Found a 2" Video Tape.

[Eric H]

Found this at my favorite Antique Mall, the only one that ever has anything of interest.

It was standing on edge in the dirt in their outdoor area in direct sunlight!
So anyway, it's pretty dirty, at least on the outside, it's wound tight so it's probably okay deeper in, also the tape itself seems fine, it's still flexible and not flaking off any oxide so maybe there's hope for it.

It could be blank, or it could be something one of a kind and precious, most likely it's just ordinary TV stuff like the movie of the week or something but it would be fun to find out.

Is there anyone out there with an interest (and the machinery) who could check this out?

[Dude111]

It would be neat if you could put that into a VHS case (Take the tape out and put some of that tape in) and play it Eric!!

Does it have a date on it?? (Or any info as to what might be on it)

[NoPegs]

Originally Posted by Eric H

Found this at my favorite Antique Mall, the only one that ever has anything of interest.

It was standing on edge in the dirt in their outdoor area in direct sunlight!
So anyway, it's pretty dirty, at least on the outside, it's wound tight so it's probably okay deeper in, also the tape itself seems fine, it's still flexible and not flaking off any oxide so maybe there's hope for it.

It could be blank, or it could be something one of a kind and precious, most likely it's just ordinary TV stuff like the movie of the week or something but it would be fun to find out.

Is there anyone out there with an interest (and the machinery) who could check this out?

Dave A comes to mind as someone who *might* have access to a 2" Quad.

In the meantime, stick it in an airtight container with some fresh desiccant and keep it in the proverbial "cool, dry place" everyone's always talking about.


Edit: Carefully unspool a bit of it (Stop after 12' maximum) and see if there's anything written on the non-oxide side of the tape. This will also reveal if it has a "leader" in place or not. (Leaders turn up on things that frequently got threaded up for play/record, absence of a leader may indicate that your tape is of the WORN variety. (That's Writen Once Replayed Never, Archival type stuff.)

[Boobtubeman]

Stilll waiting to see my old tapes...

SR

[Eric H]

I unspooled about 10-15 feet of it and there's no labels, there is a thin metal splice about six feet in.

This thing is in worse shape than I thought, it appears to have been wet, and it's pretty dirty, I wiped it with a damp paper towel and it cleans up fairly well but it would be some serious labor to clean the whole thing.
I'm not sure anyone would want to run it through their machine.

Someone over at A.R.F suggested it could be Audio Tape, if that's the case I should be able to at least hear something if i passed it over a tape head.
there is also some special magnetic stuff you can apply and see how the recording tracks are laid down to identify how it was recorded.

I tried to take out the screws on one side so I could vacuum the sides off but the screws are frozen in place.

It's inside my air conditioned house so it shouldn't deteriorate any further, in archeology they keep the artifact in the environment in which it was found, perhaps I should toss it out in my back yard?

[Eric H]

Originally Posted by Boobtubeman

Stilll waiting to see my old tapes...

SR

Still haven't looked at The Great Time Machine to see if I can fix the rewind function!

[Dave A]

Thanks NoPeg for noting me as the local 2" go-to but others here are well qualified also. It is my ancestry in broadcasting but I hope my elders can help.

Eric...That tape is moderately scary looking at the crud of ages. I have seen worse. Most of the local dust/mold can be dusted off with a paint brush. After that, it a gamble that the quad head would catch something from the far edge. The usual tape wrap is so tight that only something on the edge may get in. Tape sluffing on the mainside is another story. Under the open reel spaces, the tape is probably ok if it is not shedding like a dog. If there is a hint of moisture...all bets are off. I do have a local 2" machine that is up and running but I rely on him to try this reel. He has done wonders with a few reels I have around. He may balk at this one.

A splice a few feet in is curious. Splices would be many minutes in between show acts as they were recorded. Song...edit...song...edit...comedy and so forth. And I never heard of metal splices. Scotch tape or same was usual on the mechanical RCA splicer. Metal is too thick for the quad head transports. Not withstanding, I do understand you have a metal splice. Not sure about that one. 6' in is about 6 seconds of quad play. Other metal splices would show in the reel windows as a tape wrap bulge.

Can you send a pic of that splice? Quad historians want to know.

[NoPegs]

Originally Posted by Eric H

I unspooled about 10-15 feet of it and there's no labels, there is a thin metal splice about six feet in.

This thing is in worse shape than I thought, it appears to have been wet, and it's pretty dirty, I wiped it with a damp paper towel and it cleans up fairly well but it would be some serious labor to clean the whole thing.
I'm not sure anyone would want to run it through their machine.

Someone over at A.R.F suggested it could be Audio Tape, if that's the case I should be able to at least hear something if i passed it over a tape head.
there is also some special magnetic stuff you can apply and see how the recording tracks are laid down to identify how it was recorded.

I tried to take out the screws on one side so I could vacuum the sides off but the screws are frozen in place.

It's inside my air conditioned house so it shouldn't deteriorate any further, in archeology they keep the artifact in the environment in which it was found, perhaps I should toss it out in my back yard?

I suppose it could be 2" linear multi-track audio tape. I can't find exactly what I'm looking for, but at one point somebody made a little "card" with a window in it you could use to actually see data stored on floppies and mag-stripe cards. None of the "green film" magnetic field viewing films I'm currently looking at mention magnetic recording, just "look at magnets" so YMMV. Can't hurt to pick some up though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet...d_viewing_film


Echoing Dave A's request, lets see the splice. Six-feet seems a bit generous to be an audio-leader, but that could just be confirmation-bias speaking. (I'm rooting for 2" Quad myself!)

As to how dirty it is? Distilled-water and an air-blade can probably fix that like nobody's business.

[NoPegs]

Originally Posted by Dave A

Thanks NoPeg for noting me as the local 2" go-to but others here are well qualified also. It is my ancestry in broadcasting but I hope my elders can help.

You're the first one I could think of offhand that has performed magnetic-tape recovery miracles. Some things call for expertise, and half the battle is knowing when to go and find one.

[Dave A]

I do stand corrected on the metal tape. An old tape op friend of mine confirms that metal tape was used on the RCA splicer. Greg's note;


I do remember using the tape splicer several times at WCEE. The solution
that made the edit pulses visible was applied to the tape edge using an
eye dropper. Looking thru the attached microscope allowed finding the
edit pulses. The knife portion of the splicer then was moved into place
and the tape was cut on the pulses. Then the splicing block was moved
into place, little lifters raised the tape up a bit, then lowered down so
the video tape could be aligned and positioned on the splicing tape
precisely. A small rubber roller was used to press the video tape onto
the splicing tape. If the splice was good the video tape wouldn't "zing"
too loudly when the splice passed the headwheel. The splicing tape was
metal. I think it was 3M brand.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Eric H

It was standing on edge in the dirt in their outdoor area in direct sunlight!

They should have known by now, that's only suitable for 8-tracks.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by Dave A

... He has done wonders with a few reels I have around. He may balk at this one.

...

And not knowing if anything interesting, or anything at all, is recorded on that tape. Odds are it's some ordinary commercial, or local news report of some fire/murder/accident. Probably not worth the risk to his heads.

[centralradio]

I have a roll of Memorex 2 inch tape here myself in its box which is wrapped with a plastic bag.No machine to play it.I have 1 inch machine but forget trying it.

Now wondering if your is an audio master copy of some band or artist or broadcast filler music.

I dont know if it will be worth to send these two tapes to a tape transfer place with 2 inch audio or quad machines and risk the charges and find out its nothing worth it.

I'm imagining hearing on the news"Archived footage found after years of storage" Story at 11 after the movie.

[Eric H]

One can dream can't they.
http://pitchfork.com/news/55273-extr...ck-to-auction/

[Dave A]

If you collectors have a 2" tape of any sort, PM me. I have a friend here in Phila with a working 2" Ampex quad and he is looking for projects...at a $ cost for sure but he is reasonable as he is still getting things going.

I have given him 2" tapes for testing and he did a fine job. His first and only test 2" was a p#&n tape. He got tired of that. I had him xfer my 2" tapes to Mini-DV as that works best for me to xfer to Final Cut via my ancient Mac Pismo running Final Cut 1.25 in analog 4x3. You cannot kill these versions on this workhorse.

It is not fast but it works. I keep a Sony DVMC-2 analog>DV adaptor around for the analog world to the Mac. The final product is a Quicktime file on an outboard drive. It's time to start saving these relics.

And NoPegs, PM me and stop by and see me anytime. I can use your help to move some stuff in my storage unit. Cheap help I hope and some Phillies tickets for you...that is if you want to see the Phillies this season. Not many do.