Narrow-Bandwidth Television Association

by **Andrew Davie** » Mon May 14, 2007 1:27 pm

I was wondering if anyone has actually played "The Man with a Flower in his Mouth" (1967 recreation) or any of the D.F.McLean restored images on actual televisors? I would imagine both of these at least exist in a digital format that would be easily converted to club standard via Gary's software.

So, has anyone done this yet? I assume that the short segments D.F.McLean has restored are copyrighted and zealously guarded, but are there any public-domain segments available? I realise the quality will be rather low -- but it would be nice to see on my televisor something like ACTUAL broadcasts!

by **Klaas Robers** » Tue May 15, 2007 2:07 am

Andrew, have you seen these phragments of Don McLean on the NBTVA website?
http://www.nbtv.wyenet.co.uk/live.htm

You can find them too if you click the Don McLean link on the link page. We have had quite some troubles in having this on the NBTVA-web. However it became the only link to his pages. Don is extremely reluctant to release some of his work.

by **Phil Hunter** » Tue May 15, 2007 7:16 am

I have viewed The Man With The Flower In His Mouth on televisor via Video to NBTV, It gives insight into the original 1930's version.

by **Andrew Davie** » Sat May 19, 2007 12:18 am

Klaas Robers wrote:Andrew, have you seen these phragments of Don McLean on the NBTVA website?
http://www.nbtv.wyenet.co.uk/live.htm

You can find them too if you click the Don McLean link on the link page. We have had quite some troubles in having this on the NBTVA-web. However it became the only link to his pages. Don is extremely reluctant to release some of his work.

Thank you. I have not yet converted the ones on the above page, but I did convert the three on Don's site. Watching these clips on an actual televisor is something magic, but even better -- the quality for some reason is significanlty improved (to my eye, anyway) than the animating GIF files.

The process, for those who want to know...

save the animating GIF to disk.
Using JASC Animation Shop, I loaded the GIF as a new animation. Then copy all frames (Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C) then right-click paste before frame 1. Repeat a few times to get 1000 frames or more.
Resize the animation to 32 wide x 48 high (smart size)
save the animation as an AVI file.

Now use Video2NBTV and load the AVI file you just created.
Convert it.

View on your monitor.

As I said, it's an awesome experience. I've asked Don for permission to post the converted NBTV-format WAV files here. Will do so if permission is forthcoming.

by **Andrew Davie** » Sat May 19, 2007 1:42 am

I have just noticed that Don McLean is offering... "For the first time, the Complete Collection of restored 30-line TV recordings (spanning 1927-1935) can be seen in their entirety. Along with a short film on the work of restoration, and extracts from a 1967 remake of the first British TV play (as a joint BBC-Baird production) there are over 52 minutes of MPEG-1 video clips to explore." -- surely this is a must have!

http://www.tvdawn.com/DOTR.htm

/Video/ TOTAL VIDEO CONTENT (52m) (All MPEG-1 AVIs 25fps high bit-rate clips.)

Baird’s Phonovision recordings (audio is the original vision signal) (total=17m16s)
SWT515-4 20th Sep 1927 Stookie Bill
RWT620-4 10th Jan 1928 Wally Fowlkes
RWT620-6 10th Jan 1928 Wally Fowlkes
RWT620-11 10th Jan 1928 Wally Fowlkes
RWT115-3 28th Mar 1928 Mabel Pounsford

Phonostudio (animation) (1m10s)

"Looking In" 21 Apr 1933 BBC (silent). The world’s first TV revue (3m39s)

The Marcus Games Collection (silent)
W01 unknown content (1m12s)
W02 unknown content (1m01s)
W0308 Betty Bolton singing (1m22s)
W04 woman singing (44s)
W05 man singing (1m11s)
W060710 woman singing (2m59s)

MRAD (silent) 1934-35 (4m10s)
Both sides of the Major Radiovision disc partly-processed together with fully processed stills of the same material

TMWTFIHM (9m45s)
1967 ILEA re-make of Pirandello’s The Man with the Flower in his Mouth (extracts)

SplitScreen (9m47s)
extract from Video on Vinyl: Then and Now on the 54th episode of Split Screen aired on New York cable TV in 2000. © IFC, 2000

I would be very interested to hear from anyone with the above CD who would like to comment on the quality of the recordings compared to the tiny animated GIF images. Has anyone converted these to NBTVA format and viewed on an actual televisor?

by **Andrew Davie** » Wed May 30, 2007 9:58 pm

I have just ordered this CD set, and look forward to reviewing it in due course. I'm much more excited about seeing more original content on my mechanical TV, though

by **Klaas Robers** » Thu May 31, 2007 8:41 pm

I fear this is all in 30 line Baird format. Unless you have a 30 line disc......

by **Andrew Davie** » Thu May 31, 2007 10:16 pm

Klaas Robers wrote:I fear this is all in 30 line Baird format. Unless you have a 30 line disc......

"/Video/ TOTAL VIDEO CONTENT (52m) (All MPEG-1 AVIs 25fps high bit-rate clips.)"

As above, available in AVI format. I will use Video2NBTV to convert these to 32 line club format for watching on my televisor. I may pre-process to stretch/shrink as required, but I don't see any problem viewing all 52 minutes of original content... on "the real thing".

by **Lowtone** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:30 pm

The man with a flower in his mouth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAwDIvQXy3Q
with intro !

Weird thing is that i was trying to remaster the youtube clip last year, but not the same way. But i gave up. None of these remasters are good because they are sources in a weird way. maybe :
30line > reel to reel > tv station > VHS recording
30line > reel to reel > tv station > VHS recording > youtube

The best thing would be to access to the original reel if it still exists.

But enjoy this video, it has a little intro :wink:

by **kareno** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:23 pm

Yes, I have done this and watched it on my monitors but because the original is 30 lines in 7:3 format the conversion is less than splendid. I would post the WAV but it's 100Mbyte and our upload speed is dismal.

I really should hoard uploadable material on a phone or pad and send it when we're in that pub in town that has a 19Mbit link and free Wifi

by **Lowtone** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:06 pm

ah !
Is it the original reel > wav
or 30line > reel to reel > tv station > VHS recording > youtube > WAV
?

by **kareno** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:42 pm

The latter, sadly.

by **Lowtone** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:47 pm

awww ok
I wonder how we could find the bestest version of it

by **M3DVQ** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 3:39 am

If we have any members of a theatrical bent the whole thing could be recorded again on a 32 line camera

by **Lowtone** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 4:28 am

This is a good idea !

Narrow-Bandwidth Television Association

Playing original content on our televisors?

Playing original content on our televisors?

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