What did broadcast color television look like in 1954 through 1957?

[holmesuser01]

Mary Costa, mentioned on the about Dinah Shore Show from 12-6-59 is my cousin. She had an incredible voice in her day.

[colorfixer]

Originally Posted by lnx64

It's 1958, but I found this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKqHZcXvUAs

That looks a lot like the color on the 70's Lawrence Welk shows that ABC ran.

[holmesuser01]

If I'm not mistaken, Lawrence Welk was taped with Norelco cameras.

The color footage of Ike looks really good. Thanks for the link to it.

[Steve D.]

Excerpt from The Dinah Shore Chevy Show 1959: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1fIhPW9hns. You have to know that color video tape was by then exceptable for time delay broadcasts. However the original over the air live broadcast were far superior when viewed on a well set up color receiver w/a good roof top antenna system. In the mid 50's, before videotape, OTA live broadcasts provided exceptional color pictures. I'm old enough to remember these early color shows both studio & remote sports broadcasts. RCA, for one, didn't want anything less than the best color images on their NBC network. The were trying to sell color TV sets to a weary public and it was a tough sell for many years.

-Steve D.

[holmesuser01]

I think when they changed the red phosphors in the CRT is when color TV didn't look as good as it did before.

I've got a CYP22 that has much deeper reds than the FBP22 ever did. Same for the FJP22's.

[etype2]

If I didn't make myself clear originally, here is my point.

I collect micro television and roundies. The other day was looking at one of my Sony Trinitron micro color sets receiving an ota HD signal down converted by a digital converter box. Trinitrons always look amazing, but that particular color broadcast looked better on that set then anything I remember seeing in the late 60's and 70's. I thought it must be the higher quality content and hardware in the broadcast chain of today.

Thinking about the color broadcasts, say from 1954 forward to maybe 1957 or 1958, and knowing a little about the old color cameras, videotape, etc. from that era, I can't imagine that those old color broadcasts would look as good as today's much higher quality color content and the higher quality equipment in today's broadcast chain if viewed on the same properly set up color televisions like a CT 100, 21CT55, CTC5 etc.

So I was reflecting back to the mid 50's when I saw my first color broadcast. I was only 9 when I saw the first color broadcast, so the memory is foggy.

I think old tv nut explained the progression of color broadcast equipment well. The old stuff had some problems which improved over time.

[etype2]

Originally Posted by Steve D.

Excerpt from The Dinah Shore Chevy Show 1959: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1fIhPW9hns. RCA, for one, didn't want anything less than the best color images on their NBC network. The were trying to sell color TV sets to a weary public and it was a tough sell for many years.

-Steve D.

I believe that.

[philcophan]

My experience indicates that the old sets just keep looking better and better as transmission methods improved.
My first look at a color set was in late '56 or early '57... color looked "oooh and ahhh", B&W not so much... Many years later, I became the repairman for that set (my Uncle's set) and set it straight... It was an old CTC-5 with doors... "The Chandler" if I recall... the deluxe chassis... what a playin' fool!!! That set just kept looking better and better thru the years as the camera/transmitting technology improved. The old sets had the ability, but not the quality signal... just my opinion... View some of the old shows today, and the color is outstanding... most likely because they went out of their way to make it as colorful as possible. Bonanza, Lawrence Welk, Hawaii 5 O and more.
I'm still tickled when I see an old set performing well!!!

[oldtvman]

Based on the pictures from sets I've restored and viewing of early color video I have to believe like Steve said the pictures were breathtaking. I was a small child and did catch a glimpse of color in the stores, but the sets weren't set up properly. It was magic in the air.

[Sandy G]

Yeah, B/W signals viewed on one of the early roundies looked worser than Death " eatin' a Cracker." Those ugly purplish/green outlines on EVERYTHING were pretty bad. I think in the larger cities, you had a REASONABLE chance of having yr set "Set Up" like it SHOULD be, but out here in Greater Bugtussle, you were pretty much on yr own. I'd hazard a guess that set-up problems did their fair share of keeping roundie sales down..

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Yeah, B/W signals viewed on one of the early roundies looked worser than Death " eatin' a Cracker." Those ugly purplish/green outlines on EVERYTHING were pretty bad.

Yes, back in the early days of color, it was common for BW programming to be transmitted "in color". That is, even when the pic material was BW, the chroma carrier and burst were still being transmitted. This kept the chroma chain in the TV receiver switched 'on', allowing color artifacts to appear on the BW image. You had to turn the color control all the way down to get rid of them.

Sets had an automatic 'color killer' circuit, but it depended on the absence of the burst signal.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

Yes, back in the early days of color, it was common for BW programming to be transmitted "in color". That is, even when the pic material was BW, the chroma carrier and burst were still being transmitted. This kept the chroma chain in the TV receiver switched 'on', allowing color artifacts to appear on the BW image. You had to turn the color control all the way down to get rid of them.

Sets had an automatic 'color killer' circuit, but it depended on the absence of the burst signal.

Probably why Zeniths had a push pull manual color killer assist switch on the chroma level knob for the first several years of roundys.

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Probably why Zeniths had a push pull manual color killer assist switch on the chroma level knob for the first several years of roundys.

I also suspect there were cases where sets were used with deep fringe area signals, so the automatic color killer could be set to favor "color on" so that the color wouldn't flash on and off while the user "enjoyed" a very snowy color signal. The color could then be turned off on a known black and white signal.

I wonder how many calls there were to dealers/repair shops to complain of "no color" because the switch had been turned off.

[etype2]

There was also the problem of how far away the transmitter was and adjusting the rabbit ears antennas that most people in the mid to late 50's were using to bring in color.

Multi path distortion (ghosting) was a problem then and still was a problem in the 60's. In 1966 I installed the largest, strongest roof top antenna I could find with a rotator to minimized the ghosting. I was also DX'ing the Chicago stations from Milwaukee 90 miles away.

Once you had the rabbit ears just right, then one had to constantly fine tune the set. There was no AFT or auto circuits. The signal would drift and had to be adjusted. Another problem was vertical sync. I remember getting up constantly to stop the picture from rolling.

Then there was the problem of NTSC color (never the same color). Often people would have a green cast to their faces.

[sampson159]

numerous "no color" service calls.9.95 to turn the color back on.it paid me pretty well back in those days