[QuadList] NBC Burbank: Au Revior--Historical tidbits about Burbank's early Quad operation
Steve White
Steve.White at 800CallNow.com
Mon Jan 7 09:12:45 CST 2013
Great historical perspective, Ted.
Thanks
On 1/6/13 11:09 PM, Ted Langdell wrote:
>
>
> Following up on David Crosthwait's latest post about the EOT for NBC
> Burbank's Videotape Central... It played a significant role in the
> development of television videotape applications beyond time zone
> delay (TZD).
>
> So, we offer for you a look at a few *Tidbits about Burbank Videotape
> Central* and some questions they raised as I was compiling this.
> *
> *
> *Automated TZD Recording and Playback:*
>
> In a 1959 document called "Automatic Control of Video Tape
> Equipment at NBC Burbank," NBC's Robert Byloff outlined the
> technology and how the equipment was used.
>
>
> The Burbank system delayed the Eastern Time network feed for all
> other time zones, so that
> programs were seen with---at most---only a one hour difference
> from the Eastern time zone.
>
> IE: An 8 p.m. ET program would be replayed for Central and
> Mountain zones one hour after it fed from New York, and then
> replayed at 8 p.m. Burbank time for the West Coast.
>
> The system used eight Ampex Quads modified by RCA to record and
> play color, and four prototype RCA Color recorders. Because color
> programs occurred at random and increasing times in the network
> schedule, Byloff said that colorizing all machines was done to
> ensure flexibility as more color programs were transmitted.
>
> Recordings were made of the Eastern time zone transmissions coming
> down the network line into Burbank.
>
> Since rewinding and cuing a one-hour reel couldn't be done in the
> (usually two-minute) terminal break leading into the top of the
> hour, Time Zone Delay recordings were done in half-hour blocks so
> that crossover would happen during station breaks and be un-seen
> by viewers.
>
> Here's an example:
>
> Hour 1's first half-hour would be recorded on VTR 1, which
> would rewind after recording and wait until the top of the
> hour, then play the show back for the Central time zone.
>
> Hour 1's second half-hour would be recorded on VTR 2, which
> would rewind and be ready to play the second half-hour an hour
> after its recording started.
>
> Both machines would then rewind and cue in order to play Hour
> 1 beginning two hours later for the Pacific time zone.
>
> Each machine rewinds when finished, and is ready to record
> again, catching the first and second half-hours of Hour 4.
>
> Here' a grid:
>
>
>
>
> Each machine had input routing so that the incoming network
> regular and backup lines, all NBC Burbank studios, and test signals.
>
> Each machine's output routing could feed playback to any Burbank
> studio for production, and four different "delay" feeds: One-hour
> delay for the Midwest, three-hour delay for the West Coast, a
> two-hour delay for special purposes and a four-hour delay "for
> future playback to the Pacific Northwest," which didn't observe
> Daylight time.
>
> A QC room in the back of the VTR area enabled monitoring of each
> machine in color and monochrome, and "control of output switching
> is provided there to permit switching between A and B copy tapes."
>
> Since the staggered recording/playback plan outlined above doesn't
> provide for simultaneous main and backup record and play, perhaps
> there were workflows that enabled that on occasion?
>
> In addition to the automated "DB Sequence" control outlined above,
> the Burbank control system enabled preset operation at the machine.
>
> An operator could arrange for a clock-time selection of input and
> output routing, record or play operation, start time and duration.
> After the specified duration, the machine would rewind to the
> beginning of the recording and stop.
>
> /What's not outlined in the copy of the document I have
> (unknown number of missing pages) is how the system determined
> the beginning of the recording. /
>
>
> A guess would be a cue tone automatically put on the cue track
> at specific locations in order to tell the machine to enter
> "Stop" so it didn't overshoot the head of tape and unthread...
> and then enter "Play" to find a cue tone marking the beginning
> of the recording.
>
>
> The system also allowed for manual control and input and output
> selection at the machine, delegation from the machine of studio
> control... Stop, Play, Record, etc.,
>
> Audio and Video AGC amplifiers were used between the input routing
> switcher handling feeds to the VTRs and each VTR's input.
>
> The video AGC amps were developed by NBC and separated luminance
> and chroma components. Sync was stripped, "the baseline cleaned
> up and the signal controlled to a particular level," Byloff
> advised. "In the chrominance channel, the burst is measured and
> by this means the chrominance is held to a predetermined
> level." Sync was reshaped and delayed, then added back to the
> signal before exiting the AGC amp.
>
> *Burbank Adds Ten TRT-1AC's:*
>
> In the April, 1961 "RCA Broadcast News" issue about "Color Television
> Progress," NBC Burbank recording engineer Russel A. Nies reports on
> what was a then recently completed installation of ten new RCA TRT-1AC
> color VTR's.
>
> The ten new machines were arranged in five cubicles. Transports
> and some of the racks involved faced each other, while the color
> monitors for QC were at the end of the cubicle.
>
>
>
>
> The same "Color Television Progress" issue notes the quick
> playback in Burbank of the Nov. 10, 1960 "Tennessee Ernie Ford
> Show," the fourth time the show had been done on location.
>
> The show wrapped shooting at Edwards Air Force Base at 1:30 p.m.
> Pacific time, with a 150 mile drive to Burbank. The tape arrived
> around 5:20 p.m., and was playing back to the network at 6 p.m.
> from Burbank for 9 p.m. Eastern time zone viewing. No indication
> of whether there was a backup tape or just one.
>
>
> *Burbank Pioneered Videotape Editing Methods:*
> *
> *
>
> In the article about the ten new TRT-1AC machines, Nies outlined
> how a large portion of Burbank's tape operations involved
> pre-recording shows for later release.
>
> Editing from a number of different reels required consistent and
> stable signal parameters, since recording sessions could span
> days, weeks or months, and involve different recorders, heads and
> tape stock.
>
> Nies says the number of splices in an edited production might
> range "from 25 or 30 to as many as 200," and the material could
> come from a dozen different reels of tape.
>
> NBC's Burbank facility became the "go to" place for production and
> editing when folks there developed a method of editing videotape
> picture and sound separately. It was first used on "An Evening
> with Fred Astaire
> <http://mail.quadvideotapegroup.com/pipermail/quadlist_quadvideotapegroup.com/2011-February/003966.html>,
> a 1958 special Fred Astaire produced and starred in that was
> recorded and aired on NBC.
>
>
>
> *Reel from "An Evening with Fred Astaire"during restoration
> process in 1988. (Screen capture from KTLA News video)*
>
> Called "Editor's Sync Guide" (or ESG), the process used 16mm
> kinescopes of the video and magnetic film transfers of the audio.
> Long-time editor Art Schneider A.C.E said the word of mouth from
> Astaire "literally opened up the flood gates to producers and
> directors who wanted their shows edited at NBC. "
>
> Schneider described how it worked in this webpage first posted on
> the late engineer/edit system designer Jack Calaway's "Museum of
> Early Video Editing Equipment and Techniques," preserved after his
> passing by the UK videotape website, VT Oldboys:
>
> http://www.vtoldboys.com/editingmuseum/esg.htm
>
> The Quad tape was physically spliced to conform to the film edit.
> (Would be good to know more about some of the audio sweetening
> process used.)
>
> Conforming the tape required the use of a special reel-holding set
> up. It allowed the videotape editors who conformed the tape to
> roll through the reels much like film while hearing the audio from
> the ESG and show. When splicing, they had to account for the
> physical offset between the sound head stack and video head.
>
> The ESG system was used to create many shows in the late 1950's to
> the early 1970s.
>
> It enabled Schneider to win two Primetime Emmys: One was shared
> with Craig Curtis in 1966 for Individual Achievements in
> Electronic Production - Video Tape Editing---they cut the 1965
> Julie Andrews special.
>
> Schneider second Primetime Emmy was solo in 1968 for Outstanding
> Individual Achievement in Electronic Production. The program:
> The pilot of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," which aired as a
> special on September 9, 1967.
>
> "Laugh-In" took the number of cuts per hour from perhaps 80 to
> something like 400.
>
> In 2009, Schneider commented about ESG to QuadList member John
> Buck in connection with John's book about videotape editing,
> "Timeline."
>
> John shared Art's comments in a Feb., 2010 post to the QuadList:
> http://mail.quadvideotapegroup.com/pipermail/quadlist_quadvideotapegroup.com/2010-February/002208.html
>
> The show became a mid-season entry on January 22, 1968 using the
> ESG system for editing, and ran 141 episodes through March 12, 1973.
>
> Others who worked at NBC at the time recalled the process to
> QuadList member/former NBC Editor David Crosthwait in this
> January, 2010 posting:
> http://mail.quadvideotapegroup.com/pipermail/quadlist_quadvideotapegroup.com/2010-January/001931.html
>
> *Burbank Adds Timecode Editing:*
>
>
> By the late 1960's, time code based editing was making its way
> into video editing.
>
> At NBC Burbank, the RCA TRT-1AC's, RCA Labs heterodyne color, and
> Low Band recording had been replaced by RCA TR-70 series machines
> with High Band Color.
>
> As outlined in the June, 1971 issue of "RCA Broadcast News," NBC
> looked into the new technology in 1967, and implemented a special
> edit room in Burbank with two VTRs. Completed in the summer of
> 1968, the room successfully edited a season of several prime time
> programs.
>
>
>
> *NBC Burbank Supervisor of Videotape Operations John Fishette
> mounts tape on an RCA TR-70 (RCA Broadcast News)*
>
> The experience led to ordering more time code editing gear, and
> incorporating more complete audio and video switching. An Ampex
> Slo-mo disc was also incorporated.
>
> First used for the fall 1969 season, the second room was averaging
> more than 12 hours a day of use cutting the Andy Williams and Don
> Knots shows, along with various specials.
>
> A third room was built for the fall, 1970 season, using the new
> RCA Time Code Editor developed by RCA engineers in Camden, New
> Jersey with experiences of the Burbank engineers and operators.
>
>
>
> *RCA Time Code Editor with programmer and nixie tube time code
> display. (RCA Photo)*
>
> Its first work was the Dean Martin and Red Skelton shows.
>
> *Editing the Dean Martin Show with the RCA Time Code Editor:*
>
> As a standard operating procedure, "Time of Day" time code was fed
> to the cue track all machines in the Burbank plant, allowing
> operators---and editors who often are the record engineers on
> shows like Dean Martin--- to easily log takes as they were
> recorded, using clock time.
>
> On the Martin show, two reels were generated during the Saturday
> evening sessions: A live-switched reel and an ISO of a single
> camera usually used for close ups.
>
> During the Monday/Tuesday edit sessions, shows were assembled on
> one-hour reels previously recorded with time code, video black and
> control track. A 15Hz frame pulse was added to the control track
> to help make color framing more accurate during editing, since the
> TR-70's didn't have a color framing detector.
>
> The editor operated the record VTR on which the show was
> assembled, along with the switcher. His assistant ran the
> playback VTR, its programmer and the slo-mo disc recorder when used.
>
> If dissolves to other reels were needed a third VTR and assistant
> were assigned.
>
> Contact closures at specified time codes rolled different video or
> audio equipment.
>
> Credit rolls for the "Dean Martin" show used A and B reels built
> up checkerboard style using the slo-mo disc to pull stills from
> the show. A third playback VTR was used to roll the credits for
> keying over the A-B roll pictures. The theme song was laid down
> from an audio deck during the playback to the edited master. The
> use of time code significantly sped up the process for building
> the credits.
>
> Audio sweetening was done after the master reel was assembled.
>
> Mono audio and time code were transferred from the edited master
> to two tracks of a four-track audio recorder equipped with a
> capstan servo and sync track. The time code from the four-track
> audio recorder was fed back to the RCA Time Code Editor so its
> synchronizing feature would lock the VTR to the audio deck TC.
>
> Sweetening added audience reaction and applause to smooth out
> transitions, along with equalization to match segment-to-segment
> sound and additional music.
>
> The results were mixed during re-recording to the mono audio track
> on the edited master.
>
> QuadList member and former NBC Editor David Crosthwait described
> working in one of the newer rooms in this January, 2010 message:
> http://mail.quadvideotapegroup.com/pipermail/quadlist_quadvideotapegroup.com/2010-January/001917.html
>
>
> So, there's a little bit of NBC Burbank Quad-related history. And now
> you know what I was editing all day :)
>
> Ted
>
> Ted Langdell
> Secretary
>
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> Please trim posts to relevant info when replying.
>
> Change subject to reflect thread direction. Thanks.
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