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Author Topic: Any large format VTR fans out there? I need some help.. Luciano Brigite Master Film Handler Posts: 277 From: Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Registered: Jan 2002 posted 04-08-2003 11:36 AM                     Hello.. No.. this has nothing to do with film, I hope I'm posting this in the right place too.. I need some help in finding the operation and service manual ( with schematics) for the U-matic video recorder Sony VO6800. Other than "fooling around" with film, I also like this old kind of video stuff. would go for a quadriplex (sp?) if I'd find any even the U-matics are hard to find. got one vcr of the model mentioned above but it doesn't want to do much other than just turn on and off and act all weird when I put a tape in, turn it off then on again,the control panel doesn't work. any help? thanks  |  IP: Logged Matthew Bailey Master Film Handler Posts: 461 From: Port Arthur,TX Registered: Sep 2000 posted 04-08-2003 06:31 PM                     I used to have some U-matic cassettes & some 1 & 2inch wide reel tapes I took out of the dumpster of an NBC TV staion in my area.. I do have some manuals for an Ampex ACR-25 casette recorder which used 2 inch wide quad tape that you wound onto the spools after removing them from the casettes.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-08-2003 07:17 PM                     I used to maintain a bunch of RCA TR-22 Quad machines and a number of Ampex AVR-2's. It was lots of fun and lots of headaches. The TR-22's used all germainum semiconductors and you never shut them off....ever! If you did it could take days to get one to run properly again. The AVR-2's were really nice machines and were ultra reliable. Wish I could find a nice AVR-2 out there to preserve...not many left. All of these ended up in the dumpster when the station moved to new studios. The same station also had 6 RCA TK-45 color cameras that I also did alot of work on. These got powered down and moved between three different studios several times daily. We always kept them looking nice in spite of all the moving around and powering down and then back up. See this link to see a variety of neato broadcast equipment... http://www.lionlmb.org/quadpark.html Also.... http://www.pharis-video.com/ Mark  |  IP: Logged Luciano Brigite Master Film Handler Posts: 277 From: Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Registered: Jan 2002 posted 04-08-2003 08:09 PM                     Quad machines looks neat.. but they're too big for me.. but if I find one.. will find a way to take it home even if it forces me to get another place just to store it.. Well.. still didn't find out what's going on with my Sony VO6800 I sure need the service manual and schematics for it. any idea where I'd find it on the net?  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 04-08-2003 08:29 PM                     Being a portable 3/4", that model always had a problem loading tape. I will see if I still have any paper work on that model.  |  IP: Logged Luciano Brigite Master Film Handler Posts: 277 From: Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Registered: Jan 2002 posted 04-08-2003 09:21 PM                     The problem I'm having with this one is: unit powers up (tru power supply, no batteries for it), Put the tape in, and nothing else happens. none of the buttons on the control panel works. If I turn the power off then back on with the tape in the unit, it'll start loading on jumps, video head spins fast while this hapens, once the tape is fully loaded, everything stops and stays that way.. again, nothing works on the panel. when I press the eject button, it starts unloading but stops right after and leaves the tape all lose in the unit. cycling power on/off doesn't do anything after it and I have to take the tape out by hand  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-09-2003 07:43 AM                     I'm way to old to think U-matic is "large format"... I'd maybe call 1"-C large format, but most of those machines could actually be carried by one person - a short distance. That's not really large. Something you need a crew and a crane to install, that's large.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 04-09-2003 08:57 AM                     I've had several 3/4" U matic machines. Ran a VO-1600 for years. These old formats have been workhorses for me. I was recording video off of TV back in the mid 1970's. Many of these programs were recorded on tapes that were well-used when I got them. I was given tapes by my TV bosses when they got too bad to use for broadcasting. Back then, a new KCA-60 tape sold for around $25! I was glad to get them. My current Sony U-Matic was given to me when the local TV station moved up to digital. This deck dubbed all the "keeper" video clips from the news department up to digital tape. It has less than 200 hours of use. It's also the heaviest VCR that I have weighing in at 80 pounds! I've got some old low-band 2" quad tapes from the early 1970's, too. I'd love to have a 2" deck, but am realistic when I think of the room that this set-up would take, not to mention air supplies, etc. !! An ACR-25? Isn't this the cart machine for 2" commercials, etc? If it is, AARAUGH! Ours ate tapes for breakfast!  |  IP: Logged Luciano Brigite Master Film Handler Posts: 277 From: Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Registered: Jan 2002 posted 04-09-2003 02:09 PM                     Hmm.. I thought the U-matics were into the large format vtr's.. oh well..don't know why but I like this format even if it needs 2 or more tapes to have something like a movie recorded in them and takes a lot of space to store. Tried to find any tech doc for my recorder but the only anser I got was " it's a professional equipment.. Sony won't give us anything related to pro equipment" seems it'll have it's way to the dump  |  IP: Logged Luciano Brigite Master Film Handler Posts: 277 From: Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Registered: Jan 2002 posted 04-10-2003 05:14 PM                     well.. everything went R.I.P for that vtr today at 6:48Pm (br time) *sigh...* [ 04-10-2003, 09:21 PM: Message edited by: Luciano Brigite ]  |  IP: Logged Bill Carter Expert Film Handler Posts: 162 From: Minneapolis, Minnesota Registered: Sep 1999 posted 04-10-2003 05:39 PM                     Oh God, Bruce... thanks a lot for reminding me of the ACR's. A station I used to work at had an RCA TCR 100... pretty much the same beast, just a different brand. Master control was upstairs, and you could hear that thing kick in downstairs in the lobby when they hit a commercial break. There's nothing like that distinctive "hiss" they made as the vacuum sucked the tape into place. Sounded a lot like the air brakes on a truck. They nursed that machine along until at least the early 90's, until they could find an alternative for spot playback. By the end, they had bought three or four other TCR's for parts, and had even hired a retired RCA engineer to maintain it. He had a full-time job just replacing parts on it.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 04-10-2003 07:05 PM                     I worked at another place that had the RCA machine. The Ampex deck would jam at random. It looked good when it worked right... I bet that Sony U-matic deck had something small wrong with it. I HATE Sony when it comes to getting information out of them. They charge you a fortune for the parts, then dont want to help you be sure that this is all that is wrong so you dont have to order again. I bought a single rubber pinch roller for my 3/4" deck when I got it. $129!!! I just about I've never bought from them again, either.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 04-10-2003 07:15 PM                        quote: from Mark G: The same station also had 6 RCA TK-45 color cameras Lucky stiff! We had IVC cameras at our station We had to register them at least 3 times a day, and that was with NO shutdowns or moves. Also, a Sparta audio console with carbon pots & lousy specs. Fortunately, most TVs still had crummy speakers, but that excuse was starting to wear thin. We did have Ampex quads though... they were very nice... one that could actually do vertical interval editing!... and a couple of RCA film chains with those battleship Kodak 16mm machines & the RCA slide units. The other guys down the street had TK45's... and we regularly considered all forms of nefarious methods to effect a "trade" The one U-Matic machine we had was huge, & sat on a counter in the film chain room. I don't recall ever seeing it actually run. It was in mid '72, & the owner considered U-Matic a passing fad.  |  IP: Logged Luciano Brigite Master Film Handler Posts: 277 From: Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Registered: Jan 2002 posted 04-10-2003 09:20 PM                     The problem it had I already mentioned before, but ehre it goes again: the controls ( play,ffwd, rew, etc) didn't work, if the power was turned off then on again with a tape in it, it'd start loaing it, making a lot of solenoid noises and the video head spins slow then it gives hte impression that it was going to run but stops and stays that way .the only thing that 'd work was the eject button. ok.. after several hours trying to find out what's going on, decided to run the osciloscope on it again.. but this time I de-assembled the front panel and started checking it. and he hell broke loose. don't have any idea about what happened, it was without tape and all the motors simply turned on at full speed, even hte video head, looked like it was going to fly out of the assembly. power off/on won't bring it back to the previous state. and after it happened, the audio is acting up now too.. there's a loud,high freq. signal coming out of both audio outs. that's the story.. its now laying all open inna cardboard box..I did find the service manualfor it. but I paid about $100.00 for the vtr and they asked $65 for the manual.. no deal for me will keep looking for it for a little more but don't think it'll get back to work. any help is still welcome  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 04-11-2003 01:20 AM                  We had TK-42s and TK-43s... Big! A humongously complex optic/light path, and if I remember right, a 3-1/2" Image Orth and 3 each vidicons.... and TONS of set-ups! My favorite camera is the B&W TK-60...GOD, what a sharp, low-noise pic! PLUS it was really cool looking! I never thought of 3/4 as "Large Format" but just U-Matic or 3/4. 2" Quad was large format to me! I would love to find a RCA TR-4 (Hmmm, if I remember the model number right..maybe TR-44?) 2" Quad machine in good condition. HAhahahah >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged

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