Early videotape format
The
1/4 inch Akai
is a portable
helical scan
EIA
and
CCIR
analog recording
video tape recorder (
VTR
) with two video
record heads
on the scanning drum. The units were available with an optional
RF
modulator
to play back through a
TV
set, as well as a detachable
video monitor
. The Akai Electric Ltd. VTR plant was in
Tokyo
,
Japan
.
Black-and-white models
[
edit
]
Akai model
VTS-100
was introduced in 1967 and was a
B&W
portable VTR with a one tube camera.
The next models, VTS-110 and VTS-120, had similar specifications:
- S/N
> 40 dB
- Playback: about 200-lines of
image resolution
- Capstan
Tape speed (EIA) 11.25 inches per second (20 minute reel) / (CCIR) 23.85 cm/s (24 minute reel)
- VTR Weight: 11 lb.
- Monitor Weight: 3.5 lb.
[1]
The Akai X500-VT is perhaps the oddest of the Akai format machines in as much as it is both a stereo reel to reel audio recorder of 3.3/4 and 7.5 inch per sec tape speed having an auto reverse function, as well as a video recorder combined in the same machine. Two separate tape paths are used and according to the way the tape is threaded, either two channel stereo audio 4-track, or black and white video with monoaural sound could be recorded and played. Tape speed for video recording like the VT100 and VT110 is 11.1/4 Inch per sec.
For the time, this machine was very advanced using many innovations not used in other domestic video machines for many years, such as inverter drive video head motor. About 10 years later, when Sony introduced the Beta format, in the first couple of models the video head speed was controlled by a line synchronized AC motor and eddy-current brake.
The X500VT was sold only in Japan and the United States (under the Rheem/Roberts re-badge agreement) and in very low quantities due to its high cost. the highest serial number known to author is 00050, indicating the probability of only a tiny production run.
Camera specs:
Akai produced two types of portable black and white VTR using 1/4 inch tape: Portables using an open reel of 13 cm diameter (VT-100/-110/-120), and a single stationary model using a 27 cm open reel, designated VT-700.
Color model
[
edit
]
Akai model
VTS-150
was introduced in 1974. It recorded
composite video
on 1/4 inch
reel-to-reel
videotape
and could record and play back B&W or
color
. It came with a hand-held two-
tube
camera with a
zoom lens
. The system was very small and lightweight for its time. The VTR with the
video camera
weighed only 22 pounds. A single cable was used to connect the
ENG
camera to the VTR for power, video and the
microphone
audio. This model was available in
NTSC
,
PAL
and
SECAM
television formats.
VTR specs:
- S/N > 40 dB
- Playback: about 230-lines of
image resolution
- Capstan
Tape speed (
EIA
NTSC
): 254.27 mm/s (10 inches per second); (
CCIR
PAL
or
SECAM
): 217.97 mm/s
- Recording time: 26 minutes (NTSC) or 30 minutes (PAL or SECAM) on a five-inch reel
- One
audio
track
- One
control track
- Weight: 16.4 lb.
- Power consumption: 32
Watts
- Battery
capacity: about 40 minutes
- Size 10.5" x 14.2" x 5.6"
Camera specs (
NTSC
,
PAL
and
SECAM
):
- S/N > 40 dB
- One 2/3"
Vidicon
- One chroma Tube, an Akai
dissector tube
- 1.5" VF -
viewfinder
- Lens: 6x - (1.5 to 75 mm)
- 300 lines of resolution
- To use without the VTR,
CCU
-150 powered the camera with 12 VDC
- CCU-150 had RF output and
Genlock
sync input
- Weight: 5.76 lb.
- Size 3.5" x 9.3" x 13.2"
- Microphone
audio impedance: 600
ohms
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]