Broadcasting (Oct - Dec 1949)

haps ultimately as low as $5. C. P. Cushway, executive vice president of Webster-Chicago Corp., noted that his firm participated in the development and production of 27 color converters used in receivers built by Zenith Radio Corp. for CBS and Smith, Kline & French Labs for surgical demonstrations at medical meetings. He said his firm redesigned the CBS diagrams, modified initial units and produced the 27 units within 50 days. Asked whether he could produce converters for 16inch or larger pictures, he said he would like to get the present 10inch size "a little farther along" , and that "then there will be no se I cret on the larger units." Converters for existing sets would cost $75-80, Mr. Cushway estimated, with external scanning adapters $40-50. He said it was proposed to supply stripped-down converter unit chassis, minus lens, to other manufacturers for new . color sets at about $17.50 to $19.50 . each. $220 Set Foreseen Mel Kohner, Webster-Chicago's chief project engineer for color television, said his firm received all I basic information necessary from CBS and then proceeded to add its own improvements and modifications. He said information on the scanning adapter was received in late August and that one man produced a pilot model in two days. S. W. Gross, president of TeleTone, said his firm contemplates building complete color-mono' chrome receivers with built-in mechanical color wheel converters. He estimated the retail price at about $220 for a set using a 7-inch tube enlarged to give the equivalent of a 10-inch picture. "Quantity production runs," he said, "could begin ' within 60 to 90 days after FCC ap proval of the CBS system." He also disclosed that his comi pany will be ready to begin field 1 testing today a number of blackand-white models vvhich have been internally adapted to receive either ; standard black-and-white or CBS ' color in monochrome. These, he said, are provided with connections for easy addition of external color wheel converters. David H. Cogan, president of Air King Products Co., said his firm's standard 10-inch monochrome set, retailing at $199, would cost $75-80 more when converted to CBS color. A color set with an effective 12%inch image would cost about $100 i to $125 more, he predicted. He said Air King has been working on production of 10 color receivers for CBS and that they should be ready for field tests by Nov. 15. The Bureau of Standards' Dr. Judd, an unannounced witness, said he personally judged the color t fidelity of the CBS system to be I "comparable to what we get in tech1 nicolor motion pictures" and that RCA color fidelity, as he saw it, was "much poorer" than Columbia's. He compared the RCA two-color system to partial color blindness. Dr. Judd was asked by Comr. DURING interlude in RCA's showing of its all-electronic color system NBC Board Chairman Niles Trammell chats with Miss Gladys Swarthout, Metropolitan opera star who appeared in the demonstration. Jones whether he could test the relative capacities of the CBS and RCA systems for quantitative values of intelligence. He replied affirmatively, but said the request would have to clear through the Bureau's Director Condon. Comr. Sterling also asked him to study the CBS system further and upon his return for cross-examination to submit a technical analysis of the CBS theory of "crispness" in relation to picture detail. In response to other questions. Dr. Judd said he thought FCC should let "the potential customers" get a look at the respective systems. J. N. DuBarry, assistant to the executive vice president of Smith, Kline & French Labs, sponsors of the demonstrations of CBS color for medical meetings, told FCC these showings had brought enthusiastic response from doctors and that there had been no equipment failures. At the suggestion of Comr. Robert F. Jones he said he would consider the possibility of an "objective" survey of doctors attending the demonstration to be conducted for the Chicago meeting of the American College of Surgeons this week. He said that "basically" the color fidelity shown in the RCA demonstration to FCC was not as good as that produced in the medical showings via the CBS system. ^ Mr. DuBarry was questioned at length by W. A. Roberts, counsel for DuMont, on his statement that one receiver could accommodate about 50 viewers. When Mr. Roberts noted that the best viewing distance for maximum detail is only a few feet, he replied that the doctors nevertheless appeared to consider detail satisfactory at 25 to 30 feet. He also reported that his company had approached RCA as well as CBS concerning surgical demonstrations via color TV, but that RCA "declined to consider the furnishing of color equipment." He said he had heard Dr. Goldmark question surgeons on the detail and color fidelity of demonstrations while they were in progress, and that this answer was typical: "It couldn't be better than it is. For God sake don't fiddle with it." Mr. DuBarry estimated attend ance at the medical demonstrations at Atlantic City last June at more than 30,000, and said from 40,000 to 50,000 doctors are expected to be registered at meetings where demonstrations are slated through next June. He predicted that all accredited medical schools in the U.S. will eventually have color television installations, but said this cannot be achieved until color television has been authorized by FCC and quantity production has brought equipment costs down. Dr. Goldmark, continuing with the prepared statement which he had commenced the week before, meanwhile reported in answer to questions that it shouldn't take more than a week to modify existing TV recording equipment so that color programs could be filmed for use by black-and-white stations. He thought that within three months a method might be designed for recording color programs in black-and-white for re-transmission in color. Edward K. Wheeler, attorney for RMA, wanted to know how a station on a network would get a network color program to its audience, under the CBS color system, if there weren't enough color sets to justify colorcasting. "I'm afraid I don't know," Dr. Goldmark replied. Later, he said one solution would be to film the shows for black-and-white telecast ing by the station at a later date. Another, he said, would be for the originating station to relay the program in monochrome as well as color and let the affiliate use the one it wished. Comr. Jones, emphasizing the possibilities for testing color equipment, brought out that any station within relay reach of a color originating station may make color tests without special transmitting equipment. Toward this end he elicited Dr. Goldmark's assertion that CBS would not "hold back" on information which might be used by manufacturers to build equipment for "exploratory" or testing purposes. Dr. Goldmark said CBS would make its information available even to what Comr. Jones called "unfriendly" manufacturers, and would require licensing agreements only if the information was to be used for commercial rather than test purposes. The CBS research chief presented the Commission vdth 45 drawings of its color converter. Asked whether he had given the RMA color committee full data on the CBS system, he said he had not, because the committee didn't seem "in a mood to dig too deeply into our color system." Such information, he said, would have been useless without a visit to the CBS laboratories. TELOP This most versatile telecasting optical projector enables dual projection with any desired optical dissolve under exact control. The accessory STAGE NUMBER I adds three functions separate// or simultaneous ously: a) teletype news strip, b) vertical roll strip and c) revolving stage for small objects. The TELOP, used with TV film cameras, permits instant fading of one object to another, change by lap dissolve or by superimposing. Widest latitude is given program directors for maximum visual interi est and increased TV sta ' tion income. for full' details wrilt for Bulletin T-IOI CRAY! RESEARCH and Development Co,, Inc. 16 Arbor St., Hartford 1, Conn. Your Solution for Better TV Broadcasting at lOWEST COST -The New Stage No.1 GRAY and the BROADCASTING • Telecasting October 17, 1949 • Page 55