Earliest surviving B&W videotape recording

[Sandy G]

I've seen "The Edsel Show"- and yeah, it is pretty "sharp"- I guess the thing is that the machine displayed at NAB in '56 was basically a working prototype, improvements were being made almost on a daily basis, & a "production" machine of 15-18 months later would show rather drastic improvements.I have pictures showing what they had achieved in Feb 1955, which was recognisable as a woman's face, & a month later, it was a pretty clear, albeit quite "soft" picture, but was still a dramatic improvement.

[old_tv_nut]

I think the Hoover Dam piece is the earliest surviving video recording *of Hoover dam*. I find it hard to believe that there would be no earlier studio recordings. The thing of note is that they were able to do this at a remote site (although there is plenty of power available nearby <grin>).

[Aussie Bloke]

Originally Posted by jmdocs

You're right about everything but the "soft" picture quality--I've seen a digibeta master of "The Edsel Show" (generally accepted as the earliest surviving tape, from October 1957) and the picture is extremely sharp. The closeups of Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby are rather brutal, in fact.

Going off on that Hoover Dam video subject for a bit, can you tell me how can I get a hold of a copy this show and possibly even a copy of that 1958 Eisenhower dedication WRC-TV colour videotape recording? I'm aware of those recordings and am so wanting to somehow get a hold of them.

[dtuomi]

The Edsel Show isn't available on DVD. I have seen copies of it floating around on the video share sites, but I think those are only of the kinescope version, and not of the restored videotape version.

As far as the Eisenhower videotape, every major anniversary (like 20, 25, 30, 50 years etc.) many stations will play a retrospective of their past. Perhaps if one of those shows has been made for WRC it would include that footage, and that retrospective show might be available from the TV station on DVD.

David

[Aussie Bloke]

Originally Posted by dtuomi

The Edsel Show isn't available on DVD. I have seen copies of it floating around on the video share sites, but I think those are only of the kinescope version, and not of the restored videotape version.

As far as the Eisenhower videotape, every major anniversary (like 20, 25, 30, 50 years etc.) many stations will play a retrospective of their past. Perhaps if one of those shows has been made for WRC it would include that footage, and that retrospective show might be available from the TV station on DVD.

David

I figured that be the case with The Edsel Show. I don't see why they don't release that show on DVD, but maybe one day they will.

You just made me think with what you said about the Eisenhower WRC-TV colour tape, this year on 22nd May will be the 50th anniversary of that recording so there's a possible chance it may go to air on that day on WRC-TV or at least an excerpt of it, I'm going to post a thread about this in the colour TV forum.