Here is an interesting 
group of items from 
the museum's collection.
(Click on text and images to go to separate sections.)

NTA Telestudios

A  SERVICE OF 
NTA TELESTUDIOS LTD. 
JANUARY, 1960

THIS  WILL INFORM YOU ON Q&A ABOUT VIDEO TAPE COMMERCIALS

NTA TELESTUDIOS LTD.
1481 BROADWAY
NEW YORK 36, NEW YORK

TO TELL YOU:
WHEN - WHY - WHERE - HOW  
TAPE SHOULD BE USED FOR YOUR COMMERCIALS

Editors Note: This Booklet Documents An Early  Company That Produced Commercials for Agencies Outside the Network Environment - 1959/1960 

Hitachi Video      

SONY Video
Equipment

 
Videocorder TCV-2010, Sony Trinitron Color Camera & DXC-1200 & AV-8600 Recorder 

Ikegami Cameras and Accessories.

   
Community and Activist Video

Early Users of portable VTR Equipment

The section below is for single items...
 when enough of them come 
in to make a separate section, we shall do so.

AKAI VC-X2U VIDEO CAMERA

CONCORD COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM Model TCM-55 Video Camera.

Concord Division of Benjamin Electronic Sound Corp. Farmingdale New York

Sylvania 600 Television Camera

Sylvania 600 TV television camera, with one lens, and Sylvania carrying case. Lens is a Cosmicar Television Lens 8.5mm,  The Sylvania 600 is in excellent physical condition, is not solid state but has tubes in circuitry, is clean inside, working condition unknown, but is complete, no tubes or other components missing. We will look forward to testing this soon! 

Looking for manuals and old ads that will help date this Sylvania 600 TV television camera.

Peek inside the Sylvania Model 600 Television Camera!

  SYLVANIA 800 USED BY NASA
CLOSED CIRCUIT VIDEO CAMERA.

Vidicon tube with the rest solid state.

Can anyone shed some light on where this camera was used?

16 pages of photographs, specifications and features of the  Sony Video Equipment A V Series 1/2 inch Tape Videorecorder and Accessories Catalog Vintage 1971.  Models AC-2000, AC-3400, AV-3400, AV-3600, AV-3650, , AVC-3000, AVC-3200, AVC-3200DX, AVC-3210DX,  AVC-3210, AVF-3200, AXC-1, AXC-5, AXC-10, BP-20, BP-30,  CCB-5, CCB-10, CCF-10, CCF-25, CCF-50, CCJ-1, CCJ-5, CCJ-10, CG-1, CMA-1, CMC-1, CVA-103W, CVA-104W, CVM-110UA, CVM-192U, CVM-920U, CVM-1200UA, CVO-4, DCC-2400, EC-5M,EC-10M, EC-25M, SCM-19B, ECM-21, ECM-22, ECM-50, ECM-53B, ECM-21, ECM-22, ECM-50, ECM-53B, EXC-1A, EXC-1B, EXC-1C, F-98, GC-3, LC-100, LC-3400, 214 LENS, 507 LENS, MX-300,PC-1, PC-2, RFU-53W, RFU-54W, RGC-5, RGC-15, RGC-25, RGC-50, RH-5E, RH-5V, RH-7V, RH-72V, RK-34, SEG-1, TD-1, TUM-100, V-30D, V-30F, V-30H, V-31, V-32, VCL-8, VCL-16, VCS-31, VCT-1, VCT-20A, VMC-10A, VMC-25A, VMC-1B, VMC-10B, VMC-25B, VMC-50B, VMC-1C, VMC-1D, VMC-1H, VMC-1M, VMC-1Q

AMPEX MODEL CC-452... With FUJINON ZOOM LENS 1:2 F=14-70MM....

Akai 1/4" Format (1969)

AKAI VT-100 & Vt-110 reel to reel VTR'S 
with optional TV tuner.

What's peculiar to this format was it's use of 1/4" tape. Even standard audio tape could be used, although without question, better image quality was obtained using Akai's recommended video tape.

The head configuration consisted of 2 heads in an Omega wrap. Tape speed was 11.25 ips which yielded a 20 minute recording time on 5 inch reels. The machines were monochrome and were capable of only monophonic audio. There was a later machine that  recorded and played back in color also using 1/4 inch tape.  A special version of this color machine actually  had a time base generator or ability to connect to one according to  rumor. This would account for it to be used as a field recorder for a local TV station. Not a great picture, but at the time a picture that could be recorded at a very low cost in comparison to the high priced ENG equipment.

Their strong selling point was their amazing compactness and light weight, though studio machines were also available.  Image quality was just fair and no match for 1", but neither was their price nor their weight - making them truly portable.

We are always looking to acquire Video Tape Recorders (also known as  VTR's, and cameras to go with them  by Adda, Akai, Ampex, Apeco, Arvin, Asaca, ATV Research, Audiotronics, BASF / Eumig, Bauer Video. B&K Precision Instruments, Bang & Olufsen, Bell & Howell, Blonder Tongue, Cartrivision, CBS Laboratories, Conar, Concord, Craig, Crosby Enterprises, Dage, Diamond Power, Electron Corporation, Fairchild, Funai, GBC, General Electric, Fisher Price, Grundig, Gyyr, Hitachi Denshi, Ikegami, IVC, International Video Corporation. Javelin Electronics, JFD Manufacturing Co., JVC, Japanese Victor Corporation, Loewe - Opta, Machtronics Corp, Motorola, Machtronics, MVR, National, NEC, Nippon Electric, Nivico, Norelco, Panasonic, Peto-Scott, Philips, Polaroid, Precision Instruments, Quasar, RCA,  Radio Corp. of America, Roberts, Sanyo, Shibaden, Sharp, Singer, Sony, Sylvania, Technicolor, Telcan, Televue, Toshiba, Videmo, Volna, Wesgrove, Westel Co., Westinghouse, Wollensak, Zenith   and others...

Any format is sought EIAJ, quadruplex, EIAJ-1, EIAJ-2, , skip field, skip field video, non standard video, reel to reel video, vx format, ampex avr, pilot tone, M-II, MII, M format, 3/4-U skip-field, one-inch, two inch quad and helical scan  units. 

Some of the model numbers are: reel to reel, Umatic, AV3600, AV3650, AV3400, AV8600, AV8650, AV8400, NV3020, NV3085, WV3020, WV3085, VTC150, VTC300, VT700.

 WANTED! Early black and white and 
color large studio television cameras wanted!

Since we have a large Sony collection we are looking for any sony part numbered video equipment from the  60s and 70s and some later...

An interesting group is some of the equipment  from the Sony Video Equipment A V Series 1/2 inch Tape Videorecorder and Accessories Catalog Vintage 1971.

This contains  models AC-2000, AC-3400, AV-3400, AV-3600, AV-3650, , AVC-3000, AVC-3200, AVC-3200DX, AVC-3210DX,  AVC-3210, AVF-3200, AXC-1, AXC-5, AXC-10, BP-20, BP-30,  CCB-5, CCB-10, CCF-10, CCF-25, CCF-50, CCJ-1, CCJ-5, CCJ-10, CG-1, CMA-1, CMC-1, CVA-103W, CVA-104W, CVM-110UA, CVM-192U, CVM-920U, CVM-1200UA, CVO-4, DCC-2400, EC-5M,EC-10M, EC-25M, SCM-19B, ECM-21, ECM-22, ECM-50, ECM-53B, ECM-21, ECM-22, ECM-50, ECM-53B, EXC-1A, EXC-1B, EXC-1C, F-98, GC-3, LC-100, LC-3400, 214 LENS, 507 LENS, MX-300,PC-1, PC-2, RFU-53W, RFU-54W, RGC-5, RGC-15, RGC-25, RGC-50, RH-5E, RH-5V, RH-7V, RH-72V, RK-34, SEG-1, TD-1, TUM-100, V-30D, V-30F, V-30H, V-31, V-32, VCL-8, VCL-16, VCS-31, VCT-1, VCT-20A, VMC-10A, VMC-25A, VMC-1B, VMC-10B, VMC-25B, VMC-50B, VMC-1C, VMC-1D, VMC-1H, VMC-1M, VMC-1Q

Early closed circuit cameras even have a fond place in our collection here at the museum by manufactures such as:

1972 Dage 800 Studio Television Camera  

Yep! it's big and heavy, it uses a 1" vidicon tube and the CCU (Camera Control Unit) and a Canon Lens in very good condition. The lens is really an entire cable drive system to operate this camera effectively. The lens itself is a Canon TV Zoom lens V6 x 16 16.5mm - 95mm 1:2 No. 22822.

Dage TV Camera

Dage TV camera from a small TV station in Pennsylvania. Looks nice except that the  screen at the rear is very discolored.

WCSC-TV From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. WCSC-TV is a television station in Charleston, South Carolina. It is a CBS television affiliate which broadcasts its analog signal on Channel 5. Its transmitter is located in Awendaw, South Carolina.     History The station signed on in 1953 from its original location on 485 East Bay Street in downtown Charleston, and was owned by the Rivers family until 1986. After numerous sales, the station's ownership was transferred to Jefferson Pilot Communications in 1994. In 1997, the station moved its offices to the West Ashley area, at a newly built facility at 2126 Charlie Hall Boulevard, named for the station's first on-air personality, who appeared from the station's first broadcast in 1953 until his death in March 1997. From the mid-1970s until 1991, the main 6:30pm newscast anchors stayed consistent. The station has been a trend-setter in South Carolina for newscasts as it expanded its evening newscast from one 30-minute broadcast to two hours combined, and a 30-minute newscast at 4pm. In 1991, WCSC switched to a one-hour format at 6pm. In 1997, the station moved the CBS Evening News from 7pm to 6:30pm, resulting in an 90-minute local newscast beginning at 5pm. In 1998, a thirty-minute 4pm newscast was added, totaling two hours of news from 4 PM until 6:30 PM. Local sports coverage has also been well known. In the early 1980s, the NAIA Charleston Cougars would have games broadcast live on WCSC, and in later years, the station has been the host broadcaster for the Cooper River Bridge Run.

Yesterday you would have had to lay out in the neighborhood of $60,000 to get a television camera that renders flesh tones-all colors-with true-to-life accuracy. Today all that has changed. The new Singer GPL 5000 gives you the studio quality color of broadcast cameras at less than one-third the usual broadcast camera price. (A unique GPL sensor/optical system is only one of the reasons for its colorimetric excellence.) You don't need a ton of lighting equipment to use the GPL 5000. Being extremely sensitive, it serves up studio quality pictures with illumination levels as low as 80 foot-candles. There's never any color drift either. The automatic NTSC single line color bar (SLCB) test signal assures accurate color throughout the entire transmission network.   And the GPL 5000 is the first camera in its class to provide the flexibility of one and two-piece (remote) operation. Full details on the Singer GPL 5000 are yours for the asking.  Write GPL TV/Link Education Systems Division, The Singer Company, Dept. AVI-119,  Pleasantville, New York 10570. This could be the way to ban off-color pictures once and for all.  SINGER EDUCATION & TRAINING PRODUCTS The new GPL 5000 changes the whole complexion of color TV.. Audiovisual Instruction November 1969 p. 13   We would like to buy this  camera or other examples of SINGER  video Equipment. Please call  us or drop a line!   added comments from viewers    In Boston, there were several of the B&W version of this Singer-GPL camera. What was intriguing was that the viewfinder was a bare-bones Conrac II B&W monitor rigged up inside a special frame and holder. Made a decent picture for a B&W vidicon, and surprisingly, used standard TV-33 B&W camera cable to link between the camera head and the small rack-mount CCU/power supply. This Model 5000 was probably all vidicon, and used dichroic mirrors, rather than a prism for light splitting. Shibaden-Hitachi also introduced their version of a similar camera called the FP-1000, and a series that followed. God help us, but we worked with them and thought they were pretty good…. But compared today with the least expensive DV Camcorder, they were atrocious.  That’s progress for you….   Paul R. Beck Paul R. Beck Television, Radio & Film Group Emerson College

Portable Camera

This grouping also includes 2 special lens, the Canon TV Zoom Lens, the J6 x 12, 12.5 - 75 mm, 1:1.8 (No. 801234) with both covers, and the Kowa TV Zoom Lens 1:1.8/12.5 - 75 (1311443), cables and manuals and a very nice customized factory suitcase to carry this equipment

And.... Another one! This camera is on display at SMECC

WKYC WAS IN CLEVELAND... However this is not a broadcast grade camera... Hints?

This particular camera also has a National Radio Institute tag on it. The Conar camera was offered with  one of their training programs in the 1960's.

And yes.... yet one more of them!

Hundreds of uses in homes, schools, offices, plants, stores Available as kit or fully assembled - One year guarantee on all parts (90-day guarantee on vidicon tube) - NOTHING ELSE TO BUY! - Connects instantly to any TV set -  Operates up to 6 sets without amplifiers -

"The Conar Instruments Company of Washington, D.C. is a comparative latecomer to the kit business, since it first offered kits in 1962; yet it is not new in the electronics field. You see, Conar is an expansion of the National Radio Institute's student supply division that functioned primarily to supply test equipment to NRI students and graduates. In fact, the name 'Conar' is rather tortuously derived from the first letters of 'COmpany, NAtional Radio.' Conar was thus able to enter the market with a complete series of radio-TV test-equipment kits of proven design developed by NRI's technical staff. Presently, Conar offers about twenty different kits with more in the developmental stage Some are rather unusual and exotic, such as their Model 800 closed-circuit TV camera kit that can be used with any TV set as a monitor and their metal locator kit that should go big with treasure hunters."

From: Bjorn Heyning's HEATH STORIES Supplement #1 HEATH STORIES #19 MEMOIRS AND ANTECEDENT ANTICS The Customer is Always Right - - Kit Sales Incidents Bill Wilkinson - KC0SVZ site http://www_heco.home.mindspring.com/wwheco2/hs_sup1.txt
Photo of brochure ebay listing

The CVC (Compact Video Cassette) format was introduced by Funai in 1984. The small cassette size enabled a compact portable deck design. The format however was limited to a 30 minute recording time and used V30 CVC cassettes which was adequate for field recording but somewhat limited for situations not requiring portability. The cassettes used 1/4" tape, which was more prone to dropouts than wider tape formats.

Although it was 1/2 inch tape, the picture quality was comparable to early VHS machines!

Though various CVC machines were manufactured by Funai, most models were also re-branded and sold under the Technicolor label. These units also made an appearance with the MUNTZ Label on them and it is rumored that 'Mad Man Muntz' bought up large quantity of these units when they were discontinued.

Thee was even a version of the recorder with a small screen television also buit into the same unit!

The tape cassettes for the day were refreshingly small! They measured about  4"  x 2.5" x .5" high - or a size similar to the standard day compact (although now getting obsolete) audio cassette.

Video Recorder Specifications:

Twin Rotary Head Helical Scan

Tape speed:                     1.26 ips (32.1 mm/sec)
Video S/N:                       43 dB (Y channel)
Resolution:                     240 lines
Audio S/N:                       40 dB
Audio Freq Response:  100Hz to 8 kHz

Airborne Westel Model WR201-BH-AGN 
Video Tape Recorder

Airborne Westel Model WR201-BH-AGN. This unit was aledged to have been used in military aircraft. I don't really know what it is for. It takes 1inch. tape. and says it is an airborne video tape recorder with equalizing pulse. It has several connectors - bnc, and multi-pin connectors. E-mail is at info@smecc.org if you have any data or stories about one of these!

TRIVIA!

(from http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/comment/story/0,12449,881780,00.html)

In the first of his weekly columns for Guardian Unlimited, Jack Schofield debunks an urban myth

Saturday January 25, 2003

Read this, and the next time someone tells you that, of course, Betamax was superior to VHS, you can tell them that they are wrong. It's an urban myth.

VHS won because "the whole product" did what people wanted at a price they were willing to pay. And when people use the VHS v Beta analogy, they are not indicating a market failure but their own ignorance.

Sony pioneered the videocassette recorder innovations that opened the VCR market for heavy competition and continuing innovations in the field of video. The VCR was a novel technology that involved risk taking from companies developing it. Not only was it unclear whether the public would accept the VCR, but failures in the development process were common. VCR development is a prime example of Schumpeterian thought.

There was no clear public demand for home videocassette recorders but Sony took the supply-side initiative and risk and pushed the innovation. This indicates the ability of large firms to innovate well and the benefits of institutionalized research and development. The new innovations led to the emergence of the VCR industry and, therefore, many subsequent industries reliant on the VCR. Unfortunately for Sony, however, it resulted in being a victim, to a certain degree, of creative destruction. After Sony invented its Betamax VCR, the market opened up for VCR inventions and innovations by other firms. These firms chose to implement the VHS tape, which was non-compatible with Beta players, and the new technology destroyed the Betamax market.

High-flying NewTek, whose Toaster revolutionized video production, is screaming to the next level.

By Stephen Jacobs

Flying Toasters - The story about NewTek and the Video Toaster 
 This is one of the best histories around   - Ed Sharpe

Vintage Motorola MOCAM
Television Camera V10003D