Panasonic 8" Optical Drive - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

9 Sep 2000

Hi,

On Thu, 07 Sep 2000 Joe wrote:
...
  At 05:03 PM 9/7/00 -0700, you wrote:
 >
 >Anyone familiar with:
 >
 >Panasonic 8" optical Drive
 >Removeable Cartridges
 >Model DU-15LU
 >Manufactured 1987 by Mitsushita (sp?)
 >
 >Someone gave me a call today to see if I had one. I don't and told him I
 >would put it out to the listserver. Also, are there any other units by other
...
  companies that
will read these cartridges? The main concern here is data
recovery. The second concern is that I will then see if I can obtain that
computer :)! My understanding is that only five of these units were sold in
the US and four were returned since they were not networkable (fact or
fiction?) 
 Marvin,

   If it's what I think it is then I have two NIB optical disks for it.
 They're Panasonic part number TQ-FD22 and they're made by Matsushita
 Electric Industrial Co in Japan. Make an offer if you're interested in the
 disks. FWIW these are more surplus from NASA KSC. 
These may not be compatible with the DU-15LU drive, assuming that drive is for
computer data storage and not video recording. Try to compare pictures of the
two types of disks.

Panasonic/Matsushita used to make optical disk video recorders for the
professional market that used 8" disks. The model numbers of the recorders
and players begin with TQ-, so I suspect the TQ-FD22 disks are for the video
recorders.

FWIW, going to eBay and searching for Panasonic TQ should bring up some
listings for the players/recorders. TQ-2026F is a player/recorder, and
TQ-2027F a player. The recording method used by these might be analogue given
their age.

-- Mark