Otari or Technics Reel-to-Reel ?

Lowrider57, the record plants take whatever media the master is on- 1/4" or 1/2" master tape or digital file, whatever. I say this as a mastering engineer; we have to be able to handle the master in whatever form it takes.

Atmasphere, thanks for responding. I know the mastering engineer can receive various audio formats, but after you sweeten the sound and sequence the tracks, etc, what format do you then give to the record cutter?

We avoid doing anything to the sound of the source (no 'sweetening'); in theory some projects might need processing if there is bass that is out of phase or the like but so far we've not had to do anything like that- with a little care you can avoid a lot of processing that is generally used just to speed things up.

The sequence is already predetermined on any project by the artist.

We play back in whatever form the source arrives; we can handle 1/4" and 1/2" 2-channel tape and just about any digital sound file.

Depending on how critical your SYSTEM is at revealing fine details (and reproducing background noise (i.e. tape hiss)), you have to pick a tape deck that is a good match. There are ALSO a number of good Teac and Tascam decks- some that offer 4 heads-
three half-track and one quarter-track (PB) head, and also some Otari machines with 4 heads as well. BUT...Make sure you aren't going to be sorry you didn't opt for a machine with auto-reverse if you hate threading tape. One-direction machines use twice as much tape for the same recording times. Tape is NOT inexpensive, but with patience you can eventually find someone who will sell a reel of used (SPLICE-FREE) tape for under $40, or even $30.
I have a few tape-project tapes and they DO sound very good, but the "super tape-nerds" like to tell me i need a $20K deck to get to the "promised land" (referring to demos that have taken place at audio shows) where these recordings will sound better than any other source material. But in defiance I have done the unthinkable- loaded them on a Teac X-2000M half-track deck (un-modified). They sound fine to my ears-go figure. Was i blown away? No, but i don't think my system has ever
sounded "better". I do wish someone out there would perhaps engineer some better circuitry to modify those machines- let's say, $1000-$3000. WHY? Because, they already are versatile enough to play most tapes, AND you can record with them also.
there are a lot of choices out there, but clearly not many that meet BOTH the prosumer and semi-professional needs of audiophiles. you either have to get a full blown professional deck (that no one wants to ship), or put up with a lot of plastic and silly features (like cheap cuing devices, rec-mute, heads that "never wear out", and a long list of questionable features listed across the head-cover). Very little or no decks fall in between these two categories.
The very lucky and well-off will make room for a console deck (Studer, Ampex, MCI, Otari, etc.) and wire outboard playback amplifiers to the PB heads. I hope they are handy calibrating and maintaining such glorious machines, or know someone that can come over once a year and do it for them. But you really need one hell of a system to match studio-grade decks' performance. I LOVE tape recorders, but this
is not something i want to deal with- even as much as i want exceptional reproduction of Beethoven and Sonny Rollins.

French_fries, I think you exaggerate certain points. Yes, it is not inexpensive, like any hi-fi. Otari that appears to be in good condition can be had for about $1k. Let's say you would need another $1k right away to align, calibrate and maybe replace a few small parts. But it will last for decades with care. Tape becomes very expensive if you need a lot of it and record half track at 15 ips.
For comparizon, yesterday I took a look at records available on ebay. Of what I might want the average price was $100 each. Now that's expensive. Only ten records for Otari? Ridiculous.