Early television history dvd on Ebay

[oldtvman]

I was just scanning the new items on Ebay and ran accross a dvd with 120 minutes of what's new in television during the fifties. it's only 9 bucks so i ordered one

Link or item number puhleeze! Does the seller have more than one? If not, could you burn some copies?

Anthony

[Aage]

Originally Posted by heathkit tv

Link or item number puhleeze! Does the seller have more than one? If not, could you burn some copies?
Anthony

Careful, or you might be accused of imitating the person in your avatar. Copyrights, y'know...

[Eric H]

Most or all of those films are from the Prelinger Archives and can be downloaded for free.
Prelinger encourages the free copying and distribution of them, not sure how he feels about the eBay sellers.

http://www.archive.org/movies/prelinger.php

[polaraman]

I am going to HURL! Cheerios with milk washed down with a V8? Then they trick the kids into getting one of each to reap the proof of purchase. Send them in and get that cool rocket toy. My folks were the type that even though we did not like it we had to down it. I like cheerios and v8 but the combination sounds yuck-o.


polaraman

[Steve D.]

A while back I bought this e-bay offering: "Gimme That Old Time Television!" This from EarthStation1.com. The DVD had various industrial films promoting television. Contents ranged from pre-war newsreel clips to postwar promotional films. The included 1956 flim from RCA about TV history left off the segment on color tv. I have this segment from another source. The quality ranged from fair to good. And as posted above some items are also on the Preminger Archive. Probably worth the $10.00, which included shipping.


-Steve D.

If someone is selling something that is either in public domain or even if it was copyrighted but he violated the copyright laws by making a dupe himself then I don't see the big deal in someone burning yet another copy (you aren't the original offender in this instance).

Anthony

[Dave S]

I bought some of these tapes and DVDs before I got my cable modem. Much of it is very cool indeed. Definitely worth the 10 bucks at the time. But since then I've downloaded dozens of hours of great footage from the Prelinger Archives. They specifically encourage you to use it in any way you wish. It's not-too-carefully telecine'd to MPEG-2 so it's not pristine, but it's pretty good. And you can tell that some of the original films were pretty ratty to begin with. I've used bunches of it as stock footage for commercial projects my company has produced. But if people are willing to pay for stuff they can get for free, well, I guess that's the American way!

(But if it's not public domain and free of copyright restrictions (and these aren't necessarily the same thing!) just because you aren't the "original offender" doesn't get you off the hook!)

--Dave

You're right of course, I didn't properly convey what I meant.....in my distorted opinion, if you're not going to resell a pirated copy then I don't see the problem. It's the same as taping a song off the radio. BUT if you copy copyrighted material FOR RESALE/PROFIT then you deserve a molten lead enema.

Anthony

[charliesheen]

ouch

[Aussie Bloke]

I've bidded on that DVD that was on Ebay and just received it yesterday and had a preview of it and it's bloody awsome! In regards of early colour footage I was a bit disappointed there was buggerall colour TV show footage on there of the 50s and early 60s but other than that it's fantastic DVD. One of the highlights is a pristine quality B&W video recorded footage of Lucille Ball rocking up to the studios in her Cadillac talking to the camera and then hopping into a cart and driving off, I can imagine that footage dates very early 60s possibly late 50s.

The footage on this DVD isn't mostly Prelinger Archive stuff like someone mentioned, I'm guessing maybe some of it is but most of it is B&W kinescope footage of various TV shows like Howdy Doody, Milton Berle etc...

Anyhow looking forward to watching the DVD in full when I get time.

Cheers
Troy

[Pete Deksnis]

Been meaning to email Steve D. about this but let's do it on AK...


Hey Steve,

Someone gave me a DVD with two Laugh-In shows: October 7, 1968 and February 23, 1970. There is a clear difference between the two. Is it possible that the '68 show was taken with TK-41's while the later taping was with something newer? To me, the '68 show had the TK-41 'look.'

Pete

[Aussie Bloke]

I quickly jump in and answer for you with my assumptions. From some of the footage I've seen the late 60s and early 70s was the period when studios upgraded their broadcast equipment which the TK-41s were upgraded to the TK-44 which was put into production in 1968 I read. The TK-44s were the worthy successor for the TK-41, the TK-42 and TK-43 produced inferior pictures to the TK-41. So that show would of upgraded their gear during the 1968-70 period.

In the case of the Andy Williams Show which I got 105 minutes worth of rock music clips in a trade, that show used TK-41s from 1962 to about 1969/70 and upgraded to TK-44s from around 1970 onwards. The TK-41s and 44s were clearly seen in the clips. It looks the TK-41s gave a richer colour than the TK-44s on the show.

The TK-41s give blue/purple/red halos around spotlights and shiny objects reflecting spotlights whilst the TK-44s gave pinkish comet tale effects around spotlights.

Cheers
Troy

[Pete Deksnis]

Some captures from the DVD for comparison.