U-matic tapes of old SF documentary

[major_clanger]

Sorting through my boxes of stuff I find I have several U-matic video cassettes that purport to contain copies of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Time out of Mind. The former is of course easily available but the latter I'd not heard of, although the notes on the tapes (e.g. 'John Brunner') made it clear it was something to do with sf. Searching online the tapes are evidently of this, suggesting that they comprise material filmed at the 1979 Worldcon. Another tape is labelled as being of Utopia 2000.

I have a vague memory that someone gave us the tapes for the 1995 Worldcon but that we had no easy way of showing them. Does anyone have access to a U-matic player, as it would be nice to see if there is anything interesting on these tapes?

Comments

[dougs.livejournal.com]

I don't have a suitable device, sorry.

But it's worth pointing out that U-Matic tapes were, in the late 70s, "broadcast quality" -- and therefore much better quality than (say) VHS.

[uitlander]

As the previous poster says, U-matic were the broadcast quality gold standard, and widely used inside the BBC. Some hardcore DW fans had them as the necessary platform for their n-generation flaky copies of old stories. A straw poll at the Tun may reveal whether any serviceable devices survive in your vicinity.

[murphys-lawyer.livejournal.com]

There are places that will transfer for you if the Tun doesn't come up with anything. It's around £4 an hour but if as you think the Brunner tapes are rare/not available it may be worth it.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I know a guy who could, I'll bet, scrounge one up. But I live across the ocean.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

IIRC, it was a rather decent(ish) 1970s BBC2 documentary series on UK sf.

Have you contacted Andy Sawyer?

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I could ask ZZ9 to see if anyone there knows how to extract the video off the U-matic. (We of course know several BBC engineers too)

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming that the former lot of tapes are *about* HHGttG rather than just being the whole tv show.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

It looks like most of the one-hour tapes contain both an episode of HHGTTG and an episode of Time out of Mind. As I said, the former is not interesting seeing as how it is available anyway, but the latter is.

[pmcray.livejournal.com]

"Time Out of Mind" was a first-rate series. There were, I think, about six programmes. Each of the first five was a profile of a science fiction writer - I remember one on Arthur C. Clarke in which it was mentioned him signing a film deal for "The Fountains of Paradise" and another on John Brunner. I can't recall who the others were - I think one was Bob Shaw, possibly one on Michael Moorcock, and Christopher Priest would have been an obvious suspect. The last programme was a very well-done (I thought at 11-12) programme on the 1979 Worldcon in Brighton. If there wasn't a profile of Moorcock, he certainly featured in the Worldcon programme as there was a mention of him withdrawing "Gloriana" from the list of nominees presumably for the Hugo Award.

[lproven.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine used to work in pro video production - I am sure he has some contacts that could help with this. I will ask next time I see him. He owes me a favour or 2 anyway.

What would be the preferred target format? DVD?

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

DVD would be useful, yes.

[lproven.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the slow response. I've talked with Nigel & he's sure he can arrange this - he probably no longer has the kit himself but he knows people that do - but there is one question.

There were several different sizes of U-matic tape: the standard full-size cartridges but also miniature ones for camcorders. These could be fitted into an adaptor for use on full-size decks, but of course, getting such an adaptor could be a problem these days!

Do you know what size the carts are? Simple physical measurements would do, of course.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

They're full-size U-matic 60-minute cartridges, about the size of a medium hardback.

Similarly...

[rwgray.livejournal.com]

Similarly... I was recently watching the BBC TV re-run of "The Day of the Triffids" from the early-80s and managed to record 4 of the 6 shows, and miss the last two, does anyone have copies of them? Can't help on the U-matic but can I assume that the Hitch-Hiker stuff is just the TV series, not other features? Cheers, Reg / Richard.

[aeglefinus.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine can probably do this but he started driving from San Francisco to Boston a few days ago. He will be back in early October, so let me know then if it still needs doing.