International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1950)

CONCLUSION FROM its early beginnings, the idea of Tv in color has intrigued the imagination. As the motion picture industry has discovered, the mere fact that a production is offered in color rather than in black-and-white increases the public's interest and makes for far greater salability. The first proponent of color Tv was CBS, which for many years operated both black-and-white and color stations in New York City. Shortly after the war, CBS felt that its color Tv system was ready ***, and on September 27, 1946, it petitioned the FCC to promulgate rules and engineering standards authorizing commercial Tv in color in the ultra-high-frequency band (480 to 920 megacycles). The CBS proposal, developed at a cost of some $2, wheel at the transmitter. The eye saw the picture in full color. At the same hearing, RCA gave evidence concerning a different system of color Tv, but did not request the FCC to approve its system at that time. In the RCA system, known as the simultaneous system, each picture was scanned simultaneously in three colors — red, green, and blue — and these transmissions were sent simultaneously on three different channels and were combined at the receiver to produce a color image. After the issuance of the March, 1947, report denying CBS's color proposal, CBS turned its attentions in the Tv field mainly to the building of its monochrome network. But both CBS and RCA continued color experiments. In October, 1948, CBS demonstrated to FCC staff members a sequential color system, using only 6 megacycles of band Theater Television: What How and When* By JOHN EVANS McCOY and HARRY P. WARNERf 000,000, looked toward the creation of 27 color Tv channels in the ultra-highfrequency band, each channel being 16 megacycles wide. This proposal would have appropriated substantially all of the ultra-high frequencies for color. After lengthy hearings, the FCC on March 18, 1947, denied the petition, primarily for the reason that "many of the fundamentals of a color-Tv system have not been adequately field-tested and that need exists for further experimentation." CBS, RCA Color Systems The CBS proposal contemplated authorization of the so-called sequential system in which each picture is scanned through separate color filters — red, green, and blue, in turn. Under that proposal the transmissions in the separate colors followed each other at the rate of 48 per second. The three colors were accepted by the receiver by means of a color wheel containing filters of red, green, and blue, which rotates in front of the Tv screen in synchronization with a similar color width. The system could be operated either with a rotating color drum or with stationary color filters. At the same time CBS demonstrated that an ordinary commercial 10-inch table Tv receiver (monochrome) could be converted so as to receive the color transmissions either in black-and-white or in color. Receiver Obsolescence Interest in color Tv flared brightly in May, 1949, when the FCC issued a public notice in which it stated that in reopening the pending allocation proceedings it planned "to afford an opportunity for the submission of proposals looking toward utilization of all Tv channels (both very-high-frequency and the ultrahigh-frequency) to 6 megacycles monochrome or color on an optional basis in such a way as to permit reception on the ordinary Tv receiver with relatively minor modifications." Following up this announcement, the FCC on July 11, 1949, issued its notice of further proposed rule-making in the allocation proceedings, and stated definitely that it would give consideration to proposals for color Tv on both the veryhigh-frequency and the ultra-high-frequency Tv channels, providing that any such proposal must permit operation in a 6-megacycle channel and must be such that existing receivers will be able to receive color transmissions "simply by making relatively minor modifications in such existing receivers." In a recent speech, one FCC Commissioner explained that the FCC would not authorize color: (1) until color can be received satisfactorily on today's ordinary Tv receiver with only relatively minor modifications, and (2) until color Tv pictures can be received in black-and-white on presentday receivers, with perhaps no, or only relatively minor, modifications. While it is impossible to predict what evidence concerning color Tv will be presented to the FCC in the now scheduled hearings, and it is likewise impossible to foretell what action the FCC will take on color Tv, the motion picture industry obviously must consider color in connection with its planning concerning theater Tv. Not only must theater Tv interests be aware that broadcast Tv in color will be a much stronger competitor than black-and-white, but they must take into account that color may well be much more attractive to the public than either monochrome film or monochrome theater Tv. Theatre Ty in Color Theater Tv in color, therefore, deserves careful investigation. Such an investigation may reveal that theater Tv in color holds sufficient promise of becoming a box-office attraction in its own right to justify the conclusion that the motion picture industry should enter the theater Tv field on a broad scale. From the technical viewpoint, color would require further development of the theater Tv equipment mentioned in this article, but it is not unreasonable to expect that color could be adapted to theater Tv with at least no greater difficulty that it could be applied to broadcast Tv. Theater Tv in color would also have its impact on the frequency-allocation problems now facing theater Tv. While it appears that broadcast color Tv, if sanctioned by the FCC, will be limited to a 6-megacycle bandwidth, the theater Tv interests will be forced to inquire whether they should limit their interests in color to a system of this bandwidth. The advantages of a wider bandwidth, * Reprinted from Vol. IV, No. 2, of The Hollywood Quarterly with its kind permission. f Note : The opinions and conclusions stated are the personal views of the authors. INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST • January 1950 13