[BC] ACR-25 and TCR-100 quad cart machines

[Xen Scott]

At 02:51 PM 10/26/05 -0500, Ron Cole wrote:
>We used to make dub reels for all of the newscast stop sets... so when the 
>ACR failed we could get out of the stopset intact and hope the engineer could
>get the ACR running ASAP.
>
>On 10/26/05, Jack Antonio <JAntonio at ktvn.com> wrote:
> >
> > ...my impression of RCA VTRs compared to Ampex, was that the RCAs 
> broke >more often, but were easier to fix than the Ampex machines...

I had about 15 years experience with Ampex ACR-25s at KYW-TV in Philadelphia.
Any machine of this mechanical and electronic complexity will require some
preventive maintenance and will fail from time to time.  Those of you who
never saw or worked with the Ampex ACR-25 can get a sense of the machine by
knowing that the maintenance manual came in a set of 10 notebooks and that
the schematic drawing of the air system was a two page foldout.  The key to
reliable performance was to have the station maintenance techs attend Ampex
training school and then get lots of experience with the machine.

However, the ACR-25 could do things not possible with any other VTR such
as random access, instant start, and playback of any number of carts
with durations anywhere from ten seconds to six minutes, or longer if
you programmed a series of cart plays.  The Ampex ACR-25 was generally
pretty reliable, especially the later versions, as long as it was kept
clean and cool.  Early models were bothered by static electricity and some
design problems which were fixed with field modifications.  Using the same
brand of good quality videotape in all carts improved reliability greatly.
It was also important to replace damaged or stressed videotape so it
wouldn't cause a later problem.

I once made 56 ACR-25 plays (news pieces, graphic backgrounds, bumpers
and other news production) into a one hour local news program, not
including commercials which played from a second ACR-25.  I also
aired a complete one hour program from an ACR-25 which consisted of
a sequence of segments recorded on six-minute cassettes.

I understand that the record for the most number of carts played
in a local break was held by WTTG-TV in Washington.  They aired
22 carts between one local movie segment and the next.

Xen Scott