16mm is essentially a dead format---has been for years.
Dead Format
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johnmeyer
wrote on 5/5/2007, 9:38 PM
were internally called "Twiggy" drives.
Wow, the Lisa. And Twiggy drives. The readers for those would be tough to find.
Reminds me of the 8" floppies. I worked for a company called Sykes Datatronics that made those (along with cassette tape backup). When you hold an 8" floppy in your hand, you really understand why it was called "floppy."
And no, it is not time to start making 8" floppy jokes.
Wow, the Lisa. And Twiggy drives. The readers for those would be tough to find.
Reminds me of the 8" floppies. I worked for a company called Sykes Datatronics that made those (along with cassette tape backup). When you hold an 8" floppy in your hand, you really understand why it was called "floppy."
And no, it is not time to start making 8" floppy jokes.
John_Cline
wrote on 5/5/2007, 9:47 PM
The CMX linear video editing system used 8" floppies to store EDL files.
jrazz
wrote on 5/5/2007, 10:05 PM
My first car was a 77 Chrysler LeBaron. It had a 8 track player in it and it came with a few 8 tracks (I did not buy this new, as I didn't start driving until the 90's). Every now and then I would pop them in and listen to them and the track I wanted at the push of a button. It made me wonder why anyone ever went to cassette tapes as there was no real easy way to get from one point to another.
As a side note, I had an 8 track adapter that I put a cassette adapter into that in turn hooked into a portable CD player... you talk about great sound quality and a great way to entertain your friends (or have them laugh at you). Anways, there is my dead format contribution.
j razz
As a side note, I had an 8 track adapter that I put a cassette adapter into that in turn hooked into a portable CD player... you talk about great sound quality and a great way to entertain your friends (or have them laugh at you). Anways, there is my dead format contribution.
j razz
alltheseworlds
wrote on 5/5/2007, 10:49 PM
In the days before DAT I used to record audio onto Beta domestic video tape, routing the signal through a standalone pulse-code modulator unit. It would record onto the full tape with excellent quality (as I recall). Now I no longer own a PCM unit (or a Beta video player), but can't bear to just throw away my stack of old audio masters....
riredale
wrote on 5/6/2007, 8:14 AM
Wow, this thread could turn this way and that forever.
You guys will think I'm nuts, but in the corner of my living room I have several bookshelves full of VHS tapes. The picture is black, but the audio is a VHS HiFi stereo track of custom mixes I made many years ago from CDs. Didn't want the crummy quality of cassette tapes, you know. They actually sound very good, but what a clumsy way of recording audio.
You guys will think I'm nuts, but in the corner of my living room I have several bookshelves full of VHS tapes. The picture is black, but the audio is a VHS HiFi stereo track of custom mixes I made many years ago from CDs. Didn't want the crummy quality of cassette tapes, you know. They actually sound very good, but what a clumsy way of recording audio.
johnmeyer
wrote on 5/6/2007, 9:58 AM
Didn't want the crummy quality of cassette tapes, you know. They actually sound very good, but what a clumsy way of recording audio.
Yeah, I remember just after VHS Hi-Fi appeared, someone pointed out to me that you could put six hours of great-sounding audio onto one of these things and just let it run at a party. This was LONG before MP3 and big hard drives. Six hours of uninterrupted audio was unheard of.
Then, about 9-10 years ago, I got DirecTV, and realized that I could just record the audio from the oldies channel. The title of the song displayed, but nothing else. So, I popped in an eight-hour tape and let it record. I then played the tape at fast-forward (30x) and when I'd see something I wanted to record, I'd stop, play the tape into SoundForge, edit the head/tail, and then put it on a CD. I created a huge library of a dozen full CDs with nothing but audio using this technique. A lot more work than Napster, etc., but all legal!!
Yeah, I remember just after VHS Hi-Fi appeared, someone pointed out to me that you could put six hours of great-sounding audio onto one of these things and just let it run at a party. This was LONG before MP3 and big hard drives. Six hours of uninterrupted audio was unheard of.
Then, about 9-10 years ago, I got DirecTV, and realized that I could just record the audio from the oldies channel. The title of the song displayed, but nothing else. So, I popped in an eight-hour tape and let it record. I then played the tape at fast-forward (30x) and when I'd see something I wanted to record, I'd stop, play the tape into SoundForge, edit the head/tail, and then put it on a CD. I created a huge library of a dozen full CDs with nothing but audio using this technique. A lot more work than Napster, etc., but all legal!!
jaegersing
wrote on 5/6/2007, 10:50 AM
How about Orb discs? They must be dead by now.
Former user
wrote on 5/6/2007, 11:19 AM
The datatron editor I started on used PUNCH TAPE to store the edls.
Dave T2
Dave T2
GlennChan
wrote on 5/6/2007, 11:23 AM
The CMX linear video editing system used 8" floppies to store EDL files.
CMX format EDLs still live on... used a lot in broadcast offline/online workflows.
And speaking of another format that won't quite die out, 3/4" Umatic is still occasionally being used. One use is to check audio/video sync when transferring video dailies (they run the 3/4" VTR in parallel, and then rewind on it and jog through the footage to check sync). I'd expect 3/4" to die out eventually though.
CMX format EDLs still live on... used a lot in broadcast offline/online workflows.
And speaking of another format that won't quite die out, 3/4" Umatic is still occasionally being used. One use is to check audio/video sync when transferring video dailies (they run the 3/4" VTR in parallel, and then rewind on it and jog through the footage to check sync). I'd expect 3/4" to die out eventually though.
johnmeyer
wrote on 5/6/2007, 12:02 PM
The datatron editor I started on used PUNCH TAPE to store the edls.
Ah, paper tape. I actually used that (and punch cards) when I first started programming. I seem to remember some famous nerdy creation where someone managed to get the tape reader to "sing" Happy Birthday by speeding up and slowing down the rate at which the tape read.
Probably forgot to pay ASCAP royalties.
Ah, paper tape. I actually used that (and punch cards) when I first started programming. I seem to remember some famous nerdy creation where someone managed to get the tape reader to "sing" Happy Birthday by speeding up and slowing down the rate at which the tape read.
Probably forgot to pay ASCAP royalties.
hazydave
wrote on 5/7/2007, 1:06 PM
While there's some question as to "why", 16mm still lives on in film school and on some Indy productions.
I suspect it's quite similar to folks who demand 35mm film cameras (curiously, I just received a Nikon 8008 in the mail today) rather than digital. There was a time when 16mm (or 35mm still photo) was profoundly better than the digital equivalent. That time has passed, but the tradition remains.
The other thing about 16mm, particularly for film school kids, is that the workflow is the same as for 35mm film, only it's cheaper to shoot. There's some sense in that, at least until prosumer/consumer 4K cameras abound and render 35mm film the same sort of dinosaur.
I suspect it's quite similar to folks who demand 35mm film cameras (curiously, I just received a Nikon 8008 in the mail today) rather than digital. There was a time when 16mm (or 35mm still photo) was profoundly better than the digital equivalent. That time has passed, but the tradition remains.
The other thing about 16mm, particularly for film school kids, is that the workflow is the same as for 35mm film, only it's cheaper to shoot. There's some sense in that, at least until prosumer/consumer 4K cameras abound and render 35mm film the same sort of dinosaur.
winrockpost
wrote on 5/7/2007, 1:55 PM
still alive and kicking at nfl films 16mm high speed (i m pretty sure)and NASCAR (I know)
hazydave
wrote on 5/7/2007, 2:18 PM
- Just got my new B & H catalog and they are still selling black & white film. Can you
- believe it?
Well, yeah, sure... this is B&H. As well as sucking down my bank account on a regular basis, they do very much cater to professionals. B&W at Wal-Mart or Ekert's would be a surprise, not B&H.
What might be a little more surprising is that in the 35mm section, they list 77 kinds of color film and 68 B&W. Some that's "fake" B&W (C-41 color process), but still.
> Also super8 and 16mm film. I used to have a Pentax 6 x 7 with a bunch of lenses.
> Wish I still had it. Every time I would take a picture the sound could be heard > about 100 ft away. Was not a wimp camera.
Eventually, the fake "click" you can get with a digicam (well, not usually a DSLR) will be downloadable.. so you can have that Pentax back if you want ;-)
- believe it?
Well, yeah, sure... this is B&H. As well as sucking down my bank account on a regular basis, they do very much cater to professionals. B&W at Wal-Mart or Ekert's would be a surprise, not B&H.
What might be a little more surprising is that in the 35mm section, they list 77 kinds of color film and 68 B&W. Some that's "fake" B&W (C-41 color process), but still.
> Also super8 and 16mm film. I used to have a Pentax 6 x 7 with a bunch of lenses.
> Wish I still had it. Every time I would take a picture the sound could be heard > about 100 ft away. Was not a wimp camera.
Eventually, the fake "click" you can get with a digicam (well, not usually a DSLR) will be downloadable.. so you can have that Pentax back if you want ;-)