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CLK-20C Torpey Clock Great, But....

S

shreveville

Considering the large display CLK-20C Torpey digital Clock (runs around $600). Nothing looks much better in your studios. It is what CNN uses. However the CLK-20C is useless unless you also purchase a master clock to run it, the Torpey CLK-50 (for example) which also runs $600. Might be O.K. if you had two nice large studio clocks but the CLK-50 is a tiny rack mounted digital clock. Any thoughts?


CLK-20C
http://www.torpeytime.com/Time_Displays/CLK-20C.htm

CLK-50
http://www.torpeytime.com/Clocks/CLK-50.htm
 
The Torpey CLK-20C clock is excellent. I guess what I'm asking is - isn't there a more affordable method to make it accurate and on time rather than having to buy an additional $600 (tiny display) master clock (the CLK-50 as an example) just to make it work? If the master clock display was a big as the CLK-20C I would have no problem with it.

So right now the only options seem to be - purchase a CLK-20C for $600. If you want it to actually work, purchase another $600 clock with numbers so small it would be useless in a studio. ;)
 
I have built my own studio clock. It is very close to the Torpey design.

Has six 7-segment LED blocks, each is 2.3" high - two each for hours, minutes and seconds.
Can run in 12 or 24 hour mode.
Has battery backup.
Extracts accurate time data from GPS NMEA 0183 data stream.
Has onboard crystal in case coms with the satellites is lost for some reason.

I haven't finished it yet - still have to build a case for it, but I have the red acrylic sheet cover for the display and
if you are interested I could take some photos or a video of it in action.
 
You can drive it with SMPTE time code. Just find a time code generator, plug it into the display, and you have your clock. I have seen SMPTE time code generators on ebay for $100.
 
Thanks Bengalsfan. That's really what I was looking for - a cheaper method to get these clocks to work. So how will I know what time code generator to look for that will be compatible with the Torpey CLK-20C digital? Could you give me a link to what exactly I need? I assume I will need one for each clock. ;D

And thanks Studio1. I'm impressed.
 
In a pinch, you could also drive it from an old PC, getting its time via NTP over the internet, generating SMPTE out the sound card audio port. There are several freeware sound card SMPTE generators available, and the NTP client is built in for Windows 2000 and newer.
 
SMPTE would be about the easiest way. SMPTE can be treated like audio. You can bridge it or you can feed it to an audio DA.

I would call SCMS if I were you...They have a number of ESE Master Clocks on their used equipment page. 800-432-6040 ask for Mike.

Test123
 
This from the Torpey website:

"For the CLK-50, accuracy depends on the local power line frequency. For the CLK-50-1, accuracy depends on the accuracy of the NTSC color subcarrier frequency from the sync generator used. Therefore, we cannot state or guarantee the accuracy of the CLK-50 based master clocks."

So are they accurate or not? Can someone explain this to me.

Thanks
 
They are accurate if
(a) Your power company delivers proper 60 Hz AC all the time (CLK-50)
(b) Your TV station has a proper NTSC sync signal embedded (CLK-50-1)

If this is not the case, then the clock will not be accurate. However, the 60 Hz signal is usually pretty (99.9%) reliable from the power company. I'm guessing (b) isn't really possilbe for the majority of us, since NTSC is no longer in use for full-power TV.
 
If you want to spend the $$$, consider looking at Spectracom's line of products. The 9383 NetClock Time Server has several outputs, including NTP capabilities in one box, utilizing a GPS receiver for timing. These clocks are used in public safety for 'legally traceable time', as they say.



-mattthepm
 
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