Re: RE: [AV Media Matters] F1 format PCM tape deterioration

[lists.rlhess@mindspring.com]

Shubha,

For transfer, the preferred device is the one with the digital
output--was it the 701? I'm not sure of the number. Keep looking for
one on eBay and rec.audio.pro.

Short of that, I suspect that most contemporary A-to-D converters
will far surpass the F1's D-to-A converters, sadly. I think
bypassing these early D-to-A converters should be a goal. The tape I
referred to was made through an analog connection of F1-type
processor to DAT machine.

Wondering out loud: Anyone know how to find a signal inside an F1
and convert it to SPDIF??? Someone might have found a mod like that.

As an aside, current portable minidisks sound quite transparent and
I've done some analog-domain dubbing between minidisk and DAT and at
least on my reasonably-high-quality folk music material, experienced
listeners were hard pressed to tell the difference between the
original CD and the minidisk that had been produced by the following
path:

CD--dig-->MD--ana-->DAT--dig-->MD

Cheers,

Richard

At 09:17 AM 03/08/2001 -0800, you wrote:

>IT is great to see some discussion on this topic. we have a few
>thousand PCM tapes made on the Sony F1 VHS and they seem fine. They
>have been stored in optimum temperature and humidity conditions
>and we have the original decks. I would be interested in hearing
>about the testing procedures - but most of all how we could
>transfer these without loss as this is definitely obsolete. The F1
>models we have dont have a digital output.
>
>Suggestions and wisdom would be much appreciated.
>
>Shubha Chaudhuri
>Director (Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology)
>
>>I have heard word ( from a friend of mine in England) that there is
>>significant deterioration in the F1 PCM audio tapes recorded on the Beta VCR
>>format.  The source of this is the French Bibliotique.  They are supposed to
>>have made measurements that showed the tapes have lost 40% of their "carrier
>>level".  I have a number of tapes recorded using this format on both Beta
>>and VHS formats and have not seen this kind of problem(yet).  I suspect
>>their measurements reflect interchange errors that occur when the tapes were
>>played back on machines other than the ones used to make the original
>>recordings.  All my tapes play fine but I still have the original decks.
>>Has anyone else heard about this problem and care to comment?
>>
>>Charles Repka