Now to put it back together :)

[polishedball]

1987~92' FM encoded system.

[polishedball]

The argon ilt was rebuilt in 5/12 and has a 145 hours on it, the red is a spectra physics 127, haven't measured power yet hopefully 25-40mw. Will see later in the week.

No standard for channel assignments, found some cool documents on the art of making and playing back fm encoded tapes, was stressed that is was an art and not a science. Will be digging in further Friday when connecting up the system. Figuring out how the svhs decks feed the encoders and decoders, and then laser head will be fun. Uses Gs120's, on a driver built by image engineering , no idea what kind of points they can handle, guessing around 24k. Looks to have some cool shows. Was amazed how small the mirrors are on the galvos, the beam must be tiny.

[Photonbeam]

Very nice! At that time, Image Engineering had the most kick ass, fastest drive amps for G100/120PD's. Designed by Fred Fenning (RIP). I used their FM system back around that time with a Tascam 80-8 1/2" reel to reel. A reel of 1/2" Ampex 456 Grandmaster tape was around $70 and could hold about 22 min @15ips as I recall. One track had a reference tone recorded to compensate for wow and flutter which would make the image wobble. Tape drop outs and dirty heads caused big glitches in the scanning image, sometimes breaking the torsion spring in a G100PD. I also tried Ampex and HP instrumentation tape recorders which worked pretty good with laser signals but not so good for audio. Later, Image Engineering had a DVE/DVD digital video system which used SVHS tape and could record 2 channels of X, Y, RGB signals, a few TTL bits for actuators plus near CD quality stereo audio which worked pretty darn good. Things have come a long way since then. Best of luck with your efforts bringing the FM system back to life! I'll be following your progress.

[kecked]

I have tons of fm recoreded stuff and some encoders and decoders for fm from image engineering

[polishedball]

Very nice! At that time, Image Engineering had the most kick ass, fastest drive amps for G100/120PD's. Designed by Fred Fenning (RIP). I used their FM system back around that time with a Tascam 80-8 1/2" reel to reel. A reel of 1/2" Ampex 456 Grandmaster tape was around $70 and could hold about 22 min @15ips as I recall. One track had a reference tone recorded to compensate for wow and flutter which would make the image wobble. Tape drop outs and dirty heads caused big glitches in the scanning image, sometimes breaking the torsion spring in a G100PD. I also tried Ampex and HP instrumentation tape recorders which worked pretty good with laser signals but not so good for audio. Later, Image Engineering had a DVE/DVD digital video system which used SVHS tape and could record 2 channels of X, Y, RGB signals, a few TTL bits for actuators plus near CD quality stereo audio which worked pretty darn good. Things have come a long way since then. Best of luck with your efforts bringing the FM system back to life! I'll be following your progress.

Thanks. That just answered my biggest question this system had a card cage and I/O panel with a ton of RCA's I assumed it was to hook to a reel to reel, but was questioning where they went. Seemed to not go far. This helps confirm it was part of the original system then upgraded to svhs. Looks like it was installed 87 system upgraded in 92. Manual with complete schematics always a plus. Any idea what kinda speed the gs120's were good for on the image engineering I think 5061 amp driver?

[polishedball]

I have tons of fm recoreded stuff and some encoders and decoders for fm from image engineering

How does the stuff look playing back? Have any video? Who was doing fm back them was LFI etc or mostly image engineering mastering?

I basically just want to add this system to my obsolete working laser equipment, I just love the old technology. Like the idea of having a rgb gas rig I can run on single phase n air.

Thinking I know where a TEAC 80-8 exists that I can wire on in.

[mixedgas]

Image Engineering also had a VCR based system, used a modified VCR with the internal VCR clock brought out. A one U rack module did the decoding, XYRGB-Shutter or XYI-XYI at 14 K PPS.
I still have the Sony VCR with the added BNC connector that brings out a ~ 2 Mhz signal from the VCR. So the show is stored as video on tape.
I sold the other VCR and decoder to a user who wanted to recover his own shows.

In general, FM tape based graphics shows look decent. Especially if the decoder uses a TC9400 chip, which can measure FM in less then three cycles of the wave coming off the tape.
TC9400 was still in production as of a year ago.

I too, have a FM encoder/decoder. In my case, LFI.`

As for reel to reel.
The old half inch reel to reel tapes need new lubrication as they are played. When I recovered some, we discovered you pretty much have to get the raw track onto ADAT on the first pass. Otherwise the oxide will be flaked off by the second or third pass. After every four minute song, I had to clean the tape heads.

The Teac that came with the tapes is in Portland now. To finish decoding the tape collection, I drove to a planetarium five hours away to borrow their retired reel to reel system to finish decoding the tapes. In return I fixed their projector. A vendor sold them a DPSS RGB source but wired it for TTL, which was also a function of their control system. When I got done, I built them level shifters so their oddball 0 to minus seven volt RGB signals were 0-5 and analog. So they were glad to see their shows looking like their old gas based days, and sales of the shows improved. Both sides won..



Steve

[polishedball]

Image Engineering also had a VCR based system, used a modified VCR with the internal VCR clock brought out. A one U rack module did the decoding, XYRGB-Shutter or XYI-XYI at 14 K PPS.
I still have the Sony VCR with the added BNC connector that brings out a ~ 2 Mhz signal from the VCR. So the show is stored as video on tape.
I sold the other VCR and decoder to a user who wanted to recover his own shows.

In general, FM tape based graphics shows look decent. Especially if the decoder uses a TC9400 chip, which can measure FM in less then three cycles of the wave coming off the tape.
TC9400 was still in production as of a year ago.

I too, have a FM encoder/decoder. In my case, LFI.`

As for reel to reel.
The old half inch reel to reel tapes need new lubrication as they are played. When I recovered some, we discovered you pretty much have to get the raw track onto ADAT on the first pass. Otherwise the oxide will be flaked off by the second or third pass. After every four minute song, I had to clean the tape heads.

The Teac that came with the tapes is in Portland now. To finish decoding the tape collection, I drove to a planetarium five hours away to borrow their retired reel to reel system to finish decoding the tapes. In return I fixed their projector. A vendor sold them a DPSS RGB source but wired it for TTL, which was also a function of their control system. When I got done, I built them level shifters so their oddball 0 to minus seven volt RGB signals were 0-5 and analog. So they were glad to see their shows looking like their old gas based days, and sales of the shows improved. Both sides won..



Steve

Thanks for the info. Always cool and I love adding old gear to the collection and learning about it.

Re:tape shed.
I deal with audio recordings from 8track from the 80's on a monthly basis, the same problems are occasionally scene. But we always start with baking dehydrating the tapes as it seems it is moisture in the adhesion that causes it to let loose n flake. Have you tried drying the tapes before first run? Also if ever needed keep in mind I have 2 in working condition tied to a DAW that can capture or route to ADAT. Could also patch in the fm decoder into the chain and go right to ilda wavs.

[ImageLight]

I still have one of those FM racks but, the only tape I had to go with it turned out to be blank.. Got mine from Terry Michaels of Laser Artistry fame. Wish I had a tape to see if it works...

[polishedball]

I still have one of those FM racks but, the only tape I had to go with it turned out to be blank.. Got mine from Terry Michaels of Laser Artistry fame. Wish I had a tape to see if it works...

Have you a 16 or 8 track reel2reel? If so I can make you a reel. Ideally the 16 track with every other blank is best to eliminate cross talk.

You have an encoder and decoder there so you could make your own tape as well.

Also what did the Fc and Sh stand for? On the DV system decoder there is x+ x- and y+ but no y- on the front patch, the unit is hardwired out the back, manual seems to indicate balance connections but the missing at least on the front y- side was confusing.

Will have this fired up tomorrow. Have the day off so I'll play with it. Just kinda glancing it over in spare time. To be ready to connect up everything.