For the second time in two days, I was contacted by a public broadcaster archive from a less well-off corner of the globe, asking for functional playback equipment that could handle 2-inch open reel video tape (also known as #quadruplex). Twice, I had to answer that the quest for such machinery in their own country, let alone the neighboring ones, was unlikely to yield success. Coincidence? I don't think so.
2-inch open reel video has been around since 1956, nearly 70 years ago. According to Tom Sprague from the Museum of Broadcast Technology in Woonsocket (RI), cited in the International Association Of Sound and Audiovisual Archives 's TC06 Guideline, the global count of fully operational devices for 2 inch open reel was estimated at 100 to 200. In 2019, that was. And let's be clear: not every 2-inch tape can be played back by any machine. Different recording standards and TV systems aren't interchangeable. #Degralescence is a real and degralescence is blind. And it hits first in the financially strapped regions of the world.
Photo: Ampex VR-2000 - Wikipedia