On 4/8/2015 6:32 AM, Richard L. Hess wrote:
> I tried much harder to have all 1-inch Type C video tapes recorded with
> Dolby A. Whether that would have been a good decision long term, I don't
> know as there are plusses and minuses, but the Type C audio had about
> the same S/N ratio as a cassette, if I recall correctly.

You do. I lived with that format for years at the TV station, and Dolby 
was the only way to make it tolerable.

Add to that the fact that the first generation of machines we had was 
shipped with peak-reading meters, not VUs, and the fact that the 
technicians would always "peak the meters at zero". Since 0 on those 
peak meters was about 16dB below (midband) saturation, that meant an 
even worse S/N. If the signal was being recorded off the audio board, 
things were better, but when the techs edited, they always dubbed from 
machine to machine with the meters peaking at zero "because that's how 
you're supposed to do it". Eventually we got a 1" machine, second 
generation, with real VUs on it.

The tapes coming out of our station indeed had the S/N of a cassette -- 
a cassette with no NR at all.

Peace,
Paul

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