Television digest with electronics reports (Jan-Dec 1958)

More on BBC Video Becorder: BBC’s new “VERA” video tape recorder (Vol. 14:15) may give Ampex and RCA recorders a run for their money with British standards — but U. S. engineers don’t see it cutting much ice as competitor for other standards. They say that British might get by with high-speed VERA, 200 in. per sec., because their 405-line, 25-frame system has only 10,500 linesper-sec., using 2y2-mc bandwidth — compared with U. S. 525-line, 30-frame, 15,750 lines-per-sec., 4mc bandwidth. Longitudinal recording employed by VERA was tried by U. S. engineers for long time, but discarded when Ampex perfected horizontal recording with rotating head, permitting 15-ft.-persec. speed. VERA has advantage in that it uses t2-in. tape instead of RCA-Ampex 2-in., is therefore cheaper to run. It also offers simultaneous recording-monitoring, though U. S. engineers say they can provide same if customer will stand extra cost. VERA also is easier to splice. VERA employs 3 tracks — 1-100 kc video (frequency modulated), above-100 kc video (not FM), sound (FM). Equipment is in 3 racks — about 5x5x3 ft. It carries 15 min. of programming on 20V^-in. reel. BBC doesn’t offer color, but director of engineering Sir Harold Bishop (who, will be in U. S. this week for speech at NAB convention engineering conference in Los Angeles, April 30) says there’si “no fundamental reason” why equipment can’t be adapted to color. Another advantage of U. S. equipment cited is fact it can be speeded up for re-running, etc., while VERA runs at maximum in regular operation. Tape’s impact on TV industry will have a lot of ramifications. In April 14 N. Y. Herald Tribune, Joseph Kaselow reports trepidation of one maker of commercial film, Martin Ransohoff, pres, of Filmways Inc., who plans to tape his first commercial in 60 days : “Ransohoff says advertisers should not kid themselves that tape will be great money-saver. The cost of film processing will be saved, but consider this: the cost of tape will have to be borne even though few stations will be set up to use it for some time; the equipment is very sensitive and there are more technical problems involved in maintaining it; there are not 5 guys outside the networks who know how to repair tape; problems of optical effects and editing are not yet solved ; the equipment is bulky and not so easy to transport as film . . . the practical reasons for going to a given location still exist, tape or no tape; the tape itself is about 3-in. wide [actually 2-in.]‘ and somewhat harder to handle, and there’ll be a lot of initial expense because of all the equipment and experimentation involved.” ■ Attention, NAB Conventioneers If you want your Television Digest to follow you to your hotel in Los Angeles during the NAB Convention (April 27-May 1), we’ll be glad to send it to any subscriber via air mail at no extra cost. Let us have your hotel address ahead of the April 26 issue. We’ll also send on the May 5 issue to any address you designate if you’re not going to be back to your office by then. COMMON STOCK QUOTATIONS Week Ending Friday, April 18, 1958 Electronics TV-Radio-Appliances Amusements Compiled for Television Diiest by KUDO & CO. • Member A'eu> York Stock Exchange 73<i 15th St. NW, Washington 5* D. C. NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE 1958 High Low Stock and Div. Close Wk. Chg 1958 High Low Stock and Dir. Wk. Close Ckg 9>/. 7 Admiral 8% Va 351% 300 IBM 2.60 347% -M% 23 19% AmBosch .30c 23 -fl% 33% 29% IT&T 1.80 32 16% 13 AmBcatg-Par .1 16% +7/a 41% 36% I-T-ECirB .45e 37% 37% 32% AmMy&F 1.60 35 — 1 77/a 6% Listlodust %e 7 177 Vj 167% AT&T 9 177% +2% 43% 36% Litton Ind 397% 26% 22% Amphenol 1.20 24% -t-% 15% 13V4 Loew’s .. 13% -% 29% 26 Arvin 2 . 27% -l-% 37 30% Magnaroxl^b 35% -% 7% 5% Arco .10c 6% +^'k 28% 24% Mallory 1.40b 247% -t-% 25% 20% Beckin.t l%f 21% 88% 76 Mpla.HTl 1.60a 83 — 1 53 44% BendixAr 2.40 47% -1-2 42% 37 Motorola 1^ _ 37 — 32% 27% Burroughs 1 28% 9 7% NatT Thea % . 8 18% 15% Clevite %c 16% 38% 30% Paramount 2 34% +% 29% 24% CBS “A" lb 29% +v. 17% 12% Philco 14% -H4 28% 24% CBS "B" lb_ 29 +v. 35 30% RCA la 31% 16% 12% Col Piet %t 147/. +% 26 21% Raytheon l%t_ 26 -t-% 35% 27% Cons Elec .40 > 33% -f2% 7% 5 Republic Pic.. 5 -% 26% 19% Cons Electron 25% +% 34% 32% SangElec 1.80 32% — 1-!, 16% 13 Cor-Dub .20c .. 13% -l-% 16% 13% Siegler .80 14 -f% 86% 74% CornClass la _ 82% -t-% 3% 2% Sparton 37i -t-% 3% 3 Davega _ 3% +% 20% 17% SperryRao .80 17% -% 35 30 Daystrom 1.20 31% 8% 6 Standard Coil . 7% — 16% 13yg Decca 1 15% +-X 18 14% StanleyWar 1 . 17% -% 21% 14 Disney .40b 19% -% 32 29 Stew Warn 2b . .30% 107% 97% EutKod 1.55c 106% +2% 24% 20 StorBcslg 1.80 23 34% 29 EmerElcc 1.60 34% -H% 37% 31% Sylvaoia 2 36% +% 6% 4% EmersonRadio 57/» +% 34% 26% Texas Inetru 34% -H% 8% 7 Gabriel .60 8 — 55% 41% ThomProd 1.40 40 -t-2% 65% 55% Gen Dynam 2 . 57% 267% 2.3% Tunc Sol 1.40b 24% — 64% $9% Gen Electric 2 58 -!-% 27 21% 20tbC-Foi 1.60 27 -t-2 7% 4% Gen Inst. .15g 7% -H% 20% 15% UnitedArt 1.40 19% 41 3SV> GnPr£quip2.40 33% -1% 22% 19 Univ. Piet la 20% 30 22% 'Tire .70b 23% ^ 19% 16% WarnBros 1.20 18% +% 44% 40% Gen. Telcph. 2 44% -l-% 65% 57% Westingh El 2 . 58% +1 26% 21 HoflmanElec 1 26% -1-1% 75% 67% Zenith new 74% -t2% AMERICAN STOCK EXCHANGE 3% 3 Allied Artists _ 3 -% 37% 30% Haxeltin 1. 40b 337/g -f7/i 4.5 34% Allied Con la^ 39% -fl% 2% 2 Herold Ra .20 . 2% 15% 13 AmElcctro % . 13 -% 4% 3% Int Resist .20 _ 4% -t-% 10% 8% AssocArtProd 97/a -t-% 6% 4% Lear 5% — 9T4 7% AudioDev ,05d 9% -% % % Muntz TV % -t-% 10 7% Belocklnst %t 9% -% 3% 2% Muter Co. %t 3% % % C & C TV 7/16 — 7 5% Nat'l Tele61m 7 -H4 3% 2% Clarostat .15g . 3% 1% 1 Nat Union El _ 1% -t-% 4% 3 DuMont Lab 3% — 6% 2% Norden-Kelav . 2% — 4% 2% Dynam Am . . 3% +% 3% 2% Oxford El .lo'r. 3% -t-% 13% 10 EletcronicCoro 117/, -t-% 16 11 Philips £1 13 -1% 6% Electronics Cp 7 — % 8% 6% Senromeeb .40 7% -% 31% 19% FairchCaro%g 21 -t-% 6 3% Skiatron 3% -% 247% 17% General Trans . 23% -t-2% 4% 3% Technicolor 4% -H4 17% 14% Globe Uii .80 15% -% 4% 3% Trans-Lux .20g 4 3% 2% Guild Films 2% — 47% 4% Vicloreen Inst. 4% -% OVER THE COUNTER AND OTHER EXCHANGES (Latest Available Data) Advance Ind Acrovox Airborne Inst Altec Co. .80 AMP Inc .50 Ampex Baird Atomic Cinerama Inc. Cinerama Prod. Cohu Electronics — Collins “A** .35 Collins **B’* .35 Cook Elec. .40d Craig Systems DuMont Bestg. Eitel-McCullough (5% slk) Elec Assoc (slk) Erie Resistor .40b Fridcn Ind. I Ciannini, G. M. Granco Products .05 Gross Telecasting 1.60. Hewlett-Packard High Voltage .lOg Hycon Indiana Steel Prod. 1.20a Jcrrold Ling Industries Leeds & Northrup .60b . Bid Asked Bid A.l»l I 15/16 2% 5 15% 21% 17 4% Magna Theatre 2IU. 41 44 Maxson (W. L.) .05 474 SK 7 8 Meredith Pub. 1.80a 29 .31 177% 18% National Co. (4% slk.) 11% 13 56% 59 Oak Mfg. 1.40 14 liV 8% 9 Official Films .10 1 1/16 1% 1% 1% OR Radio 17% 19 1% 2 Pacific Mercury TV 5% 5% 8% Packard-Bell .50 11% 11% 11% 12 Panellit 5% 11 11% Perkin-Elmer 23% 24 177% 18% Philips Lamp (14% of par) 35 36 4% 5 Reeves Soundcraft (slk.) 2 15/16 .3% i ‘/fe 8% Sprague Electric 1.20 29% .31 24% 26 Taylor Instrument 1.20 28% ,30 36 38 Tele-Broadcasters 27% 3V. 6% 6% Telcchromc .30 8% 9 50% S3 Telecomputing . 3% 4% 13% 15 Telepromptcr (stock) 6% 7 1 1% Time Inc. 3.75 59% 62 18>4 20 Topp Industries (stock) 87% 9% 25% 26 Tracerlab 6% 6^ 33 35 Trav-Ler 1% 1% 2 3/16 2% United Artists .. 4% 5 . 17 18 Varian Associates 15% 16 I7/« 2% Webcor .15c 11 11% 2 7/16 2% Wells-Gardner 7 22% 21 WJK Goodwill Sts. ,50d 13% 13% Rates of dividends in table are annual disbursements based on the last quarterly or semi-annual decl.tration. Unless otherwise noted, special or extra dirideoda are not included, a Also extra or extras, b Annual rate plus stock dividend, d Declared or paid in 1957, plus stock dividend, e Declared or paid so far this year. { Payable in slock during 1957; estimated cash value on ex-dividend or ex-diatribution date, g paid last year, h Declared or paid after stock dividend or split-np. k Declared or paid this year, an accumulative issue with dividends in arreaia. p Paid this year, dividend omitted, deferred or no action taken at last dividend meeting, r Declared or paid in 1958, plus stock dividend, t Payable in stock (luring 1958, estimated cash value on ex-dividend or ex-distribution (late, y Liquidating dividend. * No trade