[QuadList] This has to be a record

[DCFWTX at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/27/2009 9:10:23 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
DennyD1 at verizon.net writes:

> In New York, the main primetime air VTRs were Ampex VR-2000s!  Here's 
> a shot of 2 of the 4 of them:
>     <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdegan/515355073/>
>   Those Ampex machines made consistently better pictures than the RCAs 
> did.  Part of this was because many of the RCA VTRs were used primarily 
> as recorders and not always in the best of shape for playback.  Those 4 
> Ampex 2000s were fully equipped as playback machines and were 
> well-maintained too.
> 
> 

Hello Denny, 

Well, that is very interesting. In Burbank, there were a total of six VR 2000 
A's. Upgraded to B's with the audio cage being replaced. Two of them were 
dedicated to the Tonight Show main record (nothing but the best for Johnny), and 
the other four were in edit bay 1, their first CMX bay, with a CMX 300 (paper 
punch tape EDL!). Also an HS 200 was in that bay also. 

At an NBC monthly luncheon of ex studio and VTR guys, one editor mentioned to 
me that the production people i.e. studios demanded the highband machines 
early on in 1965 or so. The TR 70 wasn't available yet. So, I suppose this is how 
Burbank ended up with six of them in the midst of RCA ownership. Was this the 
case at 30 Rock also?

The TR 600A story (as told to me by a retired manager) was that, as they were 
budgeting and planning the CMX 340 bay (edit 5), the original plan was four 
AVR-3's. This got the attention somewhere back in 30 Rock, and they said, "Why 
not the TR 600? Well, it just wasn't as good as the AVR-3". A short time 
later, the 600A came out with the AE 600s on all four of them. So it appeared that 
some "motivation" came down the pike and the AVR-3's were out, and the 600As 
were in. Did similar stories happen there?

I'll work on the floor plan. I have at least one NBC tape room with VR 1000s 
and one of the TRT Xs in rotation on my web site. More to come.

David


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