The beauty of primitive TV

[mego73]

I just got a rare treat from a trade.

I trade a lot of vintage original broadcast shows with people and I love it.

But imagine what it would be like if you can get copies of your seminal shows as you saw them on the channel you watched them.

That's what I basically got with this trade, around 30 syndicated Star Treks from Channel 10 circa 1977-79 (although in 79 we briefly moved to Alabama).

But this is exactly the way I saw Star Trek when I was a kid. Same broken down film prints, same commercials. Things that annoyed me back in the day (like the sound going out during the show and a "Do Not Adjust your set" sign showing or the film actually breaking during broadcast followed by a hastily started commercial) became quaint delights watching them again.

And the way the shows look?

Well, Back then, Star Trek looked super realistic to me. The planets didn't look like sets with sky backdrops, the ship was darkly lit (or so it seemed) had a gritty reality to it and the Enterprise in space looked like a ship in space.

Part of it was because of seeing the show through kids eyes but a lot of it also was the picture on these showings were darker than what we are used to with Star Trek today (when the background is darkened down, it looks more expansive whether it be the bridge set or a planet set) and the picture quality was just plain... well... fuzzy. I couldn't see the seam on Nimoy's ears no matter how hard I looked. Matte lines on the Enterprise? What matte lines?

The show looked more realistic shown this way

Don't get me wrong, I am not giving up my razor sharp, properly light balanced, store bought DVD's anytime soon but it is fun to see them like this.

[Bionic Joe]

The only TV show i can think of off hand that i'd love to have tapes of like you just got would be DR SHOCK which air back in the early 70s on UHF channel 17 out of south Phillie and maybe some Philles games from the 70s with Richie Ausburn announcing the game but alas this was before the advent of the VCR

[HardyGirl]

I hear ya, Mike. I'm the person who likes pops and cracks while listening to a record. It's almost like having a time machine! Enjoy!

[Hector]

You guys can keep your analog televisions, your VHS recorders and tapes, and your vinyl records.

You guys are too nostalgic, not me...I like technological improvements...the newer the product, the better for me.

Thank you, thank you very much!

[mego73]

You guys can keep your analog televisions, your VHS recorders and tapes, and your vinyl records.

You guys are too nostalgic, not me...I like technological improvements...the newer the product, the better for me.

Thank you, thank you very much!

Don't forget, I'm watching those old recordings on DVD

And yeah, I love the new stuff, hope to dive into blue-ray soon.

[Hector]

[cjefferys]

You guys can keep your analog televisions, your VHS recorders and tapes, and your vinyl records.

You guys are too nostalgic, not me...I like technological improvements...the newer the product, the better for me.

Thank you, thank you very much!

I hear ya. I'm now watching Season 1 of Star Trek on HD DVD (great sale price on it at Amazon.ca) and it looks positively amazing in high definition. Nostalgia is nice (I am on a forum that deals with old toys, after all) but when it comes to movies and TV, I want the best presentation that's technologically possible.

[megoat]

You guys can keep your analog televisions, your VHS recorders and tapes, and your vinyl records.

You guys are too nostalgic, not me...I like technological improvements...the newer the product, the better for me.

Thank you, thank you very much!

Tell me what sounds better than a vinyl record--a CD or MP3? yeah, right....and "antiquated" audio tube gear sounds so much better than solid state it ain't even funny....

Not all "progress" is an "improvement".....

(although I'm with you with DVD's and Hi Def TV!)

[mego73]

I'm a person that likes to have the best first but then get nostalgic versions for certain things.

Like Star Trek and Forbidden Planet. I want to have the latest and greatest transfers but also desire the retro presentations on the side. Which is why I have an early laserdisc of Forbidden Planet made from an old TV print of the movie (which is what home video did in the beginning).

By itself, it would be a terrible way to have the movie, but in addition to the best and latest version it's a nostalgic extra.

There's only a few movies and TV shows where I like to get these old versions of. Star Trek, Apes, Forbidden Planet.

But I don't want them to replace the latest versions.

[cjefferys]

Tell me what sounds better than a vinyl record--a CD or MP3? yeah, right....and "antiquated" audio tube gear sounds so much better than solid state it ain't even funny....

Not all "progress" is an "improvement".....

(although I'm with you with DVD's and Hi Def TV!)

Good point. Although video has improved in leaps and bounds, audio seems to have been moving backwards. It's sad that neither SACD or DVD Audio managed to get more than a foot barely in the door, but on the other hand people have fully embraced vastly inferior sounding MP3s.

[misterdroid]

You guys can keep your analog televisions, your VHS recorders and tapes, and your vinyl records.

You guys are too nostalgic, not me...I like technological improvements...the newer the product, the better for me.

Thank you, thank you very much!

Nothing, NOTHING, sounds better than a vinyl record. I have some artists on MP3 from iTunes, CD and Vinyl... guess which one has the best reproduction? If you guessed vinyl, congratulations, you win. I love being able to hear the sound bouncing off studio walls. Digital flattens it, evens everything out and kills the live spirit. You can't hear fingers on strings or the compression of amplification in a small room...that sucks. Now VHS on the other hand... different story. You can watch VHS and see the tape degrade while watching it. DVD is SO much better. I'm not an HD guy (yet) but that is technology I am willing to accept.

[Hector]

Yes, I know...but there is a downside, any specks of dust or damage to the vinyl record can be heard as noise or static.

And there lies the problem for me.

I'll stick with CD's, thank you very much.

[Joe90]

I hear ya. I'm now watching Season 1 of Star Trek on HD DVD (great sale price on it at Amazon.ca) and it looks positively amazing in high definition.

I've been watching the remastered DVD's of Star Trek TOS season 1 and even those look amazing. We all had to put up with old faded colours of the prints for too many years, it's nice to see it the way it was intended.

I find the whole vinyl thing an interesting debate. Up until the late 1970's all music was recorded on tapes. Then it was transferred to vinyl. (Ry Cooder's 1979 Bop 'til You Drop was the first digitally recorded album that I heard.) I think that CD's capture all the flaws of those early analog recordings and that's why they can sound so shrill, whereas vinyl tends to lose that harshness and mellows out the sound. Sort of like light shining on a beautiful woman: CD's are like a halogen illuminating everything with a flat bright light, while vinyl is like soft backlighting with shadows that provide space and hide flaws.

Radio tubes seem to work on the same principle...