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<DIV><FONT size=3>I agree with many of the comments on this thread, and to be
sure, the answer to Ed's question comes with many qualifiers. The primary
reason that we use VPR-7900's for recovery of Type-A tapes is their ability to
handle all three variants of the format's carrier frequencies. I believe
the 5100 is low band only which was intended only for black and white, but since
the Ampex format was direct record, you can still recover color from the lowband
tapes if they contain color material. Obviously not the best situation,
but possible. Tapes recorded in hi-band or very-high-band will not
reproduce properly on a low-band machine.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Regarding interchange, there's no doubt that the movable
guides were a bad design. However, our experience has shown that many of
the interchange problems were the result of incorrect adjustment of the machines
more often than "naturally occurring" changes in the guide path. Because
this was originally a "non-broadcast" format, much of its use was in educational
or industrial applications, and generally with un-trained operators. My
favorite example was a tape we received from a large university. It begins
with no video, but on the audio track, you hear "Hey Bill, how do you work this
thing?". Then the machine was obviously stopped, and when it was
re-started, there was video, recorded with a setup level of about 70%!
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>The challenges of recovering Type-A tapes can be significant,
and we have even done custom modifications when required for special problems if
the budget was available. When the tapes are good, the quality, especially
from the VHB tapes can be excellent, but that is certainly the exception rather
than the rule. Bottom line is, we're talking about a format developed in
the mid 60's, and a lot has changed since then!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Don Norwood<BR>Digitrak Communications, Inc.<BR><A
href="http://www.digitrakcom.com">www.digitrakcom.com</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>