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

[media@billabong.demon.co.uk]

shubha@arce.ernet.in wrote:

>I would be interested to know how many on this list have collections of PCM
>tapes made using the Sony F1.

My earliest PCM Sony tapes were made on the PCM-100 coder in 1982 --
heavy, huge, very impressive front-panel meters), and were made in the
UK but on 525-line/30fps heavy-duty industrial recorders. Later, I
switched to the F1 kit but, again, this was 525/30. Then in 1986, we
moved to using Sony 625/25-format C9 recorders (a UK domestic machine)
with the PCM-701 codecs. We could still reply our 525/30 tapes through
this kit, though the sample rates were slightly different.

This was all at the University of Surrey in Guildford, doing the
Tonmeister degree. After I graduated in 1987, I don't know how quickly
they changed to other formats.

I have acres of these tapes in my garage.

A friend in the BBC lent me an F1 625/25 kit in 1997, which was still
used by their transmitter department for recording transmitter tests.

John Warburton