AVaTar

[Mike Watterson]

The Ampex VTR arrives at ITV
https://transdiffusion.org/2025/07/28/be...he-avatar/

Maybe 1958

[ppppenguin]

I've never seen the term "AVaTaR" before. Quaruplex or Quad for short. Often referred to as Ampex and the process as "Ampexing" though RCA soon made compatible machines.

First shown by Ampex in 1956, one of the design team was Ray Dolby. ITV companies had the first ones in the UK. BBC didn't have any until 1958. They were monstrously expensive, I think $200,000 in 1956 values. Despite that, Ampex sold them faster than they could make them in 1956.

The original VR-1000 (we'd love one at the Broadcast Engineering Museum) also had a pair of 7ft rack cabinets to hold all the electronics. The Science Museum has one. The deck is on display in the comms gallery.

At the Broadcast Engineering Museum we regularly demonstrate our RCA TR70B machine, which, in theory, can still replay a tape made on an Ampex VR-1000 in 1956. Next open day is next Sunday 3rd August. Then our Heritage Open Day weekend 20/21 September.

[DrStrangelove]

Took a VR1000 to bits.

I think there's a meter from it somewhere upstairs.

The audio amplifier was used to play music in the technician's room on afternoon & night shift.

Oh the joy when it transpired that the audio cassette you'd just "repaired" wasn't the 99th version of "Band on the ******* run".

[Mike Watterson]

I've never seen the term "AVaTaR" before. Quaruplex or Quad for short. Often referred to as Ampex and the process as "Ampexing" though RCA soon made compatible machines.

Nor had I.
When I first saw a Quad, I thought "Someone needs to invent the Video Cassette" Being a Comms Engineer I was allowed to see and not touch a Quad or Telecine.

OTOH, those guys that let me look weren't even allowed to see a microwave repeater, much less the TWT (twit).