Quote:
Originally Posted by colortrakker
Here's what happened: RCA had no good comeback for the Philips Plumbicon tube. The TK-42/43 had an odd mix of 3 vidicons for color and one IO for luminance that required lots of light and heavy tweaking at the control unit to even make passable images. This show was likely done on TK-42s. There's some tape degradation but you may still be able to get a feel for the general "look" of the camera, especially against the show's film inserts. Other 4-tubes like the GE PE-250/350 wisely used 4 plumbs.
One other thing was the quirky "handles" on each side for zoom and focus. As temperatures inside the camera rose, the mechanisms seized and chattered, so many stations retrofitted regular controls.
That combination of problems led NBC to keep its TK-41s in the studios and buy Norelcos for the field (and guinea-pigging) until RCA came up with the vastly superior TK-44A...which ended up using Plumbicons just like the Norelcos did. |
Very true. Seeing that Pilot, shows while the TK-42/43 failed in the marketplace. Tape degradation alone doesn't tell the story. Reliability issues, and all that light needed, and all the issues doomed RCA until the TK44a (with Plumbicons) and RCA's superior overall camera package, loved by cameramen, and engineers alike. Norelco was a much better field camera and RCA alternative, the Plumbicons were so far superior of a camera tube. Those were some of the best TV cameras made in their era.