Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

Record Details:

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VOL. 16; No. 1 5 That's how I960 looks to us — and we think it will balance out to a good year for telecasting industry, both in terms of business & improved product quality. Telecasting's "circulation managers" — the receiver manufactiurers — also are gearing up for a good year, and our detailed forecasts for TV, radio & stereo manufacturing <S distribution lead off this week's Trade Report, beginning on p. 17. SIZE'UP OF THERMOPLASTIC RECORDING: Publication of a year-old technical paper on a new method of visual recording last week apparently panicked some Wall Street investors even more than it intrigued TV & movie industry topkicks. System of thermoplastic recording, based on principle of Swiss Eidophor projection TV, is described in Dec. issue of the Journal of Applied Physics by GE Research Labs scientist W. E. Glenn. Publication of the paper apparently scooped GE's own press dept. — which has scheduled a news conference on the subject Jan. 12, and GE officials have been instructed to make no comment until then. Story was broken to the public by N.Y. Times, which printed long article based on Glenn's paper Dec. 24. Wall Street reaction was immediate. Ampex stock dropped 11 Vi points same day, 7 more Dec. 28, next day of trading, recovering 4 points Dec. 29 to close at IO8V2, was unchanged Dec. 30. GE rose 3% Dec. 24, then lost a point in dull market Dec. 28, climbed l%Dec. 29, another 2V2 to close at 98^2 Dec. 30. What is thermoplastic recording (or TPR, as GE has labeled it)? What are its advantages & disadvantages? Does it pose a threat to present methods of electronic recording of TV pictures? We asked a number of leading industry engineers (non-GE) who have been familiar with the work, and present here the synthesis of their size-ups: TPR system uses Eidophor principles to store color or monochrome images on re-usable film. Pickup is done by electronic camera — the paper doesn't specify whether conventional TV camera could be used. Electron beam is sprayed across special 3-layer plastic film. Beam deposits pattern of negative electrical charges on the tape. An RF heating unit "develops" the electron pattern into a series of ridges & valleys, which can be projected into an optical picture using special equipment working on principle of Eidophor projection unit. For TV, it can be picked up by specially equipped camera or flying-spot scanner. Where Eidophor produces a projectable TV picture from electronically-produced ripples on a liquid surface, the TPR system records & reproduces by means of more permanent ripples produced on a film surface — leading one industry engineer to term it "a sort of Eidophor storage battery." (For summary of Glenn paper, see p. 13.) Like video tape, thermoplastic film can be played back virtually immediately and can be erased & used again. Advantages over video tape: It has almost same flexibility as film for editing, special effects, projection, trick effects. It may be more compact than video-tape equipment. Like film, same thermoplastic recordings may be shown on TV systems using any set of standards (British, U.S., European, etc.). Biggest disadvantage as compared with video tape : Thermoplastic playback is an optical process — like film — and in transferring the picture from its optical form (by projection or scanning), there is probability of introducing same picture degradation as in the case of film. With magnetic TV-tape recording, however, live-quality image is theoretically possible, and, as is demonstrated every day, practically attainable. Another disadvantage — at least momentarily : TPR is still a lab device, presumably on a breadboard layout. Clue to how many years off it is may come from GE next week. GE announcement of Jan. 12 news conference mentions only that system will be "described" (not demonstrated). Industry comment on system was largely cautious. CBS-TV affiliate relations & engineering vp William Lodge pointed out that development of a working TPR will take a long time and that the network is not taking any stand on the idea one way or the other. ABC engineering vp Frank Marx took similar attitude, pointing out also that the recorder is still in the future & yet to be proved. Two actively concerned companies were heard from : GE vp-research dir. C. G. Suits expressed belief that "this discovery may eventually rank in importance with the original invention of photography, the phonograph and magnetic recording." Ampex Pres. George L Long Jr. said the same principle "has been under study by Ampex research labs for the past several years." It was described, he said, in an Ampex technical bulletin last Sept. If this or any other new recording process becomes practicaLhe added, "we believe their major application will be as an adjunct to existing magnetic recording techniques rather than as a replacement [and] we are confident Ampex will be among the first companies to offer equipment" for any practical new process.