- published: 15 Nov 2014
- views: 15440
2-inch quadruplex videotape (also called 2″ quad, or just quad, for short) was the first practical and commercially successful analog recording videotape format. It was developed and released for the broadcast television industry in 1956 by Ampex, an American company based in Redwood City, California. This format revolutionized broadcast television operations and television production, since the only recording medium available to the TV industry before then was film used for kinescopes, which was much more costly to utilize and took time to develop at a film laboratory. In addition, kinescope images were usually of obviously inferior quality to the live television broadcast images they recorded, whereas quadruplex videotape preserved almost all the image detail of a live broadcast.
Since most United States West Coast network broadcast delays done by the television networks at the time were done with film kinescopes that needed time for developing, the networks wanted a more practical, cost-effective, and quicker way to time-shift television programming for later airing on the West Coast. Broadcasters also sought a recording medium that was not as costly or time-consuming to edit and develop as film. Faced with these challenges, broadcasters sought to adapt magnetic tape recording technology (already in use for recording audio) for use with television as well.
Loading and lining up an Ampex VR2000 videotape machine.
We forget sometimes how far video technology has come in just the past few years. I recently needed to get some video from an old 2" Quad videotape and discovered that the machines that can play them are almost non-existent, not to mention people who know how to operate and maintain them. Also the tape manufacturers built in a time-bomb that is literally destroying these old tapes as they sit on shelves - even in properly climate controlled rooms! My friend Larry Odham just happens to have a working Ampex VR-1200B - and he shows us what it takes.
This is probably the first instructional video I made - around 1995. Watch and learn how the first videotape machine worked - the 2" quadruplex VTR. [Production details: shot on 8mm camcorder; post production Betacam SP]
This is a sequence of promos and opens derived from a two-inch quadruplex videotape. The tape was played on an RCA TR-70c videotape machine and transferred to a digital file. The content dates to about 1980. All rights are acknowledged.
This first installment is an overview of this RCA TR-70C. Since I recorded this video, I have learned that this machine originally came from the "Instructional Resources Center" at the University of Georgia in Athens, and was not part of the studio facility at WGTV. I couldn't find out an actual date when this machine was retired and moved into storage, but apparently it was a few years after the WGTV ones were stored in 1983. There it remained until April 7, 2009 when I purchased it along with the three others that had been used at WGTV. For more info on me and what I do, please check out my website: www.AnalogRetentive.com
This video documents the initial application of AC power to the second in a group of four TR-70s from the University of Georgia in Athens. This machine was one of three TR-70s used on the air at WGTV. This machine has been in storage since 1983 when WGTV moved their studios from Athens to Atlanta. If you'd like more info on me and what I do, please check out my website: www.AnalogRetentive.com
Seqence showing VT4 at Central TV Birmingham playing opening of Central news Early 1982
These are four Ampex AVR series of videotape machines playing back video in real time. They include an AVR-1 playing High Band Color at 15 ips, a second AVR-1 playing High Band Color at 7.5 ips, an AVR-3 playing HIgh Band Color at 15 ips and an AVR-2 also playing High Band Color at 15 ips. These machines are in daily use at our facility in Burbank.
this is what happens when a 2 inch videotape clogs on air
The Dinah Shore Show Recorded at NBC "Color City", Burbank California November 9, 1958 This 2" Quadruplex videotape is thought to be the third oldest surviving color videotape anywhere. Recorded at NBC Burbank on the RCA TRT-1 2" quad color VTR using the RCA "Color Labs" low-band proprietary recording system. This tape was recovered at DC Video on an Ampex AVR-1 using special circuit modifications developed in-house.
My first attempt at a video
Here's a familiar sight for all us old tape guys and gals...especially if you play it in reverse! I recently got a half hour show in to transfer, and after threading it up and hitting "play", it immediately clogged all four heads completely. Usually a very bad sign for the condition of the entire reel, but I stopped and cleaned the heads anyway and tried again. I thought that maybe...just maybe, I might get lucky this time, so I rolled my capture computer....just in the unlikely case the tape was only soft right at the head of the reel. This time, it immediately clogged one head totally and the other three to varying degrees, but the more it played, the more it cleared itself up. You can see the dropout compensator (DOC), velocity compensator, and the line by line chroma amplitude com...
"The Cowboy and the Tiger". Recorded on November 1, 1963 at The Videotape Center, New York City on 2 inch Low-Band Mono Quadruplex Videotape. The record stock was Scotch 3M 379. This clip is courtesy of Sonny Fox Productions. See a group photo when Sonny Fox and company came by for the transfer: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=630251270335568&set;=a.630251247002237.1073741830.123809690979731&type;=1&theater; For more information on this program, contact Sonny Fox at: sfox@sonnyfoxconsultants.com The Ampex AVR-1 used in this transfer has the unique ability to handle vintage 2" quad videotape in a gentle and precise fashion. No quadruplex machine except for the AVR-1 has contact with the oxide surface of the tape on the video and audio heads only. No flopping tension arms. No bal...
In this rare 1966 demonstration film, John W. Wentworth of RCA explains the features and properties of RCA's newest videotape recorder, the TR-4. Ampex introduced the first broadcast VTR in 1956 and revolutionized the TV industry, by replacing filmed kinescoped recordings of TV shows with 2 inch videotapes. Two decades later, 2 inch recorders were phased out as the industry turned to higher quality and more cost effective 1 inch recorders.
Selected works by Jesse Stuart read and acted out. Digitized from two inch quad video tape through a 2014-2015 internal WKU Libraries grant. Part of WKU Kentucky Heritage Project collection housed at WKU Archives http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_fin_aid/373/ . This video was originally produced using NEH grant funds. WKU Archives houses film and videotape created by many university departments and programs. Most films were created for educational purposes and others for promotion of specific departments or WKU as a whole. For information on how to request a copy of a film, please see http://www.wku.edu/library/archive/218.php#film
AMPEX VR-2000B Ukázka quadruplex rekordéru v provozu
Intersync alignment procedure and test of electronic editor on VR2000B. Trochu zdlouhavá ukázka nastavení jednotky Intersync a předvedení střihových operací na quadruplexu.
VR2000B part 5 of 8 Performing a record with Ampex quad. Testování funkce záznam na stroji VR2000B