1–inch type B VTR (designated Type B by

SMPTE The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) (, rarely ), founded in 1916 as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers or SMPE, is a global professional association of engineers, technologists, and executives working in the m ...

) is a

reel-to-reel Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, also called open-reel recording, is magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording tape is spooled between reels. To prepare for use, the ''supply reel'' (or ''feed reel'') containing the tape is pla ...

analog recording

video tape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassett ...

format developed by the Bosch

Fernseh The Fernseh AG television company was registered in Berlin on July 3, 1929, by John Logie Baird, Robert Bosch, Zeiss Ikon and D.S. Loewe as partners. John Baird owned Baird Television Ltd. in London, Zeiss Ikon was a camera company in Dresden, D.S ...

division of Bosch in Germany in 1976. The

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnet ...

format became the broadcasting standard in continental Europe, but adoption was limited in the United States and United Kingdom, where the Type C videotape VTR met with greater success.

Details

The tape speed allowed 96 minutes on a large reel (later 120 minutes), and used 2 record/playback (R/P) heads on the drum rotating at 9,000 RPM with a 190-degree wrap around a very small head drum, recording 52 video lines per head segment. A single video frame was recorded across 6 tracks in the tape. The format only allowed for play, rewind and fast forward. Video is recorded on an FM signal with a bandwidth of 5.5 MHz. Three longitudinal audio tracks are recorded on the tape as well: two audio and one

Linear timecode Linear (or Longitudinal) Timecode (LTC) is an encoding of SMPTE timecode data in an audio signal, as defined in SMPTE 12M specification. The audio signal is commonly recorded on a VTR track or other storage media. The bits are encoded using the ...

(LTC) track. BCN 50 VTRs were used at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. The format required an optional, and costly, digital framestore in addition to the normal analog timebase corrector to do any "trick-play" operations, such as slow motion/variable-speed playback, frame step play, and visible shuttle functions. This was because, unlike 1-inch type C which recorded one field per

helical scan Helical scan is a method of recording high-frequency signals on magnetic tape. It is used in open-reel video tape recorders, video cassette recorders, digital audio tape recorders, and some computer tape drive A tape drive is a data sto ...

track on the tape, Type B segmented each field to 5 or 6 tracks per field according to whether it was a 525- (

NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...

) or 625- ( PAL) line machine. The picture quality was excellent, and standard R/P machines, digital frame store machines, reel-to-reel portables, random access cart machines (for playback of short-form video material such as

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

s), and portable cart versions were marketed. Echo Science Corporation, a United States company, made units like a BCN 1 for the U.S. military for a short time in the 1970s. Echo Science models were Pilot 1, Echo 460, Pilot 260. Bcn-scanner-head

Models introduced

*BCR (BCR 40, BCR 50 and BCR 60)was a pre BCN VTR, made with

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

, the large scanner made it not useful, *BCN40 (1976, record unit with no TBC playback) *BCN50 (1976, recorder with TBC playback) *BCN20 (1976, one hour, portable with no TBC playback) *BCWQ ("L" Unit for BCN20/21, added TBC playback to the portable units) *Effects control option for digital framestore, for freeze frame, quad split and mirror effects (early digital

Special effect Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual ...

s). *BNC51 (recorder with TBC playback, optional Slow motion and visible shuttle) *BCN5 (26 pound, portable cart recorder, 40 min.) *BCN100 (random access 32 multicassette machine, up to 16 hours rec/playback-20 min per tape) Each unit had 3 tape desks with a 21 sec load time each cart. For on air playback and 3 deck editing system *BCN52 (recorder with

Digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals ** Digital camera, which captures and stores digital ...

TBC playback, with slow motion & visible shuttle) *BCN21 (lightweight reel to reel portable with no TBC playback, first

Composite material A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...

VTR) *BCN53 (recorder with

TBC playback, with slow motion & visible shuttle) *HR-400 :

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

also sold the BCN50 as an HR-400.

Special BCN units

*Ruxton Video in Burbank (1970–1980s) used modified BCNs for 24 Frame playback to TVs used on

movie studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the productio ...

sets. Thus the TVs had no flicker when seen on film, due to the film-compatible

frame rate Frame rate (expressed in or FPS) is the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images ( frames) are captured or displayed. The term applies equally to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate may also be ...

. Bill Hogan of Ruxton Ltd received in 1981 an

Academy Award for Technical Achievement The Technical Achievement Award is one of three Scientific and Technical Awards given from time to time by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. (The other two awards are the Scientific and Engineering Award and the Academy Award of Mer ...

for his 24frame TV work. *

Image Transform An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimension ...

in Universal City, co-founded by Ken Holland, in 1970, used specially modified BCNs to record 24-frame video also, but for their "Image Vision" system. The BCN would record and play back 24-frame video at 10 MHz bandwidth, with twice the standard 525-line

resolution. To record this the headwheel and capstan ran at twice normal speed. Modified 24 frame/s 10 MHz Bosch Fernseh KCK-40

professional video camera A professional video camera (often called a television camera even though its use has spread beyond television) is a high-end device for creating electronic moving images (as opposed to a movie camera, that earlier recorded the images on film). ...

s were used on the set. This was a custom pre-

HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

video system. This Image Vision recording could then be recorded to

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

on a modified 3M Electron Beam

film recorder A film recorder is a graphical output device for transferring images to photographic film from a digital source. In a typical film recorder, an image is passed from a host computer to a mechanism to expose film through a variety of methods, h ...

(EBR). Image Transform had modified other gear for this process. At its peak, this system was used to make " Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl" in 1982. This was the first major use of early electronic cinema technology (using wideband high-resolution analog video technology, predating IT-based DI (

digital intermediate Digital intermediate (typically abbreviated DI) is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. Definition and overview A digital intermediat ...

)

post production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. Th ...

for film nowadays) using a film recorder for Film out.

Electronovision Electronovision was a process used by producer and entrepreneur H. William "Bill" Sargent, Jr. to produce a handful of motion pictures, theatrical plays, and specials in the 1960s and early 1970s using a high-resolution videotape process for product ...

was also a pre-process like Image Vision. Merlin Engineering also worked on the BCN's wide bandwidth, 10 MHz, BCN modification. *

Bell and Howell Bell and Howell LLC is a U.S.-based services organization and former manufacturer of cameras, lenses, and motion picture machinery, founded in 1907 by two projectionists, and originally headquartered in Wheeling, Illinois. The company is now ...

(later Rank Video Services) used special BCNs for mass VHS duplication. These specially-modified BCN VTRs could play back movies at two times the normal speed. In addition, the sync signals were also were at two times speed as well. For proper playback, the headwheel and capstan also ran at twice normal speed. Specially modified VHS recorders could record this

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) sy ...

. In doing this, the duplication

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae excl ...

could output twice the product than normal videocassette duplicating systems. * Bell and Howell's Data Tape division in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

modified BCNs to record high speed

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpret ...

for

instrumentation Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...

purposes. These instrumentation recordings were mostly used by US government agencies, such as for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

on the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...

. This unit could record data from up to 800 sensors. *Because of the small scanner, BCNs could record even at high ''g''-forces. Hand picked BCN20 VTRs could record at low

temperatures Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied on ...

, down to -40 °C (-40 °F). This was done at the

Olympic Winter Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were hel ...

in Lake Placid (1980) and in Sarajevo (1984). * Some users modified BCNs to fit 2-hour reels of tape on the BCN, so complete 2-hour movies could fit on one reel of tape. Bosch later made this a factory option, and was designated as BCN LP. * Bosch also offered SLP BCN, a "long-play" variant of the format. It moved the tape at 1/3 speed so that up to 6 hours could be recorded one reel. The unit has a special

head wheel A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals m ...

with azimuth head. This was mostly used for

time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between countries and their subdivisions instead of strictly following longitude, because it ...

tape delay by television networks. With a head wheel change and a switch the unit could be returned to normal play. * Between 1977 and 1980 the UK Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) experimented with a B format machine as part of their researches into digital video broadcasting standards. In April 1980 a machine was exhibited at a meeting of the EBU Technical Committee in London as part of a complete digital studio system based on a proposed video standard based on YUV 12.4.4. The machine is described in a paper in the IBA Technical Review of March 1982 which can be found here by scrolling down to the item IBA_TechnicalReviews1-24"" * One of the first

SDTV Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...

VTRs was a non-production

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used to ...

BCN deck that could record and play back early type of CCIR 601

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals ** Digital camera, which captures and stores digital ...

signals. These three Bosch VTRs paved the way for the later

D1 VTR standard. In 1985 and 1986 in a

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine departme ...

experimental digital studio in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, an experimental all-digital television center was made, it used the two all digital BCN units. * The BCH 1000 is an analog high-definition television VTR that records and playbacks

HD-MAC HD-MAC (High Definition Multiplexed Analogue Components) was a broadcast television standard proposed by the European Commission in 1986, as part of Eureka 95 project. It belongs to the MAC - Multiplexed Analogue Components standard family. It is ...

at 50 frames per second, each at a resolution of 2048×1152. The BCH 1000 was used in the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

Albertville Albertville (; Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a subprefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. It is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In 2018, the commune had ...

. It used 8 video heads to handle the increased bandwidth requirements of HD-MAC, due to its high resolution. Image:BOSCH 1 ZOLL B BCN 51.jpg, BCN 51 VTR File:BCN 52 type B VTR.jpg , BCN 52 VTR File:BNC HDTV VTR-type B deck.jpg , Broadcast Television Systems Inc. (BTS) BCH-1000 HDTV

B VTR File:BCN 20 VTR L unit playback.jpg, BCN 20 VTR with "L unit" playback with TBC. Image:BCN-20-VTR.jpg, BCN 20 VTR hand held VTR recorder.

Specifications

* 1 Inch open reel to reel analog video system. * Video scanner rotation 9600 rpm, 150 rps. * 52 horizontal lines per head. * Video FM signal at a bandwidth of 5,5 MHz * Three analog audio tracks: 2 audio tracks and 1 linear timecode track, 0.8mm wide - 30 mils * One analog control track 0.4mm wide - 15 mils, built into video scanner head. * Magnetic tape coating on the outside of the videotape reel. * Studio reel 96 minutes, later 120 minutes * Portable reel 60 minutes * Cart reel 20 minutes (BCN5 - BCN100) * Video scanner wrap 190 deg. * Video scanner dia. 50.3mm, 2 inches * Video track length 3.1 inches, 80mm * Video track gap 40 um, 1.5 mils * Tape speed 24 cm/sec - 9.5 ips. * Video head write speed: 24m /sec - 950 ips * Video track angle 14.3 deg. * Video track width 160 um - 6.3 mils * Two video record/play heads at 180 deg. (rotary transformer) * Two video erase head for insert edits at 180 deg. (rotary transformer) BCNN Specs
/ref>

Some BCN users

* ABC-TV at MC

* AME – Hollywood, California * Aquarius Theater –Hollywood, California * Astin Moore, Los Angeles, California; see John Astin * ATC–Buenos Aires, Argentina * Audio Plus Video – Los Angeles, California and Northvale, New York * Australian Film & Television School, Sydney (now Australian Film, Television & Radio School) *

, (Rank Video Services) – Oak Brook, Illinois *

Data Tape –

* Cinema Video Processors –

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

* Complete Post – Hollywood, California * Cossey Studios – Santa Cruz, California * Dash Motorcars – Santa Cruz, California
DC Video
nbsp;– current user –

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, who ...

* Editel – Hollywood, California * Eesti Televisioon * Glendale Studios (Outpost Video) – Glendale, California * Image Transform – Universal City, California * KCPT – Kansas City, Missouri * KPAZ-TV – Phoenix, Arizona *

KTBN KTBN-TV (channel 40) is a religious television station licensed to Santa Ana, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area as the flagship station of the locally based Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The station's offices are lo ...

-TV – Costa Mesa, California *

KTBO-TV KTBO-TV (channel 14) is a religious television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, owned and operated by the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The station's transmitter is located near the John Kilpatrick Turnpike/Interstate 44, ...

– Oklahoma, Oklahoma *

KTBW-TV KTBW-TV, virtual channel 20 (UHF digital channel 21), is a Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) owned-and-operated television station serving Seattle, Washington, United States, that is licensed to Tacoma. The station's studios are located on Sout ...

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

* Laser Pacific – Hollywood, California *

Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and ...

– Burbank, California and Tulsa, Oklahoma * 4MC – Burbank, California * Measurement Analysis – Torrance, California * Merlin – Palo Alto, California * Modern Video Film – Hollywood, California *

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the lat ...

- Bethesda, Maryland *

Oral Roberts University Oral Roberts University (ORU) is a private evangelical university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Founded in 1963, the university is named after its founder, evangelist Oral Roberts. Sitting on a campus, ORU offers over 70 undergraduate degree programs ...

–

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...

* ORF-Austrian Broadcasting Corporation – Vienna, Austria * Premore (see

Solo Cup Company Solo Cup Company is an American manufacturer of disposable consumer products including beverage cups, disposable plates, and bowls. Solo Cup Company is located in Lake Forest, Illinois, and in 2006 had sales of $2.4 billion. On May 4, 2012, So ...

) – Culver City, California * Ruxton – Burbank, California * Spin Physics – San Diego, California * Starfax – Burbank, California * STW Channel 9 - Perth, Western Australia *

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

– Newberry Park, California * The Video Tape Company – North Hollywood, California * The Videography Studios – West Los Angeles, California * TV2 in Framersheim, Germany * Tyne Tees Television, Newcastle UK used the BCN100 cart system for commercial playout * VDI – Hollywood, California * Video Business –

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

* Video Pack – New York, New York * Video Tape Company – Burbank, California * Vidtronics – Hollywood, California * WHFT-TV –

Pembroke Park, Florida Pembroke Park is a town in Broward County, Florida, United States. The town took its name from its location along Pembroke Road. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,260. It is part of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to ...

* WJYL-CD – Louisville, Kentucky * WTVY – Dothan, Alabama * Yorkshire Television, Leeds UK used the BCN100 cart system for commercial playout * ZDF in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

, Germany

References

External links

vtoldboys.com BCN Pictures
* The history of television, 1942 to 2000, page 197, By Albert Abramso
DC Video BNC page, Current useryoutube.com BCN studio demoyoutube.com BCN20 demoyoutube.com BCN 51 PAL studio demo
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Type B Videotape Videotape Products introduced in 1976 Composite video formats History of television Television terminology