[BC] Fun with Quad Videotape

[Tom Taggart]

Rowan & Martin edited using mechanical splices in 1970??

Very strange.  In 1970, I was using an Editec on an Ampex
quad machine (1200 series) at Channel 8, Cleveland. The
Editec "knew" to do the inserts at the particular frame
points where it would not be noted. Find your edit point,
mark with a cue tone on the cue channel, back up the source
machine, and the Editec machine 5 seconds (there were
mechanical footage timers on the machines) and hit play on
both. As I recall, there was a rehearsal mode so you could
see exactly where your edit point was, and then adjust the
point a second or two backwards or forwards.

Used it every night that summer to assemble a spot reel for
the news & splice together 15's for one advertiser
(convenience store as I remember) to make a 30). You could
also insert a second cue tone--the Editec would then drop
out of edit at that second point. 

We also had an Ampex 1100 that was used to record CBS news
at 6:30. Around 8 the newsroom would come in with a list of
cuts to be edited down for the 11:00 news. Did that on
another Ampex 1200 with a simple insert editor.  Unlike the
Editec, you had to get your edit point right the first time.
 There were source selectors on both the 1200 and Editec
machine so you could insert black or a studio shot.