[QuadList] RCA CAVEC vs Ampex

[chill315 at aol.com]

RCA designed their system after Ampex.  As a result RCA used plug in cards that would address each line of a head pass.  Thus they were able to do line by line chroma correction.  If one looks at the Ampex design, it was originally for the VR- 2000.  Then offered for the VR-1200 signal system.  In fact the upgrade kit for the -01 1200 signal system had to have a switch and new overlay plate for the signal system.  All later signal systems had been prewired to allow plug in of the modules.

The Ampex design did only an average of the 16 lines for each head.  as long as you had the head correct from a height and penetration perspective, chroma would not show tilt across the band.  Later machines did a line by line correction.  

The advantage is for line by line correction unless there is a noise or dropout during the burst.

Chris Hill