1970s AT&T BELL LABS PICTUREPHONE PROMO FILM VIDEOPHONE SERVICE TWO WAY TELEVISION PHONE XD12724

[@videolabguy]

At one time, I owned two AT&T Picturephones. Donated one to the Early Television Foundation in Hilliard Ohio and sold the other. I should have kept it. But, without service, I got tired of dusting it.

[@DiscoMatty79]

Did you use one to call the other?

[@MrHmg55]

Bell was showing off the picture phone at the 1964 New York World's Fair. I remember seeing it when I was 9. It took a long time for people to see any value in the concept.

[@DTD110865]

If I recall, they also had them at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair.

[@rsprockets7846]

was on it on class trip from nyc to dc

[@barryhopesgthope686]

I went the NY World Fair back in the '60s. Now, we carry pictaphones in our pockets.

[@TheRealBatabii]

3:02 LOL the amount of time it takes him to find each number

[@am74343]

It's the ZOOM of the 1970's!

[@Guitarist888]

FaceTime actually.

[@lockerutube]

02134

[@closetedhippie]

the narrator for this film is longtime NBC staff announcer Bill Wolfe, best known as the voice of the soap opera, "Another World"...

[@rickycollins4633]

Dow Jones at 834.68. We've come a long way.

[@lapieddzac6447]

That video quality looked in the 1970s looked better than 1992 atnt video phone? Why

[@parrotgenie5099]

It likely was faked and yes had the ATT videophone 2500 from 1992 and was only 10 fps.

[@drumtwo4seven]

That was some crazy music, zaney.

[@satanofficial3902]

Perky hepcatness.

[@ljmorris6496]

Bell's mistake IMO was marketing to mostly business when politically back then it was probably easier to subsidize with government grants and market it towards home usage until eventually it would have turned a profit. The '70s/'80s as we knew it would have been different probably if these videophones in mass were available.

[@bmbpdk]

Imagine all the "high-tech" stuff we have today that got invented decades ago, "forgotten" and then reinvented and became a "technological revolution" so it can be sold at a overinflated price.

[@MeowStationOrignal]

Facts I found out that the first patient for a vape came out in 1963.

[@ZoruaZorroark]

makes me wonder what tech invented today that will become economically viable in 20-50 years from now

[@LiLi-or2gm]

Brian M. B. Pedersen You're kidding, right? Today, you can get a smart phone for $200 that does things that would have cost millions in the 70's! Nothing was "forgotten", either. All that work was carefully documented, and refined over the years. A good case in point is the work of Claude Shannon at Bell labs whose theory of information developed in the 49's, lays at the very foundation of modern telecommunications.

[@bmbpdk]

​@@LiLi-or2gm Mass production reduces prices and with the insane overconsumption in the world even billion dollar items becomes household items. Once half the world was made out of wood now injection moulding of plastic parts and aluminium made furnitures, electronics and even cars relatively dirt cheap. But it was also back then when you bought a product that was meant to last a lifetime, not just a few years and where you actually admired the craftmanship, experience and knowledge that went into a product, now it seems no one cares, as long as the product last until the next version comes out, wich it usually does every year or so.

[@seanc.5310]

Li Li thank you

[@paulcheek5711]

everything great happened in the 60's

[@adamkondracki3201]

After watching this whole video. My biggest take away: That was DEFINITELY Mr Jenkins 😂😂 I think he's scared if he snitches to the copers. Jenkins is coming after him 😂😂

[@sebastianalvarez9029]

Thanks for video!

[@andrewstoll4548]

Hold it... you're going to get an injection mold running by the end of the month???

[@matthewhall6288]

And why would they even consider expensive aluminum when plastic would do just as well? Somebody needs to get fired.

[@LiLi-or2gm]

Matthew Hall Good point! If it's so simple that a mold can be made that quickly, why even consider anything else? Audiences weren't as sophisticated as they are now- the producers never imagined that people watching their commercial would be so discriminating! 🤓

[@satanofficial3902]

Groovy.

[@alphonsocarioti512]

I predict this contraption will change the way people have meetings. One day we may even be able to work from home. Just remember to wear your suit and tie.

[@flighted2513]

The 1970s are as far back from the 2020s as the 2070s are forward from the 2020s.

[@rsprockets7846]

i aint gonna be here

[@Deciheximal]

"NO NO DARLING, the trouble with her IS THAT SHE'S A LITTLE TOO SHORT AND FAT." But I think this hat will help.

[@matthewhall6288]

"The trouble with her is she's a little too short and fat". Rwowr! I see that people would make catty comments and body shame in an alternate 1970's facetime call.

[@MrHmg55]

But Nancy's going to be a happy girl tonight!

[@K-Effect]

Just give that short, fat bitch her hat

[@oldpain7625]

So the internet. They created the internet. Nice.

[@adco99]

Does anyone have any info on the music in the beginning on the main title? It's in a lot of films/commercials from that time.

[@Richardpasquinucci]

I think its british production music

[@adco99]

@@Richardpasquinucci I actually found it - it's "The Truth About Wanda" by Manfred Mann :)

[@inisipisTV]

What is this Wizardry?! Ha, as if talking face to face via screen will be a thing. This pure fantasy.

[@Aureus_]

Why werent these popular?

[@erpepotemf9648]

El servicio era muy caro

[@audiodood]

They were prohibitively expensive mainly

[@diana8259]

in 1970 that technology already existed? I didn't know it

[@diana8259]

@Todd Orton kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqfIh6qHnbOhp5o 1920- 2020 evolution of the television. .

[@TheEarthHistorysConfusing]

They had fax machines in 1850. ;)

[@kirstyprosser22]

Imagine crypto in 50 years, if that was video calling and remote desktoping 50s years ago.

[@diana8259]

@@kirstyprosser22 In Nazi Germany in the 30s until 1944 they had video calls but they were very expensive and you had to go to a post office and they have TV. Before the UK'bbc The '36 Olympics were broadcast on 6 screens in Berlin so that people who could not enter to the stadium I could see the event,.. love the story contemp.

[@fromthesidelines]

Originally released in 1969.

[@BlondieHappyGuy]

Oh that technology of being able to talk to others via video will never take off the ground. ROFL 😜😅😂🤣 But seriously. When they talked about Face-to-Face, did anyone else wonder if Apply got their idea for "Face-Time" from those commercials?

[@vashtibey2530]

Wow I wonder what else was invented back then that they recreated at an affordable price

[@sergioguel2702]

No thank you i prefer to stay with smart phones of this era.. back then for them its like a facetime style but on that era. now a days facetime exist but no one use it that much

[@mr.balloffur]

I wonder if Betty's recipe tasted better with strawberries instead of blueberries

[@jeshkam]

The berry's a berry.

[@adamkondracki3201]

I'm more concerned about that one guy not wanting to admit to the cops about identifying Mr. Jenkins 😅

[@JackMcRoberts]

The irony for today haha

[@LiLi-or2gm]

Jack McRoberts I was thinking the exact same thing.

[@95blahblahhaha]

Coulda for some great 1-900 numbers...

[@scratchdog2216]

Porn industry probably watched these developments with keen interest at the time.

[@AmericanPhantomHunters]

Not much more advance than now lol

[@paulcheek5711]

these are prototypes. It will never catch on...

[@paulcheek5711]

@Nuts McGillicuddy i use it all the time, love it. U R living in the early 1900's

[@ghostmanscores1666]

witchcraft.

[@bryana7942]

Fake

[@shonbarcelona9910]

Imagine all the "high-tech" stuff we have today that got invented decades ago, "forgotten" and then reinvented and became a "technological revolution" so it can be sold at a overinflated price.

[@itsmr.thomas]

I imagine the vast majority of technology is like that. Sometimes some inventions aren't financially feasible at the time so they get scrapped until the future.

[@harpfully]

You have it totally backwards. This stuff was far more expensive back then (which is why it didn't take off).

[@TheRealBatabii]

You literally copied this comment word for word from Brian M. B. Pedersen