Video digitising problem.

[paul.deitch]

I've been digitising various types of video and film for years but I'm having problems with this one.
http://www.medien-museum.de/museum/Video/VTR3.htm
I've been given a Bauer 1004 from 1978 and 30 open reels of video tape. The format is Black/White CCIR/PAL 200 lines. The video is viewable on the built in B/W monitor so the signal is readable but when I connect it to my known working video converter I get nothing.


Obviously not compatible. Anyone done something similar successfully?

[MIND.WORK]

Hi Paul, ich suche für das Bauer 1004 System ein paar Bänder, weil ich eine damit kleine Videoinstallation machen will. Die Technik hab ich, aber leider noch keine Bänder. Jetzt hast du ja für deinen Freund die 30 Stück digitalisiert. Kannst du ihn vielleicht für mich mal fragen, ob er mir ein paar seiner Bänder verkauft? Oder mir seine Kontaktdaten geben kannst?

Danke und Grüsse

Martin

P.S.. ich hatte dich auch über das TapeForum angeschrieben, aber gesehen, dass du da die letzte Zeit nicht mehr warst.

[Mr Pointy]

Hi Paul, I'm looking for some tapes for the Bauer 1004 system because I want to make a small video installation with it. I have the equipment, but unfortunately no tapes yet. You recently digitized those 30 tapes for your friend. Could you perhaps ask him if he'd sell me some of his tapes? Or give me his contact information?

Thanks and best regards,

Martin

P.S. I also contacted you via the TapeForum, but I saw that you haven't been there lately.

---

Interesting. Is it real or is it Memorex AI?

[paul.deitch]

Haha! Well done for tracking me down.
Yes the Bauer 1004 project was a bit of a horror story and consumed a lot of my time to get it running. The PSU blew twice, the tape quality (200 lines !) after so many years was terrible.
Drop outs, 1/4 of the bottom lines missing etc. The only part that seemed to be good was the audio.

Fritz was happy with what I achieved as a lot of it was from his competitive dressage days. Anyhow he threw everything away after that! So now there are no tapes.

However you can still buy 1/4 inch chrome audio tapes and if I were you I would give it a try. 200 line b/w is not that great a bandwidth.

Good luck and let me know how you get on please.

[MIND.WORK]

Damn, that would have been too perfect. I’ll see if I can find something elsewhere after all—luckily, I’m in no rush. And if all else fails, I’ll do it the way you suggested. I’ll keep you posted; you can ignore my inquiry in the tape forum. Thanks, best regards, and have a nice evening from Cologne. Martin

[paul.deitch]

Cheers. I'm just outside Paderborn on the Lippesee. A great location. Good luck. By the way I'm now working on a project for this guy.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_St%C3%BCcke
who was a friend of mine.

Edited by paul.deitch on Sunday 16th August 18:29

[MIND.WORK]

This sounds like an interesting project👍🏻
And it looks like I can fix my tape problem. I found an unused, still-sealed 1/4" Akai video tape on eBay UK for 100 pounds and almost bought it today. But before doing so, I tried entering various search term combinations for the tape on eBay and actually discovered two unused 1/4" Scotch video tapes, which I bought for 30 euros.

Best from Cologne
Martin

[paul.deitch]

Congrats on finding those as there are not many systems using those tapes!
You mentioned that you want to create a video installation, so you must be an artist.
I have to ask why you want to use such an old system for an installation as you could easily generate that quality (or lack of it) of video signal and add all the noise that you could wish for.