Some of you may be wondering why have a second Nagra-D meeting for AMPS members? Having been unable to attend Take One, Take Two gave me the opportunity of finding out something about the beast. In any case Kudelski though it quite important because the whole of the UK sales force, Claude Burton and John Rudling, was there together with John Owens from Kudelski SA, Switzerland, who did most of the talking and demonstrating on this occasion.
One impressive demonstration given was of the Nagra-D's ability to chase lock to another source i.e. to be married to a video picture. He also showed the affect on a playback tape when altering the sampling frequency. These are not gimmicks.
John Owens detailed the changes in the machine since its introduction and particularly the new Nagcom software for PCs which operates on Menu settings, very much in the way of directory structure on PCs. The menu display is independent of what the machine is doing. As well as programme material, a lot of information is recorded on the tape by the built-in computer which is very useful in post production. The machine itself is capable of being used as a sophisticated editing machine. Everything is software controlled.
John tended to concentrate on the Nagcom software which can be used on a PC connected to the Nagra-D for fault diagnosis or for retrieval of information, time codes, programme numbering, drop outs, etc. which can the be used in post production and also for remote operation of the Nagra-D. As someone who uses computers I found this quite interesting.
From a Production Mixer's viewpoint, perhaps the session concentrated on the post production side but the question and answer session that followed heavily represented production mixers who appear to be critical of the Nagra-D yet pro analogue Nagras. It was a pity that Ivan Sharrock, who owns and uses a Nagra-D, was not able to attend and participate because I'm sure his contribution would have been helpful. For example, disappointment was expressed that another over-the-shoulder Nagra had not be produced. Whilst Kudelski was also criticised for not killing the DAT market. The answer was that Kudelski is far too small to have done this. The questions and answers continued:
It could not be built any smaller. It is not designed for off- the-shoulder operation. It is aimed at high budget movie and music recording. In defence of the 'high' price, one production mixer suggested that relatively it could compare in price with the Nagra 3 when that was first introduced. Pro rata it would be better value for money too because of all the facilities it affords.
The Nagra -D is software driven. Because the EPROMs which control the built-in software are already there, it would not be any cheaper to build a location version. In fact different versions could be more expensive.
Here Nigel Woodford of Richmond Films, answered by saying that the life expectancy of a DAT recorder is about three years. He expects the Nagra-D to last considerably more than that and now that the original faults have been cured, it is also a reliable machine.
No
No. This is probably better left to the experts.
And on analogue topics:
It's already available as an add on.
There are possible modifications which will be retrofitable, not retrofitted.
No.
It must be pointed out that the questions and answers have been paraphrased but hopefully they have given a fair representation of what took place at Pinewood. If not there will be no point in Kudelski employing Mr Carter RUC because I don't have a bean!
My hope is that John, Claude and John all thought it worth their time talking with us. I thought is worth travelling the distance I did to hear them and see the Nagra-D and particularly to participate. I didn't realise that the prize awarded to the member who travels furthest to attend an AMPS meeting was to write about it. Thanks Bob!
Barrie White can be contacted on babw@msn.com