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The First Live Videotape Delay System…

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

The First Live Videotape Delay System…

When videotape was introduced in 1956, the phrase “time shift” entered the broadcasters lexicon. The original meaning of “time shift” was more of a production management term in that now, a week of game shows and the like could be taped in a day or so and even over weekends instead of having to be set up and done live daily.

Somewhere along the line, the need for a live time shift came into play and this is how it was done. The only way to add a delay into a live program, until the late 70s, was to record on one machine (left) and playing back the signal on another machine (right). The RCA TRT-1 and TRT-2 machines were perfect for this because they were rackmounted.

If the flat decked Ampex VR1000s were next to each other, you could do it there too, but when tape decks began to be mounted at an angle, you couldn’t do this anymore because the tape path tension could not be maintained. That is why NBC, try as they may, could not add a 6 second delay to SNL when Richard Pryor hosted in 1975. Enjoy and share! – Bobby Ellerbee

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18 responses to “The First Live Videotape Delay System…”

  1. Richard Wirth

    I remember being in Dayton when Phil Donahue did his show live before it moved to Chicago. It was one of the first live call in shows. They had two VTR’s sitting several feet apart from one another and the delay time in number of seconds painted on the floor (7 seconds equals 8.75 feet @ 15 inches/second).

  2. Don Langford

    I remember the old Ampex mach. we had at WLW-A in Atlanta, it was a 2″ flat bed type, we only had one and had to cut the tape to edit. it needed to racks full of tubes to work.

  3. Don Cox

    CBS had a system that used VR-2000 machines. Used it at Chicago’s WBBM-TV sometime between 1967 and 1972.

  4. Dawn Willard

    Ampex VPR80’s that had the three hour extension add-ons – across three racks. Techs disabled the RPM sensors (i think?) for the source reel on one machine and the take up reel on the other. Got about 7 and a half seconds. QCTV late 80’s.

  5. Mark West

    Also done at WGN in Chicago for “Donahue”. Two VR2000’s and the delay tape became one of two syndication masters shipped by separate routes to Multimedia in Cincinnati.

  6. Jay Beckman

    We did that in Dayton, OH at WDTN between two 2″ machines. There was a stick hanging on the tape room wall with which you measured the distance between the machine chassis. It was the 7 Second stick. Route Control A into machine one at 11:59;53 and put machine two on the air at 12:00;00!

  7. Dennis Degan

    That looks like a TR-4 on the right (playback only version).

  8. Charley H Cat

    KWGN in Denver did that on a live morning call show back when they were in the old studios at Spear and Lincoln.

  9. Steven Davis

    We used 2 TR-70s for this at WPRI and I remember you had to be careful the tape loop didn’t get sucked under the machines which were under negative pressure. I don’t have any pictures of that, but here is our Sony BVH-1100A delay setup

  10. Roger A Summers

    15ips? These machines are using a rotating head no? and they still need 15ips? That would accomodate a huge signal swipe. I know they wrere not helical scan I have seen the heads. Can someone cofirm this?
    And even broadcast audio for AM or FM had no need to use 15ips. But ioit would make the stationary audio on a video such as this extremely robust.

  11. Todd Weiss

    The exact way we did it back in the day at CBS Network Video Tape Operations….. We did it with 1″ Machines as well the old Sony BVH-1100a

  12. Charlie King

    We did it with Ampex VR-2000, by building a roller setup to go between the two machines that gave the exact time needed. In our case it was 10 seconds. the VPR 1 was an easier setup to use since it kept the tension by way of vacuum chambers. I forget exactly how we set that up. It was a few days ago, ya know.

  13. Dave Dillman

    That was the only way to insert commercials into hockey in the old days. I remember doing it at WFLD, but I can’t remember how much delay we added… must have been a bunch to get even a minute of commercials in. At 15 ips that’s a lot of tape.

  14. Patrick Clancey

    We did it with 2 RCA TR-70 C’s. Kludgey, but successful. Spent a lot of time with the Ampex HS-100 Slomo machine as well. (as seen in Pierre’s post)

  15. Alan Gardner

    We did this once at KTLA in the early 80’s using two Ampex 2000’s. Pushing the the machines closer and further apart to get the desired “delay”

  16. Bruce A Johnson

    As an intern at WCVB Boston in 1979, I saw this done with two Ampex quads that were slant-mounted, with a slot hacksawed between the two decks. I guess they must have figured out the tensioning problem. The rig was used on a live a.m. talk show I worked on called “Good Day.”

  17. Tom McKeever

    No the video time delay was due to where on the earth the signal was received then sent I believe to Goddard Space Flight Center Maryland then to Houston converted to broadcast standards and enhanced. Then sent of off to NYC. NASA in Houston (and forget why) did have to change the video tapes and this would cause the networks to loose the direct feed and we would have to watch it as it bring shown in mission control. Cronkite explained the whys once but I forget. End note: too bad they didn’t keep all the video tapes!

  18. Terry Ricketts

    I believe NASA did this for the moon landings, can anyone confirm?

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