Harry And His Court Jesters: The Music Video

[Alessandro Rocchi]

Thank you very much, Lord Reith!

[rogerwhatdidyoudo]

The picture is a bit ropey isn't it? Lots of interlacing lines which are burnt into the actual film print. ATV sure weren't as good at transferring video to film as the BBC. Still, remarkable that it survives at all.

I must give credit to "gsg" for this Avisynth script. They previously created a script to remove the lines in the Anthology footage, and I have slightly altered it. Some before/after:






Not entirely perfect, but it's pretty good.

[Lemonhead]

Wonderful stuff, thank you Lord Reith!

[Egg_Crisis]

The picture is a bit ropey isn't it? Lots of interlacing lines which are burnt into the actual film print. ATV sure weren't as good at transferring video to film as the BBC. Still, remarkable that it survives at all.

It's a telerecording(kinescope) of a 405 line tv isn't it? It all looks like that. Live broadcasts couldn't be recorded "to video", I think? They're all telerecordings.
I wonder if there are any sharpening algorithms that can do anything with it?

[C90]

Well, the video all looks fine to me. As good as it gets, in (or 'to') my eyes.

I just relish the fact that we can experience the video content of filmed gigs like this at all - it's great to see how this performance was first openly circulated as audio only, c/o the Joe Pope EP, and no doubt enjoyed enormously.

Same with lots of other 70s boot vinyl which lifted the audio of TV broadcasts (Ready Steady Go, Shea stadium, Japan Budokan) and movie soundtracks (Let It Be, MMT, Help) There was simply no way you'd ever see the visual content, so the audio was enough to experience. (Lord R, I love your recollection of recording the Dr No movie onto audio tape from the TV... the whole thing?.. and still being able to 'visually revisit' the film!)

Regarding upgrades of TV broadcasts though, I remember a few years ago downloading the best ever version of the Cavern 1962 footage - it was astonishing, whatever software had been used to improve it had an amazing effect. It looked like it had been filmed yesterday - I seem to remember seeing the glint of the stray guitar strings protruding from the headstock of John's Rickenbacker. i've lost that download, somehow, but my mind boggles at what improved version could be available now.

[Spaniard in da Works]

Speaking of TV, video and film - I wonder what was about video recording equipment that was unsuitable for outdoors work, you can see in all those old BBC or Thames TV series that whenever there's some on location shooting the image gets grainier and the colors get warmer because it's done on film. There's even a Monty Python sketch parodying that.
I also wonder if that had become an expected aesthetic because I remember it being very characteristic of British TV, even in series from later years when I'm pretty sure the Betacam already existed.

[BTL1210]

AWESOME share M'Lord - Thank you SO MUCH for everything that you do for this AMAZING Community !!!! ......

[Gredel21]

Thank you, Lord Reith and all

Interesting performance of Beatles in Royal Variety Performance.
Wondering if John toned down his introduction to Twist and Shout. from what he was going to originally say.

[Spaniard in da Works]

Wondering if John toned down his introduction to Twist and Shout. from what he was going to originally say.

I really would not like to be in Brian Epstein's shoes at that moment.

[harrylime]

The picture is a bit ropey isn't it? Lots of interlacing lines which are burnt into the actual film print. ATV sure weren't as good at transferring video to film as the BBC. Still, remarkable that it survives at all.

It's a telerecording(kinescope) of a 405 line tv isn't it? It all looks like that.

They usually didn’t look this ‘ropey’ though, it would suggest they used a less optimal / cheaper setup

Live broadcasts couldn't be recorded "to video", I think?

They could, they just weren’t kept. Videotape was crazy expensive in those days, it was intended for short term recording (like a daytime performance to be broadcasted that same evening and perhaps one rerun) and to then store them would be like arguing to store a brand new car in a museum just because the Queen sat in it. Kinescopes were the intended archival format, and secondly they were more or less the only way to distribute European (PAL) recordings to the US (NTSC) and vice versa. That’s how a lot of stuff was saved on kinescopes, if they would have used the same system ‘across the pond’ we probably wouldn’t have been so lucky.

Speaking of TV, video and film - I wonder what was about video recording equipment that was unsuitable for outdoors work, you can see in all those old BBC or Thames TV series that whenever there's some on location shooting the image gets grainier and the colors get warmer because it's done on film. There's even a Monty Python sketch parodying that.
I also wonder if that had become an expected aesthetic because I remember it being very characteristic of British TV, even in series from later years when I'm pretty sure the Betacam already existed.

This was mainly because of lighting, not so much the electronics involved. Outdoor scenes like football matches or ‘vox pop’ were recorded on tv since the early days, but used dedicated set ups for outdoor and thus natural lighting. The equipment used by the series production companies were dedicated indoor studio set ups, and they rather resorted to film where you could simply switch lenses and stock when required rather than invest in an expensive outdoor setup.

It could even be the production companies leased the cameras or even the entire studio setup from the BBC or one of the commercial competitors during the low season (eg summer) to save even more costs, hence they wouldn’t have access to any other type of equipment to begin with.