Industry Maestro Gives New Life To Outdated Announce Video Technology

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May 23, 2011 8:00 AM, By Michael Grotticelli

Looking for a way to give video element stored on 2in Quad or a 1in Type C videotape? How about a refurbished Quantel Paintbox compositing system?

C. Park Seward, a maestro announce video operative - who not long ago served as comparison video operative for an ESPN/ABC college football diversion radio programme live from Oregon State University and as tech executive for KABC-TV's "On The Red Carpet at the Academy Awards"- and one-time successful video prolongation and post trickery owners of Video Park might have only what you are seeking for. He's set up to offer a accumulation of video and audio give services, using selected equipment, to help persist history.

A self-professed "gear head" who can't obtain sufficient of the technology of yesteryear, Seward has set up a museum-type 3000ft converted garage in his back back yard in Grants Pass, OR, that features a accumulation of working systems. He's been pciking up them for years and says he can't help himself when he sees a sale for used apparatus on the Internet.

He owned prolongation and post-production services in Baton Rouge and New Orleans for many years, and after that freelanced in Los Angeles for 12 years. He's a associate of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and the Association of Imaging Technology and Sound. In his Oregon shop, he can encouragement such formats as: Digital Betacam (Sony DVW-A500), 1in Type "C" (Ampex VPR-3) and Zeus time bottom corrector, 2in Quadruplex (Ampex 1200B with Merlin Digital TBC updates), D-2 (Sony DVR-28), Betacam and Betacam SP (Sony BVW-60), 3/4in U-Matic (Sony BVU-800 and VO-5850), Hi-8, Digital 8 video, Mimi DV, DVCAM, micro MV, Panasonic D-3, DVD and HD-DVD, amid others.

As a freelance video engineer, Seward is still active with ESPN/ABC football telecasts, having worked is to past 5 years as the comparison video operative is to "G" Crew, spending every week end at a football stadium, from Michigan to Oregon to Oklahoma.

He can moreover give uncompressed element to hard disk and offers video application services to MPEG-2, miniDV, Quicktime or H.264 NTSC to/from PAL. Aging audio element is easy using Digidesign's Pro Tools audio modifying and blending software.

Seward mentioned he proposed out with an fascination in restoring aged radio hire equipment. He found a Gates Diplomat analog audio blending console, adage it is "one of the nicest designs of all the 70s boards," and entirely easy it. Then he changed on to turntables and barrow machines. Later, he acquired a few Ampex reel-to-reel machines.

He found the mom shaft of aged rigging when he came opposite a letter inventory about a storage room full of aged video apparatus from an estate. "The family only longed for to obtain absolved of the things so we done them an offer and they took it. It cost more to liner than to buy!"

Included were 4 Ampex quad VTRs (model# 1200 B), one with an NEC digital TBC, which, he said, "makes great pictures."

So he's composed and easy all of this rigging with the thought of gift a dub service for people that still have element on the ancestral quad format.

"I have been shocked at how good the quad fasten has hold up over the years," he said. "Out of hundreds of tapes, only one didn't fool around - due to endless 'shedding.' (Sticky strew is a complaint with mid-70s tapes, but baking creates the tapes playable.) However, those tapes will not final for all time and we suggest transferring to hard drive, uncompressed at 10 bits. For long-term storage, LTO fasten is recommended."

Seward mentioned you could find some "neat" apparatus at auctions and on eBay for a fragment of the cost of when it was new. In his studio, he's set up a quad vigilance workflow that initial goes to a Grass Valley Group proc amp (he paid for it for $100), then to a Hedco router (free) to an Accom decoder ($200) to an Accom video sound reducer ($150) to an AJA Video I/O box ($175) to the hard drive. Ikegami HD monitors ($50 each) with Tektronix waveform monitors/vectorscopes make sure a best dub.

Recently he "rescued" some Quantel gear, some HALs, an Editbox and some Paintboxes. The Editbox/HAL will help with video restoration, permitting him to correct shop-worn frames. A Los Angeles TV hire was dispatch the still serviceable gear.

"I only loathe to see what we ponder 'historic' technology in the rabble bin," Seward said. "I hope to revive some of it and present to some TV museums."