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Clubs, Groups and Societies For discussions about various clubs, groups and societies relating to our hobbies, such as the BVWS (incl RetroTechUK), BATC, RSGB, APTS, CLPGS, THG, TCC, BECG, MCR21 etc. This is NOT an official forum for any of these organisations.

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Old 26th Jan 2006, 10:15 pm   #1
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Default Future BVWS DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage

I think many of us have been extremely pleased with both the CD ROM's and the DVD's that the BVWS have given us each year. The last couple of years DVD's with valve/radio manufacture films have been wonderful to see.

Does anyone know what is going to be coming out this year with the membership cards?

I just wanted to make one request/suggestion. As this year marks the 70th anniversary of high definition television from Alexandra Palace would it be psossible for the BVWS to release some of the surviving archive TV footage on to DVD. Programmes such as "Television comes to London", the 1937 "Television Demonstration Film", "Televising the coronation", "Television is here again" and so forth pring to mind. There is a lot of wonderful old footage from the Alexandra Palace days that never sees the light of day.

If the BVWS were able to secure some kind of release of this footage for the 70th anniversary I know for one that I would be very happy to pay the same sort of price that you'd pay for a DVD set on the high street to have an official release of as much of this kind of archive footage as possible. It seems to me that the BVWS may be in the best possible position with the BBC to go about a release like this. Obviously it would have to be done along with the BBC, but it seems like an ideal time to be looking at it.

How realistic/possible would this be? How many others would welcome such a release? How do the BVWS feel about this?

Peter.
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Old 26th Jan 2006, 11:26 pm   #2
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

I like the sound of this, but it would presumably have to be a retrospective celebration in 2007, due to the length of the production cycle involved. Unless, of course it were possible to do a special extra for November.
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Old 26th Jan 2006, 11:50 pm   #3
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

The forthcoming DVD contains three films. Although I know the titles, I am not going to say much as we want them to be a surprise. All I will say is that, like previous years, they are manufacturer films.

I have not seen them, but from the titles they certainly sound very interesting. In a recent email to the committee, Mike Barker said: "The material is excellent and everyone who receives it will be very happy with it".

As for future DVDs, I know we have a selection of possible material but in several cases we need to get copyright clearance first - which can be quite a long process. I don't have any further details to hand. If anyone has any material that they feel would be of interest for future DVDs, please contact me, Jon Evans (Duke_Nukem) or Mike Barker (murphymad).
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Old 27th Jan 2006, 9:35 am   #4
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

Dave - That's a good point. A retrospective look back in 2007 would be a good idea, but, given the special nature of this anniversary year maybe something could be done by the BVWS where we members could purchase a DVD of this footage, rather than be given it at the end of the year - this way it could be paid for by the members, or even perhaps done as a charity release.

Paul - That sounds great, I think we all look forward to this eagerly. It may be worth talking to Simon Vaughan of the Alexandra Palace Television Society as they have some great film footage taken at AP both pre and post war, and it may be possible to have this and other such footage released on to DVD? It may be worth asking? With regard to early BBC footage such as "Television Comes to London" and the others mentioned above, would these be possible for a future release? I would be very happy to pay exra for such a DVD set, maybe it could even be approached as a charity release? Just a few ideas.

All the best,

Peter.
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Old 27th Jan 2006, 2:08 pm   #5
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

It is a long winded process getting copyright clearance. When clearing material the fact that it'll be given away to members of a group of enthusiasts, particularly if celebrating a particular event, must certainly help "grease the wheels" which we'd not have if we tried to commercially produce the DVD's.

It's also easier to budget for. One copy per member, easy. But how many should be produced if instead they are sold individually ?

TTFN,
Jon
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Old 27th Jan 2006, 7:18 pm   #6
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

Hello Jon. You make some good points, but if this was addressed properly they should not be too much of a problem to overcome. I guess it would all depend on the response from the BBC with such footage, also, making it a charity release may work well perhaps? Other options would perhaps be taking pre-orders, limiting DVD's to one per member, there's lots of options with this sort of thing. I've only dealt with something like this once before, and that was archive BBC music footage, it was released as a charity release and went very well.

Personally I feel that something like this may well be the only opportunity this kind of footage ever gets to have any kind of release, and the only chance that some members may have to see it. Perhaps a note could be included in one of the upcoming BVWS Bulletins to see how much intersest there would be from other members?

All the best,

Peter.
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Old 27th Jan 2006, 7:52 pm   #7
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

As we often ask when people suggest ideas to the committee that involve significant work.... who is going to do it?

The committee members already have more than enough to do. We do have jobs and lives outside vintage radio too. Yet when we ask for volunteers to assist or even to join the committee we are deafened by the silence.
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Old 27th Jan 2006, 10:19 pm   #8
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

That's a very valid point Paul, and I feel if any of us make such suggestions then we should be willing to do all we can to help.

With such an issue as this (and many others related to our interests) I would be very happy to help. I would be happy to do as much as could to help with something like this. I;d be happy to approach the BBC and make enquiries, but obviously it would be totally wrong of me to just do it off of my own back and say that I was researching the possibilities of a DVD for the BVWS without anyone's say so.

If this is of interest to enough members, and I am given permission to take this further then I will be only too happy to do so, but obviously it will need to involve more members of the BVWS than just myself. Similarly if anyone else wanted to help me I would be grateful. As many other BVWS members do not have internet access though (I know of quite a few myself) then many would only hear of this if a note were enclosed with a BVWS Bulletin.

Perhaps others can say how they feel about this?

All the best,

Peter.
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Old 27th Jan 2006, 10:46 pm   #9
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

Hi it sounds interesting and to have some stuff to watch on my old sets relating to them would be a double wammy and yes i wouldnt mind paying extra for a dvd of reasonable quality for the job.
And as for the bvws dvds i cant wait to see what we get it will be like santas comming early this year ( or late last year ) . i dont think i would be able to help though as im doing to much work already and have to many sets to get going and keep going.
Thanks Danny
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Old 27th Jan 2006, 11:12 pm   #10
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Stenning
As we often ask when people suggest ideas to the committee that involve significant work.... who is going to do it?

The committee members already have more than enough to do. We do have jobs and lives outside vintage radio too. Yet when we ask for volunteers to assist or even to join the committee we are deafened by the silence.
Would be willing to give a hand but to join the committee dont you need two nominations from BVWS members and I dont know any BVWS members personally
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Old 28th Jan 2006, 7:02 am   #11
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

That's great Phototube, I'm not a BVWS comittee member, I'm just a regular BVWS member, but if a few of us could get together to work on this, with the committee's permission of course, it does seem as though it may have potential.

All the best,

Peter.
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Old 28th Jan 2006, 10:13 am   #12
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

If you are interested in helping the BVWS just send a note to Mike Barker either via PM to murphymad in the forum or by email to chairman [at] bvws.org.uk. I'm sure he will be delighted to hear from you. In recent years most, if not all, new committee members were co-opted initially (I was though I stood down about 2 years ago, I'm pretty sure Jon Evans and Jeremy Day were co-opted too). Currently, the Harpenden organiser's job is being done from outside the committee.

I'm sure that nothing has changed since I was Treasurer - there's always room for people who actually want to do things, as against saying that it would be nice if....
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Old 28th Jan 2006, 10:13 am   #13
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

Peter
Talking of 70th anniversary celebrations, I think the BBC are not bothering with it this year but are going to mark the 75th ?

Jeffrey
Thanks for the advice, I will contact Mike in due course

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Old 28th Jan 2006, 10:18 am   #14
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

Jeffrey is spot on.

Don't worry about the procedures - if you are keen and able to help, contact Mike.

I was co-opted onto the committee too. We do this because it means we can get people on the committee (temporarily) and helping the Society quicker and easier. The positions then come up for nomination at the appropriate time, with a candidate proposed by the committee listed. We invariably get no other nominations, so the person co-opted remains in the position permanently.
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Last edited by Paul Stenning; 28th Jan 2006 at 10:26 am.
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Old 28th Jan 2006, 2:31 pm   #15
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

Hello All,

I am very happy to see there is significant interest in the vast amount of pre-war and early post war television material that still survives.
There is quite a lot of it about in many forms and in varying generations of copy quality.
A request was put into the BBC head of Heritage, who is a BVWS member and also is very supportive of the BVWS and the British Vintage Wireless Museum, some time prior to the end of last year to see if the BVWS could gain copyright for BBC produced archive film material.
I know that the BBC is a very large and complicated organisation, and that BBC World may have a commercial interest in archive material, but I do hope that we will be able to gain the required permission. I am confident that they will help if they are able.
The BVWS will not knowingly ever produce DVD/CD of publish anything that is copyright without prior permission of the holder.

The 70th Anniversary is something we are aware of and we will be doing something later in the year to mark this, so make sure you restorers have some good 405 line TV's ready to display!

I Would be very happy to hear from anyone who is interested in helping or joining the Committee, you do not need to have any specific qualities other than enthusiasm!


Mike...
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Old 28th Jan 2006, 5:03 pm   #16
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

That's good to hear Mike. I have long thought that making as much as possible of the early TV related footage available to enthusiasts would be widely welcomed both in this country and also overseas by collectors. I would be only too happy to help with this if I can. I'll send you a PM.

Peter.
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Old 28th Jan 2006, 5:45 pm   #17
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

I'm not sure I can remember the last time a committee post was actually contested. Must be more than 10 years.

I too would certainly like to see early TV footage more widely available and it looks like there is some worthwhile activity devoted to making this happen. I'm sure it's a lot harder to gain copyright clearance from the BBC than it was for the ERT Trader sheets.

In answer to another question about predicting the quantities to be manufactured I can say that the actual cost of pressing extra CDs or DVDs is minimal. There's a lot of setup cost in producing a properly mastered CD or DVD. Pressing an extra 1000 copies is not expensive. The BVWS has also benefitted in the past (and may still be) from the generosity of a member who works for a UK CD/DVD manufacturing company.
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Old 28th Jan 2006, 6:44 pm   #18
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ppppenguin
The BVWS has also benefitted in the past (and may still be) from the generosity of a member who works for a UK CD/DVD manufacturing company.
We no longer have this benefit unfortunately, so have to pay the commercial rate.

As Jeffrey says, it's the initial preparation that costs the money - adding another 1000 disks doesn't add much to the cost. However the fact that we are not selling them commercially (only giving them to members of the Society) gives us some advantages when negociating copyright clearance. With around 1800 members, I think we normally get 3000 pressed, which is ample to cover any defective ones and copies for new members for the next few years etc. Any more than that would be a waste of money because we would not be able to use them.
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Old 28th Jan 2006, 8:36 pm   #19
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Default Re: Future DVD's & Alexandra Palace TV footage.

That does sound promising Paul. I have sent Mike a PM offering my time and help in such a project, if any others feel the same way about this as myself and are able to offer help it's probably worth dropping him a line. It would be nice to work together on this.

All the best,

Peter.
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