[QuadList] Picture of the day (link to)---and who's in it?

Wed Dec 8 20:11:48 CST 2010

Had one at CBS and one at Matrix Video, some machine, it would almost hop across the floor.

George Keller

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Carpenter <wcarpen107 at yahoo.com>
To: Quad List <quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com>
Sent: Wed, Dec 8, 2010 6:18 pm
Subject: Re: [QuadList] Picture of the day (link to)---and who's in it?

Hi David and everybody.

Yes, the first Still Store was built for CBS, and was called the ESS or the ESS-1. This was a sorta spin off from the AVA, which we had in the late &0's and built 7, + 1 (but that's another story)

Then we built the ESS-2 which would handle real time video. I don't know how many of these were built, but they were Great.

Then in 1983, the ESS-3 came along, was shown @ NAB, and immediately redesigned, to make it more flexible and scalable.

I moved from VTR's to Graphic's at the request of Engineering and Marketing Management. 

I had introduced the VPR-3,and had a solid $ 40 million dollar order backlog before the first unit shipped, so in July of 1983, I moved over as the Product Manager of  Graphics, and re-introduced the redesigned ESS-3 and the new AVA-3 in 1984. 

I had learn about digital video and object based programming and databases, in a big hurry. OBTW along with this came learning how to deal with Graphic Artist's and some interesting union problems.

Bye for now, Bill Carpenter

From: David Crosthwait <david at dcvideo.com>
To: Quad List <quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com>
Sent: Wed, December 8, 2010 7:26:44 AM
Subject: Re: [QuadList] Picture of the day (link to)---and who's in it?

Hello Bill,

CFI's edit rooms were small (IIRC) but they cranked out a lot of material at that time. Was the still store the ESS (?)? Was not CBS News the first to have that (if I am calling it the right product name)?

The brains behind the AVR's and ACR's etc. were extensive from what I can tell. Perhaps some day you could confirm (or otherwise) the story I heard about the AVR-1 "disappearing" then " reappearing" from behind the iron curtain in the 70's, only to be followed by a Russian product curiously similar.

Ampex certainly excelled in product engineering. 

Thanks for the insights!

David

On Dec 6, 2010, at 7:17 PM, Bill Carpenter wrote:

 Hi David and everybody,

I worked very closely with CFI in those days, and I am trying to remember my friend who I last saw at an outfit that was colorizing movies. His name may have been Gary Thompson. I tried to get him into a BIG still store system about 1984. I think he went on to something with Disney.

The AVR-1 was the greatest, but also a very complex machine. The Charley Coleman designs were Great, but usually very complicated. 
I worked with Al Trost on three great machines as the Product Manager during the Design Phase and the Product Introduction, the AVR-2, the VPR-20, and the VPR-3. His designs were usually very basic, and clean, and bulletproof.

All of the very complex Ampex machines were also relatively small volume products. 
Namly the AVR-1, ACR-25, ADR-150, AVR-3, ACR-225, and DCT 1700, all never passed the 500 unit built milestone. I don't know about the D2 machines?

Bye for now, Bill

From: David Crosthwait <david at dcvideo.com>
To: Quad List <quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com>
Sent: Mon, December 6, 2010 12:38:22 PM
Subject: Re: [QuadList] Picture of the day (link to)---and who's in it?

Bill,

The AVR1-1 will correct the same wide ranging errors, hence many facilities recorded on VR-2000's and played back on the AVR-1 in the edit bays. CFI  was one of them. In that manner, an error in record guide position could be immediately caught.

David Crosthwait
DC Video
Archived Media Transfer and Re-mastering Services
177 West Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA. 91502
818-563-1073
818-563-1177 (fax)
818-285-9942 (cell)
DCFWTX at AOL.COM
DAVID at DCVIDEO.COM
WWW.DCVIDEO.COM

On Dec 6, 2010, at 11:24 AM, Bill Carpenter wrote:

We would leave the head in the record position at all times unless I was demonstrating the capability of the TBC to remove guide related errors.

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David Crosthwait
DC Video
Archived Media Transfer and Re-mastering Services
177 West Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA. 91502
818-563-1073
818-563-1177 (fax)
818-285-9942 (cell)
DCFWTX at AOL.COM
DAVID at DCVIDEO.COM
WWW.DCVIDEO.COM

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