In the 1970s, GE devised a method to automatically correct
luminance and chroma imbalances occurring in the broadcast
chain between studio, transmitter, and consumer receiver:


https://books.google.com/books?id=Cg...ence%22&f=true


For whatever reason, by the mid-1990s, the system fell out
of favor, and consumers were once again left to their own resources
as to where their TV picture adjustments should be set.


Considering how modern digital TVs appear as shipped from
manufacturers, and considering just how high a level of
inaccuracy the viewing public are presently unwittingly willing to endure,
could such an "automatic calibration" system, similar to VIR
above, be implemented today?

On 27/04/2015 11:30, wrote:
In the 1970s, GE devised a method to automatically correct
luminance and chroma imbalances occurring in the broadcast
chain between studio, transmitter, and consumer receiver:


https://books.google.com/books?id=Cg...ence%22&f=true


For whatever reason, by the mid-1990s, the system fell out
of favor, and consumers were once again left to their own resources
as to where their TV picture adjustments should be set.


Considering how modern digital TVs appear as shipped from
manufacturers, and considering just how high a level of
inaccuracy the viewing public are presently unwittingly willing to endure,
could such an "automatic calibration" system, similar to VIR
above, be implemented today?


What chance have they got for sorting that out when they can't even get
lip sync right in the UK. Surely the digital set-top pictures should
hold the picture back until audio and video are in sync?

"N_Cook" wrote in message
...
On 27/04/2015 11:30, wrote:
In the 1970s, GE devised a method to automatically correct
luminance and chroma imbalances occurring in the broadcast
chain between studio, transmitter, and consumer receiver:


https://books.google.com/books?id=Cg...ence%22&f=true


For whatever reason, by the mid-1990s, the system fell out
of favor, and consumers were once again left to their own
resources
as to where their TV picture adjustments should be set.


Considering how modern digital TVs appear as shipped from
manufacturers, and considering just how high a level of
inaccuracy the viewing public are presently unwittingly
willing to endure,
could such an "automatic calibration" system, similar to VIR
above, be implemented today?


What chance have they got for sorting that out when they can't
even get lip sync right in the UK. Surely the digital set-top
pictures should hold the picture back until audio and video are
in sync?


A few years ago, a relative of mine bought a Samsung LCD TV along
with a DTH satellite system. The TV's picture controls don't work
when used with the DTH set. The default settings of the set-top
box had contrast and colour waaaay too high and did not remember
user settings. I couldn't find any provision for manually saving
the settings either. Whenever power is turned off and on and even
when changing a channel, one had to adjust the picture settings
all over again. I remember thinking "How can such clever people
(the manufacturers) be so stupid in other things?"

wrote:

Considering how modern digital TVs appear as shipped from
manufacturers, and considering just how high a level of
inaccuracy the viewing public are presently unwittingly willing to endure,
could such an "automatic calibration" system, similar to VIR
above, be implemented today?

I don't think there is a point anymore.

That VIR system was more of a gimmick to me, basically added an indicator
lamp that gave false-security to the owner that "something" was working. My
point is, it only made sure the transmission from studio to the home was in
order, but it didn't know anything about the condition of the set.

If the picture tube was aging and had like a blue tint to it, the VIR did
nothing to help that. If the set wasn't calibrated well, needed convergence,
gray scale tracking, same thing, VIR did nothing.

Remember when that was developed, everything was analog, from the camera
recording in the studio to tape, copying the tape, pumping the signal up and
down from satellite, the franchise tv stations who may of received tape
copies in the mail, to their own equipment, studio and transmitter. Anything
in that chain could alter chroma, phase problems with that, black levels
which changed the brightness to contrast ratios. The VIR was there (not being
altered with all that) to act as a reference.

The problem was, most people never noticed a difference with VIR stations
and non-VIR and like I said, it didn't compensate for out of spec tv's.
Things were not that bad really with most stations having engineers that
mostly did quality control, monitoring the "AIR" signal, live.

With the way things are now, everything is digital, bits-is-bits and except
for dropouts when the error rate is exceeded, I don't think a digital signal
from the studio can be altered all that much, no matter how it's transported
from A to B.

I think what you need to do is explain why you think it's needed? I mean
there are crappy lcd/led tv's and good to excellent ones but like they say,
you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

-bruce

Bruce Esquibel wrote: "I think what you need to do is
explain why you think it's needed? I mean
there are crappy lcd/led tv's and good to excellent
ones but like they say,..."


I believe it's needed(but like VIR can be disabled)
because the vast majority of set owners, since
2000 anyway, don't even know their flat panels
*have* menus, let alone know how to set picture
adjustments or anything else in them for that matter.


I'm a huge advocate *for* accuracy in picture &
sound, but also an opponent of "personal
preference". Personal preference to me is
like visiting the Great Pyramid or EIffel Tower
and wishing they could be colored green, or
pink. They are the colors they are, and those
colors/surface textures should be rendered
accordingly on a well set-up display.


I first calibrated an old CRT with Avia 10 years
ago, and after seeing the results, I never looked
at TV the same way. Now when I see display in
default mode(usually Vivid or Dynamic), or
user preference(Sports mode), i just can't look
at it for more than a few minutes before realizing
something needs to be done! The guy reading
the network news does not wear eye shadow!
(sharpness cranked too high). LOL

formulerede spørgsmålet:
Bruce Esquibel wrote: "I think what you need to do is
explain why you think it's needed? I mean
there are crappy lcd/led tv's and good to excellent
ones but like they say,..."


I believe it's needed(but like VIR can be disabled)
because the vast majority of set owners, since
2000 anyway, don't even know their flat panels
*have* menus, let alone know how to set picture
adjustments or anything else in them for that matter.

How would this work?
Unless the tv have a camera to see the lighting condition, the only
thing it can do is to adjust the contrast, hue, etc to a preset level,
which could just as be done at the factory.

But then again, many sets are probably adjusted to look good in the
shop, not in the living room.

--
https://www.paradiss.dk
Ting til konen eller kæresten.
Eller begge.

"How would this work?
Unless the tv have a camera to see the lighting condition, the only
thing it can do is to adjust the contrast, hue, etc to a preset level,
which could just as be done at the factory. "

A bunch of them actually had light sensors and would adjust to lighting conditions.

Hmm, not sure if I ever saw onee with that AND the VIR system. the only two brands I can think of ith VIR were GE before they got bought by Thompson and Sylvainia, GTE Sylvania, not Phillips. Both of them did have the light sensor in some models but stillnot WITH VIR as far as I can remember.

Hmmm, it's a conspiracy !

wrote:

I believe it's needed(but like VIR can be disabled)
because the vast majority of set owners, since
2000 anyway, don't even know their flat panels
*have* menus, let alone know how to set picture
adjustments or anything else in them for that matter.

Yeah but you are talking about two different things.

What you want (or is more along the lines) is something like the modern day
surround sound receivers where they come with a microphone and some kind of
software in the receiver.

After you install the receiver and hook the speakers up, you plug the mic in
and place it where you usually will be sitting. Then when the receiver is in
the setup mode, it plays different white noise, sweep tones, shifting around
speaker to speaker. Then when it has all the info from the mic, it can set
the EQ and volume levels per channel by itself.

Probably not all that accurate (although the one in my Yamaha did say one
speaker was out-of-phase, and it was internally) but better than having
nothing.

To make the tv generate patterns or color sweeps is probably trivial and
cheap, but what would you use for a camera to feed back to itself? You can't
exactly include a $1000 hd camera with a $400 tv but the idea would be the
same, point the camera at the screen from where you normally sit, let the tv
run the tests, the camera feeds back to the tv and let it adjust itself to
room settings.

It may not even has to be a camera in the conventional sense, just some kind
of optical sensor that can detect white/black and color intensity or
something. As long it know what to expect from the tv (and when), it
probably would come closer than playing around with the menus manually.

Just saying it would have to be more along this line than anything like VIR
being added in.

-bruce

Bruce Esquibel:

The original premise of VIR is that the TV would be aligned
with a luma/chroma/phase/peak signal sent 60x sec from
the station on a specific scan line.


VIR was not something done in the home, with test patterns
and a camera or sensor mounted to the screen. That is called
calibration.


The key phrase here is: "aligned with the station". Of course,
there could be the option, in this glorious digital age, of user
override of certain adjustments, such as the Backlight on
LCD/OLED TVs, to compensate for specific in-room viewing
conditions, day vs night, etc.


But at the very least, the color, hue, and sharpness would
be locked in automatically.


And it would still be up to the user to locate and disable non-
standard eye-candy such as "auto skin tone". "noise reduction",
or "motion sensitive lighting". Basically, all just effects that add
nothing(useful anyway!) to the image.

Efter mange tanker skrev :
Bruce Esquibel:

The original premise of VIR is that the TV would be aligned
with a luma/chroma/phase/peak signal sent 60x sec from
the station on a specific scan line.

This would not be neccessary on european PAL (Phase Alternate
Line),where alternate lines are in opposite phase, cancelling any phase
shift in the chroma signal, only in the US NTSC (Never Twice Same
Colour) system.


The key phrase here is: "aligned with the station". Of course,
there could be the option, in this glorious digital age, of user
override of certain adjustments, such as the Backlight on
LCD/OLED TVs, to compensate for specific in-room viewing
conditions, day vs night, etc.

But at the very least, the color, hue, and sharpness would
be locked in automatically.

This is digital, it is unchanged from mixing console to tv, the only
variable is how the pixels on the screen responds to the signal, so VIR
would not help here. The only thing which needs adjusting is this
response and allowance for lighting conditions in the wieving room.

Leif

--
https://www.paradiss.dk
Ting til konen eller kæresten.
Eller begge.

On Monday, April 27, 2015 at 8:21:33 AM UTC-4, Bruce Esquibel wrote:


That VIR system was more of a gimmick to me, basically added an indicator
lamp that gave false-security to the owner that "something" was working. My
point is, it only made sure the transmission from studio to the home was in
order, but it didn't know anything about the condition of the set.


That's true, but the VIR TVs were all solid state, and were amazingly consistent from sample to sample as opposed to 60s TVs which took at least a half hour of dealer prep to get right. Back then, they came out of the box fairly well calibrated and even so, a good portion of them were sold by servicing dealers who would tweak them.

As far as the VIR circuitry, it was gimmicky in nature but was not a gimmick from a technical standpoint. They did indeed work and considering the IC technology of time, were actually amazing. I can't recall though if the customer could add or subtract some chroma to get the VIR adjusted levels more to their liking, but I do recall some customers back then had bizarre ideas of what good color looked like.

I do recall them not being trouble free though, and GE provided a simple way to bypass the VIR module if it crapped.

"That VIR system was more of a gimmick to me,..."

Not really a gimmick. It did work but only adjusted the chroma level and phase. (color and tint) It could have done more, like keep the gain and pedestal (contrast and brightness) right, now that sets had DC restoration. They decided not to do that and I think I understand why. Nowhere in the world did people adjust their TVs like here. Some had the color too high. Alot of them, and I mean quite alot of them had the faces too red with the tint (or hue) control. Those people would say I set the faces too green.

Over in Europe, with a slightly more modern system there was no hue or tint control. The phase errors in NTSC were caused by vulnerability to frequency response errors and a few other things to which PAL for example was immune.

The VIR or VITS (slightly different but very similar) was not intended to set the color on people's TV sets. It was intended for the stations to use. In NYC there was a control room for the major network, let's say NBC. They originated the shows on the network, like the national news and other nationwide programming. The loop went all the way around the country and it was of course degraded by the time it got back. And delayed of course.

But the VITS or VIR was hat told them alot more about the signal quality. It had one line of NTSC color bars, one line of staristep and one line of multiburst. (later, closed captioing was right under it) They could have used the stairstep for ghost cancellation I think but never did. The technology was not cheap enough for consumers. Phillips DID develop a ghost cancelling system and I think the stations did start =sending its specified signal during vertical retrace, but I never saw it in operation and have doubts as to whether even one single unit was sold. But Phillips built TVs had a video in/out loop for it just like a tape monitor on an audio amp. (for a few years only)

On a scope with dual time base you could separate those lines out from the vertical retrace interval and see the actual waveforms. When TVs had a vertical hold control you could roll it down and have a look. Another cool thing that was in there was a signal for the commercials to start.

That was a white rectangle at the upper left of the frame, so far up in the corner that no TV of the time would show it due to overscan and/or not a quite rectangular screen. It was only on network programming, obviously that tells the local stations to cue their local commercials which would be interspersed with the national commercials. I am pretty sure those (imperfect) commercial "zappers" used that signal.

Damn do I have alot of useless information ! All of this is completely obsolete.

forklarede den 28-04-2015:


That was a white rectangle at the upper left of the frame, so far up in the
corner that no TV of the time would show it due to overscan and/or not a
quite rectangular screen. It was only on network programming, obviously that
tells the local stations to cue their local commercials which would be
interspersed with the national commercials. I am pretty sure those
(imperfect) commercial "zappers" used that signal.

Here, there is station logo when the "real" program is send, the
station logo is turned off during commercials.

I really wish my PVR could use this for pausing recording or for
skipping during playback.

Leif

--
https://www.paradiss.dk
Ting til konen eller kæresten.
Eller begge.

On Mon, 27 Apr 2015, wrote:

"That VIR system was more of a gimmick to me,..."

Not really a gimmick. It did work but only adjusted the chroma level and phase. (color and tint) It could have done more, like keep the gain and pedestal (contrast and brightness) right, now that sets had DC restoration. They decided not to do that and I think I understand why. Nowhere in the world did people adjust their TVs like here. Some had the color too high. Alot of them, and I mean quite alot of them had the faces too red with the tint (or hue) control. Those people would say I set the faces too green.

Over in Europe, with a slightly more modern system there was no hue or tint control. The phase errors in NTSC were caused by vulnerability to frequency response errors and a few other things to which PAL for example was immune.

The VIR or VITS (slightly different but very similar) was not intended to set the color on people's TV sets. It was intended for the stations to use. In NYC there was a control room for the major network, let's say NBC. They originated the shows on the network, like the national news and other nationwide programming. The loop went all the way around the country and it was of course degraded by the time it got back. And delayed of course.

But the VITS or VIR was hat told them alot more about the signal quality. It had one line of NTSC color bars, one line of staristep and one line of multiburst. (later, closed captioing was right under it) They could have used the stairstep for ghost cancellation I think but never did. The technology was not cheap enough for consumers. Phillips DID develop a ghost cancelling system and I think the stations did start =sending its specified signal during vertical retrace, but I never saw it in operation and have doubts as to whether even one single unit was sold. But Phillips built TVs had a video in/out loop for it just like a tape monitor on an audio amp. (for a few years only)

On a scope with dual time base you could separate those lines out from
the vertical retrace interval and see the actual waveforms. When TVs had
a vertical hold control you could roll it down and have a look. Another
cool thing that was in there was a signal for the commercials to start.

That was a white rectangle at the upper left of the frame, so far up in
the corner that no TV of the time would show it due to overscan and/or
not a quite rectangular screen. It was only on network programming,
obviously that tells the local stations to cue their local commercials
which would be interspersed with the national commercials. I am pretty
sure those (imperfect) commercial "zappers" used that signal.

I was using a Commodore monitor with a VCR as a tv set in the until I got
an LCD DTV set in 2011. And one of the Commodore monitors I used
displayed that white block very cleanly. I didn't know about it, but soon
realized it was an indicator of a commercial, really useful. But I think
I only noticed it on one station, or maybe "not all stations". And then I
had to change the monitor to another Commodore, and it no longer showed
that corner with the white block.

Michael

Just for kicks, I did a search for "calibration" on the
newsgroup rec.video. Now answer me this:

WHY hasn't the subject of display calibration been
brought up since the year 2000?!

wrote:
Just for kicks, I did a search for "calibration" on the
newsgroup rec.video. Now answer me this:

WHY hasn't the subject of display calibration been
brought up since the year 2000?!


Hmmm, because that is about the time CRT's started to get phased out?

I mean I know anything today can be tweaked to be "a bit better" but it's
not going to be anything as dramatic as the CRT days.

What was the name of that group, SFS or FSS something, they had like classes
to do complete calibration on projectors, tv's and other display devices
back in the 1990's. Seemed to fade away about the same time from being
relevant. I seen them mentioned recently, guess they are still plugging away
with front projection systems.

This thread is getting silly anyway, people seem to be in search of an
answer to a problem that doesn't really matter anymore. I can see
differences in technologies, plasma vs. lcd vs. led vs. oled but within each
family, not so much to matter, to me anyways.

-bruce

I put myself thru college in 1953-57 doing Admiral tv repair in Fort Pierce, Florida. There was tremendous variability in how sets came from the factory. There was also tremendous variability in what various consumers wanted as the color of "white". We aimed to keep our customers happy and would set "white" to whatever was their preference.

The nearest tv station was in West Palm Beach 50 miles to the south, all others were in Miami, 120 miles to the south. Atmospheric conditions determined the quality of the signals received at those distances. The yagi antennas used had back lobes that would also pick up Jacksonville 200 miles to the north, on the same channels as Miami, under certain atmospheric conditions. The resulting signals gave strange effects.

The white block in the upper left-hand corner of the picture signalling a switch to a commercial was a holdover from motion pictures. When the reel of film was almost over, like about 10 seconds from the end, the white block was a signal to the projectionist to switch to the alternate projector which picked up the "story line" at exactly the end of the film in the first projector. Since early tv used a lot of film-based programming, the white block made the transition to tv in that manner.

hrho.. wrote: "tremendous variability in what various consumers wanted as the color of "white". We aimed to keep our customers happy and would set "white" to whatever was their preference. "


B B B bbble chhhhh!!!! (K-man kneeling before
the American Standard vomiting)


How awful! And that word "preferences". There's
only accurate - and innacurate!

"B B B bbble chhhhh!!!! (K-man kneeling before
the American Standard vomiting) "

Might as well. These new shows and movies seem to want to make you think your TV is screwed up. The blacks are green, and I lknow it is not the TV because it isn't there when you turn the color down. And then they blue out things. And recently I saw a show in which when they changed certain scenes they made it look like you have a horizontal sync problem.

In sound, if you have a properly miked concert and goood speakers, maybe you want to leave the tone controls on flat. But synthesized music ? Electric guitars. All highly equalized before it ever gets there.

Accurate to what ?

jurb.. wrote: "Accurate to what?"


I'm not even going to entertain that
question. It shows how little folks care
about calibration on these supposedly
"technical" newsgroups.


Google "display calibration" and "SMPTE"
and learn about it. Learn the significance
of 6500K color temperature and illuminant
D65, and what color bars are for.

4:57 PM (3 hours ago)
jurb.. wrote: "Accurate to what?" I'm not even going to entertain that question. It shows how little folks care about calibration on these supposedly "technical" newsgroups. Google "display calibration" and "SMPTE" and learn about it.
jurb.. wrote: "Accurate to what?" "

It was a purely rhetorical in nature. My point was you don't watch a test signal.

I don't disagree with you. The people who want their greyscale to be a brownscale or a bluescale are like the people who want to turn the bass or treble up or down on music.

Maybe you are the last purist.

I know all about test patterns. Got no use for them without a TV.

kom med denne ide:
I put myself thru college in 1953-57 doing Admiral tv repair in Fort Pierce,
Florida. There was tremendous variability in how sets came from the factory.
There was also tremendous variability in what various consumers wanted as
the color of "white". We aimed to keep our customers happy and would set
"white" to whatever was their preference.

A question linked to a random message in this thread:

Are the colours in Miami as vivid as in the series CSI-Miami?

Leif

--
https://www.paradiss.dk
Ting til konen eller kæresten.
Eller begge.

Leif Neland:


Of course not. The colors in CSI Miami were produced that way.
Same as the green overtones in "The Matrix".


Think of calibration as an alignment process. After such, the TV
will produce colors exactly as the producers of movies and TV
shows intended them to be viewed. Content that is not overly
produced, and reflects reality, such as the news, will pass through
accordingly.


The content itself is not a calibration source - the patterns on discs
such as Avia, Spear & Munsil, or Digital HD Video Essentials are.


Display calibration is akin to a wheel alignment: It is done in a
shop with precision measuring devices & tools. It allows the vehicle
to perform ideally on the widest variety of road surfaces. Video
calibration is done with industry-established standardized patterns
to allow the TV to more accurately display the widest variety of
program colors and luminance ranges.


To adjust a TV so that CSI Miami colors appear more life-like is like
aligning a car to perform best on the 33degree bank turns at
Talladega Speedway. It will not track true at other venues or
environments.

" wrote:

I put myself thru college in 1953-57 doing Admiral tv repair in Fort Pierce, Florida. There was tremendous variability in how sets came from the factory. There was also tremendous variability in what various consumers wanted as the color of "white". We aimed to keep our customers happy and would set "white" to whatever was their preference.

The nearest tv station was in West Palm Beach 50 miles to the south, all others were in Miami, 120 miles to the south. Atmospheric conditions determined the quality of the signals received at those distances. The yagi antennas used had back lobes that would also pick up Jacksonville 200 miles to the north, on the same channels as Miami, under certain atmospheric conditions. The resulting signals gave strange effects.

The white block in the upper left-hand corner of the picture signalling a switch to a commercial was a holdover from motion pictures. When the reel of film was almost over, like about 10 seconds from the end, the white block was a signal to the projectionist to switch to the alternate projector which picked up the "story line" at exactly the end of the film in the first projector. Since early tv used a lot of film-based programming, the white block made the transition to tv in that manner.


The 'Cue mark' was the upper right, and in a series of three. They
were made by either scraping away the emulsion, or punching a pinhole
for several frames for each cue mark.

The first to alert the operator. The second was to start the other
projector, and the third to switch the semaphores to switch the optical
path from one projector to the other. I ran a pair of RCA TP66, 16 mm
film projectors at an AFRTS TV station, for a year, back in the '70s.

In article ,
"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

" wrote:

I put myself thru college in 1953-57 doing Admiral tv repair in Fort
Pierce, Florida. There was tremendous variability in how sets came from
the factory. There was also tremendous variability in what various
consumers wanted as the color of "white". We aimed to keep our customers
happy and would set "white" to whatever was their preference.

The nearest tv station was in West Palm Beach 50 miles to the south, all
others were in Miami, 120 miles to the south. Atmospheric conditions
determined the quality of the signals received at those distances. The
yagi antennas used had back lobes that would also pick up Jacksonville 200
miles to the north, on the same channels as Miami, under certain
atmospheric conditions. The resulting signals gave strange effects.

The white block in the upper left-hand corner of the picture signalling a
switch to a commercial was a holdover from motion pictures. When the reel
of film was almost over, like about 10 seconds from the end, the white
block was a signal to the projectionist to switch to the alternate
projector which picked up the "story line" at exactly the end of the film
in the first projector. Since early tv used a lot of film-based
programming, the white block made the transition to tv in that manner.


The 'Cue mark' was the upper right, and in a series of three. They
were made by either scraping away the emulsion, or punching a pinhole
for several frames for each cue mark.

The first to alert the operator. The second was to start the other
projector, and the third to switch the semaphores to switch the optical
path from one projector to the other. I ran a pair of RCA TP66, 16 mm
film projectors at an AFRTS TV station, for a year, back in the '70s.

I got myself through college in the early sixties by working in a local
TV station's engineering department. Back then, there was no other way
to distribute movies for things like the local "late movie" than as 16mm
film on large reels. The movies were always provided as packages of a
couple dozen (generally one or two decent ones and the rest dogs). The
cans of film worked their way around, one movie at the time, through a
series of local stations -- you got them from KXXX-TV and sent them on
to KYYY-TV, who then sent them on, etc. Assuming the station(s) upstream
of you were responsible, you got a "new" movie every week.

By the time the film rolls had been around that circuit once or twice,
nearly every frame in the whole film had been punctured with a cue mark
(because every station had their own idea of where the commercials
should be inserted).

All the holes were, of course, bright white, which messed with the
automatic video gain circuitry of the projectors.

Isaac

isw wrote:

In article ,
"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

" wrote:

I put myself thru college in 1953-57 doing Admiral tv repair in Fort
Pierce, Florida. There was tremendous variability in how sets came from
the factory. There was also tremendous variability in what various
consumers wanted as the color of "white". We aimed to keep our customers
happy and would set "white" to whatever was their preference.

The nearest tv station was in West Palm Beach 50 miles to the south, all
others were in Miami, 120 miles to the south. Atmospheric conditions
determined the quality of the signals received at those distances. The
yagi antennas used had back lobes that would also pick up Jacksonville 200
miles to the north, on the same channels as Miami, under certain
atmospheric conditions. The resulting signals gave strange effects.

The white block in the upper left-hand corner of the picture signalling a
switch to a commercial was a holdover from motion pictures. When the reel
of film was almost over, like about 10 seconds from the end, the white
block was a signal to the projectionist to switch to the alternate
projector which picked up the "story line" at exactly the end of the film
in the first projector. Since early tv used a lot of film-based
programming, the white block made the transition to tv in that manner.


The 'Cue mark' was the upper right, and in a series of three. They
were made by either scraping away the emulsion, or punching a pinhole
for several frames for each cue mark.

The first to alert the operator. The second was to start the other
projector, and the third to switch the semaphores to switch the optical
path from one projector to the other. I ran a pair of RCA TP66, 16 mm
film projectors at an AFRTS TV station, for a year, back in the '70s.

I got myself through college in the early sixties by working in a local
TV station's engineering department. Back then, there was no other way
to distribute movies for things like the local "late movie" than as 16mm
film on large reels. The movies were always provided as packages of a
couple dozen (generally one or two decent ones and the rest dogs). The
cans of film worked their way around, one movie at the time, through a
series of local stations -- you got them from KXXX-TV and sent them on
to KYYY-TV, who then sent them on, etc. Assuming the station(s) upstream
of you were responsible, you got a "new" movie every week.

By the time the film rolls had been around that circuit once or twice,
nearly every frame in the whole film had been punctured with a cue mark
(because every station had their own idea of where the commercials
should be inserted).

All the holes were, of course, bright white, which messed with the
automatic video gain circuitry of the projectors.


AFRTS didn't run commercials, and PSAs were only run between
programs, or during our live newscast. The films were shipped from base
to base, via the 'Bicycle Network'. There were typically 13 stations, or
ships in each network, and movies went around twice. We would get
several cases of film each week. It was up to us to select the air
times, but all of them had to be shipped to the next location at the end
of the week. The worst was that damned Kinescope film, that was so thin
that a strong breeze would snap it. Our film chain used a single camera,
so the only electronics in the projector was the sound circuitry.

Michael Terrell:

"AFRTS"?