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Post by Ben on Mar 18, 2005 1:25:29 GMT
I've been following a man called Peter Smith's posts at the RT's forum with great interest. The most recent (and most interesting) can be found at the following link: www.rtforum.co.uk/read.php?id=105173He's obtained some sixties video recordings and is slowly identifying their contents. Let's all hope for Doctor Who (though this now seems unlikely). |
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RWels
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Post by RWels on Mar 18, 2005 9:26:32 GMT
So that's reel-to-reel?
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Post by William Martin on Mar 18, 2005 13:23:22 GMT
must be.
also regarding the high price of tapes, since the machines were expensive so most (although not all by any means) of the purchasers would have been fairly rich and therefore the high price of the tapes wouldn't have been a problem.
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Post by Guest on Mar 18, 2005 15:40:59 GMT
must be. also regarding the high price of tapes, since the machines were expensive so most (although not all by any means) of the purchasers would have been fairly rich and therefore the high price of the tapes wouldn't have been a problem. However re-use of tapes was a much more prevalent issue due to their high cost ... so something rare (now) would likely to be copied over and over and over until the machine was replaced by VHS or Beta - at which point the tape no longer had that rare mid 70s drama but some quiz game from 1979 which (a) is of little interest and (b) stands a much better chance of surviving in the archives than that rare programme of 2 years earlier! Not many N1500 tapes will have their earliest stuff on them sadly ... economics wouldn't allow it for most of the people who could afford the machines in the first place! It's not impossible of course .. but a small fraction of the small number of original tapes ... |
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RWels
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Post by RWels on Mar 18, 2005 17:00:31 GMT
And of course no-one recorded from TV with the intention to preserve it for later generations should the master tapes be erased.
Looking back it was a kind of roulette, really, to record something and keep it forever.
Anyway one would have to be a fan of a program already before one would spend a valuable tape on recording it. So things that got broadcast only once would stand a really slim chance of survival except if a writer or actor would record it at home.
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Post by William Martin on Mar 19, 2005 15:03:41 GMT
However re-use of tapes was a much more prevalent issue due to their high cost ... so something rare (now) would likely to be copied over and over and over until the machine was replaced by VHS or Beta - at which point the tape no longer had that rare mid 70s drama but some quiz game from 1979 which (a) is of little interest and (b) stands a much better chance of surviving in the archives than that rare programme of 2 years earlier! Not many N1500 tapes will have their earliest stuff on them sadly ... economics wouldn't allow it for most of the people who could afford the machines in the first place! It's not impossible of course .. but a small fraction of the small number of original tapes ... well thats the problem(from our point of view) with video, but it would only take one collector, but you're right of course, I've always tried not to think about that. but almost certainly home video recording would have amounted to more copies than the BBC ever produced at least giving it a fighting chance. |
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RWels
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Post by RWels on Mar 19, 2005 15:38:24 GMT
but it would only take one collector And relatives who would be smart enough as not to throw everything away with the garbage if that collector died. Or if he's still alive, please report here immediately! |
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Post by William Martin on Mar 21, 2005 16:02:45 GMT
yes once met a man who had unloaded a load of 1/2" tapes to music buff who had used them for sound recording, never knew if they where video or not, he thought they may have been, never know now, still the chances are that if they were they only had modern school stuff on them. This sort of thing must happen all the time though. or as you say just dumped  |
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RWels
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Post by RWels on Mar 21, 2005 16:22:16 GMT
Much the same like the history of books & manuscripts, really.
Except that there is no gutenberg bible of missing tapes...
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Post by William Martin on Mar 21, 2005 16:28:54 GMT
Much the same like the history of books & manuscripts, really. Except that there is no gutenberg bible of missing tapes... well there is a rumour... |
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RWels
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Post by RWels on Mar 23, 2005 0:04:30 GMT
Gutenberg - the movie??
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Post by William Martin on Mar 23, 2005 17:09:28 GMT
shh.. don't spoil the ending.
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RWels
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Post by RWels on Mar 25, 2005 0:08:07 GMT
Depends if it really is the bible or only as a figure of speech.
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Post by ianj on Mar 26, 2005 23:12:58 GMT
 Hi everyone, Just to add; in the U.K, from 1963 the PHILIPS el3400 1/2" helical scan video tape recorder was available-this was VERY expensive, a valve/transistor hybrid machine that recorder on 405 lines vhf, by way of a special "fitment" that was on the end of a long lead; you removed the back of your tv set, and placed the fitment OVER the line output valve--this gave the necessary signal frequency for the recording. the tv. set had to be switched on, and tuned in correctly to the programme you wanted to record..........................so............they COULD be out there, somewhere........................................who knows! regards, ianj
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Post by andrewainsworth on Mar 29, 2005 22:21:42 GMT
Sadly no recovered who  Peter Smith Re: Peter Smith's 1960's Video Tapes Tue Mar 29 2005 09:30:45 217.205.244.201 As yet not a great deal of progress, the machine contains something like 80+ electrolytics, some of peculiar values, however by changing the 2uf electrolytic on the squirrel cage motor I have at least been able to identify what's on the tapes. The Hancock episodes are all complete with continuity as transmitted, another contains Testcard C and some test signals from the 60's, another contains the Aimi Macdonald show previously mentioned and another contains various adverts from 1967, I suspect it was a tape sent to a television company to allow them to preview various adverts (they are varied from alcohol, holidays to Spain for £38 and dual standard TV sets. Sadly there is no Dr Who or anything related to it. I am sending the tapes away to be transferred to VHS due to their age and fragile nature, when they are returned I will of course make copies of anything from the tapes available to the BBC (or ITV where applicable) if anything is known to be missing. The dates of the tapes look to be between 1966-1969, certainly nothing after 1969. Please be assured that I will keep you up-to-date as soon as i have more information. |
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Hi everyone,