Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: streeter@athena.cs.uga.edu (Tom Streeter) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Early Color Television Message-ID: Date: 27 Feb 91 00:36:31 GMT Sender: news@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Mr. News) Organization: University of Georgia, Athens Lines: 47 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 161, Message 8 of 10 Originator: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Nntp-Posting-Host: hub.eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu In article bilver!bill@uunet.uu.net (Bill Vermillion) writes: > The NTSC compatible finally came out after the end of the Korean war. > There was a government restriction on any new TV stations during that > time. > The war hiatus gave RCA time enough to perfect their system. The CBS > "color wheel" (field sequential color) was approved before the war, > but was not widespread because of the government mandate. > There were NO commercial video tape machines available before about > 1961. I remember when I was working at KXLY radio in Spokane that our > TV station got their first B&W VCR. It was about $80,000 in 1961 > dollars (That should easily be about $300,000 in todays dollars), had > three six-foot tall racks of tube electronics and 1 rack for the > transport. Model was RCA VR-1. (Video Recorder One). From what I > remember of it's quality it wasn't much better than any $500 VHS unit > today, if that. Color VCR's were still a couple of years away. Two corrections: The FCC actually approved the CBS system prior to the Korean War, but the rest of the industry (under the banner of the Radio Manufacturers Association) made the decision not to produce the sets. This left CBS in a defacto monopoly situation it was not in a position to exploit. Wheras NBC and DuMont had manufacturing arms to back them up, CBS did not have the means to roll out its TVs. As Barnouw writes the history, the FCC reversed its decision and blamed it on the war later. The adoption of a color standard was only one part of the television freeze; it was primarily imposed to work out channel allotments (though color became one of the biggest delays to lifting it. There were six issues on the table, and it was decided that all six had to be resolved before the freeze could be lifted.) As for VTRs, Ampex rolled out its first machine at the NAB convention in 1953. CBS bought the first for something in the neighborhood of $100,000. Bing Crosby was a major force behind the invention because he hated doing his show live on the West Coast and having it sent on kine to the East. I was recently digging through old copies of "Broadcasting" and came across an article describing how the first machines would work. At the time this article was written, Ampex had not yet been chosen as the manufacturer. Tom Streeter streeter@athena.cs.uga.edu