[QuadList] Help get a VR-1000B to NAB --Update--Mike Boland donates $1000

[Ted Langdell]

Hi, Ed,

I'll try to answer your question and challenge:

It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. More about that at towards the end of this message. More about why it costs what it costs and here:

It's big and it's heavy and some parts are delicate, and it has to come all the way across the country.

But, keep in mind that this VR – 1000Bs were used in trucks for remote production, back in the day. 

When it gets to Vegas, you pay for it to be unloaded, moved to the booth, re-loaded into a truck and taken back across the country.

That's the short logistics. But the devil is in the details.

You're dealing with two, 7 foot tall racks of tube type equipment.

The transport that you've seen pictures of is roughly 2 1/2 racks wide.  It has an overbridge. It's very heavy. It's not something one or two people can physically lift up on their own. It requires the use of material handling equipment. 

All of this equipment should be crated in order to protect the gear, and to allow for easier handling during shipment and when it arrives at the convention center in Las Vegas.  There's a cost to create the crates and get the equipment in them. But it makes safely moving stuff like this possible on a routine basis. 

There's a significant difference in how much Per hundred weight – 100 pounds – it costs to move equipment that's crated and can be moved with a forklift compared to equipment that is simply "blanket wrapped" or is "lose".

The $25,000 we've been mentioning handles the cost of building crates, getting the equipment into the crates, loading the crates into a gentle truck, shipping across the country, scheduling the truck to arrive at the marshaling yard at a particular time to wait for the go ahead to unload at the convention center, unloading at the convention center on "move in" day, moving the equipment to the booth, storing the empty crates during the show, bringing the crates back to the booth after the show is over, loading them on a truck for the trip back to Rhode Island, and unloading them once they arrive back at the museum.

It also covers the cost of wiring a three wire 220 AC feed to the booth to handle the power requirements of this particular piece of gear.

At a convention center like Las Vegas, there is a charge for all kinds of things. Power. Installing wiring for the power. Moving stuff around, called "material handling." There may be a few hours of labor time and one or two house labor people involved to extract the equipment from crates and put it back in again when the show is over.

It's not that convention centers are trying to make huge amounts of money off exhibitors, although we exhibitors do tend to squawk when it gets expensive. 

There IS a cost for them to provide the services, have the equipment available to move things around, the people to do that, pay the power bill, et Cetera, et Cetera, etc.

And before anyone gets excited about volunteering to do X, Y or Z, there are restrictions on how much an exhibitor can do in their booth, who is considered exhibitor staff and what they are allowed to do. Part of it is safety concerns. Part of it is labor concerns. Part of it is logistics.

You can imagine what chaos would exist if every exhibitor insisted on having their own forklift(s) their own forklift operator(s), bringing the trucks carrying their equipment in at any time they wanted.

Or if power was not properly supplied to booths, power cables were miswired, or installed in an unsafe manner. Or not installed in time for someone to get their booth up and running before Sunday's 2pm deadline.  

That deadline exists so that all forklift traffic and material handling is done, aisles are clear and the aisle carpet can be laid down. That's a process that takes all afternoon and night to do. Try that in four huge exhibit halls.

It's just simply a fact of life that one deals with this Way of doing things when exhibiting at tradeshows like this.

The museum is quite blessed with the fact that the booth space is donated by NAB.

Otherwise, A 10' x 10' booth in one of the halls would run $10,000. 

Multiply exponentially for larger booths and you get an idea of how much the space goes  for for and the necessity of having a system in place that ensures everybody gets set up in a timely fashion and later out the door in a timely fashion.

This is not just a circumstance where somebody can roll something up in a truck, drive it across the country to Las Vegas unload, roll it in on their own and then set it up.

tthe cost of renting your own truck tall enough to handle the racks and driving it across the country and back again is not necessarily less expensive than shipping it by a carrier.

Calculate the cost of the truck rental, the fuel, expenses for five days on the road including meals and Hotel for one or two people. It all adds up to quite close to if not more than the cost of having it shipped by a freight company or better yet, a moving company that has a gentler ride for the equipment.


So... Why do this?  What's the ROI?

Quite a few, actually:

This Anniversary-connected opportunity is not likely to be practical in the future, that is:


To show a working example of the VR – 1000 series equipment that kicked off video tape 60 years ago to mark and celebrate the 60th anniversary of the introduction to videotape.. 

The benefits to NAB attendees include that they get to actually see something that is — in today's world — rather unusual, and to gain some insight into the foundation of much the broadcast industry today. 

Working on this equipment supported a lot of people over a period of time. 

It opened the door to a variety of on-screen production techniques that are still used, even if the equipment is the size of a laptop or your iPhone and uses software instead of hey Smith splicer, Edivue, a razor blade and some metallized mylar tape. And on the hunan side, Skill, and practice.

It enables a discussion with folks that have archives of videotape that needs migration about what it takes to do that.

For the museum:

iI showcases what it's founders are able to do with equipment, and helps generate support for the physical repository, the restoration of what's in it, and I would hope, the ability to train younger people in how to restore, operate, and appreciate the equipment that's been collected and is slowly being restored.

Financial support would assist that effort. This showcase can help generate that support. 

You can't support what you don't know about it. Exposing people through NAB helps people know about the museum of Broadcast Technology 

Exhibitions like NAB are expensive. But NAB draws 90,000+ people — attendees and exhibitors included. 

It's unlikely that the museum would expose what it's doing to even a fraction of that many people if this equipment and other gear they have brought over the years remained in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.  

While not all of the attendees are going to be passing the Booth by the doors into North Hall from the taxi stand area, there still a lot of people passing by, or would an effort to come see this unique opportunity if they hear about it.  

People do stop. And I guarantee you that a working VR – 1000 is going to stop traffic!  And generate word mouth about "you got to go see this."

End it will generate recollections about when people used this sort of equipment, which can be recorded on site for preservation.

How do I know that?

Our little Zinfurbished Sony AV – 8650 EIAJ color deck stopped traffic passing our booth in lower South Hall last year, and I know it's going to do the same thing this year.  

People were talking. About their use of the equipment or, "I've never seen that before. What is it?"

That's the value. 

What happens after that is up to whoever's in the booth and how they present information and the benefits of supporting the museum or in my case, buying a Zinfurbished AV 8650. 


For some of us who were between one and seven years old when this equipment was initially in use, we might be able to push Play on a piece of equipment we were likely never able to see or touch at that age.

And it will certainly give us all something to appreciate and talk about, feel, touch, here, during our annual Tuesday lunch at NAB.

I hope this somewhat lengthy explanation helps folks understand what is involved in safely getting this piece of equipment to NAB and back again. 

Again, This Anniversary-connected opportunity is not likely to repeat itself.  

The equipment's getting older. We all are getting older. And who knows what's going to happen or be possible five or ten years from now. 

If 25,000 NAB attendees contributed a dollar, this would be no sweat or strain at all. 

A start is to get this message in front of them and direct them to the museum's GoFundMe page:

https://www.gofundme.com/wmbt.org

If this is helpful, please share this fundraising effort with your colleagues and friends who are attending NAB, or who might make the effort to attend if this unique piece of equipment was there.

Free NAB exhibit passes are available through the end of March.  Feel free to use LV3654. 

Cheers from California. 

Ted

Ted Langdell
Secretary, Quad Videotape Group
Ted at quadvideotapegroup.com
(530)301-2931

Dictated into and Sent from my iPhone, which is solely responsible for any weird stuff I didn't catch.


> On Mar 8, 2016, at 5:49 PM, COURYHOUSE at aol.com wrote:
> 
> How  big is this  thing?  in what  world  does cost 
> $25,000 to bring the machine to the show. 
>  
> my gut  says thee is something wrong  with this  price.
> prove me wrong.
>  
> Ed#
>  
>  
> In a message dated 3/8/2016 12:51:41 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com writes:
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> Subject: Re: Help get a VR-1000B to NAB --Update--Mike Boland donates $1000
> From: Ted Langdell <Ted at quadvideotapegroup.com>
> Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2016 11:51:18 -0800
> Cc: "<quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com>" <QuadList at quadvideotapegroup.com>,
> Tom Sprague <trs02446 at verizon.net>, Pete Fasciano <imagenda at aol.com>,
> Jay Ballard <TK41C at aol.com>, "Paul R. Beck"    <Paul_Beck at emerson.edu>
> To: Ted Langdell <ted at quadvideotapegroup.com>
> 
> 
> Quad list member and Boland Communications LCD/OLED monitor  company founder Mike Boland has donated $1000 to get the VR 1000B    to NAB. 
> 
> Richard Milton has donated $35. Park Seward has donated $100.  Norm Herzog has donated $100. Chuck Conrad donated $50, and Glen Pensinger kicked it off with $50.  
> 
> That's $1335 and $23,665 to go. 
> 
> 34 days left until Wednesday, March 30.
> 
> $696.02 needed per day to raise the total. Please share with your friends and broadcast colleagues.
> 
> https://www.gofundme.com/wmbtorg
> 
> And visit Mike in the Boland booth: SL4995
> 
> http://nab16.mapyourshow.com/7_0/exhibitor/exhibitor-details.cfm?ExhID=396&CFID=182736697&CFTOKEN=2d08dab5175884b5-8327B944-5056-9271-4E451899CCB44486
> 
> Thanks to all!
> 
> Ted
> 
> Ted Langdell
> Secretary, Quad Videotape Group
> Ted at quadvideotapegroup.com
> (530)301-2931
> 
> Dictated into and Sent from my iPhone, which is solely responsible for any weird stuff I didn't catch.
> 
> 
>> On Mar 2, 2016, at 12:33 PM, Ted Langdell <ted at quadvideotapegroup.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Greetings on the first Hump-day in March!
>> 
>> There seems to be some confusion about the nature of the VR-1000B that the Museum of Broadcast Technology wants to display at NAB on the 60th Anniversary of Videotape.
>> 
>> About the VR-1000B involved in this NAB 2016 Display:
>> 
>> This post is to clarify:
>> 
>> MBT has two VR-1000 models:  The one they’d like to display at NAB which is seen here in Sept. 2013:
>> <DSC_2483.jpeg>
>> 
>> and another just to the right of this unit’s racks that uses VR-1200 electronics, which was posted about earlier this week.
>> 
>> Confused?:
>> 
>> Perhaps the confusion occurred when a photo of the machine with VR-1200 electronics was posted, but the poster but did not change the subject line or make clear which machine was involved.
>> 
>> A later series of posts attempted to do that including several that were sent by MBT co-founders who aren’t subscribed to the QuadList. Yet. 
>> 
>> (See below for their comments and what I’m doing to subscribe them.)
>> 
>> Because of that, I’ve had some off-list e-mails from people who were confused.  So this e-mails is an attempt to address that.  
>> 
>> Please make sure you DO change the subject line when taking a thread in another direction, and please DO try to caption pictures in such a way that it’s clear what’s pictured. 
>> 
>> Ooopses happen, and I hope we can forgive them and do better moving forward. 
>> 
>> The machine to be displayed as it is now:
>> 
>> This photo shows the VR-1000B to be displayed in operation at MBT, with its two racks of tube electronics to the right of the transport:
>> <12799152_10153956202118166_8217335024342297710_n.jpeg>
>> 
>> What this VR-1000B is equipped with:
>> 
>> Tom Sprague advised in a non-list communication that this machine for NAB has what was “native” to the VR-1000 series:
>> 
>> “One thing I should make clear is that we did NOT modify the machine for color operation."
>> 
>> Yes, the original VR-1000B could not do "direct color," but the official Ampex upgrade path was to install Intersync, Amtec, and Colortec. 
>> 
>> That is what was done at some time in the past, maybe 1964 or 1965? The machine came all wired and all modified for these accessories. 
>> 
>> The machine was in service at least until 1975, so it operated as a color machine for most of its life. 
>> 
>> Tom"
>> 
>> Regarding the “other” machine, Tom advised:
>> 
>> "Yes Ted. David is pictured with the VR-1000HB. This is a VR-1000B converted to high band with VR-1200 components by Ampex of Canada. The conversion was offered as a kit. 
>> 
>> We have had that one working for a while. 
>> 
>> Tom"
>> 
>> MBT co-founder Jay Ballard replied to the post containing the picture of the “other” machine," (which didn’t go out to the QuadList because he’s not yet subscribed.)
>> 
>> In the message CC'd to the poster Jay's MBT colleagues and myself, he said:
>> 
>> Tom has worked tirelessly to get the 1000B working w/o complete documentation.  It  eventually locks up and plays LBC with AMTEC  and Colortec..  We are desperate for an Ampex tube Intersync drawing, V6
>>  
>> I had to rebuild the WFMs, PIXM, and 5 250 V 1 Amp PSUs in between camera repairs.  BTW, it is not the VTR in the picture, but it is to the left of that VTR.
>>  
>> Tom deserves the Order of the Iron Test Pattern for his hard work. Me, the John Frishette award for boozing.
>>  
>> Jay Ballard
>> 
>> Note: (I am attempting to subscribe all four MBT correspondents to the QuadList, as their replies have been held as non-subscribers.  However the admin access right now is not behaving properly.  Bad caps? Off frequency?  Will try again later from a different device.)
>> 
>> Donating:
>>  
>> Getting this example of the first model of video tape recorder to NAB for the 60th anniversary of the unveiling of  commercially successful video tape can be achieved if you and 991 other people contribute $25 or more.
>> 
>> QuadList and long-time engineer, SMPTE Member and author Glen Pensinger kicked the drive off with a $50 contribution on Sunday. 
>> 
>> Chuck Conrad followed with $50 on Monday.         
>> 
>> And 18 hours ago, former Ampex “old timer” and Quad guy Norm Herzog gave $100.
>> 
>> So there’s only  $24,800 to go. 
>> 
>> The Museum needs to have funds in hand by March 30.
>> 
>> 33 people a day making a $25 contribution
>> 15 people a day making a $50 donation or 
>> 8.26 people a day giving $100
>> 
>> Where to donate:
>> 
>> The clock is ticking and Museum of Broadcast Technology has reactivated its GoFundMe page:
>> 
>> https://www.gofundme.com/wmbt.org
>> 
>> What you can do in addition to funding this project:
>> 
>> Please share this with your friends and colleagues, the broadcast engineering and technology societies of which you may be a member. 
>> 
>> Pass the hat at your March organization meetings, (or pass around an iPad set to the go fund me page, so individuals can make contributions while your meeting is in progress.)  
>> 
>> At the least, print out a flyer with this information.  (I’ll try to devise a PDF and post it to the list.)
>> 
>> Use your Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to spread the word.
>> 
>> Your contributions are tax-deductible, and will be recognized by the Museum of Broadcast Technology, and by the Quad Videotape Group which is helping the fundraising effort.
>> 
>> The Museum of Broadcast Technology has been bringing equipment to NAB since 2013, beginning with the smallest quad machine you've ever seen, the Ampex VR – 3000.  In 2014, they brought an RCA TP-10 portable Quad.  
>> 
>> Your help will make it more likely that there’s a Quad machine at NAB on the 60th Anniversary of the unveiling of videotape.
>> 
>> These machines provided work for engineers, employment for television production staff, Ampex employees and their        parts manufacturers, and improved the quality of what television viewers have seen since 1956… particularly on the West Coast and then world-wide.
>> 
>> Thanks for your time, interest and help moving this machine from Woonsocket, Rhode Island to Las Vegas and back. 
>> 
>> It will certainly give us all something to talk about and marvel at during the Quad Videotape Group Annual Lunch at NAB at 12:30pm, Tuesday, April 19, 2016.
>> 
>> And a working backdrop for oral histories about your experiences with VR-1000s and other Quad machines.
>> 
>> Cheers!
>> 
>> Ted
>> 
>> Ted Langdell
>> Secretary
>> Quad Videotape Group
>> iPhone:  (530) 301-2931
>> ted at QuadVideotapeGroup.com
>> Skype:  
>>     TedLangdell 
>> 
>> Web:  www.QuadVideotapeGroup.com
>> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/QuadVideotapeGroup
> =
> 
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