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May 19, 2013, 10:23am

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Topic: Earliest extant home video recording (Read 3,703 times)

Laurence Piper
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #15 on Apr 3, 2012, 2:24pm »

Apr 3, 2012, 1:23pm, Ian Wegg wrote:

Eamonn Andrews demonstrated one with the help of Billie Whitelaw on his show in May 1966.

It's actually from an ABC retrospective special looking back at 10 years of the company broadcasting, entitled "The ABC Of ABC".

« Last Edit: Apr 3, 2012, 2:24pm by Laurence Piper »

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John Harwood (bjblackpool)
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #16 on Apr 3, 2012, 3:10pm »

Apr 2, 2012, 6:41pm, Greg H wrote:

...it seems I was right.

Heh - indeed you are: I'd completely forgotten about the 30 line transmissions.

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Ray Langstone (was saintsray)
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #17 on Apr 3, 2012, 3:14pm »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/aNhfBgCgSByEMns5XPxXqA

The Telcan!

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Greg H
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #18 on Apr 3, 2012, 3:39pm »

Apr 3, 2012, 3:14pm, Ray Langstone (was saintsray) wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/aNhfBgCgSByEMns5XPxXqA

The Telcan!

Nice!!!

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I smell darren gregory..........

Peter Stirling
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #19 on Apr 3, 2012, 10:32pm »

I think its a Sony or Peto Scott (swallowed by Philips) VTR machine replaying the alien's history on the movie Quatermass & the Pit (1967) with the huge video projector in the background.

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Neil Megson
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #20 on Apr 12, 2012, 11:35am »

Regarding the Telcan video recorder - have any recordings from these machines ever surfaced ? The recorders, especially in kit form, seem to have required a great deal of adjustment to set up correctly, and to have placed great demands on the tape itself. Ironically, if any recordings did show up, it may be easier to recover some signal from the linearly-recorded track than from a helical-scan track, with all the issues of tracking etc.
Does anyone here know anyone who had one of these machines in the mid-60s ? Or have a tape which may be from a Telcan ?

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LanceM
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #21 on Apr 13, 2012, 4:29am »

Indeed Peter,

This was a" Sony CV-2000B Videocorder " as used in Quatermass and The Pit. This was actually first seen in the film on its initial recording-reception on a small TV monitor set up in the tube station where the experiment ( where the race memory was first received from the craft and experiment )was being carried out. The machine, and subsequent playback recording recived and first seen there, was then later displayed to the Military and Scientists on a large projection screen ( believe is this which you are remembering here specifically in regards Peter ).

Cheers, Lance.

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John Harwood (bjblackpool)
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #22 on Apr 14, 2012, 8:10pm »

Apr 12, 2012, 11:35am, Neil Megson wrote:

I seem to remember that there are only two Telcan machines known to exist, both in museums.

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LanceM
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #23 on Apr 16, 2012, 3:18am »

I heard from an audio enthuaist in Australia a few years back now who found two reels with a sort of metallic coating, refused to play back. So binned them!! I keep on wondering if these were Telcan recordings? Of course, will never know there in regards.

Also as a side note, I found this publication of interest online. Deals with both US and UK Origins, and Earliest Surviving Live Television Broadcast Recordings.:

"By Robert Shagawat
Abstract Of Information as of October 4, 2004 updated October 2010 – April 2011"

( PDF File Publication )

http://www.earlytelevision.org/images/Television_Recording_Origins.pdf.pdf

Cheers, Lance.

« Last Edit: Apr 16, 2012, 3:39am by LanceM »

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John Harwood (bjblackpool)
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #24 on Apr 16, 2012, 12:48pm »

Excellent read that, though (unavoidedly) a little US-centric.

I dunno if anyone's mentioned the footage recorded in New York of short segments of BBC transmissions in 1938: silent of course, but a fascinating glimpse of early Beeb.

http://archive.org/details/BbcTelevisionReceivedInNewYork-1938

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Peter Stirling
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #25 on Apr 16, 2012, 10:50pm »

Apr 16, 2012, 3:18am, LanceM wrote:

Lance. I think the Telcan used ordinary quarter inch audio tape?
and as the public didnt seem that interested in recording TV programmes at the time, those tapes may have got reverted to their normal use perhaps?
Akai brought out a quarter inch video recorder in the 1970s for home movies and eventually a color model. However this used special quarter inch tape not meant for audio tape recorders.
..and maybe perhaps what your friend had?
However I dont think these tapes play very well these days?

Philips then brought out a half inch machine that could record/play two sides (The V2000 system), but VHS was getting established and the public didnt have patience to put up with the rather eccentric philosophy of Philips and its controls of the V2000.

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richardmarple
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #26 on Apr 17, 2012, 12:28pm »

Some VHS machines had a long play mode to double the tape time for a slight loss of picture quality. My parents had an Amstrad with this feature & almost all my tapes were recorded like this.

I used my Sony in the same mode, the picture quality is very small compaired to standed speed.

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Simon Vaughan - Archivist APTS
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #27 on Apr 18, 2012, 10:21am »

Apr 16, 2012, 12:48pm, John Harwood (bjblackpool) wrote:

Following several years of research on this footage, I am pleased to say that we have narrowed down potential dates when the Alexandra Palace signal was received in New York. Reports published in the technical journals at the time have provided useful information, combined with searching Radio Times television suppliments, and P-s-B records have assisted in filling in the missing gaps.

In terms of identification, both Jasmine Bligh and Elizabeth Cowell are easily identifiable, as well as the Disney cartoon that is featured, and a tuning signal (the original of which we have in the APTS Archive collection). A couple singing have been identified (now just waiting for photographic evidence from the Theatre Collection at Bristol University). Finally, I think we have identified one of the single performers that is featured.

As soon as positive identifications have been established details will be made available.

The filming of these reception reports was not accidental. RCA engineers were familiar with receiving the London television signal, with observations starting on 12th January 1937. However, it was only during the latter half of 1938 that the vision signal was strong enough to produce an image on the screen of a television receiver. One article from November 1939 actually states that filming of the images took place between November & December 1938, and includes a frame from the actual film. The engineers were also receiving signals from a number of European television stations as well.

Readers of this thread might find the following articles of interest:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/transatlantic.html

http://www.earlytelevision.org/rca_london_article.html

The footage of the New York reception is available to view on a number of sites, (I uploaded it to archive.org site), as well as our own APTS YouTube channel.

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Simon Vaughan
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John Harwood (bjblackpool)
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #28 on May 3, 2012, 11:27pm »

It occurs to me that the Baird 240 line system apparently used quick-developing film in its cameras. Was this all lost in the fire which gutted his Crystal Palace lab in 1936, or could any of it still be out there?

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Simon Vaughan - Archivist APTS
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Re: Earliest extant home video recording
« Reply #29 on May 4, 2012, 7:26am »

We have a document in he APTS Archive, written by the late Ray Herbert, which states that he deposited two foot-long lengths of Baird IFT with the BFI in the mid 1990s. This is the only known surviving IFT footage to exist. There are several stories why this is the case. It has been suggested that the Baird Company were in such financial difficulties that the silver was reclaimed from the developed film, which is why none survive. Secondly, it has been claimed that the Baird Company were advised that the film could be wound onto a spool, while still wet, and stored for future transmission. Apparently, the wet film was not unwound to dry and so stuck together in one clump and was unusable. Thirdly, it has been suggested that all the Baird IFT material was lost in the Crystal Palace fire in December 1936.

Although Baird's research lab and company studios were based at Crystal Palace, their daily operational base was at AP, once the BBC Television Service started. The Baird system being such that it still required Baird engineers to operate it, rather than handing the daily use of the equipment over to BBC personnel. Baird IFT recordings were stored at AP and indeed one was used on the evening 2nd November 1936 to replay a brief extract of the official opening ceremony.

The film is very easy to spot due to its odd size - 17.5mm (split down 35mm). This was also done to save costs, as Baird's could get twice as much film from the same stock.

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Simon Vaughan
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