Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: jj1028@homxc.att.com (Maurice R Baker) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Early Color Television Message-ID: Date: 25 Feb 91 14:47:34 GMT Sender: news@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Mr. News) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 61 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 161, Message 9 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: > This was during the first year of color in that area. We had > technical discussion on the medium, and one interesting project at > that time was the "Chromatron" tube being developed by Dr. Lawrence at > CBS. Trying to find a way to get rid of the mask and the dot-triad, > this tube used striped phosphors, horizontally. Never made it. An early, somewhat distant relation of the Sony Trinitron. > 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 Ahem ... it was TR-1 (for Television Recorder). I used to work for a TV station which owned one; it was long since retired by the time I started there, but still an impressive sight [what was left of it ... some of its innards had been cannabalized for repair parts used in other pieces of equipment]. RCA liked to name its television equipment "T_" followed by some sort of a number. To wit: television 2" quad VTRs were TR-1, TR-2, TR-22, TR-70, TR-600 (there were also variations on the theme -- TR-70B vs TR-70C -- latter having digital servos, etc.). Film/slide projectors were TP-16 (for 16 mm. movies) and TP-66 (for slides) into a film chain. Television transmitters were TT-something, television video-cart machines (now there's a Rube Goldberg invention if there ever was one, and sounded like it when running, too) were TCR-100s, and television frame synchronizers (only made one to my knowledge) were TFS-121s. Curiously, television cameras were not TC-xxxx but TK-44, TK-45, TK-76, etc. TK-4x series was color TV studio cameras ... TK-47 being the last version made. Believe that they still use 'em on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. TK-76 was a very popular (and rugged ... built like a tank) portable ENG camera. Not to forget the infamous TK-27 film chain camera ... if you watched any movies on TV during the mid-late 60s or early-mid 70s, it's a good bet that they were seen via a TK-27. It used four tubes: three for Red, Green, and Blue and a fourth for luminance ... not to mention an involved scheme which controlled sensitivity by varying target voltage, making it a real bear to set up and align. The TK-28 was an improvement ... only three vidicons, and a fast acting neutral density filter wheel to effectively control sensitivity. By then, electronics technology had really come a long way in a fairly short time. In the early to mid 80's you could see RCA Broadcast going downhill, and they finally left the business shortly before RCA was acquired by GE. One can marvel at some of the real engineering accomplishments which could only happen in such a unique environment, and shudder at the way the MBAs are effectively ensuring that it'll never happen again. M. Baker