TPTV Television comes to London Weds 14 Jan. 0730

[CambridgeWorks]

Described as a look at the construction of the Alexandra Palace transmitter, and the work involved for the first TV broadcast in 1936.
0730-0755
Sometimes programmes are repeated at a later date.
Rob

[wd40addict]

Thank you! This is a famous documentary showing the construction of the Alexandra Palace TV studios and transmitter. Will be interesting if it's decent picture quality, the versions I've seen on YouTube have been poor.

[Panrock]

I just hope it will be broadcast in 4:3 aspect ratio rather than 16:9 with side bars.

Steve

[Graham G3ZVT]

Originally Posted by Panrock

I just hope it will be broadcast in 4:3 aspect ratio rather than 16:9 with side bars.

Steve

For true originality, it would need to be in 5:4

Seriously though, TPTV are excellent at AR flagging programmes correctly.

[Panrock]

Originally Posted by Graham G3ZVT

For true originality, it would need to be in 5:4

Interesting point. It would have been viewed at 5:4 on the sets of the time certainly. But since it was shot with film cameras, would it have been shot at 4:3? I don't know.

Steve

[dave walsh]

Thanks Rob I'll check this out on Wednesday although a quick google suggests it's already available on You Tube etc. Even a "colourised" version! The footage program is always worth a look and loyal viewers often have additional info to add on. I don't think this is the Ally Pally feature I'd anticipated at first. That one starts with a van arriving [I think] early in the morning but is shown in a "letter box" format . I understand that real enthusiasts are often keen to retain a 4x3 image or even other versions of widescreen presentation but I'm generally happy just to be able to view the material. The You Tube versions are not of such good quality though [as said]. There are repeats of Footage Detective programs on Mondays but not always the Sunday addition. It is free to register for a "catch up" service as well. I wonder if anyone manages to create a 5:4 image [as Graham mentioned] for viewing on a vintage CRT set.

Dave W

[Panrock]

I've just set up my Panasonic HDD/DVD box to catch this. I also have had a look at the somewhat scratchy copy I already have of this film. It'll be interesting to compare the quality.

90 years later, it's clear what wonderful pioneers they were!

Steve

[Graham G3ZVT]

Originally Posted by wd40addict

Thank you! This is a famous documentary showing the construction of the Alexandra Palace TV studios and transmitter. Will be interesting if it's decent picture quality, the versions I've seen on YouTube have been poor.

I think the London and Holme Moss films are in fine-fettle on UT.
It's the Birmingham one that I'd like a clearer copy of.

[Panrock]

Ditto Birmingham.

A big thanks to TPTV. We are lucky to have you. Yes, this copy had the feared side-bars, but really I should get a Hedghog converter to remove these, rather than relying on my Aurora.

There were some jerky movement transitions, presumably due to the digital processing, and Adele Dixon was out of lip-sync in her famous song, but you can't have everything. I've now checked my own copy and both these effects are absent.

My copy originates from a U-Matic recording of a 16mm film, which I had ordered up to BBC Wood Norton from Windmill Road in the 1980s on a bogus cost centre! I then spent a day learning how to operate the training telecine.

Steve

[Dave Moll]

Incidentally, TCTL is viewable on Encore at https://www.tptvencore.co.uk/product/tpmov05328-6386553238112.

[Graham G3ZVT]

Originally Posted by Panrock

I just hope it will be broadcast in 4:3 aspect ratio rather than 16:9 with side bars.

Steve

As a fellow purist I hoped so too, I recorded it from Freeview but was surprised to see it was 4:3 a picture pillar-boxed into a 16:9 frame.

Does it make any difference?

Well not very much for the majority of viewers who have 16:9 screens. It takes very little out of the overall bit-budget to transmit the black side-bars, and there is even an advantage, the broadcaster can position its ident DOG on the side-bar rather than burning it in to the picture. This is precisely what TPTV did during this programme.

There is a much greater advantage for flagging 4:3 content correctly for the dwindling few that have 4:3 TVs (and watch 16:9 content letter-boxed). Without the flag the programme will display as a postage-stamp with black all round and require the viewer to manually change the display mode.

It does beg the question as to TPTVs policy as to which 4:3 programmes get flagged as native 4:3, I may email them and ask.

[dave walsh]

I took a look at the various postings of "Television Comes To London" on You Tube after the TPTV broadcast. This led me to " TV at Waterloo-in 1936!" put up by Rob who has an interest in London Railway Stations and their Cinema's! This is dated 5/11/21 and includes a great deal of interesting info that is accessed via clicking on Roblondon at the top of the first page! He's promising more in 2021. The "colourised" version of "Television Comes To London reminds me of the 1996 Bulletin insert "The Story of Baird Television by Ray Herbert".This covers the 1936 colour TV transmissions sent to Cinemas in 1936 [via telephone lines and projected on to the screens from the front of the Auditorium].

In 1972 my wife and I were chatting to an elderly chap who'd approached us in a high end Manchester Furniture Store [he noticed that I was carrying a 16mm camera] and we were just a young couple. It turned out that he was a Canadian Businessman who showed us all around the entire place including workshops on the top floor [he owned it all]. He mentioned being very successfull even before WW2 and said that he'd had a flat at Hyde Park Corner in 1936, complete with a colour TV set! Later, I told my wife that he had been very nice but pointed out we didn't have colour TV until the sixties. I thought then that he might be confused but he wasn't! There are colour illustrations in Seeing By Wireless to confirm this.

Ironically the title is derived from a letter sent to the Press by JLB [in 1924]. He asked for a correction of the term "seeing by wireless" and the word "claims" that he thought gave the wrong impression He cited The Radio Times saying "Television A Fact!" and others who had witnessed his transmissions. I don't know what happened after that.

Dave W

[Graham G3ZVT]

Originally Posted by dave walsh

In 1972 my wife and I were chatting to an elderly chap who'd approached us in a high end Manchester Furniture Store

We had carpets fitted by Waring & Gillow in about 1978, they were still using ring & pin.

Originally Posted by dave walsh

[he noticed that I was carrying a 16mm camera] and we were just a young couple.

I'd have been equally impressed too.

Originally Posted by dave walsh

Ironically the title is derived from a letter sent to the Press by JLB [in 1924]. He asked for a correction of the term "seeing by wireless" and the word "claims" that he thought gave the wrong impression He cited The Radio Times saying "Television A Fact!" and others who had witnessed his transmissions. I don't know what happened after that.

Dave W

Speaking as a classical scholar (as if ), tele-vision is such a monstrous concoction.

[dave walsh]

Hi Graham. I think that the well known W+G store was in the Deansgate area?
As I recall the gentleman we met was in premises to the North East of Piccadilly Gardens. He imported furniture from Sweden-very high end! You are right that being able to own own a professional 16mm camera back then would have been a great achievement but in fact it was from a govenment surplus shop in Shudehill. They had cameras on sale that that had been fitted into the wings of fighter airccraft and were not anything like, say, a Bolex-more a hard back book in metal! . I did get a few frames developed from it but my skills were limited. I think Baird's objection to the press description in 1924 was because he could see they were trying to dismiss him, as happened in the thirties and for the rest of his life. I've always thought that using the Greek television "seeing from afar" was a good choice. Much better than "looking in" and clumsy terms like that. I hope more film footage comes to life via enthusiasts like Rob and other experts on here.

Dave