Quad Fault: Remind Me...

[Steve Burgess]

Viewers in the UK last night (10 March) were able to watch a repeat of a 
1981 edition of Top of the Pops featuring UB40, Adam and the Ants and a 
fondly-remembered dance group called Legs and Co wearing, well, very little 
at all, really.  (Now I remember why I enjoyed working on this show!)

Worryingly, during the first 30 seconds or so of the girls' routine my 
attention was grabbed by white dots with small tails in a regular 
diamond-shaped array which I recall being a characteristic of a Quad 
recording with problems - a tape scratch?  Some lovely EMI 2001 pictures, 
once again.

BBC TV Centre was mixed Quad and C-Format in those days and I think it was 
pot-luck which was used for studio play-in and recording.  Also spotted, an 
HL79D in prominent deployment for close-ups of keyboards and drums.  Noticed 
lifted blacks on a standards-converted US pop video; that darned NTSC 
pedestal again (but those lifted blacks are great for checking noise 
performance).

Steve 


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