Program material for demos?

[sweitzel]

I still have the Fred Astaire show pulled from youtube and converted to both a DVD image file suitable for download and burning, or a smaller WMV file for download. As others have said, it's not the greatest resolution but watchable.

I also have the original full resolution complete WRC dedication available in DVD compatible MPEG2 suitable for burning as well. It's much longer (30 minutes) and higher resolution than what is available on youtube.

Fred Astaire is either a 3gb ISO file, or an 800mb .WMV
WRC Dedication is a 1.3GB .MPG file.

Send me a PM for download links.

[mpatoray]

The WRC dedication is some amazing footage. It was shot in Washington DC, then sent all the way to Burbank to be recorded on a then still quite experimental color modulator on a VTR. The master shot TK-41 is tweaked to give the absolute best picture possible, after all the president is going to be shown for the first time on COLOR TV. The audio is also full bandwidth not the normal "Network audio" sound that was generally assigned to audio sent by the AT&T LongLines network.

[zenith2134]

I have got every U.S. Presidential inaugural speech from Kennedy to Bush Sr. on DVD..burned from youtube. It is surprising how good a basic youtube downloader can work when creating DVD footage of old material. It really comes down to the quality of the original upload. I routinely view old political and military footage on my old TVs.

[old_tv_nut]

Here's a suggestion that takes an opposite tack from the OP, that is, to give a historical oversight rather than look only for the ultimate NTSC quality:

I recently bought a collection of Johnny Carson highlights; not sure if it's the same one the OP mentioned:
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000068W...roduct_details

Disclaimer: I have only watched the first disc so far.

The first clips are early black and white and kinescopes, and then they progress into color, with the quality improving as you go. (There is one color clip that looks to me like a color kine.) The constant plus to all of this is that the shot framing from back then is cautious so that everything important fits in the roundy screen, but is usually as close as possible within that constraint to squeeze the most out of NTSC's limited resolution.

I think this makes for an excellent quick demo to non-collectors and younger folk of what TV could look like in the days of the roundies, good and not so good, as you skip through the years.