[QuadList] Servo Modes

[Dennis Degan]

		On Aug 24, 2012, at 12:50 AM, Wayne Watson wrote:

 > Also related to a similar thread we (an independent station with no  
network spot support) ran our only ACR direct to air for many years.  
It was something us techs were very proud of.

		I say:

	Not to throw cold water on it Wayne, but I don't know of a single TV  
station that DIDN'T run their cart machines live to air.  Only  
networks would do this (with the notable exception of NBC).  At the  
network level, where more money is at stake, reliability is of much  
higher priority than operator convenience.  Not only would CBS and ABC  
cut their commercials into the program masters, they would run two  
copies of the commercial-inserted program on the air simultaneously to  
enable quick switching in case of a failure of the on-air tape.   
Again, no local TV station I'm aware of did this.

		Wayne also said:

 > So......speaking of proud....it is absolutely amazing what  
engineers did 30 to 40 years ago with no  operating systems to take  
advantage of. Three developments to think about are the above fast  
lock VTR's; the Chyron and the ADO. I think most of this using massive  
TTL logic?  Someone can back me up here but I think the ADO had a 200  
Amp 5 volt supply to run all those chips. The Chyron and ACR (logic  
bay) even did all this with wire wrap on the chips (I think).

		I offer:

	Wire wrap is very reliable.  Obviously, if the equipment was being  
built today, wire wrap would probably not be used because the method  
was more labor-intensive than others.  But it did have its advantages.

			Dennis Degan, Video Editor-Consultant-Knowledge Bank
					     NBC Today Show, New York