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Post by Shane Anderson on May 19, 2005 2:28:38 GMT
How realistic is the hope that more off-air recordings of missing Who episodes might turn up? I'm hoping for a few expert opinions here. I know one was found, since it was mentioned in an article on this site. I doubt that this one fellow was the only one who recorded Doctor Who. Multiple copies of audio recordings have been returned to the BBC. While no doubt rarer, it's likely that multiple copies of Doctor Who on VT exist, or did exist.
And what about overseas airings in the late 60s or early 70s? Could some of those have been taped as well? If nothing else, the 8 mm strip shows that some people were preserving some of what they watched.
I tend to think that this avenue of research may be more fruitful than searching overseas archives. Is there any way to advertise or any channels of collectors that would allow word to get out about the possibility of home VT recordings?
How likely is it that episodes can/will be found this way? Has this been an avenue that has been explored to any real extent?
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Post by Steven Sigel on May 19, 2005 2:35:01 GMT
Well, given that ALL of the '60s episodes recovered to date have been on 16mm T/Rs (or 35mm in a few cases I think) and NONE of them have been from off-air recordings, the answer should be relatively obvious -- that is that it's pretty unlikely (but not impossible) that any episodes will turn up that way.
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Post by B Thomas on May 19, 2005 4:00:08 GMT
Also it may be worthwhile considering the cost of such a practice for the home consumer.
Even now many people tape a show, watch it later and then tape a new item over it. So chances are that, if someone did tape a sixties/seventies transmission, they have probably overwritten the tape many times since.
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Post by LanceM on May 19, 2005 19:55:00 GMT
Hello All,
I seem to remember that episode two of the story "The Space Pirates" was recovered on a VT recording, in someones attic in Britain? So if this is true and a missing episode has been found on a VT, then it could be possible that other episodes exist out there somewhere. I also seem to remember an instance here where an VT recording was returned to the BBC of a television show which was not missing, but however was recorded at the very same time that "Fury From The Deep" was being aired on BBC 1 ? I wouldn't say that VT returns are entirely unlikely, but since we know that 16mm and 35mm prints are the most common types of film to be returned, slim chance but not impossible? So where would a person go to find some collectors of 1960's VT recordings? Please feel free to leave any info or comments.
Thanks,Lance.
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Post by James Phillips on May 19, 2005 21:33:15 GMT
Sadly, it's becoming increasingly unlikely that off-airs will turn up. The longer these recordings go undiscovered, the less likely it will be that any picture information will be recoverable. Film, especially b/w film, is far more durable than consumer-format VT.
Add this to the odds stacked against any of 108 half hours being recorded out of all the hours broadcast on all three channels between 1963 and 1969... It's not impossible, but it is unlikely...
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Post by Mark H on May 20, 2005 14:39:57 GMT
Sadly Part Two of Space Pirates was TXd from a film print back in 1969 so even the recovered domestic tape it was filmic in appearance
We have to take into account the following:
How many people had VTR capability
How many of the above would like Doctor Who enough to record it
How many of the above kept the recording
How many of the recordings are still viable?
Answer - ZERO or thereabouts
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Post by Paul Hayes on May 25, 2005 11:52:19 GMT
Well we do know that the whole of The Ice Warriors was recorded off-air by a chap who had access to a machine at the University where he worked. I think it was for his son to watch over the summer holidays or somesuch.
Sadly it was recorded over soon afterwards.
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Post by ethantyler on May 25, 2005 13:51:40 GMT
Well we do know that the whole of The Ice Warriors was recorded off-air by a chap who had access to a machine at the University where he worked. I think it was for his son to watch over the summer holidays or somesuch. Sadly it was recorded over soon afterwards. I've never heard that story, though if it's true, that's the earliest known Doctor Who off-air video recording, isn't it? (The Ice Warriors 3 is one of the best missing episodes, in my opinion.) How long were the standard video cassettes in the late sixties or did their duration vary as they do today? |
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Post by Richard Bignell on May 25, 2005 14:18:16 GMT
How long were the standard video cassettes in the late sixties or did their duration vary as they do today? Well, you didn't have cassette format back in the sixties, it was just a reel of half-inch tape, which used to last an hour. Richard |
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Post by ethantyler on May 25, 2005 14:29:27 GMT
How long were the standard video cassettes in the late sixties or did their duration vary as they do today? Well, you didn't have cassette format back in the sixties, it was just a reel of half-inch tape, which used to last an hour. Richard Thanks. I didn't know that "videos" were just reels of tape in the sixties, which I imagine decreases the chace of missing episodes surviving via off-air recording unless they're properly looked after. Anyway, I was only asking as I wondered how many episodes you could record onto one reel. That means you would need three reels just to preserve The Power of the Daleks!! I strongly doubt that we'll ever see a missing episode resurface via an off-air video recording. |
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2005 14:56:33 GMT
I believe the tapes were tremendously expensive, too: they were marketed as a way to record programmes while you were out to watch later, rather than to archive. I suspect the few people who had machines rarely had more than a handful of tapes to go with it.
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Post by Richard Bignell on May 26, 2005 7:33:36 GMT
Thanks. I didn't know that "videos" were just reels of tape in the sixties, which I imagine decreases the chace of missing episodes surviving via off-air recording unless they're properly looked after. Indeed. The problem is also that a lot of early domestic formats are rather prone to furring up with white oxide. I had some BBC Shibadens from a 1980 series called "A Little Silver Trumpet" a while ago and several of them where starting to go a bit manky! The other problem is that the image does tend to deteriorate on thses tapes. You only have to have a look at the studio material tape on the DVD of Talons to see how ratty such a recording can become. Eventually, the signal can be lost completely. Richard |
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Post by William Martin on May 27, 2005 15:51:58 GMT
what would be the average life for a Chromium dioxide tape kept in good conditions?
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Post by ianj on May 30, 2005 20:46:39 GMT
Im archiving all of my off-air VHS s now,onto DVD+R, and several of these, all good make cassettes,dating from the mid-80s are detiorating badly..............the earlier cassettes are fine, as are most of the later ones....................ALL have been stored well, and ran through from time to time...ianj
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Post by William Martin on Jun 1, 2005 14:40:04 GMT
thats worrying, you don't happen to know what type of tape they are(coating formular et.c, I think some state this on the covers) there seem to be some formulars more prone than others, "sticky" tape seems to be limited to mid 70s recordings.
What sort of deterioration do your tapes suffer from?
perhaps someone will know a way of helping you.
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