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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=296570909-17082012>I always remember the
card backplane on the ACR - wire wrap! - I think it was available as a spare
part in case of fire etc ;). Our 2 machines had the optional IDA facility that
was feed to our on air suites for the benefit of our preso guys and
gals...</SPAN></DIV><BR>
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<FONT size=2 face=Tahoma><B>From:</B> quadlist-bounces@quadvideotapegroup.com
[mailto:quadlist-bounces@quadvideotapegroup.com] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Glenn
Gundlach<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, 17 August 2012 18:22<BR><B>To:</B> Norman
Hurst; Quad List<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [QuadList] Quad Carts--Links to RCA and
Ampex photo examples<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
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<TD vAlign=top>The ACR-25 could play the sequence 90-10-20 and while that
was near the edge it never failed. The logic bay had RTL and DTL in it
along with TTL. It's been a long time since I had a look though.
<BR><BR>The ACR had essentially instant lock requiring no preroll so
unless you really blew it, it never needed a 're-cue' and being a quad
with a vacuum guide, it could sit in 'ready' as long as power was
available with no transport, tape or head wear. No, those weren't 'good
old days' but they were fun.<BR><BR>G�<BR><BR>--- On <B>Thu, 8/16/12,
Norman Hurst <I><gnormhurst@yahoo.com></I></B> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><BR>From:
Norman Hurst <gnormhurst@yahoo.com><BR>Subject: Re: [QuadList]
Quad Carts--Links to RCA and Ampex photo examples<BR>To: "Quad List"
<quadlist@quadvideotapegroup.com><BR>Date: Thursday, August 16,
2012, 7:22 PM<BR><BR>
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<DIV><SPAN>Ampex was caught off-guard when RCA introduced the TCR-100,
and responded at the next NAB with the ACR-25, and one-upped them with
twice the play time (6 min vs. 3). But more than that, the ACR
could cycle a cartridge in half the time, which meant that the ACR could
play 10 second spots back to back but the TCR needed 20 seconds to
rewind a tape and cue the next one. Either machine could play a
short spot as the last in a break. <BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><BR><SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN>(I think the 10-second spec was sometimes met by "deferring"
rewind, especially for longer tapes.)</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><BR><SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN>The ACR-25 had such a fast cycle time due to it's amazing
tape handling. It threaded the tape by sucking it out of the
cartridge with vacuum and bringing the capstan and vacuum guide up from
under the deck after the tape was in the path. The mechanical
repeatability of that moving vacuum guide (also used in the AVR-1) was a
brilliant piece of engineering by Dale Dolby, the lesser-known
mechanical-engineer brother of Ray Dolby. Another reason for the
fast cycle time was that the cartridge belt was circular, not oval,
which allowed a larger minimum radius, which allowed it to spin
faster. The downside was that it was dangerous and had to be kept
hidden inside the machine, so operators did not have random access to
all the carts.<BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><BR><SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN>Another bit of trivia: The TCR-100 used DTL logic
chips. The ACR-25 used the brand-new TTL chip technology, which
was much more sensitive to static discharge than DTL. At NAB, RCA
engineers would shuffle across Ampex's carpet and touch the ACR-25 to
see what crazy thing it would
do.<BR></SPAN></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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Database: 2437/5204 - Release Date: 08/16/12</P></BODY></HTML>