[Boatanchors] OT: How did they "record" TV in the old days?

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Glen Zook" <gzook at yahoo.com>
To: "Boat Anchors List" <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2011 12:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] OT: How did they "record" TV in 
the old days?


> Shows that were on the old Dumont Network, such as Captain 
> Video, are basically not available.  The reason?  Dumont 
> sold the film to silver recovery firms to recoup a little 
> bit of the cost of producing the film.
>
> Glen, K9STH

     Like a lot of early NBC color shows, these survive on 
color Kinescope recordings because the original 2" tapes 
were recycled. The surviving film was actually made as 
reference recordings for archiving and never meant for 
broadcasting.
     BTW, editing on programs like TW3 was done by 
physically cutting and splicing the video tape. When I 
started at the newtork where I work we still had a splicer 
complete with microscope for 2" although it wasn't used any 
more.
     The proper name for the process being asked about is 
_Kinescope recording_. Kinescope was a trade-name for RCA 
television CRTs. The recordings were made by photographing a 
TV tube. The name "kiniscope" became generic for the 
recordings. In a proper Kinescope recorder the tube was a 
special one using very short persistence phosphor and very 
high voltage acceleration to insure the smallest dot size. 
Because television in the US has a nominal frame rate of 30 
FPS and sound motion picture film runs at 24 FPS, the 
cameras had to be equipped with special intermittant 
movements and shutters. There were a couple of arrangements 
available but all served to allow recording of the faster 
frame rate without artifacts. Sometimes when the equipment 
was not set up right the recordings would have bars through 
the images. At best kinescope recordings were not very good. 
NBC made by far the best but even those were a bit murky. 
Kinescope recordings were used for many purposes: reference 
recordings, air and line checks, time zone delay, and for 
syndication use. Some kinescope recorders made optical sound 
tracks, which were pretty awful, and others used magnetic 
stiped film, where the sound was pretty good. Most of these 
machines ran on 16mm film. There were recording services 
that made kinescopes for stations that could not afford the 
equipment. Automatic processing machines were available 
surplus for 16mm B&W film having been used for developing 
combat film such as aircraft gun camera film. These were 
quite simple and efficient. Many stations also used them for 
processing news film.
     Much after video tape came into general use RCA 
developed a method of recording video on film by direct 
writing with an electron beam. This system was used for a 
time to make refererence recordings of color TV programs. 
The quality is surprizingly good but was no competition in 
either quality or cost to video tape. I no longer remember 
what this system was called and think it may not have been 
RCA that developed it.
     While many programs, especially syndication programs 
were shot on film just like movies, "I Love Lucy" was a 
pioneer in that it was done just like live show but with 
synchronized film cameras rather than electronic cameras. 
The flat lighting was a result of having to have light that 
would work from any angle. Movie practice is to shoot one 
angle at a time with the light optimized for that particular 
shot. On multi-camera shows like "Lucy" the light has to be 
adequate from anywhere. I never saw a "Lucy" show in person 
but did see other programs done by Desi-Lu using the same 
set-up. It was not much different than the way live shows 
with electronic cameras were done at the time. There was a 
great deal of innovation in that show. Film, of course, 
allowed the same editing other post-production techniques 
used in motion picture production to be used. Of course, the 
film was "high definition" so old shows done on film are 
quite compatible with modern HD TV other than the aspect 
ratio.
     Lucile Ball remembered those who had befriended her 
during her career and a lot of them wound up working for 
Desi-Lu. I think she was a genius clown. Most people forget 
that she began as a glamor girl playing weepy parts as in 
"Stage Door".  A remarkable lady.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk at ix.netcom.com