An Expensive Hobby…Restoring Early Videotape Machines

On December 15, 2012 - TV History


An Expensive Hobby

Restoring early videotape machines to working order is not small feat, but John Turner does it. Here’s a demonstration of how his RCA TK60 quad machine works.

What Labguy did on his spring break series, first video. John Turner demonstrates the 1969 RCA TR-60 quadruplex broadcast video tape recorder that he has res…

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9 Comments

  1. Jim Tolson December 16, 2012

    Great for pinching your pinkie on the right flange, Yipes! I remember that well. Ours was slaved to a TCR100.

  2. Patrick Clancey December 16, 2012

    I worked with TR60s and 61s at BCTV in Vancouver in 1974. I first edited on 2 TR70Cs with an EECO time code programmer as my controller. The thing had nixie tubes in it for the numerical readouts. I mastered and edited a lot of shows on those beasts. We also had 2 TCR100s for commercials and later for news. We eventually added 2 Ampex AVR2s and 2 AVR3s. Could never convince them to get the superior Ampex ACR25 to replace the TCR100s. Also had an Ampex HS100C Slomo disk recorder. The C was the last iteration, which had a digital TBC and a HEPA air filtration system for the disk housing.

  3. Bill Seesselberg December 16, 2012

    I actually worked with TR-60s at KOTA in Rapid City, SD. Great machines.

  4. John Turner December 15, 2012

    It took this video to get me on a diet!

  5. Dave Dillman December 15, 2012

    Reminds me just how complex video recording was. Far from the days of tossing a cassette into a Betacam deck.

  6. Gary Donahue December 15, 2012

    It was very easy to miss the audio head when you threaded those machines, which I learned the hard way one Sunday morning when I recorded Meet The Press with the previous week’s audio on it.

  7. Jarbas Jam Mesquita December 15, 2012

    Awesome!

  8. Bill Seesselberg December 15, 2012

    We probably worked on some if those machines before he got them.

  9. Bobby Reyes December 15, 2012

    …how extremely WILD to see John Turner demonstrate this unit with a videotape of Joe Alston ! ..Joe was a staff announcer and an actor but he is most famous for doing a childrens TV program on KENS as the character Cap’n Gus ! ! ..there was an audience of young kids and all kinds of cartoons were shown ..Popeye, Warner Brothers, Gumby and Joe was an absolute treasure to the San Antonio viewers ..THANK YOU, Bobby E. ! ! ..this was too much ! ! !