NAEB Newsletter (June 1958)

TV TECHNICAL TIPS —Cecil S. Bidlack Judging from the comments received to date from two-thirds of the participants, the NAEB Video Recording Workshop was an unqualified success. It was held May 5 - 9 in the studios of WTTW, the Chicago Educational Television Assn, station. From the get-acquainted session Sunday evening to the close of the workshop Friday noon, the exchange of ideas and experiences was an almost continuous process. We did provide a few hours each night for sleeping, however many of the evening sessions con¬ tinued over a glass of brew at the Cottage Bar of the Shoreland until a late hour. Most participants mentioned how much the pres¬ ence of Rodger Ross and Harold Wright of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation added to the program of the Workshop. I was more than pleased when they accepted the invitation to attend and especially happy that they could be with us for the entire period. We are not only indebted to CBC for making it possible for us to have the benefit of their knowledge and experience, but as well to all organiza¬ tions from the broadcasting and film industries whose representatives contributed much to the success of the workshop program. In addition to providing much practical informa¬ tion which the participants can incorporate in their own operations, the workshop highlighted three areas of work for the NAEB Engineering Committee: 1) Investigation leading to a standard film repro¬ duction characteristic 2) Densitometer standardization 3) Utilization of EIA grayscales to establish studio exposure practices. At the completion of the first item, it is then believed that we shall be in a position to re-evaluate the print density requirements for kinescope recordings as established by ETRC and perhaps to establish nega¬ tive density requirements to produce these prints with standard laboratory exposure and development procedures. ***** The past month has been one of almost continuous travel for the writer. Such a schedule isn’t the most conducive for the production of a column like this, not because of the lack of new experiences or ideas but simply because deadline dates seem so close to¬ gether. Regardless of the present implementation of the video tape recording process for television program¬ ming, three papers were presented at the SMPTE meeting in Los Angeles on kinescope recording. These along with the seven presented on video tape record¬ ing should appear soon in the SMPTE Journal. A total of 82 papers were presented during the week with the program somewhat heavier on the motion picture side, as is usual for the west coast con¬ vention. At the NAB meeting the following week, broad¬ casting again came into its own with many new or improved items being shown. Ampex was demonstra¬ ting both monochrome and color video tape recorders; Gates was showing a new 1 kw AM and a 1 kw FM transmitter with Multiplex. General Electric had its new 3-image orthicon color camera in operation, as well as a new monochrome image orthicon camera and live and film vidicon cameras. They were also show¬ ing a transistorized (except for output tubes) sync generator and a newly designed audio console. RCA displayed, for the first time, AM and TV automation equipment, a new TV switcher in which the switching is done by transistors (relays incorpor¬ ated are for tally lights only), and a new magnetic disc recorder which will record 70 seconds at 45 rpm. They were also demonstrating their studio vidicon camera and a color camera and showing the RCA color video tape recorder transport mechanism. Sarkes- Tarzian had complete film and live studio control equipment set up and in operation. There were many other exhibitors displaying lighting, transmitting, studio, control and accessory equipment. The 12th Annual NAB Broadcast Engineering Conference session occupied two-and-a-half days of the four-day meeting where an excellent program of papers covering AM, FM and TV subjects were pre¬ sented. Due to lack of space, the broadcasting equip¬ ment was exhibited at both the Statler and' Biltmore Hotels. Due to this geographical separation and also due to the fact that there were several exhibition rooms at each hotel as well as exhibits in hotel rooms, as we look back we find we did not locate some of them. Since the Video Recording Workshop began the following Sunday, our time at NAB was neces¬ sarily shortened. ***** Following the workshop we spent four days at the IERT in Columbus. This year, the equipment display was larger than the previous year. ITA— Industrial Transmitters and Antennas—was demon¬ strating a 10-watt fm transmitter as well as displaying 50-watt and 250-watt fm transmitters. Motorola was showing its new “Classroom 21,” a TV receiver de¬ veloped especially for classroom use. This receiver is designed both for “off-the-air” or rf reception as well as to accept video and audio feeds from a closed circuit studio without modification. It is provided with a custom designed stand on wheels, featuring an JUNE, 1958