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  #1  
Old 08-03-2012, 01:35 PM
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NBC "Magical Season"

10 December 1955 NBC ad "Magical Season" - ad is black and white, but touts now-classic holiday color programs.
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File Type: pdf NBC magical season ad 10 DEC 55.pdf (393.4 KB, 86 views)
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  #2  
Old 08-03-2012, 02:04 PM
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Was 'Amahl' not in color? It doesn't say that it is, so....
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Old 08-03-2012, 02:23 PM
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Okay....dumb question (I am 46, so PLEASE excuse this)

LOVE this ad by-the-way :-)

I can't help but notice though that each one of these shows is going to be presented in "Color and black and white". This WAS only a single broadcast though isn't it? Were there seperate color and b/w channels at the time?...or was the public not aware yet that they COULD watch a color program on a b/w set.
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Old 08-03-2012, 02:34 PM
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The memory of CBS field sequential color shows appearing as a scrambled mess on sets not adapted to receive that standard (virtually none were) was fresh enough that RCA/NBC apparently felt the need to emphasize compatibility in that redundant way. In other words, while they wanted to emphasize color, they also did not want to say anything that might dissuade black & white set owners from tuning in.
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Old 08-03-2012, 02:46 PM
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Oh cool. That's what I thought. And I had no idea there was a previous "not backward compatible" color format that would have caused this confusion. I grew up to both color and B/W....but well beyond any sort of confusion like that. When I was a kid, I had no nostalgia...and had no appreciation for tubes except my little Hallicrafter's S38...and an old Victor clock radio I could plug other appliances into. I don't recall ever owning any tube TV set even to this day (and now REALLY want one). My dad did however have some old Philco radio sets.
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Old 08-03-2012, 03:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AiboPet View Post
there was a previous "not backward compatible" color format that would have caused this confusion.
Heard a possibly urban legend that some major sporting events back in the color sequential days were broadcast on the incompatible CBS color system, and some rich sports fans paid handsomely to have their B&W sets modified to show a B&W image of the game. Maybe because color sets could not be obtained. Oh, I imagine the sequential field flicker seen on the grass of a football field or baseball diamond would be annoying to some extent (but it would also be that way on a field sequential color set). It would probably be the horizontal and the vertical circuits requiring modification. Otherwise regular B&W sets could present a viewable image.

Though the legend had it that it was the World Series, but I've been told that those games were broadcast in B&W.

Other sports fans would have had to fall back to listening to the game on the radio, but maybe I'm not enough of a sports fan, but I find it hard to follow a game without the video.
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Old 08-05-2012, 12:32 PM
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I wonder if saying the shows were available in color and black & white was done possibly for the compatibility issues noted above but maybe also because by 1955 not all NBC affiliates were yet equipped to broadcast in color since color had only been out since the previous year? I do not know when all NBC stations became color broadcast equipped.
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Old 08-05-2012, 09:57 PM
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Wikipedia claims Amahl was first broadcast in color in 1953, but surely this is a misreading of the UCLA listing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amahl_a...Night_Visitors


http://cinema.library.ucla.edu/cgi-b...vd_c9tGV&SID=1

UCLA's copy surely must be a much later version that was video taped.
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Old 08-05-2012, 10:34 PM
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Bill McIver only played the boy soprano part from 1953 to 1955, so it can't be from any later than that.
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Old 08-06-2012, 12:18 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by old_tv_nut View Post
Wikipedia claims Amahl was first broadcast in color in 1953, but surely this is a misreading of the UCLA listing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amahl_a...Night_Visitors


http://cinema.library.ucla.edu/cgi-b...vd_c9tGV&SID=1

UCLA's copy surely must be a much later version that was video taped.
Amahl was broadcast in color by NBC live on 12-20-1953. I think the kinescope of this is B&W. There is a review of this color broadcast in Broadcasting Magazine, attached.
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Old 08-06-2012, 12:43 AM
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Originally Posted by wa2ise View Post
Heard a possibly urban legend that some major sporting events back in the color sequential days were broadcast on the incompatible CBS color system, and some rich sports fans paid handsomely to have their B&W sets modified to show a B&W image of the game. Maybe because color sets could not be obtained. Oh, I imagine the sequential field flicker seen on the grass of a football field or baseball diamond would be annoying to some extent (but it would also be that way on a field sequential color set). It would probably be the horizontal and the vertical circuits requiring modification. Otherwise regular B&W sets could present a viewable image.
This piece: http://colortelevision.info/CBS_Colo...ming_rev_h.htm
by Ed Reitan, contains CBS color broadcast schedules showing several baseball, football and other sports broadcasts during the time it operated in 1951 as the US standard for color television.

There were several CBS color conversion articles in Popular Science, Radio-Electronics and Radio and TV News magazines which gave good instructions for converting several popular sets of the day to display CBS color in B&W.

They mostly involved changing the time constants in the vertical and horizontal oscillator circuits to operate at 144 Hz and 29,160 Hz. Some articles did mention that once the set was able to display a CBS color signal in B&W, the easy addition of a color wheel and motor would make viewing in color possible to complete the conversion. There were kits with motors and wheels offered in magazine column ads for experimenters.

Having worked with the sequential color sets for several years at the Early Television Museum in Hilliard Ohio, I can attest to the high quality and lack of flicker in CBS color. Baseball and football games viewed on these sets look especially good with the brightly colored uniforms contrasted against the
beautiful green grass that CBS color sets can reproduce.

A visit to the museum and attending the yearly convention is a great way to see for yourself how good CBS color was, or rather is.

Cliff
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  #12  
Old 08-06-2012, 01:02 AM
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Thanks for the Broadcast Mag review. The technical criticisms were almost unbelievably mild considering this was literally one of the first color programs being viewed on a prototype color set. Which one I wonder? Probably an RCA model 5 but I wish I knew for sure.
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  #13  
Old 08-06-2012, 01:39 AM
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Thank you for posting those notes, Cliff.
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  #14  
Old 08-06-2012, 01:54 AM
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I see what you did there.
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  #15  
Old 08-08-2012, 03:03 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David Roper View Post
Thanks for the Broadcast Mag review. The technical criticisms were almost unbelievably mild considering this was literally one of the first color programs being viewed on a prototype color set. Which one I wonder? Probably an RCA model 5 but I wish I knew for sure.
This 1953 broadcast and probably all the others prior to March 25, 1954, including the Rose Bowl Parade would have been seen on Model 5 prototype sets since the CT-100 wasn't produced for sale until that time. [Date from Ed Reitan.]

Another note on the 12-20-53 color broadcast of Amahl. Just as the Broadcasting Magazine piece criticizes the dark and variable color quality, there is another article I have read sometime in the past but can not find now that goes further and attempts to explain the technical difficulties that occurred during this broadcast which were the cause of the dark and inconsistent color.

I continue to search for this article in hopes of finding it and posting here.

Cliff
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