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- - Restoring a RCA 21CT55 (http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=268390)

Quote:

Originally Posted by etype2 (Post 3204211)

I could reduce to this size and provide a link to the full resolution like this:

Yep, that's a good size for unfathomable windows XP users. :D

Much better size. Thank you.

Interesting. Chroma looks early (or luma late), which I think I would blame on the source. (Good luck finding a source today that has the luma and chroma timing and RF group delay per true NTSC specs).

Update, Macy Thanksgiving Parade Screenshots

Update, November 22, 2018.

These thumbnails are low resolution of today’s Macy Thanksgiving Parade screenshots on a RCA 21CT55 with a 21AXP22. Link to full resolution 6000X4000 photos in photo carousel. https://visions4netjournal.com/vinta...-carousel-6707
Also: https://visions4netjournal.com/vinta...tv-page-two-2/

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Marshall,

Your 21CT55 photos should put to rest all those who think these early color sets couldn't produce quality color images. Here's an off screen photo from my CT-100 of the Macy's Parade from last year. Can't compare w/your stunning photos. Thanks for posting.

-Steve D.

I watched the Hudson's parade here in Detroit, but alas on a B/W Westinghouse. Very nice shots on the 21-CT-55.

Shots from the Victoria Secrets Holiday show broadcast December 2, 2018 on a 21CT55 with a 21AXP22. The thumbnails are blurry go here to see them in 6000 X 4000 resolution. https://visions4netjournal.com/vinta...tv-page-two-2/

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If you don't think CT-100s can produce high quality color images, look at the old thread
images off my now RIP 15GP22. They are much larger than my avatar ... and provide
images of the original photos to directly compare to, carefully calibrated so they can be directly compared for color on your screen.

I will search for it, but if you have a quick link .....

dtvmcdonald, I hope my Westy will look as good.

Miss Universe contest broadcast last night, 12/16/2018 on a RCA 21CT55 with a 21AXP22.

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Attachment 198043

UPDATE JANUARY 1, 2019

In 1954, 65 years ago today, the first coast to coast color telecast occurred. It was the Rose Bowl Tournament Of Roses parade. Few people got to see the telecast except for television engineers and a few prototype televisions set up in appliance stores throughout the country.

During the year 1954, wealthy folks for the first time, were able to purchase color sets $995.00 and up in time to watch the 1955 Rose Parade telecast in their homes on New Year’s Day. One such television was the RCA 21CT55 “Spectacular”.

Today we commemorate the first color broadcast of the parade on our 64 year old RCA 21CT55 with screen shots taken live off the screen from over the air NBC signals, the same broadcaster as in 1954. Tap on the images for full resolution. The link opens a full resolution image carousel.

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Odd 1971 CBS Color

This is a screenshot from the premier Season 1, episode 1 Sonny and Cher show. August 1, 1971. I wonder if this was taped using a TK 41 or a Plumbicon. Shot from a 21CT55.

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From what I see, (apparent limited resolution and low noise) I'd guess Plumbicon, but that's very tentative. I don't see any of the strong edge enhancement that Plumbicon cameras often had.

Can you play it on a flat screen and see what the left and right edges and corners look like? Some TK-41s had strong yoke ringing on the left; and also, the corner shading usually was not as good as the Plumbicon cameras.

Of course, if this is from a DVD, it may have had all kinds of noise reduction processing applied.

This was taken from Get-TV recently. I find this image and the other shots I took to look artificial/unnatural. Can’t put my finger on it.

GET-TV via what delivery means? Probably reduced to minimum acceptable resolution and bit rate.

OTA. Converter box. I saw one studio shot of Cher looking through the viewfinder of a Noreclo, but she looked older then her appearance on the season premier.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080516...n/studios.html

According to Ed Reitan's info, CBS Television City converted to Norelcos starting in 1964

Earlier then I thought. I read somewhere that CBS reluctantly purchased RCA caneras and covered up the RCA logo. I asked because I think NBC was using the TK-41, TK-41A around this time.

I'm sure that by 1971 CBS TV City in Hollywood had been using Norelco color cameras for some time. I believe that NBC was still using RCA TK-41 Cameras on many of their live/taped shows during this same period.

Quote:

Originally Posted by etype2 (Post 3208349)

This was taken from Get-TV recently. I find this image and the other shots I took to look artificial/unnatural. Can’t put my finger on it.

It's most likely due to digital compression when it is broadcast. I'm in the A/V business and we refer to this as the "soap opera effect", it's most noticeable on LED TVs unless you change settings in the TV to get rid of it. Artificial lighting effects and no depth of field is the result.

Sent from my Phone using Tapatalk

TK-41 and Norelco Plumbicon comparison.

Everything was analog in 1971 except the transmission methods broadcast today.

Another shot from the same show. The image looks flat and shiny like plastic with the Plumbicon camera in this particular CBS studio.

https://visions4netjournal.com/wp-co...E9A1E6BC09.png

Here is a NBC studio shot with a TK-41. 1973. I think there is more depth and range in the facial tones.

https://visions4netjournal.com/wp-co...ED5CC5CFB.jpeg

Update.

2019 Oscar show live on ABC photographed February 24, 2019.

The first screenshot is from a 64 year old RCA 21CT55. A comparison shot from a 2018 LG E8 OLED.

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Two more shots from the RCA.

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UPDATE, APRIL 20, 2019

It’s been 2 years, 2 months since the restoration completion and all is well. Today we photographed a series of screenshots of the live over the air broadcast of the Ten Commandments by the ABC broadcasting network. The RCA 21CT55 is 65 years old and has the original 21AXP22 CRT. The shots were taken on the fly, no freeze frame. We used a Sony A6300. FL 16mm, Aperture F5.0, shutter speed 1/50 sec., white balance auto. I hope you enjoy these shots as much as I enjoyed taking them.

You can download full resolution shots from this link: https://visions4netjournal.com/vinta...tv-page-two-2/

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Is This Cheating?

UPDATE, APRIL 24, 2019

Is this cheating?

The dilemma for a photographer is how to capture a properly exposed vintage television cabinet without over exposing the television image on the screen! One method is to minimize the room lighting so that the cabinet can be seen, but reduce the light reaching the display surface. This is a compromise at best, as the image will be noisy from low light (unless you have a high quality camera for low light situations) and the display still won’t be properly exposed. I like to see a properly exposed color image and to do that, I usually shoot my screenshots in darkness. Many people prefer to see the cabinet with the display on even though the color image is compromised.

So, we did an experiment. I set up my Sony A6300 on a tripod in a fixed position so that the cabinet of our RCA 21CT55 would be fully resolved in natural daylight without flash. For the first shot, the FL was 16mm, aperture 3.5, SS 1/50 second, auto white balance. It was 4PM, April 23, 2019, cloudy sky, television off.

For the screenshots, we closed the shutters, turned off the lights and the room was dark. The camera, still in its same position on the tripod was ready to take the screenshots. We turned on the television and let it run for 15 minutes as the circuits needed to stabilize with a nice bright, well focused display. (We previously calibrated the set and the set received a full alignment.) We set the aperture to 7.1 which closely matched the brightness on the display. We shot about 35 screenshot images.

The next step was to cut and paste the selected screenshots. This was done the hard way as we do not have Photoshop and all editing was done on my iPad Pro 2, 10.5 which is speced out for 98% DCI-3 color space. What we needed was to “cut out” only the properly exposed screenshots shot in darkness from the black surrounds. Since both the daylight and dark shots were taken from the same vantage point on the tripod, the screenshot images once cut, would paste nicely over the screen on the daylight shot of the cabinet.

The results can be seen below. Not a professional job, but okay. Now we can see the properly exposed cabinet and screenshots together with no compromise. I recall this procedure was a topic in a thread at Videokarma, where it was thought an image on a prototype Pye Chromatron was fake.

So this experiment was to show what can be done without faking the photography. The only adjustments made were to cut, paste and to crop the images to center the 21CT55 within the images. There are two non cropped images below. Full resolution shots can be seen at this link: https://visions4netjournal.com/vinta...tv-page-two-2/

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Very nice. This was the technique used for TV set ads that stated "actual TV picture."

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 22, 2019

Screenshots of the 2019 Emmy award show telecast live on September 22, 2019. They were taken without the aid of a tripod or freeze frame, direct from my rooftop antenna and digital converter box. The set was on during the red carpet show and the entire three hour telecast. Tap on any image to open the carousel. You can also see the full resolution images by tapping on the full resolution image tab. The set is holding up well, two years, nine months after restoration. Notice the NTSC colors displayed by the 21AXP22. The only other tricolor CRT to have “correct” NTSC color phosphors was the RCA 15GP22 according to the collector community.

Go here to see full resolution. https://visions4netjournal.com/vinta...carousel-10287

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Awesome pictures! Fantastic job!

Still looks amazing!