TK-31's peculiar spot!

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Dave A

Wayne, why does high-def Saticon sound like an oxymoron? Now back to our regular thread.

Actually, special models with extra-fine spot size. As a result, the expected life was considerably shorter than the standard-def ones. We ran our first set for much longer than the expected life and replaced them eventually just out of caution, but kept the original set as emergency spares. The replacement set cost $85,000. (The camera originally cost $800k, which represented Zenith fully funding the engineering charges. AT&T bought a second one.) They were straining to get sufficient bandwidth without excessive noise. BTS limited the bandwidth in their cameras to about 22 MHz, where something more like 33 MHz was needed for full resolution. We had to wide-band ours for the proposed 1280x720 progressive format, and then we had a huge shielding problem because the BTS cameras used a 27 MHz internal clock for the control system. Sony supplied the Saticons to BTS, but Sony had proprietary low-noise FETs for their cameras and insisted BTS remove them and use BTS preamps. The preamps were soldered directly to the front of the Saticon, so BTS had a critical desoldering and soldering job to avoid damage.

And now back to the original thread again! I still wonder if the multiplier focus voltage isn't off towards one end.