8mm Forum: Bad 16mm TV viewing experiences

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Posted by David Coppola (Member # 4209) on September 21, 2015, 01:24 PM:

For those of us at a certain age, we all used to view 16mm movies and shows on local TV stations.
In the 70s, even as a kid, I always was critical of projection and quality of the prints.
For instance, I recall watching a TV print of the movie Mash on a Saturday night. The station must have felt it profitable to pre-emp the classic CBS line up to show it.
The print was atrocious and the projection even worse. Lines, splices, muddy audio, and to make matters even worse they ran the reels to the very end showing end leaders and the green ends.
I also recall watching the Banana Splits on 16mm, faded so badly that you could barely make out what was going on, along with the lines and splices.
Some telecines were good, especially on certain channels.
I also recall when a scope film was shown, the beginning credits were shown in adapted scope with a "curly cue" above and below.
Weird how I started thinking about these things.

Posted by John Hourigan (Member # 111) on September 21, 2015, 03:05 PM:

You're right, David -- even when I was a kid in the 1970s, I thought the beat-up, poor-quality prints were atrocious on feature films and syndicated programs that aired locally.

Just goes to show you how spoiled we are today with restorations, etc.

Posted by Paul Mason (Member # 4015) on September 22, 2015, 04:53 AM:

Interesting that 16mm was so widely used by local stations in the US. In the UK in the 70s and 80s 35mm was usual for showing feature films and some programmes such as The Saint, The Avengers etc. 16mm was used by the BBC for their own filmed series in colour. Before Super 16 came along there was often a disturbing drop in picture quality between studio video tape and film segments on the telecine.

Posted by David Coppola (Member # 4209) on September 22, 2015, 06:26 AM:

I have gotten rid of all of my 16mm equipment and films. But I kept the TV original 16mm movie pilot of Starsky and Hutch from 1975. Funny even though it had run the TV circut it was still in excellent shape, no lines, splices, etc.
Even more amazing it still has beautiful color. Eastman 2B? I believe.

BOT, I also recall very beat up Space 1999, Star Trek, Happy Days, Odd Couple 16mm prints shown in the late 70s.
In contrast, I recall going to Rochester Institute of Tech for film showings and the 16mm presentations were beautiful. I recall in the early 80s going to see "Times Square" (1980) and was amazed what 16mm could produce. I honestly thought it was 35mm, till I made my requisite stop in the projection booth.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 22, 2015, 10:25 AM:

Our local independent station had a title card with "Technical Difficulties" that popped up quite commonly, especially during The Andy Griffith Show.

the Narrator said "Please stand by: we are experiencing technical difficulties.", and he'd repeat this roughly twice a minute.

I actually started to enjoy it, the music was kind of catchy! (There was a second song you very rarely heard: when it started you knew they were in deep!)

Lately I'm starting to guess there was some frantic splicing going on the whole time I was seeing this!

Posted by Douglas Warren (Member # 1047) on September 22, 2015, 04:28 PM:

Being kids at the time,my brother and I always got a kick when they would have technical issues with prints.Usually it meant that some funny glitch would happen prior to that title card going up!

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 22, 2015, 05:35 PM:

I remember some gargling sountracks and fluttered images before it went black a couple of seconds and then "We are experiencing technical difficulties..." came up.

-pretty much the same sights and sounds that bring a rush of adrenaline to any film collector!

Posted by Clinton Hunt (Member # 2072) on September 22, 2015, 06:09 PM:

Wow! while reading this thread I suddenly remembered watching TV in the 1970s in New Zealand and especially Star Trek TOS and one episode didn't have the opening credits, it started with an obvious overlay of the words Star Trek with stars added!
AHHHH memories eh guys [Smile]

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