[QuadList] Happy Birthday, NBC Videotape Central, Burbank

[John]

Hi all,
wondered what had happened to Quadlist Emails. We never used the heterodyne
process here in Aus as far as I know, but I was looking through the tender
documents for our first VR1100 and at one point it was stated that the
machine must be capable of being "modified to record and play back an NTSC
signal recorded at 625 lines". Of course this was when PAL was still in the
Lab. Does anyone know if any work was done running NTSC  on 625? By the time
we bought the VR2000's (used in the Mexico Olympics and then shipped back to
Sydney!) high band and Colortec were in existence.
 
regards
John
NETV
Creations Unlimited
Guyra
Australia.

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From: quadlist-bounces at quadvideotapegroup.com
[mailto:quadlist-bounces at quadvideotapegroup.com] On Behalf Of David
Crosthwait
Sent: Monday, 30 April 2012 13:40
To: Quad List
Subject: Re: [QuadList] Happy Birthday, NBC Videotape Central, Burbank


The RCA modulator was direct color recording but of a non-standard nature.
Heterodyne was the process of color recovery/conversion (the scheme to get a
reduced bandwidth, somewhat unstable but watchable color picture off tape
and over the air with FCC waiver) until the direct recovery method was
developed some years later (Ampex Colortec).  

At "The Reel Thing" St. Louis, 2009, I made a presentation on the recovery
of the Cyd Charisse special, an RCA modulator color program. Part of that
presentation was a display of a typical NBC Burbank work order indicating
the mode of the recording. A portion of that work order is displayed here:



In 1958 at the beginning of "Color City" color recordings, the operator had
a choice of using the Ampex modulator on the Ampex machines for mono or the
RCA modulator for color although I have encountered mono recordings using
the RCA modulator scheme on Hope black & white programs from 1959. VTR 1 & 3
were VR 1000's. They were transports with no overhead bridge. In the rack
were both modulators.


Best Regards,

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)

david at dcvideo.com
www.dcvideo.com <http://dcvideo.com/> 
Follow DC Video on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dcvideo



On Apr 29, 2012, at 7:32 PM, Ted Langdell wrote:


Yesterday, Saturday, April 28, 2012 marked the 54th anniversary of the
dedication of Videotape Central at NBC Burbank. The tape facility inside
3000 West Alameda (at Olive Ave.) cost $1.5 million in 1957-58 dollars.

NBC began time-zone delay from the Burbank tape facility when Daylight
Savings Time kicked in. 

The facility included one RCA Color Video Tape Recorder and eight Ampex
black-and-white machines that could record color using with RCA Labs
hetrodyne electronics.

Soon, three more RCA Broadcast Color Recorders were at work.

Pre-recording programs in Burbank happened later, among them the Fred
Astaire specials, and other programs recorded initially with the RCA Labs
color process.





Ted

Ted Langdell
Secretary

Please trim posts to relevant info when replying.

Change subject to reflect thread direction. Thanks.
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