1-inch Type A Helical Scan or SMPTE A 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 plac ...

helical scan Helical scan is a method of recording high-frequency signals on magnetic tape, used in open-reel video tape recorders, video cassette recorders, digital audio tape recorders, and some computer tape drives. With this technique, magnetic tape he ...

analog recording Analog recording is a category of techniques used for the recording of analog signals. This enables later playback of the recorded analog audio. Analog audio recording began with mechanical systems such as the phonautograph and phonograph. La ...

videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually Sound recording and reproduction, sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog signal, analog or Digital signal (signal processing), digital signal. V ...

format developed by

Ampex Ampex Data Systems Corporation is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor. The name ''AMPEX'' is an acronym, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excell ...

in 1965, that was one of the first standardized

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 magnetic ...

formats in the width; most others of that size at that time were proprietary. It was capable of 350 lines.

Usage

Type A was developed as mainly an industrial and institutional format, where it saw the most success. It was not widely used for

broadcast television Broadcast television systems (or terrestrial television systems outside the US and Canada) are the encoding or formatting systems for the transmission and reception of terrestrial television signals. Analog television systems were standardized ...

, since it did not meet

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) specifications for broadcast videotape formats; the only format passing the FCC's muster at the time was the then-industry-standard 2-inch quadruplex. The Type A format received broad use by the White House Communications Agency from 1966 to 1969. The WHCA, under U.S. President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

, used the format to videotape television broadcasts off the air or from direct White House feeds. The WHCA recorded programs and events including television appearances by President Johnson, special news broadcasts and news interview programs. Beginning on April 1, 1968, the WHCA taping system was expanded to also include daily morning and evening news programs, both network and local. When U.S. President Richard M. Nixon succeeded Johnson in office in 1969, the WHCA's Type A recording system was continued until it was gradually phased out, later that year, in favor of a recording system using a 2-inch format.Richard Milhous Nixon Presidential Library and Museum WHCA Videotape Collection
/ref> The format was also used by the Vanderbilt Television News Archive at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

in Nashville, Tennessee, upon the archive's founding in 1968. The archive would continue to use the Type A format to make black & white recordings of national television newscasts (received off-air, and recorded by the archive, from the local Nashville network-affiliated TV stations that aired them) until 1979, when the archive upgraded to full-color-capable

U-Matic U-matic, also known as -inch Type E Helical Scan or SMPTE E, is an analog recording videocassette format developed by Sony. First shown as a prototype in October 1969 and introduced commercially in September 1971, it was among the earliest vi ...

VCRs for recording.

Technical details

Early VTRs were

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

(B/W) only, later VTRs supported

color television Color television (American English) or colour television (British English) is a television transmission technology that also includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improv ...

, with a

heterodyne A heterodyne is a signal frequency that is created by combining or mixing two other frequencies using a signal processing technique called ''heterodyning'', which was invented by Canadian inventor-engineer Reginald Fessenden. Heterodyning is us ...

playback. Still later units had time base correction playback, like the VPR-1 that could be used at

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

and

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, 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 indivi ...

houses. The VPR-1 had several problems, it did not record the

vertical blanking interval In a raster scan display, the vertical blanking interval (VBI), also known as the vertical interval or VBLANK, is the time between the end of the final visible line of a frame or field and the beginning of the first visible line of the next fra ...

(as the format in general was not capable of), which is why it was not compliant to FCC broadcast standards. The

video quality Video quality is a characteristic of a video passed through a video transmission or processing system that describes perceived video degradation (typically compared to the original video). Video processing systems may introduce some amount of disto ...

was not as good as other broadcast VTRs. Thus

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

and Ampex agreed to make a SMPTE approved type C format VTR (which was based on Type A).

Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...

also later made a C format VTR. Helical tape drive

Some Ampex Type A models

*VP-4900 (1965) B/W Player only, no record option. *VR-5000 (1965) B/W Record-player, very popular, many made. *VR-5100 (1965) B/W 3 MHz with horizontal resolution of 300 lines, noise ratio of 42 dB. *VR-5200 VR-5100 (1965) B/W with TV Tuner. *VPR-5200 VR-5200 with professional connectors *VR-5800 Low and high band. Very popular, many made. *VPR-5800 VR-5800 with professional connectors *XVR-5800 Medical certified 1 Type A VTR. *VR-5803 PAL VR-5800 TVR *VR-6000 Low band VTR, With stop motion mode added. Wood case. *VR-6003 PAL VR-6000 *VR-6050 Low band VTR, very basic, low cost. *VR-6275 (1966) Wood cabinet with a two TV Tuners (one watch one to record), load speakers. *VR-6300 (1966) VR-6275 without the TV Tuner. *VR-7000 Microphone input add, playback RF modulator, low and high band and other improvements. *VR-7100 (1967)With roll around cart, self-contained, with TV tuner, small monitor and B&W camera. *VR-7300 (1968) Color option with external color stabilizer. Hetrodyne color processor. *VR-7003 PAL VR-7300. *VL-7404 A time lapse VTR. Up to 38 hours with 9-3/4" reel of 3000' 1" tape. $5,900 *VR-7450 *VR-7500 Rec/play B&W and color. 4.2 MHz video bandwidth. Very popular, many made. *XVR-7500 higher record band, better color pictures. Professional connectors *VR-7503 PAL VR-7500 *VR-7800 Editing added, Color option. 1st with removable electronic cards for servicing.$9,500 in 1968. *VPR-7800 VR-7800 Professional. *VR-7803 PAL VR-7800 *VP-4500C A VR-7800 VTR, but a Player only, no record option, heterodyne color processor. *VR-7900 Is a VPR-7800 with an extra modulation standard added is very high, same quality as quad high band. 1975 *VPR-7900A (TBC option, the TBC-790, 1975) *VR-7903 PAL VR-7900 *VPR-7950A Console model of the VR7900, with monitoring and a TBC (TBC-790 analog, TBC-800 digital). *VPR-1 (1976) Studio VTR, Digital TBC with SlowMo and still frame. Some later VPR-1s were converted to Type C format by Ampex. Quickly replaced with C format, VPR-2 in 1976. *VPR-10 (1976) Portable VPR1, discontinued before delivery, replaced with VPR-20, C format in 1977.

References

Notes

External links

labguysworld Link to a 1" Type A VTR, the Ampex VR-7300DC Video operator of VR-7800Ampex page
in the Experimental Television Center
labguysworld.com Ampex VR-7100 Ops manual
* The History of Television, 1942 to 2000, By Albert Abramson and Christopher H. Sterling

{{Homevid Videotape Products introduced in 1965 Composite video formats