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Post by Paul Vanezis on Jan 5, 2017 16:45:00 GMT
I apologise Paul, the facility based in Ealing is The Video Ark which is a company the National Media Museum recommend for transfer from CV2000 to DVD. Yeah. Video Ark have transferred material for me (when I was at the BBC) in the past. They are excellent and I cannot praise them highly enough for the work they do. However, what you are still talking about is unstable recordings which even Video Ark can only achieve using an optical conversion. What you're asking a potential buyer to do is take the risk that the tapes will be in a satisfactory condition, enough to get a clean playback of a 405 line skip field recording (that's 188 active picture lines, nowhere near 405) after paying what I suspect is a rather large asking price. That isn't going to happen. In the picture below is an example of a 405 line project I've been working on using recordings that Martin Loach made from his Peto Scott recording of the 'Till Death Us Do Part' episode 'Aunt Maud'. This is a full 405 line interlaced recording. The optical conversion on the right will be marginally better quality than it appears here because I've just ripped it off YouTube, but the electronic conversion on the left is way better. Despite some blanking issues, reasonable results can be achieved from true 405 line domestic recordings. By contrast, it is almost impossible to get a decent electronic conversion from a CV2000.  Till Death Us Do Part - Aunt Maud 405 line tests by Paul Vanezis, on Flickr Paul |
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Post by jbuoys on Jan 5, 2017 17:24:49 GMT
I have to admit, I do not have your technical knowledge of restoration/transfer - all I can comment on is the tape I watched on his Sony TV which, to my eyes looked good. Who knows what will ultimately happen to his tapes? Possibly some artist with deep pockets(maybe someone who appears on the tapes)will purchase them for his/her personal collection. In any event, unfortunately I don't envisage them ever being released for our viewing.
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Post by richardwoods on Jan 5, 2017 17:41:12 GMT
Interesting stuff, let's hope that some way can be found to preserve this material as there is so little left of Lift off. As mentioned before, I am sure, always assuming that she doesn't already know, that Ayesha Brough would be delighted that this material exists. It really would be a shame if it was "lost" again at this stage, however limited its commercial value.
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Post by Richard Marple on Jan 5, 2017 18:43:37 GMT
What format are the off - air Steptoe & Son episodes recorded in, & how were they transferred?
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Post by Paul Vanezis on Jan 5, 2017 19:13:54 GMT
I have to admit, I do not have your technical knowledge of restoration/transfer - all I can comment on is the tape I watched on his Sony TV which, to my eyes looked good. Who knows what will ultimately happen to his tapes? Possibly some artist with deep pockets(maybe someone who appears on the tapes)will purchase them for his/her personal collection. In any event, unfortunately I don't envisage them ever being released for our viewing. The monitor in the pictures I've seen has a 10 or 12 inch screen. It's also a true 405 line monitor. Everything is going to look good on a screen of that size displaying the line standard line for line of what's on the tape. We don't live in a 405 line world anymore and CV2000 recordings have a resolution about half that of VHS. Getting even a halfway decent standard definition recording from a CV2000 is virtually impossible, which is why I think the tapes are destined to stay where they are. However, I'm sure that the owner will get some enjoyment out of them. Paul |
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Post by Paul Vanezis on Jan 5, 2017 19:16:34 GMT
What format are the off - air Steptoe & Son episodes recorded in, & how were they transferred? I don't think they are off-air recordings, but 625 Shibaden recordings directly from the original TX tapes. They are pretty rough. The best replay from a Shibaden that I have seen was a transfer that Peter Crocker did of a missing edition of 'The Burke Special' that Colin Young recovered. It still had issues. Paul |
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Post by Richard Marple on Jan 5, 2017 20:25:48 GMT
What format are the off - air Steptoe & Son episodes recorded in, & how were they transferred? I don't think they are off-air recordings, but 625 Shibaden recordings directly from the original TX tapes. They are pretty rough. The best replay from a Shibaden that I have seen was a transfer that Peter Crocker did of a missing edition of 'The Burke Special' that Colin Young recovered. It still had issues. Paul OK, I was under the impression that Galton & Simpson had recorded them off air, rather than having them transferred. |
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Post by jbuoys on Jan 6, 2017 12:19:15 GMT
"However, what you are still talking about is unstable recordings which even Video Ark can only achieve using an optical conversion."
Paul - apparently, Video Ark transfer CV2000 to DVD electronically, not optically. Despite the 'skip field' method of recording, they are quite complimentary about the format due to its relatively high tape speed (7.5ips - over 6 times the speed of standard play VHS).
I don't think the quality of the recordings is the issue here. I'm afraid I just don't see a way that anyone on this forum is going to be able to do a deal with Ronnie to secure the tapes, which, from the point of view of an enthusiast, is a great pity.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2017 17:17:05 GMT
Paul V speaks the truth: no-one either in this group or outside of it is going to pay what Ronnie wants for material that may or may not be watchable, convertable or even playable. That is a commercial fact.
Even if they did, it still wouldn't necessarily mean the tapes would ever see the light of day. Because of copyright.
Whilst Ronnie, as current owner of the tapes, holds the rights to the physical artifacts ie the tapes themselves, that is not the case with the music or the performances: those still reside with the artists, their publishers & record companies and the TV company who first broadcast the material. Paying Ronnie a hefty sum only transfers the ownership of the pieces of plastic, not the right to broadcast them or commercially exploit them by releasing copies for sale. A similar example may be found in the case of a person who had very early home demos of a couple of Beatles songs, all on some reel to reel tapes. These were put up for auction and were expected to go for thousands: as it happened, they didn't even reach the reserve because E.M.I. informed Christies the auctioneers that as the Beatles were under contract to them at the time the recordings were made, the performances on the tape belonged to them and whilst the tapes could be sold, they could never be released officially except by E.M.I. and they weren't interested in paying through the nose for them. Christies were obliged to inform potential bidders of this and as a consequence, someone's hoped-for nest-egg never materialised.
My advice to Ronnie would be to take Paul's advice and sell the machine & monitor for what he can get for them & throw in the tapes in free. Or to contact Ayesha Brough as Richard Woods has suggested several times.
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Post by Paul Vanezis on Jan 6, 2017 18:04:44 GMT
Paul - apparently, Video Ark transfer CV2000 to DVD electronically, not optically. Despite the 'skip field' method of recording, they are quite complimentary about the format due to its relatively high tape speed (7.5ips - over 6 times the speed of standard play VHS). I don't think the quality of the recordings is the issue here. I'm afraid I just don't see a way that anyone on this forum is going to be able to do a deal with Ronnie to secure the tapes, which, from the point of view of an enthusiast, is a great pity. Well, the tape they transferred for me wasn't done electronically and I'm sure if it were an option, it would have been mentioned. However, I shall have a chat with them next week about how they do it. If as you say they can transfer the material electronically, then I will certainly be making use of their expertise again. Paul |
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Post by richardwoods on Jan 6, 2017 18:13:56 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2017 20:27:40 GMT
You're welcome, Richard, I'm surprised that no-one else seems to have picked up on it. You made an excellent suggestion; first port of call, you'd think! |
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Post by richardwoods on Jan 6, 2017 21:07:30 GMT
Key bits of the Express Interview with Ayesha Brough
“I couldn’t believe it when I found out. Apparently Granada TV was transferring them to digital and instead of getting rid of the three tapes that were repeats, they ditched the 141 originals. It’s heartbreaking.
“Forget about the money I could have earned in repeat fees, what about losing a part of our cultural heritage? Lift Off was on every week and we always had a top three act and a new release.
“Everyone watches re-runs of Top Of The Pops so they must be mystified, as I was, why Lift Off never got shown. The answer is that it doesn’t exist any more. I’m just hoping that there are some tapes somewhere in the world and Sunday Express readers can help me track them down.”
“I just feel very sad and frustrated that we can’t see those programmes with all those great, iconic performances. Maybe someone out there can track copies down
Ayesha’s Lift Off may have been wiped from the TV tapes but for millions it still lives on as a golden memory.
Do you have a copy of any Lift Off TV shows, or know anyone who does? Email clair.woodward@express.co.uk
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Post by jbuoys on Jan 6, 2017 22:03:09 GMT
Talk to Lucinda.
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Post by richardwoods on Jan 7, 2017 17:32:29 GMT
Excuse my ignorance but who's Lucinda?
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