Snell & Wilcox standards convertor CVR22

[Boom]

Would this be any use to our hobby? There seems to be quite a few of them about aand they are CHEAP!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Snell-Wil...IAAOSwicpacgvw

[beamcurrent]

They go 625 to 525 and vice-versa no 405 line options, alas. Sometimes there is a secam option.

Very hard to change to 405 output, possibly impossible.

[dragonser]

Hi,
well that is interesting about some having a Secam output....
I wonder if it outputs NTSC when you select 525 line output ?
and then what happens to the Secam output ?

[winston_1]

For 525/625 this is excellent and much cheaper.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PAL-NTSC-....c100005.m1851

[beamcurrent]

I wonder if it outputs NTSC when you select 525 line output ?
and then what happens to the Secam output ?

It would be NTSC when going 625>525 and going 525>625 would normally be PAL with Secam as an extra cost option, it all depends on the model, several manufacturers made standards converters with varying degrees of sophistication.

These were state of the art when made and did interpolation, both line and field to reduce artifacts to the minimum. They were very expensive items.

[Philips210]

It now seems they're not so cheap https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Snell-Wil...IAAOSwicpacgvw

Regards
Symon

[AC/HL]

One post referring to an eBay seller deleted as per the eBay rules. This equipment doesn't seem to be of use for 405 lines.

Neither does this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Snell-Wil....c100012.m1985

Which is the subject of an old thread: https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...ad.php?t=68553

[evingar]

Originally Posted by Philips210

It now seems they're not so cheap

A general comment about Standard Def video equipment is that it now has very little commercial value. I felt the full brunt of this nearly a decade ago when I worked for a company that serviced Quantel "legacy" equipment.

In a very few years we went from being able to charge considerable sums for repairing very expensive professional equipment to the requirement for repairs at any price ceasing completely.

The likes of S+W studio equipment are in the same category. You should be able to pick this stuff up at "hobbyist prices" with a little patience. The problem may be repairing it if it goes wrong. If it's like the Quantel equipment, it will be chock full of manufacturer specific ASICS and programmable logic

[canonman75]

Originally Posted by AC/HL

One post referring to an eBay seller deleted as per the eBay rules.

Oh dear, I appear to have fallen foul of the moderators yet again.

I was making a perfectly valid point but I'm not goint to waste my time arguing about it because previous experience tells me I will lose. I'll be closing my user account in the morning as I'm done with this forum and it's over-zealous moderators.

[red16v]

Originally Posted by evingar

A general comment about Standard Def video equipment is that it now has very little commercial value. I felt the full brunt of this nearly a decade ago when I worked for a company that serviced Quantel "legacy" equipment.

In a very few years we went from being able to charge considerable sums for repairing very expensive professional equipment to the requirement for repairs at any price ceasing completely.

The likes of S+W studio equipment are in the same category. You should be able to pick this stuff up at "hobbyist prices" with a little patience. The problem may be repairing it if it goes wrong. If it's like the Quantel equipment, it will be chock full of manufacturer specific ASICS and programmable logic

I think I know the company you used to work for. When we got rid of a shed load of Quantel kit we offered it all to ‘your’ firm at no cost. But your firm did not want any of it because you had shedloads of your own and didn’t want any more thank you very much!!!

As you rightly say, very little monetary value in this sort of kit.

[beamcurrent]

I always say that broadcast kit is very valuable until it is not, then it falls to the bottom of the bathtub curve and stays there for some time, it may never rise from those depths.

In the case of older Quantel kit some brave souls have started collecting and preserving these early digital effects units. Paintboxes, Harry's, Mirage ....

[evingar]

Originally Posted by beamcurrent

In the case of older Quantel kit some brave souls have started collecting and preserving these early digital effects units. Paintboxes, Harry's, Mirage ....

Indeed they have - and more power to their elbows. This was seriously well designed and built equipment. The problem is lack of service information and (as mentioned above) masses of manufacturer specific ASICS and programmable devices.

I tried a while back through some contacts I know to get Quantel to release service data into the Public Domain in the same was that TEK and HP have. I didn’t get anywhere, not I suspect becuase they are bothered about the dissemination of IP, but rather the lack of continuity at the top of the company between the 80s & 90s and now.

I also wonder if a lot of the information has actually be retained

[dexterslab]

It's been a while since i browsed around here so sorry for the thread bump but just thought i'd throw in my 2p worth...

as evingar says, getting info out of what used to be Quantel is nigh on impossible so it can be difficult for repairs but with knowledge of the diagnostics console it's surprising how much you can do to figure out a problem.

But in my experience fixing several quantel systems is generally they stop working due to NVRAM or hard disk failures which for the most part are fixable. The 'custom' / ASIC side of them generally keeps on kicking.

Sadly i would think that many of these systems have been binned for what might have been easily fixable faults, there are so few around now it's insane, especially the larger units like HAL, Henry or Editbox. Other than the tat that NI Broadcast keep throwing up on ebay i have not seen a even a regular Paintbox on ebay worldwide in 2+ years.

i have to admit i have spent far too much time learning about the inner workings of Quantel's hardware and have a huge library of stuff here including a good collection of software binaries and other resources, but at least we have saved a few of them.

@beamcurrent

I always say that broadcast kit is very valuable until it is not, then it falls to the bottom of the bathtub curve and stays there for some time, it may never rise from those depths.

100% with you there, i would say for the old quantel stuff it happened when HD became mainstream, tbh i doubt the quantel stuff will ever recover TBH, there's not enough people out there who even know what a paintbox is to create a marketplace for them!

my Paintbox Express & Ramcorder and all the right accessories are still working here thankfully, i just wish there was somewhere to let people see and have a play with it