To understand the scope and the magnitude of the challenges involved to record and reproduce a television signal, using vacuum tube technology in the 1950's, is a Monumental Achievement tantamount to Man landing on the Moon. Absolutely mind boggling. Well done, Gentlemen
What a fascinating posting. I've been a television history geek most of my life, love find out about the developments in the history of television. I spend many enjoyable hours researching this sort of stuff from both here in the UK and especially the US. Thank yo so much for posting this.
Back when I was young, the small-town station I worked at had 2 VR 1000's, an A and a C. We had one tape that would only play on the A. When we made an RF dub of it to the C, the dub would only play on the A as well. (An RF dub was a copy made without demodulating and remodulating the signal.) Once when we had a mechanical failure, we had to run the A without its head cover. For weeks, it sounded like a jet plane in the control room.
In the late 70's I worked in the video tape library of WOI-TV which was at that time an ABC station and part of Iowa State University. One of the tapes that passed through my hands while there was a 2" quad tape from the USSR. They did not have the coating technology when this tape was made so they mixed the plastic substrate with the iron oxide and extruded the tape as a homogenous mixture. You could actually record on either side of the tape, and it was terrible lots of drop outs and plugged record heads.
Question? My father, Beverly Charles Garrett worked at Ampex Corporation from the mid 1960's to 1971 ish. He worked at the Culver City division. How can I get pictures or info on those days and hopfully, a few pictures of him. I was only 10 or so but it would sure be cool. Thank you.
Landing men on the moon, Ampex and made a kinescope and ancient piece. Ampex is my hero company because of the ATR-102 but still the VR1000 IS the game changer.
Vincent, I went to AMPEX training school in 1983. VPR2B, TBC, Switchers etc. At one of our classes the teacher put up an overhead transparency--it was an illustration of various lobes of the human brain. The illustration compared the brain of an American of European descent and that of a Japanese. It showed that the creative lobe of the Japanese was much smaller than the American. This was Ampex's propaganda to put down Sony's products. I was the only non-White (East Indian descent), person in the class, also the youngest. I went on to become specialized in Ampex products at my TV station. This was short-lived because of the extremely high maintenance and low reliability of those monster machines. It turned out that the people with the 'smaller brains' won in the end. I visited Ampex in 1995 and saw, with a heavy heart, that all the buildings at their complex in Redwood City were overgrown with vines and grass.
What a wonderful piece of history captured for the industry - thank you IEEE and Keith for preserving this. Where is the Ampex museum collection housed today?
Hi Ray - thanks for your comments. Most of the Ampex archives are held by the Stanford University Library in their Special Collections section. I do not know what physical artifacts they might have, I only browsed the photographs - of which there are quite a lot! The San Mateo County History Museum in Redwood City have a few artifacts, including the original Emmy presented to Ampex for the development of the VR1000 as mentioned in the video.
I was the one that took the museum down. The collection was moved to San Carlos, then to the "Catacombs'" below the Colorado Springs Factory. I believe the next move was to Sanford. They only wanted the history documents, and mainly the complete photo files. Limited, single item displays have made but very few! Ray Dolby, arranged the two major moves and paid for them! I got to know Ray during the final days, and I worked with his brother Dale for many years, during my 31 years at Ampex. Bill Carpenter
AMPEX PUBLISHED A LIST OF THE FIRST 100 VR-1000 USERS, INCLUDING ONE FIRST SOLD AT THE 1955 CONVENTION, I HAVE ONE. IT DIDN'T INCLUDE S/N 0005 WHICH WAS BOUGHT OFF THE FLOOR BY WJRT TV-12 IN FLINT, MI. THIS WAS PUT IN STORAGE UNTIL THEY WENT ON-AIR IN OCTOBER 1958. WJRT WAS THE ONLY TV STATION IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN THAT HAD A VTR. TO GO ON-AIR THE STATION WAS REQUIRED (BY THE FCC I THINK) TO PRODUCE 52 HOURS OF LOCAL PROGRAMMING WEEKLY. THE VR-1000 HELPED THEM DO THAT, PROBABLY DOING 20 HOURS/WEEK, PLUS 15-20 COMMERCIALS. THE STATION BECAME THE TEST CASE FOR MANY VIDEO TAPE MFRS, SUCH AS MEMOREX, 3M, AMPEX, ETC. I.E. THEY FIRST DISCOVERED THAT THE GLUE ON THE TAPE' S PAPER LEADER AFFECTED THE RECORDING, DOWN AS FAR AS 10 MINUTES, SO MFRS QUIT USING PAPER LEADERS AND ADDED MORE TAPE TO THE REELS. LIKEWISE VTR COMPATIBLY PROBLEMS WITH RCA MACHINES WHEN THEY WERE DELIVERED TO OTHER MICHIGAN TV STATIONS
At some point you ask yourself, if my hair was nicer, would I get laid by beautiful young women? If the answer is no, then maybe that time should be put to something that would be more worth it, like getting smarter, making more money, seeing the world, whatever...
![[TH] 2024 PMSL SEA Finals D3 | Fall | รู้ผลทีมแชมป์ พร้อมตั๋วสู่ PMGC](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/7NxsN0Ch6vk/mqdefault.jpg)
To understand the scope and the magnitude of the challenges involved to record and reproduce a television signal, using vacuum tube technology in the 1950's, is a Monumental Achievement tantamount to Man landing on the Moon. Absolutely mind boggling. Well done, Gentlemen
AMPEX, the biggest leap in magnetic recording. A real iconic item with so much content to humanity progress.
What a fascinating posting. I've been a television history geek most of my life, love find out about the developments in the history of television. I spend many enjoyable hours researching this sort of stuff from both here in the UK and especially the US. Thank yo so much for posting this.
So easy to forget where it all began... Can't let that happen
Back when I was young, the small-town station I worked at had 2 VR 1000's, an A and a C. We had one tape that would only play on the A. When we made an RF dub of it to the C, the dub would only play on the A as well. (An RF dub was a copy made without demodulating and remodulating the signal.) Once when we had a mechanical failure, we had to run the A without its head cover. For weeks, it sounded like a jet plane in the control room.
In the late 70's I worked in the video tape library of WOI-TV which was at that time an ABC station and part of Iowa State University. One of the tapes that passed through my hands while there was a 2" quad tape from the USSR. They did not have the coating technology when this tape was made so they mixed the plastic substrate with the iron oxide and extruded the tape as a homogenous mixture. You could actually record on either side of the tape, and it was terrible lots of drop outs and plugged record heads.
Very interesting and fascinating. I've read about Ampex tape and its development before. It's nice to actually hear from the people involved.
This is a great video. I am surprised to see only 409 likes and 22K views. This is real technological history.
important that this kind of history be preserved.
I knew Charlie Anderson and Bill Palmer both. Palmer was a contemporary of my grandfather and Anderson worked for my father's business.
1956.... amazing, amazing work.
Back when quality electronics were designed and MADE IN THE USA!
The most important technological milestone of the 20th century.
yeah, no.
Question? My father, Beverly Charles Garrett worked at Ampex Corporation from the mid 1960's to 1971 ish. He worked at the Culver City division. How can I get pictures or info on those days and hopfully, a few pictures of him. I was only 10 or so but it would sure be cool. Thank you.
amazing!!!!
Landing men on the moon, Ampex and made a kinescope and ancient piece. Ampex is my hero company because of the ATR-102 but still the VR1000 IS the game changer.
Vincent, I went to AMPEX training school in 1983. VPR2B, TBC, Switchers etc. At one of our classes the teacher put up an overhead transparency--it was an illustration of various lobes of the human brain. The illustration compared the brain of an American of European descent and that of a Japanese. It showed that the creative lobe of the Japanese was much smaller than the American. This was Ampex's propaganda to put down Sony's products.
I was the only non-White (East Indian descent), person in the class, also the youngest. I went on to become specialized in Ampex products at my TV station. This was short-lived because of the extremely high maintenance and low reliability of those monster machines.
It turned out that the people with the 'smaller brains' won in the end. I visited Ampex in 1995 and saw, with a heavy heart, that all the buildings at their complex in Redwood City were overgrown with vines and grass.
What a wonderful piece of history captured for the industry - thank you IEEE and Keith for preserving this. Where is the Ampex museum collection housed today?
Hi Ray - thanks for your comments. Most of the Ampex archives are held by the Stanford University Library in their Special Collections section. I do not know what physical artifacts they might have, I only browsed the photographs - of which there are quite a lot! The San Mateo County History Museum in Redwood City have a few artifacts, including the original Emmy presented to Ampex for the development of the VR1000 as mentioned in the video.
I was the one that took the museum down.
The collection was moved to San Carlos, then to the "Catacombs'" below the Colorado Springs Factory.
I believe the next move was to Sanford. They only wanted the history documents, and mainly the complete photo files. Limited, single item displays have made but very few!
Ray Dolby, arranged the two major moves and paid for them!
I got to know Ray during the final days, and I worked with his brother Dale for many years, during my 31 years at Ampex. Bill Carpenter
How did Ampex gear up from two prototypes to manufacturing a 100 plus? That would seem to be an achievement in and of itself.
watched this at 1.5x without a trace of irony.
It's great to see the analog technology that was developed in the Bay Area, and to hear from the people who were working in that era.
Thank you for this. Please get the projected image *on* the projection screen. Are there any technicians/engineers there?
This was at Stanford University Library. We were unable to adjust their equipment. Sorry!
13:40: Is that Dinah Shore?
AMPEX PUBLISHED A LIST OF THE FIRST 100 VR-1000 USERS, INCLUDING ONE FIRST SOLD AT THE 1955 CONVENTION, I HAVE ONE. IT DIDN'T INCLUDE S/N 0005 WHICH WAS BOUGHT OFF THE FLOOR BY WJRT TV-12 IN FLINT, MI. THIS WAS PUT IN STORAGE UNTIL THEY WENT ON-AIR IN OCTOBER 1958. WJRT WAS THE ONLY TV STATION IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN THAT HAD A VTR. TO GO ON-AIR THE STATION WAS REQUIRED (BY THE FCC I THINK) TO PRODUCE 52 HOURS OF LOCAL PROGRAMMING WEEKLY. THE VR-1000 HELPED THEM DO THAT, PROBABLY DOING 20 HOURS/WEEK, PLUS 15-20 COMMERCIALS. THE STATION BECAME THE TEST CASE FOR MANY VIDEO TAPE MFRS, SUCH AS MEMOREX, 3M, AMPEX, ETC. I.E. THEY FIRST DISCOVERED THAT THE GLUE ON THE TAPE' S PAPER LEADER AFFECTED THE RECORDING, DOWN AS FAR AS 10 MINUTES, SO MFRS QUIT USING PAPER LEADERS AND ADDED MORE TAPE TO THE REELS. LIKEWISE VTR COMPATIBLY PROBLEMS WITH RCA MACHINES WHEN THEY WERE DELIVERED TO OTHER MICHIGAN TV STATIONS
Mmmmm bar drum at hi speed. Sounds nice 1 inch. Vac guided
🇺🇸
Jobs and his iPhone surly did fade a bit after seeing this video………………
eBay, £148, offers accepted, must collect.
Subbed cuz timecode lol
And Ampex begat ATARI.
After 70, you apparently no longer need to wash or comb your hair.
At some point you ask yourself, if my hair was nicer, would I get laid by beautiful young women? If the answer is no, then maybe that time should be put to something that would be more worth it, like getting smarter, making more money, seeing the world, whatever...
Speak for yourself. I'm working on shoulder length, and it requires some card.