<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On Apr 28, 2011, at 12:28 PM, Shai Drori wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; ">So there you have it. I know this is not a smart business decision if I look only on the financial side. but I think I am entitled to some fun as well. ;-)<br>Shai<br></span></blockquote></div><div><br></div><div>That's why a lot of the folks on this list are running Quad machines! </div><div><br></div><div>Its this group's version of working on and driving older cars. And I know of at least one member who does both. Well.</div><div><br></div><div>At the same time, you can't afford to go in the hole transferring Quad tapes for people, so you would do well to drag out the spreadsheet and figure out how much it will cost to set yourself up and then transfer the quantity of tapes you have in mind.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b>Setup costs:</b></div><div>Machine costs <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>(Units, parts, shipping, customs, hours on the phone making arrangements : )</div><div>Refurbishment of machines<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Good question? </div><div>Space remodeling/additions<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Air Compressor, filters and piping<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Electrical work (labor) to add</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Electrical wiring and parts <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">for outlets and amperage for machine, pix, QC monitoring, air compressor, HVAC</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>HVAC (new or improvements to existing system)</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Permits and inspections</div><div><br></div><div>Miscellaneous:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Tape storage shelving</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Oven for baking</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Tape cleaning machine? (Add electricity provision costs here and operating costs below)</div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b>Operating Costs:</b></div><div>Head hours needed: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">Number of tape hours to be transferred/average head assembly life = number of head assemblies (or refurbishes) needed x cost of refurbishing</span></div><div>Could look something like this: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">4000 tape hrs/500 head hrs (if you're blessed) = 8 head assembly "lives" x $4000 per "life" = $32,000</span></div><div><br></div><div>Ongoing maintenance = <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "># of average engineering hours required per 100 hours of tape</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Parts required per 100 hours of tape</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><br></span></div><div>Machine cleaning supplies<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">Lots of lint-free wipes, 99.9% alcohol and other cleaning items!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">Q</span>uad tapes to practice the "art" of transfer with <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "> (Gotta learn on something... and customer's tapes aren't a good idea)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></div><div>Electricity:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">AVR-2 will pull less than VR-1200 or VR-2000. Added AC and Pix, waveform, vectorscope will use ______ watts</span></div><div>Space value<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">What's the value of the square footage the machine and needed support gear take up</span></div><div>Labor:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">What you need to get out of it to cover your own time</span></div><div>Overhead<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">What does the business need to cover the costs of managing the enterprise</span></div><div><br></div><div>I hope I've not forgotten something important in this stream of consciousness list.</div><div><br></div><div>If you take the costs of setup and the operating costs... you can work out a formula involving the number of tape hours you want to transfer and come up with what it likely takes to transfer an hour of tape. You may be surprised. As in "Yikes!"</div><div><br></div><div>And that's not calculating that hour of tape time = actual time spent getting a good transfer. You'll spend more than that on each tape... and will have to clean the machine during tapes, sometimes as well as between tapes.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Fixed site vs On Location</b></div><div>It might be interesting to explore what it would take to buy a "rack-ready" SD outside broadcast truck or trailer... already plumbed for power, AC and wiring, a generator... then put air compressor and refurbished machines in it... and go to the customer's location.</div><div><br></div><div>The separate sections—what used to be Videotape, Video/engineering, Audio, Control could be set up as tape storage, tape prep/cleaning transfer, sleeping or office area.</div><div><br></div><div>Or create your own spaces inside a trailer that's essentially four walls with power and HVAC.</div><div><br></div><div>That would open the door to more work in the Middle East, I think. Possibly elsewhere that customers don't want to let the tapes out of their eyesight, or can't due to government regulations.</div><div><br></div><div>OK... I gotta get back to writing <b><i>Vario</i></b> quotes. Anybody want to by a film transfer system? We can put them in a truck too.</div><div><br></div><div>Ted</div><div><br></div><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">Ted Langdell</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">Secretary</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#0018ea" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(0, 24, 234); "></font></div></div></div></span> </div><br></body></html>