[QuadList] QuadList Digest, Vol 33, Issue 8

[rabruner at aol.com]

You could have a ten second event first in a break on a TCR, as long as there was 20 seconds or so after the previous break to allow time for the second tape to finish cueing.  You can have two ten second events as long as they are first and last.  
    It's popular to put down the TCR compared to the ACR because the ACR had some obvious advantages, longer tapes, instant picture, short clips back to back, random access etc.  But I have operated and maintained both of them and  there was some downside to the ACR too.  Column lamps failing, plastic hooks breaking, reels in the cassettes welding themselves to the case and jamming the transport, blower motors were not immortal either.  
    Early on the the TCRs suffered from lamp problems; before they went to LEDs, the shaking of the machine would blow them out.  All the micro switches that had to be satisfied were a source of failures.  They later designed a lot of those out of the machine.  If you ran the belt only half full so it was not balanced, the roll pin that held the big bevel gear on the motor would shear off.  Another early problem was the susceptibility of the filter bowls on the input air to oil in the air supply.  The bowls would weaken and then give way explosively under the influence of 100 psi air -- usually on Saturday morning when you don't need that kind of thing -- a tremendous bang and air and water all over the place.  Most of these problem were cleared up with field updates and in the later machines so that they became about as reliable as the ACRs in terms of mean time between failures.
Bob Bruner
W9TAJ




>>I remember having to explain to a director in 1985 why the 10 second ID had to be at the end of a multi-spot break when played on an RCA TCR-100.  This wouldn’t have been an issue with the Ampex ACR.


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STEVE THOMAS
SENIOR EDITOR and TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
248.351.7905
e-mail:  sdthomas at cbs.com
 
"If your grammar is incorrect, then you’re in need of help"



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