[SBE] Betacam tape types

[Brian Hughes]

Thanks Henry, Frank and Michael,

It was a PVW-2800 that I was dealing with but most of the units I was checking, for playback, were the 2600s. I don't have any manuals so I didn't think to look for info on the tapes. I did look at one of the BVW-75 manuals and it has the explanation. It also has an explanation of the error 04 I'm getting on the 2800, I'm assuming it's essentially the same as the 75 in that area.

We were given a donation of about 10 UVW-1200 players, some PVW-2600 players, one 2650 player and a few PVW-2800 recorders, one of the recorders works. I have no spare parts or manuals and the majority of our tapes are the BCT-20 type. We will probably be using the UVW-1200s to show the students how to work on them but nothing in-depth.

Thanks,
Brian

-----Original Message-----
From: sbe-bounces at sbe.org [mailto:sbe-bounces at sbe.org] On Behalf Of Henry M. Seiden
Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 5:10 AM
To: sbe member discussion mail list
Subject: Re: [SBE] Betacam tape types

Brian and Frank,

There is a more in depth technical description of the shell slots/
openings and what they do in the manuals for the decks and also from
your friendly Sony Media sales organization. This site does not allow
for attachments. You can contact me off list if you want specifics.
There are actually three slots and two record tabs in the lineup of
Betacam recording tape history. There is no further development of
this product.

Frank, you are right about this- it is not advisable to use the oxide
tapes to record onto.

However, there is a groups of decks that can record on EITHER SP
Betacam(c) or Betacam(c) tape and that knows the difference between the
two, without fooling your deck via defacing the shell or any other
wrong workarounds.

The BVW series (BVW-70, 75) has the electronics and heads to match up
with (and can record onto) either of those types of tape, as can the
portable BVW series- models BVW-25, 35- and one piece camera series-
Models BVW-300, 400, 600. Those recorders were designed to be fully
backward compatible for either type of tape. Later series of decks
were less expensive- the PVW and UVW series.

By the way, the PVW-2600 is a player only and not a recorder, and so
it won't record on anything. Do you mean the PVW-2800 model?

We still service that entire line of equipment here. But it is rapidly
becoming obsolete. That equipment (to record on oxide tape and the
oxide brands of tape itself) is no longer in manufacture.

Models of SP tapes in the Sony line that you want is BCT-XXMLA (where
the XX is replaced by the length, L for large size shell, A being the
latest formulation). Those tapes are still in production.

Hope that fully answers your questions.

Regards,

Henry S.
On Sep 28, 2009, at 19:56 , Frank Felker wrote:


>

> The BCT tapes are not metal particle and will record properly in any

> "SP" deck. They can record, (once you make change the shell) but

> will often show visible artifacts. Don't use them.

>

> frank felker

>

>

> Brian Hughes wrote:

>> Hi All,

>>

>> I'm not an expert on Betacam tapes so I thought I might ask here.

>> We recently received some older PVW-2600 series SP decks and I'm in

>> the process of checking them out.

>>

>> I've currently got 3 tapes in front of me and I'm not sure of the

>> difference between two of them. The one I know is a Betacam SP

>> alignment tape that works fine with the PVW, it has the red slider

>> for a rec inhibit. The other two tapes play fine but are standard

>> Betacam tapes, no SP. One is a BCT-20K, the other shows a BCT-20K

>> NP 2.

>>

>> What I don't understand is the differences between the two non-SP

>> tapes and the use of tabs underneath. One tape simply has the rec

>> inhibit tab and won't record on the SP deck, as I assume it

>> shouldn't. The other tape has the same rec inhibit slot but also

>> has 3 slots near the middle, like an SP tape. The 2nd tape wouldn't

>> record until my boss punched out the same tabs as the SP tape. He

>> doesn't know the difference between these tape either.

>>

>> Any ideas?

>>

>> TIA,

>> Brian Hughes, SBE-CBTE

>> Broadcast Systems Engineer

>> Broadcast Television Engineering

>> Napa Valley College

>> x3258

>>

>>

>>

>> _______________________________________________

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>>

>>

>

>

> --

> Frank Felker

> Felker Digital Media LLC

> 609.458.9912

>

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