RCA Holotape

Before DVDs, CDs, Laser Disc, and VHS videotape, and immediately after lasers enabled holography, RCA invented Holotape. The Holotape system used phase-relief holograms embossed into vinyl tape in cartridges to play a movie on TV at home. They demonstrated a system at the end of 1969, but it never went to production. Embossed holography is a huge business now though (since the early '80s), including those on credit cards and security tags. But Holotape started it all.

Burton Clay was a researcher at RCA from about '61 on, working on many projects including Holotape. He saved samples and 8 years after he passed away (in 2008), I picked them up on Ebay. Included is a strip of vinyl about 1cm wide with a series of images on it showing Ludwig Von Drake, Donald Duck's professorial uncle. This isn't a sample of the final Holotape. It looks more like a research sample. There are 8 other strips, all with apparently different images. There are images of graphics such as "RCA Holotape" and both recording and playback geometries, and a test pattern. This is a quick pic taken with an iphone by by coworker Sekyu. I'll get better pictures eventually.

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Very cool! Thanks for posting!

WoW that is awesome, thank you very much for that post, i remember a movie from the late 70's early 80's that used a type of holographic video tape to record i believe a persons emotions or dreams maby, i had no idea it was based of of a real product.
i collect old recording and playback machines when i can find them, i have two reel to reel video recorders that only record in B/W , i still need to try and get them working, they are a nightmare and even use brushes to pick off the video signal from the spinning heads and they act up a lot.
Thank you so much for posting that

Thanks Draco. I should've mentioned the article pictured above is in Popular Science of December, 1969. There is strong cross-connection with this artifact. RCA, recording technology, Disney, holography, and lasers.

One of the strips has an image of a woman in a movie scene. Most of the frames shows an interference fringe pattern all over it. Obviously an artifact of the recording process. Then, the fringes are gone. I think this might be a bit Dr. Clay was working on. Why else would he save such a test strip? Anyway, it really touched me. I'm currently working to remove parasitic fringes from the field of a laser-based projector. It's amazing how much coherence remains even after everything is done to destroy it to reduce speckle in the image! We need an incoherent laser. I wish it was as easy to make as an incoherent laserist!

A few more pieces in the group are below. First is a strip of metalized tape. Still need to probe it to see what the image is, but it was secured to a plate and in a box for protection, so I think he thought it was important to save.

Next is a strip of vinyl, but again I haven't yet probed it so don't know what the recordings are, but I think they may be diffractive lenses.

The third is a 2x2" plate of polystyrene that came in the envelope shown. It was a gift from Jody Burns, a pioneer of holography in the '70s who started the Museum of Holography in New York city in '75. It's the only known sample of the first injection molded hologram, made on contract for General Mills.

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Those should all be in the Smithsonian Museum!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Draco

i remember a movie from the late 70's early 80's that used a type of holographic video tape to record i believe a persons emotions or dreams maby,

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Brainstorm http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085271/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_2

Natalie Wood's last film. My favorite part of that film is the ongoing miniaturization that occurs on the rig from when it's first debuted to when it's completely portable.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hitekvoop

Brainstorm http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085271/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_2

Natalie Wood's last film. My favorite part of that film is the ongoing miniaturization that occurs on the rig from when it's first debuted to when it's completely portable.

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and suddenly i want to watch "videodrome" again.

Sorry for the necroposting, but I finally set up a viewing fixture so I could get pictures of the images on the Holotape samples I have.

1) Resolution Test Pattern.
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2) Woman. Is that Donna Reed? Notice the fringes across the field.
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3) Holotape Logo.
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4) Ludwig Von Drake.
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5) Holotape Playback System.
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6) Holotape Recording System. This sample is a nickel shim, and so the playback lighting geometry is very different. The image is similar to the one for the playback system.

Here's a shot of the apparatus used to take the pictures. The strip is taped to the two post holders, and the camera is mounted in the post holder at the bottom right.
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Not too shabby!!! *retardo

Just out of curiosity, how thick is the substrate?