What color TV was really like back then...

[Eric H]

I suspect a lot those $1 DVD's are made from worn out 16mm prints that would have been used for syndicated reruns originally

Star Trek, and most other 50's-60's shows, were shot on 35mm originally and the studio DVD sets look terrific in B&W or Color.

I think Color may have actually taken a turn for the worse in the late 60's early 70's when they started taping shows. Those early videos look crappy now, even on DVD.

All In The Family is one example I can think of right off.

[Dave S]

Originally Posted by Eric H

I suspect a lot those $1 DVD's are made from worn out 16mm prints that would have been used for syndicated reruns originally

I had the dubious pleasure of seeing a VHS duplication facility many years ago that ran off a lot of the old shows for the cheapie market. I went there because they were selling off a lot of their "surplus" video equipment. One of the no-longer-needed items was a (then) top-of-the-line Merlinized 1" type C video recorder that they dubbed from. As the market soured, they fell on hard times and although they didn't go out of business, they switched to dubbing from 3/4" cassettes. Loss of resolution, huge increase in chroma noise, plus the added fun of a reel change or two in the middle of your movie! Fortunately a lot of their product was black and white.