's take on the development of this machine is here:
http://www.sony.net/Fun/SH/1-7/h2.html

and says Sony had a copy of Ampex schematics to work from.

The Sony Quad:
This machine in the Sony lab....

Became this...  Kinda stylish, eh?

Sony says, "While it was capable of recording and reproducing  
television signals, its
picture quality, noise and stability were still far from satisfactory."

In previous posts, we mentioned the Sony/Ampex arrangement re: Sony  
designing transistor circuitry for Ampex machines,
which gave Sony the right to make VTR's for the non-broadcast market.

Abramson says Sony "reneged on the deal" in 1961 "when it put out a  
transistorized (transverse) machine,
the SV-201," and showed it at the IRE show in New York City.

Abramson may be wrong, here, since Sony's website says it was able to  
do stills... indicating a helical machine.
http://www.sony.net/Fun/SH/1-10/h1.html

The SV-201 used high density, metal powder coated tape.

Enter Toshiba... briefly:
Stifled from selling Quad machines in the Japanese market, Ampex  
complained to the Japanese government, and Abramson reports that Ampex  
was told they'd better take a Japanese partner if they wished to sell  
VTR's in Japan.

Enter an alliance with Sony rival Toshiba for a joint venture called  
TOAMCO: 51% Toshiba owned, 49% Ampex owned.
"Infringers" of Ampex patents soon began paying royalties, but Sony  
continued to refuse, and kept bringing out VTRs using the Ginsburg  
patent, Abramson says.

Read page 93 of "The History of Television" for what happened during  
this period.

In "Magnetic Recording," Mallinson reports that TOAMCO was supposed to  
handle video recorder sales in Japan with Ampex handling the rest of  
the world. "With Ampex's technical assistance, Toamco (*lower case)  
progressively undertook the manufacture of the machines in Japan.

TOAMCO made consumer and home video recorder systems that were sold by  
Ampex.  The company also made computer tape memory and instrumentation  
products.

Richard Diehl's LabGuy's World website has an example of a consumer/ 
education helical machine from this partnership, the Instavision reel  
to reel machine that was a "drop-in load" machine.
http://www.labguysworld.com/AmpexInstavideo.htm

And here's something that popped up in a Google search for TOAMCO:
http://www.cpcs.umb.edu/labor_notes/files/13105.pdf

A Japanese labor union official at Toshiba-Ampex saying that Toshiba  
forced TOAMCO into a fake bankruptcy to close TOAMCO and bust the  
union!  A claim that was later ruled "a crime" by a Japanese Labor  
Relations Board.

By Gosh, It's a Bosh:
Robert Bosch's Fernseh division made a limited number of quads through  
its long-time connection with RCA.

RCA provided licenses for its patents, and for the Ampex technology it  
acquired the use of through the "RCA Color for 'How Ampex did it"  
cross-licensing, but Fernseh was apparently limited in how many units  
it could make a year, tied the Ampex licenses to RCA, which made RCA's  
quads possible.

Here's a tube-type Bosch Fernseh BM20, the first Bosch Quad model  
which is pictured on
the Deutsches Fernsehmuseum Wiesbaden website:

Does it seem to look like a brother to a certain line of Telecines  
that came decades later?  The doors
have me wondering whether there was an air circulation and filter  
system that would improve head life
and reduce errant particle-caused dropouts.

Here are a trio of what the Fernsehmuseum website reports to be BCM-40  
solid-state Bosch quads....
and there's a page about them.  They were introduced in 1967, if my  
translation of the Google translation is OK.

They were introduced in 1967, if my translation of the Google  
translation is OK.

And a pair of RCA machines from the same site for comparison:

The museum's page on the BCM40C reports the C model appeared in 1972:

and here's what's also said to be a Bosch BCM40 provided by Gunnar  
Mass, from a Wikipedia page about Quad:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadruplex_videotape

Click here for BCM40 High Resolution image via Wikipedia

Note how the deck is upside down, á la Ampex AVR-1 and RCA TR600.
With the limited amount of room at the top, it looks like one would  
have banged
knuckles threading things, particularly around the capstan in the  
upper right.

The upper panel colors are gray and the control panel on the right of  
the deck
is noticeably different from the BCM-40C above.

No "winding knob" in the center of the panel..
although there appears to be what could be one on the bottom row of  
controls.

It's asserted on this webpage (and several that copy this page) that  
no Fernseh (Bosch) units
were ever sold in the US. That may or may not be true in terms of  
"Sold."

However, I've seen what appears to be one on the website that former
KNBC engineer, longtime Virginia director/production co. owner Bruce  
Braun has.

This photo is Bruce at KHOF-TV, 30, Los Angeles with the machine in  
question,
opposite the deck of a VR-1000 he's leaning on..

At some point, KHOF-TV also had a
VR-1200 w/sidecar and VR-2000:

Some of you might remember KHOF-TV as the
Reverend Gene Scott's flagship station for his "House of Faith"
broadcasts late at night?

But that's another story entirely!

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

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