With Richard's permission i'm forwarding his off-list response to my RCS/Racal post.
Some good information here that - if not of interest to others now - should at least be available to folks searching the archives sometime down the road..
best, Brandon.
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: September 11, 2007 4:51:57 PM PDT To: Brandon Burke <burke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: [OFFLIST -- ARSCLIST] formats: Racal Wordsafe, RSC Tracker
Hello, Brandon,
Aren't you folks the lucky ones.
I would be most worried about the DOS version of the RCS program as you've got to get the proprietary codec in order to play the files. Presumably once you have that, then you can archive the codec and hope it will work under VISTA 2100...or write an emulator...or...
As to the Racal stuff, perhaps the most difficult stumbling block will be reading the timecode. I believe these are linear analog tracks on the VHS tape, but there was also a system that recorded digitally using the spinning head of the VHS system. I'm not sure which is which.
If these are the analog tapes, worst comes to worst, I'm sure you could get someone to make a custom play head for you for $20K or less. Since it's VHS, it is 1/2-inch. I have a Dictaphone 20-track (plus timecode) head for a reel-to-reel player and also a 16-track audio head (no separate timecode track as was common with loggers).
One of the challenges in using dedicated audio reel transports will be slowing down the capstans to real time. For example, most reel loggers ran at 15/32 in/s (ips) while the slowest I can get my Sony APR-5000s to is 1-7/8 in/s, or 4X. However, if I can make 8 kHz flat playback at 1-7/8 that still leaves 2 kHz flat when slowed down in the computer.
I would start writing the grant proposals to get all the stuff off these carriers, as I'm sure you're doing. YIKES! What were these people thinking...especially when machines got trashed, which they almost always do.
Please keep me informed. I had another inquiry about a Racal proprietary analog format on video cassettes.
Cheers,
Richard
At 06:20 PM 2007-09-11, Brandon Burke wrote:My institution is about to receive 4,000 recordings, of which nearly half are in one proprietary media i know to be long out of production (Racal Wordsafe) while the other is at least created by company that is still in business (RCS Tracker).
I am writing in hopes that someone on the List has some experience either or both of these formats. If so, please feel welcome to contact me off-list if you prefer.
What i know so far:
* Racal Wordsafe is a VHS-based multi-track technology that requires a proprietary Racal Wordsafe recorder in order to play back a recording. I know of at least one company that sells refurbished models... [http://www.simko-usa.com/Racal/Wordsafe/index.html] ...otherwise this technology seems to be nearly unaccounted for.
* The windows-based RCS Tracker system commits recordings either to MPEG-2 or WMA, but the DOS-based version creates purely proprietary files. This i gleaned from talking to one of their support techs on the phone. Here's the URL for their product: http://www.rcsworks.com/ products/ tracker/
I am visiting the donor next month to look over their hardware, specs, etc but i wanted to know if anyone had experience archiving such files before i leave to try and answer some questions first-hand.
Of particular interest to me is any information about the Racal Wordsafe system, as i'm unclear whether or not the donor will even have any of their old manuals. (We are getting two machines with the tapes; however one is a condition unfit for professional-level playback and the other was cannibalized to feed the first.)
thanks, Brandon Burke.
____________________________________ Brandon Burke Archivist for Audio Collections Hoover Institution Archives Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-6010 vox: 650.724.9711 fax: 650.725.3445 email: burke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
____________________________________ Brandon Burke Archivist for Audio Collections Hoover Institution Archives Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-6010 vox: 650.724.9711 fax: 650.725.3445 email: burke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx