SECTION MEETING REPORT

Meeting Date:

February 10, 1998

Attendance:

31

Location:

WDIV-TV

Detroit, Michigan

Speaker:

Dave Desmarais, Field Operations Manager

Sony Corporation

Itasca, Illinois

Subject:

Tape Machine Dynamics and Maintenance

Thirty-one members and guests attended a joint meeting with the Detroit Section of the Audio Engineering Society to hear Sony's Field Operations Manager Dave Desmarais explain the finer points of small-format videotape recorder maintenance. He covered factors that affect head performance including environmental concerns, tape abrasion, cleaning and tape tension, and emphasized regular head cleaning as an important part of assuring quality recordings and playbacks. One of the more frequent anomalies with Betacam recordings, chroma flash, was explained, along with suggested ways to minimize it.

Mr. Desmarais went into quite a bit of detail about the mechanics and design of rotary VTR heads, including the differences in headlife between fixed VTRs and camcorders. He discussed rotary head construction materials and methods, and showed microphotographs of new heads, heads with normal wear and heads that had been damaged by abrasion and even contaminated with oil debris from being packed in styrofoam.

Service procedures were covered, including a list of items that are checked when a machine comes in for repair. The special problems in dealing with rotary digital audio tape machines were covered, particularly with respect to the narrower tape and smaller transports. Finally, he outlined steps that users can take to improve performance, including preventive maintenance and performance checks, tape handling and storage suggestions, and periodic evaluation of a facility's tape stock.

Submitted by:

Frank Maynard, WKBD-TV
Secretary/Treasurer, SMPTE Detroit Section
248-355-7129
maynard@oeonline.com