TEO-l nEWf by Rodger J. Ross A NEW METHOD FOR RECORDING TELEVISION PROGRAMS ON BLACK AND WHITE FILM

One of the most important advan­ The EVR process was described by The Image Transform system, in tages of videotape, we are told, is that Dr. Goldmark in a paper in the August which the R, G and B signals are record· it can be erased and reused many times. 1970 issue of SMPTE Journal. The re­ ed on three black-and-white fIlms It turns out in practice that there is corded programs were stored on a spe­ is also mentioned in the paper. This a considerable reluctance to erase cial photographic base 8.75 mm. wide , method gives permanence, but the original recordings of television pro­ in cartridges 7 ins. in diameter and separation masters are bulky and the grams, and in many broadcasting sta­ half an inch thick, with a running time process is too expensive for general use. tions, huge videotape collections have of 25 mins. in an optical/electronic The EVR process, suitably modi· accumulated. The big reels of 2-in . player giving an RF signal outpl,lt. The fied and improved, has been found by videotape take up a great deal of storage in ten tion was to mass-produce the Nippon EVR Ltd. to give excellent space, and the value of the tape itself cartridges from film masters made in results. A chart accompanying the in storage can easily add up to hundreds an electron beam recorder at a central paper compares the performance of of thousands of dollars. processing station. Each frame in the seven different video recording methods, At Nippon EVR Ltd. in Hiroshima, fIlm consisted of two separate images, in nine different parameters. The modi· Japan, the possibilities for storing color side by side across the width, one half fied system that has been developed television programs on black-and-white being a black-and-white picture re­ by Nippon EVR Ltd. has been rated film, using the elctronic video recording presenting the luminance portion of the "good" in seven respects, and fair in (EVR) process have been investigated. video signal , while the other half of the only one. A high fidelity playback A paper in the January 1978 issue of frame contained the color information system to recover the color video sig· SMPTE Journal gives a detailed account in non-recognizable coded form. nals at high fidelity still has to be of the work that has been done there. developed. The EVR process, developed by Dr. In the more recent paper from Nippon EVR Ltd. the authors assess The material for making the master Peter Goldmark at CBS Laboratories, negative has a silver halide emulsion and Stanford, Conn., was announced in the various methods that have been used to record television programs. an electro-conductive carbon backing. 1970, with much fanfare, as the answer The print fIlm, also with a silver ernul· to the economical mass production of Two-inch videotape has the advan­ sion, has magnetic stripes on both edges, prerecorded programs for playback into tage that the color signals are recorded with a row of narrow perforations in television receivers. It was said at the with high fidelity and color films can the centre of the fIlm between each time to be truly a visual counterpart be transferred easily to the tape through pair of images, called cync windows. of the long-playing phonograph re­ a telecine machine . But videotape is The picture (luminance) half of each cord. Plagued by technical problems, bulky in storage and access is not easy. frame is 3.125 by 2.335mm. in size, EVR was abandoned two or three years considerably smaller than the picture later, but now the process is being re­ Color motion picture fIlm has the frames in Super 8 fIlm. vived in Japan for a different purpose advantage that many original programs - the permanent preservation of color are in this internationally compatible This experimental work showed television programs, as an alternative form, but the transfer of color tele­ that the process gives adequate reso· to the storage of videotape recordings. vision signals from videotape to fIlm lution and frequency response for at high fidelity is difficult and costly. recording and regenerating color tele· At one time kinescope recording vision signals without sacrificing signal· Long time Supervisor of Technical was used extensively in television pro­ to-noise if the EVR player could repro· Film Operations at the programming duction centres, but adequate resolu­ duce the recorded signals on the film. centre of the CBC, Mr. Ross is the author of two books, Television Film tion, tonal scale and signal-to-noise Work is proceeding at NHK Research Engineering and Color Film tor Color ratio were difficult to maintain, due Laboratories in Tokyo on the design Television, has won the Agfa-Gevaert both to the color fIlm itself and the of a laser flying spot scanner for 8.75 Gold Medal, awarded by the Society transfer process. Besides, there is the mm. black-and-white fIlm, utilizing a of Motion Picture and Television En­ inherent problem with color fIlm that He-Ne laser and rotating mirror. That gineers, and is presently Chairman of it tends to fade and deteriorate in work is also directed towards preserv· the SMPTE Board of Editors. storage. ing color television signals on fIlm, but

36/Cinema Canada TEO-l nEWr TheToronto the system being used is different than storage medium for television programs. EVR. Other investigators in Japan have Over the years since television broad­ Super Eight been testing an EVR player with linear casting started, some people in the array senors in an optical system, as industry have been insisting that it Film Festival reported during a national conference An international celebration should be possible to develop a fUm byand for all 58 filmmakers of the Institute of Television Engi­ recording process that would give neers in Japan. pictures and sound in playback equal April 6, 8,1979. In the EVR system the film is driven to 2-in. quadruplex videotape recordings. continuously by a capstan, giving much A successful black-and-white mm re­ better wear resistance than conventional cording process on 8.7Smm. mm intermittent fUm driving methods. Im­ would, at one stroke, release millions workshops provements in EVR players include of feet of valuable videotape for re-use; electronic anti-jitter and anti-weave cir­ provide a universally interchangeable cuits. Coded images printed on the recording medium, and make available fUm enable servo-control mechanisms a low cost, compact and permanent in the player to reduce vertical jitter means for storing television programs. to a virtually imperceptible level. (John Lowry was awarded the Agfa­ screenings Weave caused by errors in fUm slitting Gevaert gold medal at the recent SMPTE and the player transport mechanism technical conference in Los Angeles can be eliminated in a similar manner for significant improvements at the from an anti-weave code printed on the interface between motion picture film fUm . and television imaging systems.) 0 In the early days of television broad­ casting, when all programs were in monochrome, millions of feet of black­ and-white film were used to make kinescope recordings. In spite of the most strenuous efforts to improve the process, kinescope recording gave results APPOINTMENT that were far from satisfactory. But it was not until the invention of video­ Quinn Labs tape that an alternative recording Mirrophonic Sound method became available . The improve­ Film House ment was so great that the playback of even the earliest videotape recordings could scarcely be distinguished from the original television camera pictures. Almost at once, kinescope recording was abandoned. But then there began to be a demand for copies on fUm of videotape record­ ings, and the old kinescope recording process was revived - but now updated to record the pictures on color fUm . Still the old problems that plagued the black-and-white process from the be­ Murray Marshall ginning had not been eliminated. John We are pleased to announce Lowry, who had worked at CBC in the appointment of Murray Toronto in various capacities, set out Marshall as a Director of SCP to develop a greatly improved film re­ Producer's Services Ltd., cording process known as Image Trans­ operating as Film House, Mirro­ Box 7109 form. The main purpose was to pro­ phonic Sound and Quinn Labs. Postal Station A duce motion pictures of large screen He brings to his present positio Toronto M5W·1X8 theatrical quality from videotape re­ 25 years of expertise and a Ontario, Canada cordings. dedication to quality which has The Image Transfer process has been helped build respect (416) 367· 0590 highly successful for the purpose in­ internationally for a growing Entry Deadline tended, but it is quite costly, and not Canadian film industry. readily adaptable for general use as a March 21

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38/Cinema Canada