22-02-2024, 02:22 PM
(This post was last modified: 22-02-2024, 02:25 PM by Yellowtriumph.)
(17-02-2024, 07:11 PM)Mike Watterson Wrote: I seem to remember someone did use a magnetic disk or drum based system for freeze frame or instant replay on broadcast. Possibly even in the BBC for a while. How else would you do it before sufficient RAM and digital conversion? Though the BBC Research was looking at digital video at least as early as 1970, because I presented a project idea based on that and laser based carriage of the signals. I think long distance fibre was demoed in 1972.
In the 1970s even the clocks were old. An electrically energized pendulum clock in CTA drove all the dumb clocks in the building.
However with Umatic and time codes by 1970s no-one considered splicing video tape to edit.
As has already been referred to I think you are referring to the Ampex HS100. I think the disk platters were coated in Rhodium but I may be mis-remembering. Ampex bought the rotating platter assemblies from another North American company somewhere in Northern California if I recall correctly.
At LWT we had a pair of pendulum driven clocks systems well into the 80's - might even guess the very early 90's. They were down in the basement as the ambient temperature was much more stable there. I think when they were eventually replaced by a Leitch Satellite system one of my colleagues took one of the master clocks home - I will ask.
I think manual 'cut' tape editing continued some time into the 70's for sport purposes. It was a lot quicker to cut down a tape to remove a large section of non-required 'action' than to dub edit it using any method such as cue-tone or time code editing. I've never done it myself, but I have played back number of cut edited tapes and it did make me cringe when the splice passed under the head wheel I can tell you!!
