The Troubleshooters - recovery article

[emitron]

Something I thought would be fun was to add details of how I came across the episode Wildcat from the series The Troubleshooters It's all in the latest blog entry (see link below). Might be of interest! All of this is in the spirit of sharing info and hopefully spreading interest about archive television, to the benefit of everyone, including you!

I am working on an article about home telerecording, which hopefully might be worth putting up too. Enjoy!

lost-british-television.blogspot.com/

[Andrew Doherty]

Interesting article, Mr Henderson.

I wonder if you have any information on the following article, i.e. the home telerecording kit ?

telerecording.brainsip.com/

In the 1950s a home telerecording kit was introduced in Britain, allowing enthusiasts to make 16mm film recordings of television programmes. The major drawback, apart from the short duration of a 16mm film magazine, was that a large opaque frame had to be placed in front of the TV set in order to block out any stray reflections - making it impossible to watch the set normally while filming. It is not known if any recordings made using this equipment still exist.

Yours,

[emitron]

andy said:

Interesting article, Mr Henderson.

I wonder if you have any information on the following article, i.e. the home telerecording kit ?

telerecording.brainsip.com/

In the 1950s a home telerecording kit was introduced in Britain, allowing enthusiasts to make 16mm film recordings of television programmes. The major drawback, apart from the short duration of a 16mm film magazine, was that a large opaque frame had to be placed in front of the TV set in order to block out any stray reflections - making it impossible to watch the set normally while filming. It is not known if any recordings made using this equipment still exist.

Yours,

I've never seen a magazine (trade or public) which mentioned such a kit. Difficult to see what market there was for such a product, due to expense mostly.

A few "405 Alive" members did attempt to film Television off the screen. Some of those films exist and oddly enough, I think everything shown on the clips still survives in some form (mostly opening titles).

There are also existing 16 2/3 speed 16mm recordings which I will cover in the article. I have details of articles showing you how to could film off the TV screen, but warning that people shouldn't be doing it.

There was a flourishing hobby of snapping photos from the TV screen and there are many rare examples. I have a selection/collection of private shots, including the 1957 "This is Your Life: John Logie Baird", which was the first episode to be made posthumously. the script for that programme is a very moving piece.

On the blog page, top right is a pre-war photo from a 1938 afternoon play, which is in excellent condition and came from a set of tests.

[Andrew Doherty]

Until I read this on the web site noted in my post, I hadn't heard of this 'home telerecording kit'.

Sometime ago, on the music section of this web site, there was someone who claimed to have recorded two shows from March 1958 in which Buddy Holly appeared. With such a kit, it would seem more credible.

Somewhere, someone may well have the telerecording kit described. If so, there may well be off-air material on 8mm film.

Certainly, in 1955, the BBC engineering department showed that it was possible, and two half hour programmes recorded on 8mm with sound prove it ('Contrasts' and 'Off The Record').

Worth investigation, I would say.

Yours,

[emitron]

andy said:

Until I read this on the web site noted in my post, I hadn't heard of this 'home telerecording kit'.

Sometime ago, on the music section of this web site, there was someone who claimed to have recorded two shows from March 1958 in which Buddy Holly appeared. With such a kit, it would seem more credible.

Somewhere, someone may well have the telerecording kit described. If so, there may well be off-air material on 8mm film.

Certainly, in 1955, the BBC engineering department showed that it was possible, and two half hour programmes recorded on 8mm with sound prove it ('Contrasts' and 'Off The Record').

Worth investigation, I would say.

Yours,

We don't know who wrote the Wikipedia article and it doesn't cite references. I still really doubt there was a kit. If one existed, I think I would have spotted it in one of the hundreds of period magazines I've seen. There may have been a demonstration version and like the Telcan, it never fully went into production.

I shall do a write-up on the "Contrasts" and "Off the Record" programmes soon. They deserve explanation and they are interesting.

I was also thinking of covering your "Ideal Home" film. What do you think? I think that was an excellent find. It is a perfect period capsule. The closest I came to finding something like that were the two other admags, which I don't think are nearly as good as the "Ideal Home" film.

[Andrew Doherty]

Yes, I would say a write-up on the Associated Rediffusion 'Ideal Home Exhibition' 16mm telerecording would be most welcome, along with the 8mm film recordings of the BBC 'Contasts' and 'Off the Record' shows.

As you say the outside broadcast from the 'Ideal Home Exhibition', which was really a 'Jim's Inn' special, is unique. Certainly such advertising magazines were banned the following year (April, 1962).

Yours,

[emitron]

andy said:

Yes, I would say a write-up on the Associated Rediffusion 'Ideal Home Exhibition' 16mm telerecording would be most welcome, along with the 8mm film recordings of the BBC 'Contasts' and 'Off the Record' shows.

As you say the outside broadcast from the 'Ideal Home Exhibition', which was really a 'Jim's Inn' special, is unique. Certainly such advertising magazines were banned the following year (April, 1962).

Yours,

Strange how well NFT audiences have reacted to the surviving admags. They are of course packed with unintentional humour e.g. (the slogan "Stay Gay The Stergene Way") and some stilted pauses, but they all reveal something unique about the time and the period.