[old_tv_nut]

Regarding the SMPTE tests: they were set up by NBC/RCA at their test lab in Rockefeller Center. Ask any of the old hands, and they will lament the closing of that lab (long before the GE takeover and RCA's demise) in favor of taking whatever info the camera makers provided. NBC was a stickler on performance of any cameras they purchased, well after RCA got out of the camera business, and could throw their weight around enough to make manufacturers modify their designs if necessary.