<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt"><div>Well, Park & Trevor, you have the wrong Swiss!!!<br><br>The VPR-5 was a joint design effort between Kudelski (Nigra fame) SA, and Ampex. The VPR-5 and the VPR-3 were both introduced to the World at IBC 1982 in Brighton, England. The conceptual design of the VPR-5, was offered to Ampex as a non-operational concept model that Stephan Kudelski had shopped around to Sony and Hitachi (the two other makers of "C" format portables) and had no takers. We looked at it, and realized that we would have to teach Stephan's folks how to design a video recorder, in particular, video design, servo design, video head design, and electronic packaging. When he first saw SMT( surface mount technology), he said he did not need any fancy soldering machines, just give me a " deep fat fryer and a variable
transformer" and he would make it work!<br> I toured his facility in Switzerland, and when we were passing a screwmachine, he stopped, picked a small tea strainer off a hook, put it in the outgoing oil stream, then held it to me, and poked his finger in the oil and finally I saw three screws, which I would have needed a magnifier to see any threads!<br>Then, we were going upstairs, he was three steps ahead, taking them two at a time, and he was in his 60's( and I was in my 40's) and I asked him a question? "Stephan how many people do you employ in this building"?<br>He stopped short, I almost ran into him, and he answered, "Bill, you really know how to ask that question!" <br>I asked what he meant by that answer? He said that most other folks usually ask, "How many people work in this building? and I answer", " About 40%" , "but in reality, your answer is about 390 people"<br>.<br>I could tell many stories about those days, but the best is that I
don't think either company broke even (paid off the engineering) and I had been told by my manager at that time ( of introduction), that the VPR-3 was to complex, and like the other Hi Tech Recorders from earlier times, we would not sell more than five hundred. <br>Those products were AVR-1, ACR-25, AVR -3, and many years later I checked and we were still making and selling VPR-3, and it had regained major markets for Ampex, caused many problems for RCA, Sony, and Hitachi, and we had sold over 2300!<br> I had a backlog of orders, going into NAB 1983, after showing a raw prototype with very basic operations, twice, once IBC in Brighton, and the second time at the Fall SMPTE, in NY City, which was over 40M$. <br>I guess you folks liked my machine, and that was before the Zeus TBC or Mike Arbuthnot! Those two only made things better! <br>OBTW, when I introduced the VPR-3 to the domestic (USA) sales force, at NAB, I had a special showing in our booth
at the show, on the day before the show opened at 2PM to allow them to ask anything, and see anything about the machine. I personally asked Mike Arbuthnot, to come in at noon, for a private showing. I took him thru everything about the machine. <br>When I visited him at his home in Colorado, last Spring, we discussed that special showing and he asked "Why did you do that!" and I told him that it was very simple, I recognized that he was a very smart salesman, and that if I could teach him about the machine, then I would have no questions from the other 6-8 sales folks in Canada! <br>I was also trying to show him what a great time we had in Redwood City in Product Management and later got him to leave Canada and join the Redwood City Group.<br><br>Bill Carpenter<br></div><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font size="2"
face="Tahoma"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> C. Park Seward <park@videopark.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Quad List <quadlist@quadvideotapegroup.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Sun, February 7, 2010 2:17:58 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [QuadList] VPR5<br></font><br>
<base>Yes, Trevor. The 5 was a co-development of Studer and Ampex. Amazing technology that came out right before Betacam SP. A single piece camcorder was more friendly to the cameramen.<br><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div><div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">Best,</div><div>Park</div><div><br></div></div><div>C. Park Seward</div><div><span>Visit us: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.videopark.com">http://www.videopark.com</a></span></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span></div></span></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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<br><div><div>On Feb 7, 2010, at 2:00 PM, Peter Ford wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div><div><font size="2" face="Arial"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><font size="2" face="Arial"></font><font size="2" face="Arial"></font><font size="2" face="Arial">Hi Trevor</font></font></font></div><div><font size="2" face="Arial"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><font size="2" face="Arial"></font></font></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><font size="2" face="Arial">The VPR5 was a very unusual machine. Apparently Ampex engaged
Willy Studer to design the Transport. The Studer company (Factories in Germany and Switzerland) used to make very well engineered Studer professional audio recorders plus domestic audio recorders under the name Revox.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="2" face="Arial"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><font size="2" face="Arial"></font></font></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">Peter Ford</font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </font></font></div><font size="2" face="Arial"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font><div><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><font size="2" face="Arial"></font><br>>When they do that for C format VT machines mine will be the VPR5 again heavy<br>>but stunning engineering.<br><font size="2" face="Arial">></font><br>>I hate to imagine what they cost new<br><font
size="2" face="Arial">></font><br>>Again not many around<br><font size="2" face="Arial">></font><br>>Trevor<br><font size="2" face="Arial">></font>UK Member</font></div></font></div></span></blockquote></div></div></div>
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