[QuadList] Seconds to Play: 2" quad playback and more.

[Scott Thomas]

In the film, I see the "Chyron" keyboards. I know what a 4100 Keyboard look like. Was that an older keyboard style for Chyron? My first thought was that maybe it was a Vidifont.


In December 1986 I worked a week for ESPN for the Fila Invitational golf tournament at Fiddlesticks in Fort Myers, FL.

I tested and "repaired" Triax cable, ran telecommunications lines on the course, went with the production coordinator to get groceries, took out trash, helped build the announce booth and ran a shotgun mic on the 9th green. I still have the paycheck stub. My first paid gig.

In my spare time I looked around the TWO trucks they brought in. This was the largest golf event ESPN had covered up to that point and it took two GVG-1680's to handle all 27 cameras. (I think that was the number)

They built a small city of portable buildings around the trucks. Got to spend a little time in the engineering trailer, and I have some xeroxes of some photos an engineer had. A Norelco PC-70 at an auto race come to mind. A TK-41 was in there too. This guy was in the middle of re-tubing an Ikegami HL-79. He was super nice to me.

Once I was done on the 9th green running the mic, I stepped into the Chyron trailer where two women were running the leaderboard. and supers on two 4100 keyboards.
Amazing speed. I just watched them work until I was summoned to get Calvin Pete a beverage.

The testing of the Triax was interesting. They had built their own testing equipment. Plug a box on one end and a connector on the other. The connector had two LEDs. Simple logic to show shorts or non-connections. If the LEDs blinked in sequence, the cable was good. If a cable had a problem, you held the cable a few inches from the connector and smashed it into the wood floor of the semi trailer. Test it again and send it on it's way.

The cables that couldn't be certified were placed in the "NFG" pile. That's "Non-Functional Gear" for the uninitiated. :)

I think my parents recorded the event on either a Betamax or VHS, but I've never watched it. I'll have to see if I still have it.

Anyone ever heard of a "Chrome Cow"?

Scott Thomas


On Jun 8, 2012, at 6:09 PM, C. Park Seward wrote:

> From a current day remote. Friday Night Fights in Vegas tonight on ESPN2. I'm the V1. 
> 
> Unfortunately, it's against ESPN policy to record the PL these days. 
> 
> Yelling used to be common. Today, not so much. Unless someone really makes a bad mistake on air. 
> 
> Also the shots of pretty girls before the game aren't allowed anymore since many trucks have women operators. 
> 
> Yes, times have changed. The guys back then would lost in a modern truck. I did remotes for ABC in the late 70s. Not even close today. 
> 
> The PL today has 32 channels. Back then I think we had 2. Every camera is recorded for playback, recording continuously. Back then, only one or two Quads in a regional game. The HS Slo-Mo disk was only for special shows
> 
> We'd have two Chyrons for big games. I did Chyron Assist for some events. The VIZ-RT today does all the flys and animation in real time. No comparison to the Chyron IV. 
> 
> I want to rebuild my Chyron 4100 one day. 
> 
> Hi Def, fiber optics, total digital, 100x lenses, 5.1 sound, EVS slo-mo and Super Mo, SkyCam. 
> 
> Best,
> Park
>