studiomprd Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 T. Aukofer Chief Engineer Frisco Classic Stereo Productions Bay Area CA A slightly adapted and updated version of a paper I did in junior high. http://78rpmrecord.com/altformat.htm ANALOG: REEL (AUDIO): Quarter inch and half inch (single, two, three and four track,) plus: CONSTANT LINEAR VELOCITY (CAPSTAN DRIVE): Quarter inch 8-track (Fostex E- Half inch 8-track (Tascam 38) Half inch 16 track (Fostex E-16---must borrow deck, check for availability) NAGRA SYNC QUARTER-INCH, EIGHTH-INCH EDISON VOICEWRITER (3-INCH TAPE/HOME LIBRARY SYSTEM) 32-TRACK MCI (3-INCH TAPE) SPEEDS: 15/16, 1-7/8, 3-3/4, 7, 1/2, 15 SPEEDS (ODD): 22 1/2, 11-1/4 6-1/8, 3-1/16 1-17/32 49/64 CONSTANT ANGULAR VELOCITY (RIM DRIVE): STENORETTE MAIL-A-LETTER AUDIONOTES DICT-A-BELT MAGN-A-BELT WIRE RECORDINGS TALK-A-PHONE/MAGNETIC DISC (12 RPM) AMPEX MAGN-A-DISC (RADIO STATIONS) AUDIO CARTRIDGES/SOUND MAGAZINES*: NAB CARTRIDGE (2 TRACK OR 3-TRACK) RCA SOUND MAGAZINE/QUICK LOAD (1958) M-II AKAI 12-TRACK PORTASTUDIO U-MATIC 12-TRACK ANALOG PORTASTUDIO CASSETTE [CONSTANT LINEAR VELOCITY] (CAPSTAN DRIVE): PHILIPS 2-TRACK (MONO HEAD CONFIG) PHILIPS 4-TRACK (STEREO HEAD CONFIG) PHILIPS 4-TRACK (TALKING BOOK/PORTASTUDIO HEAD CONFIG) SANSUI 6-TRACK PORTASTUDIO MICROCASSETTE (MONO AND STEREO) SPEEDS: 15/16, 1-7/8, 3-3/4 CASSETTE [CONSTANT ANGULAR VELOCITY] (RIM DRIVE): NORELCO MINICASSETTE (MONO ONLY) * IN ORDER TO PROVIDE GREATER SPEED STABILITY AND MAXIMIZE HEAD-TO-TAPE CONTACT DURING TRANSFER: All types of eighth-inch (0.15 as well as 0.125) quarter inch and half inch audio carts and cassettes are disassembled, leader spliced onto both ends and wound onto 7-inch or 5-inch NAB hub reels before being transferred on a reel deck to the digital format of your choice. DISC (AUDIO) [CONSTANT ANGULAR VELOCITY]: 33 RPM/45 RPM including CD-4, UD-4 as well as matrix quad 16 RPM TALKING BOOK (HALF-MIL STYLUS) 16 RPM HIGHWAY HI-FI (QUARTER-MIL STYLUS) SO-CALLED 78 RPM DISCS (can be from 60-120 RPM) AND 1 INCH TO 22 DOLL/TOY RECORDS `` `` `` `` EDISON DIAMOND DISC: STANDARD PLAY/LONG PLAY DISC (AUDIO) [CONSTANT-LINEAR-VELOCITY]: Audograph, Memovox, CGS, etc CYLINDER (AUDIO): 2-min 4-min, Concert style, Hatbox, Pink Lambert Blue Amberol Etc (call for quotes/availability) MAGNETIC FILM: 16 MM: Single track, twin-track and edge track (Sound-on-film/striped) 35 MM: Single track/balance track or twin-track/striped 4-track/striped FULL COAT: 35 MM 3- 4- and 6-track FULL COAT: 70 MM 16- 24 - and Universal/(Bob Leonard) format DIGITAL AUDIO: DAT PHILIPS DCC REEL (VIDEO): ONE-INCH: IVC/Sony Ampex A-Format Ampex C-Format HALF-INCH: EIAJ Skip-field, Animation/Stop-motion (up to 108 hr) Full-motion PCM/NTSC 44.056 KHz sampling, 12- 14- or 16-bit QUARTER-INCH Akai 11.25 IPS Concord 11.25 IPS VIDEO CARTRIDGE: U-MATIC STANDARD U-MATIC HALF-SPEED (INSTITUTIONAL/SCHOOL USE) VHS SuperVHS Beta/SuperBeta, EDBeta Admiral/Cartrivision V-Cord I/II EIAJ (square cartridges, often used for security tapes) Technicolor format (quarter-inch) PCM/NTSC 44.056 KHz sampling, 12- 14- or 16-bit DISC (VIDEO): LASERDISC: STANDARD, SQUEEZE-LD, MUSE, DIRECTOR'S COMM. CED/RCA SELECTAVISION VHD CD-VIDEO CD-INTERACTIVE CD-GRAPHICS MINIDISC/HI-MD STANDARD HI-MD CAMERA DISCS (650 MB) MOTION VIDEO DISCS 4-TRACK PORTASTUDIO (YAMAHA MD-4) (A-TO-D TRANSFER) 8-TRACK PORTASTUDIO (YAMAHA MD- `` `` `` `` OTHER STRANGE FORMATS BY REQUEST SPECIAL RATES FOR NONPROFITS/MUSEUMS, INDIVIDUAL ARCHIVISTS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 Tell 'em not to bake the wax cylinders! They'll melt. The only video format they left out was the Matsushita VX (aka "Great Time Machine") format, which was actually popular for about 5 minutes. The toughest one to play is 2" quad, and the best guy for that is David Crosthwait, here in LA: DC Video 177 West Magnolia Blvd. Burbank, CA 91502 (818) 563-1073 First-class 2" video work. And he does have access to the big ovens needed to bake old back-coated videotapes. BTW, I just encountered a client who can't restore digital picture files on a job I did only 9 years ago. Yep, the digital files can no longer be accessed from the backup media. Luckily, the HD videotape still plays fine... but it makes you wonder how long the digital files are going to last, especially if they can't even load a data tape that's not yet a decade old. --Marc W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Visser Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 Shouldn't M-II be listed under video instead pf audio, or is there an audio M-II that I'm not aware of. M-II was Panasonic's stab at analog video, one of the last analog tape formats, arguably the best quality. I recently got asked by Kamehameha schools about transferring about 40 hours of Nagra sound reels, but I think I scared em off with my quote. They couldn't answer my numerous questions about the original recorder, speeds, eq, etc... Good to know that there are still specialists to refer them to if they come back and the tape is not something I can handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted March 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 " Shouldn't M-II be listed under video instead pf audio, " I just copied the info they sent me, in case it is of any interest (especially as someone recently found some 70's era production sound rolls)... what it is listed under isn't important! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celac Posted March 13, 2011 Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 <SNIO> BTW, I just encountered a client who can't restore digital picture files on a job I did only 9 years ago. Yep, the digital files can no longer be accessed from the backup media. Luckily, the HD videotape still plays fine... but it makes you wonder how long the digital files are going to last, especially if they can't even load a data tape that's not yet a decade old. --Marc W. Hi, Just curious but, is this due to not converting formats in a timely manner or is the data corrupt? Celac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted March 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 " due to not converting formats in a timely manner or is the data corrupt? " yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted March 14, 2011 Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 Just curious but, is this due to not converting formats in a timely manner or is the data corrupt? Worse than that. We backed up everything to the DTF-2 format... which is no longer supported by Sony. Everything now in the VFX and Post world is all LTO-4, LTO-5, and the (new) LTO-6. Think of it as the "Betamax" of digital pictures. (And this was a major, $40,000,000 studio picture that was a big success.) --Marc W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celac Posted March 14, 2011 Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 Worse than that. We backed up everything to the DTF-2 format... which is no longer supported by Sony. Everything now in the VFX and Post world is all LTO-4, LTO-5, and the (new) LTO-6. Think of it as the "Betamax" of digital pictures. (And this was a major, $40,000,000 studio picture that was a big success.) --Marc W. Thanks for the reply. I suppose it is one of the curious ironies of the current march of progress that the tools are still available to transcribe ancient (and in my case, commercially valueless) media but not so for comparatively recent formats. I imagine that the kernel of a business might lie therein given the value of these properties. If nothing else it is clearly incumbent on modern archivists to vigilantly manage the migration of digital assets to currently viable formats. Plus... I got an enigmatic one-worder from the Senator. Celac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted March 14, 2011 Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 The Senator is partly right! The tapes are falling apart, so the data is getting corrupt... and none of the DTF-2 machines needed to play the tapes will work. It's kind of like making a DVD-R backup of something, and then finding out your DVD-ROM drive is bad and the disk is falling apart. --Marc W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celac Posted March 14, 2011 Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 The Senator is partly right! The tapes are falling apart, so the data is getting corrupt... and none of the DTF-2 machines needed to play the tapes will work. It's kind of like making a DVD-R backup of something, and then finding out your DVD-ROM drive is bad and the disk is falling apart. --Marc W. That I have actually had happen. I have a lot of stuff on CDR's which, if I was drawing comics, would clearly emit a ticking noise. The Senator is fine by me. His answer, implying but not stating "both", was clear enough. Celac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.