It's Easter Break, and we at Solarbotics are shuttin' down for the weekend as of Thursday. See you Monday Morning!
Vintage AMPEX VR1200B 2" Quadruplex VTR ...
Solar botics
January 8, 2016
I occupy a studio space in a building that is a former movie shooting facility turned into an artist hovel. The building itself is wonderfully old but the hallways are also full of ancient audio and video equipment from the movie days. One of the things that got the attention of our RnD and tech geek was the AMPEX VR1200B Quadruplex videotape recorder from 1966. The machine stands about 5' tall, about the same in width, and weighs 'under 1000 pounds' as the spec sheet puts it. This was one of the first machines to use magnetic tape technology for recording video in the form of 2" quad tape for video, as opposed to film that was used previously.
A couple interesting points about this machine:
- 60PSI Air was needed for air bearings and a Venturi system for holding the 2" tape in alignment;
- These machines were the workhorses in TV Stations throughout the 60's and 70's. Running these machines required a full time technician!
Here's the beast in action:
A photoset of AMPEX VR1200B
An Overview of Ampex History:
MORE POSTS
Survey! Prizes!
We have developed a quick little survey to help us find out a few things from our visitors, and we hope you won't mind giving us your thoughts. In exchange for a little bit of your time, we will be entering your name into a draw for our newest product up on deck -- the […]
LANL 2001 Pictures and other Website stu...
We have pictures from the Los Alamos National Labs Workshops! Check them out under the Gallery heading, or at the bottom of this post. We are having temporary difficulties with our Solarbotics.net server, eliminating the ability to read PDF files or downloads. This should be rectified soon. Also, in the transfer process, everyone who asked […]
LMR Start Here Kit, Beetlebot Preorders
Good news! Despite a few small setbacks and stumbling blocks, we've survived both the office move and Maker Faire! (I was going to say that at least nothing burned down, but that isn't exactly the case...). But now that things are settling back to normal, we'll be doing our best to bring you more awesome […]
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!
Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.
Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.