Farewell Black & White... How Australia Embraced Colour TV | An AMTV Documentary

[@marktubeie07]

That was superb Adam. I'm from Australia and remember it well. Some of that footage I haven't seen since the launch. I worked in the industry & for the ABC to pull that off was quite complicated for the time. I have many stories I could tell you from watching that footage, especially about why Bruce Gingell is sitting on an angle to camera as he says _"Welcome to television"_ , it's fascinating & quite funny. Again great job, I hope you plan on working on television, your interest amazes me!

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you so much pal! Hope I did your country's TV history justice!

[@marktubeie07]

@@AdamMartyn You certainly did, possiblity the best document of how it all begun that I have seen in some time, especially the use of specific era accurate footage.

[@aaroncarson]

I’d be very intrigued to hear the angle story 😄

[@tdb7992]

My god, seeing a non-Australian speak about Aunty Jack has made my day. It's one of those shows that's impossible to describe, and very bizarre Australian humour. You have made me so happy!

[@gorillaau]

I'm amazed that they could use the phrase "shut up!" on TV back then without the censors stepping in.

[@mrfoxe1]

You mustn't have seen Alvin Purple ​@@gorillaau

[@gorillaau]

@@mrfoxe1 Have you seen Number 96?

[@adamgingibbins2751]

​@@gorillaau or the words bloody

[@timothystockman7533]

Here in the US, the networks and broadcasters did not all switch at once; the transition took years. By the time our family got a color set in 1968, just about everything was broadcast in color.

[@timor64]

It's really rare that someone from England gets us. Well done.

[@keancv]

Here in UK even upto and including into the 2020's many still claim to only have a B&W TV to dodge a colour licence. A TV lasting 40 odd years is truly remarkable

[@xaverlustig3581]

They sold b&w TVs into the 2000s.

[@keancv]

@@xaverlustig3581 I find that trully remarkable. Do we mean new never previously owned, or used from a VAT registered business?

[@xaverlustig3581]

@@keancv No new ones, but the ones you could buy after 2000 were small portable ones.

[@keancv]

@@xaverlustig3581 big or small still ticks the box. With Tube TVs there isn't room for one with a huge screen like with modern TVs.---I'd just love to know a genuine real reason anybody would want one even back then. I doubt that there was a sudden increase in the Timex 1000/ ZX81 popularity.

[@xaverlustig3581]

@@keancv If you wanted a really really cheap portable, or tv at all. Or as a monitor for a b&w CCTV camera.

[@georgekaplan6451]

New Zealand went to colour around the same time and gained a 2nd channel too. The 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch was partly colour since they only had a few colour cameras

[@Stansman63]

Growing up in Australia in the 70's my first exposure to colour tv was from staying in motels that had one,..that's where I saw my first episode of Dr Who in colour..a fond memory. My parents finally upgraded to colour in 1979..the day the new tv arrived was also an exciting and memorable day.

[@xXSoulGeoXx]

14:10 Doing something similar to The Wizard of Oz on cinemas its truly an amazing way of introducing a new way to see TV on Australia

[@stevefaul1710]

That was fantastic! What a way to switch to color... I mean colour. You count on Australia to find a way to have fun with it. I love Oz.

[@foxesofautumn]

I remember my parents talking about Aunty Jack and I saw this colour-change sequence during an anniversary program for the ABC. I’m sorry I missed this show. It looked awesome and I love they found such a fun, and unique, way to introduce colour. I wonder if any other counties went playful with it?

[@stevenoneill7166]

It's fascinating to note that the UK got colour TV some years ahead of Australia, but when it came to stereo sound on TV Australia were quite a few years ahead of the UK

[@dudstep]

The Aunty Jack Show is Australia's Monty Python's Flying Circus. It was similarly made by university students and featured some of the same comedy tricks, like sketches without proper punchlines, and even an episode that ends without the closing credits. Also, like Monty Python, there's quite a lot of racial and sexual humour, including black and yellow face and camp stereotypes, but despite that, I think it's aged pretty well. I don't think Wollongong The Brave is anywhere near as good, but the album is great fun. Good luck finding those DVDs, as they're out of print. Wollongong The Brave especially goes for stupid prices.

[@edwardburek1717]

Taking Australia only 18 months to embrace colour television is an impressive feat. I guess having the advantage of knowing that the early teething troubles of colour telly were ironed out by 1975 was a factor, but given the choice, I'd readily move to colour if threatened by a mustachioed Aussie bloke in panto drag mode to have my bloody arms ripped off. And she would as well.

[@freeculture]

I say by the mid 70ies color tv manufacturing had matured a lot since the 60ies, and indeed was rapidly moving away from vacuum tubes into transistors which in turn lowered price and improved reliability. And i imagine also for TV stations, they had much more options and cheaper too, better smaller more reliable cameras, etc for the same reason.

[@hypercomms2001]

Thank you. Unfortunately I'm old enough now to remember this particular auntie Jack program in glorious black-and-white! I am also old enough to remember the wonder of going to the Royal Melbourne show and going to the channel 7 mini colour studio and watching Batman in colour in 1969, it was all remarkable.....

[@NMY556L]

Enjoying these documentaries. What shocked me was not when Australia got a fulltime colour service but moreover the fact that some countries apparently didn't get colour until 1990. Any chance we could get a video on the adoption of video recording around the world as australia only got home VCR's in1980 from what I've read online. My point is that they've caught up quickly being as they've only had a full-time colour service since 1975.

[@gorillaau]

I guess it's the expense of making the switch, in that you need to throw out just about everything, cameras, mixing desks, editing studios. Oh, and sets having to be repainted, especially for children programs. I'm glad to have been born into the world of colour, I remember the small black and white tv that my parents go when they married. Funny I don't recall any of the programs on it from back then.

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

​@@Ivan-bw6iw That's crazy! The only B&W set I remember having was a small portable TV that I'm sure was meant for camping, but we never did that and frankly I don't remember when we got it and this was in the mid-200s that I remember first having it, it's still in the basement last I checked (I wonder if it's digital?🤔 Because otherwise it won't pick up anything in N. America!). I think back in the 1990s - that's when I use to live on Colombia (the country) - there was a nextdoor neighbor that had one or at least I think that's what I remember, it wasn't their main set as it was in one of the bedrooms.

[@peterking2794]

A fascinating video, and interesting to see how colour telly was introduced elsewhere besides the UK. I was in the TV trade back then and loved the BBC trade test transmissions. The technology to keep part of the image (Aunty Jack) in monochrome whilst the rest became colour must have been a hell of a challenge with the electronics that was available at the time.

[@wotchermuch]

That Mildura ident was a nice touch! My partner is from there and the town looks somewhat the same as in that shot now!

[@robfriedrich2822]

3:55 In East Germany they introduced a second chain on UHF with complete new transmitters ad broadcasted for some years there, instead changing existing transmitters.

[@ceebee23]

I rememerb the C Day and the lead up.... actually had a colour tv for the beginning colour tests in October '74. The impact of colour was just immense ... we forget how much a change it was.... the very first show in colour for me was golf ... all that GREEN!

[@LostsTVandRadio]

Excellent account - thanks Adam. I guess it wasn't surprising that household penetration of colour TV was quite rapid in Oz. For one thing, the price of sets relative to average income was much lower by 1975 compared with the situation in the UK and Europe back in 1967. For another, many Australians had already seen colour TV overseas and knew that they wanted it. Moreover there was a large back-catalogue of BBC & ITV shows taped in colour enabling the ABC and Channels 7 and 9 to fill their schedules with colour content from the outset.

[@simonsaysrewind]

Hope the youtube algorithm thingymajig gets lots of aussies seeing this exceedingly well presented doc. 👍

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you Simon! Fingers crossed 🤞

[@johnd8892]

It did for me in Australia. A very accurate and intersting presentation. Might add that Rank Arena was a widely used colour TV in the early years here.

[@alekz1958]

Well done for excelent and accurate research I was there when it all happened in 1975 brought back some fond memories

[@AdamMartyn]

Glad it sparked the nostalgia!

[@macra_]

What a really great documentary, Super interesting seeing how different countries transitioned into colour plus the unique way Aunty Jack did the transition will definitely be remembered! Will you be showing how other countries i.e. the US, Canada, etc transitioned in the future?

[@AdamMartyn]

Thanks pal! It's fascinating how different nations introduce colour differently! I'd certainly look into it, depends on how much footage is available! I got lucky in that there was an abundance for Australia!

[@lucymorrison]

those ABCTV idents from the end of the b&w era are so funky

[@robertparry4929]

Nice one Adam from down here in Australia. Some added bits for you. In 1974, HSV-7 recorded the VFL Grand Final in colour but converted it to black and white for viewers (there is footage elsewhere on KZbin).

[@robertparry4929]

Also on KZbin is HSVs colour test transmission from the Royal Melbourne Show in 1968, featuring children's television veteran Happy Hammond and future cabaret and recording artist Jamie Redfern.

[@RebeccaPhythian]

Well that a really engaging documentary 👏🏻 I loved the transition from B&W to colour in the Aunty Jack show!

[@AdamMartyn]

Really glad you found it an engaging watch my love 🥰❤ it's a great transition isn't it! And Aunty Jack is a character that's hard to forget 😂

[@RebeccaPhythian]

@@AdamMartyn for sure!!

[@JeremyLeePotocki]

This is the first I've ever heard of the Aunty Jack Show, but I'm glad know it now. It's also interesting hearing the struggles from other nations getting television into homes.

[@whophd]

My dad was a colour TV engineer and hosted dinner parties to let people see the “secret” colour transmissions. The 1974 World Cup, almost a year earlier, was broadcast in colour but only for testing purposes, with the colour sync pulse deliberately removed from the PAL subcarrier. This meant there were thousands of colour TVs in Australian homes even in 1974, but none of them could watch the world’s biggest sporting tournament in colour. Of course my father knew what to do (he was trained in Germany where they were a decade ahead) and rigged up a little box to generate the missing element of the colour signal. He had to get up off the couch occasionally to tweak the potentiometer, but all the friends and neighbours loved it - late night sports broadcasts are an Australian tradition - and being the only house to see it in colour must have been the 1970s equivalent of torrenting shows in HD and not waiting for TV stations to show them days or weeks later. The previous conservative government had held back reforms in many areas for years, but one of them was “when are they going to turn on the colour?!” - anybody who was the 1970s equivalent of a tech early adopter would have found the years of delays super frustrating through the 1960s. When Labor finally came in they updated all the policies, got rid of the TV licence fees and set a C-Day launch date. The West Germany team won that year, too, which must have been good fun. I got the same thrill in 2014.

[@CulturePhilter]

Loving these history of TV documentaries. 😀

[@AdamMartyn]

Cheers Phil!

[@scoldingMime]

So interesting to hear other countries’ television histories, especially for an American such as myself lol. Thanks for this, and keep it up!

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you! Really glad you enjoyed it!

[@aregularperson7573]

That makes two of us

[@Stephie2007]

Here in the states, you can still find old black and white portable analog tv sets on the 'ol Flea bay for at least $25 (if it still works) but good luck picking up any signal. As any tv watching American knows, analog was declared obsolete by the end of 2009.

[@Chartley1983]

Hi Adam. I recently found your channel and I enjoy your commentary on TV history. It's detailed and nuanced.

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you Chris! Really glad you're enjoying the videos! More will be coming 😊

[@Chartley1983]

@@AdamMartyn Thank you. I binged the BBC 2 idents videos recently. I loved how interesting they were...

[@Chartley1983]

@@AdamMartyn I adored the reviews of the BBC 2 idents from the 90s.. they were great bits of Art.. I loved Dog and Car most.

[@markgenner1747]

Welcome To Australia 🇦🇺

[@johnd8892]

I watched the Aunty Jack colour transition show back then. But just on the black and white TV my family had. Imagined the colour. Anything from those Aunty Jack performers was a must see for me and many others. Main reason they were chosen.

[@mervc4140]

I have the picture disc. Didn't think I'd see it on you tube!

[@BobbyDazzler440]

That was truly fascinating! Thank you!

[@AdamMartyn]

Cheers pal!

[@sapphoculloden5215]

This was fascinating; thank you!

[@michaelfortheloss292]

Applause for you! You have made everybody proud!

[@MrDunkiep]

On 29th November 1974, the ABC broadcast its first cricket coverage in colour. 30mins per day of highlights of every day of the 6 match ashes series between England and Australia. This was presumably 2.5 hours per week of the 4 hours that the ABCB had helpfully permitted in preparation for C Day (mentioned at 12:40).

[@alanbrookes275]

The whole 1974-75 Ashes series was broadcast in colour as TV stations were allowed to do outside broadcasts in colour. We had a colour TV and saw the whole series, all six tests. Made me a cricket fan. Lillee and Thomson in full cry

[@ForTheBirbs]

Thank you for a fantastic video! I was around 10 or 11 at the introduction and as you say, the take-up was pushed by the Olympics. My parents initially hired an HMV colour set from our local repair shop to watch the Olympics, and then bought it.

[@markblahwoof789]

i remember driving and noticing the distinctive blue tv aerials on houses and thinking- 'gee they're rich. they have a colour tv.' going to a colour tv owning mates house and seeing my favourite football team wearing bright red jumpers. always thoughtthey were grey

[@titanictotired]

Another great documentary from you Adam, and I can't wait to see what is to come...

[@AdamMartyn]

Thanks pal!

[@scana1979]

Also worth noting was Australia was very slow to adopt FM radio in no small part due to the introduction of television in the 1950s. Originally sets tuned VHF channels 1-10 with 3,4 and 5 overlapping the 87.5 - 108 MHz FM radio band.

[@markallen1782]

I have repaired some of those big box TVs that appeared in the video. Now virtually all of those TVs are landfill or hopefully electronic waste. Ah the good old days when TVs were made of wood ! :-)

[@MarkHenstridge]

Wow looking back it didnt seem that long ago, I was 14 when color invaded Aunty Jack and Aunty ABC.... ABC ch 2 is also known as Aunty

[@Elias_Veine_Wiig]

At 3:04. Oslo? Oslo, Norway? NRK was and is the first Norwegian station for TV and radio, just like BBC in the UK.

[@timchambers5242]

Our first TV in the 70s Australia was 2nd hand 12" B&W. In 1980, my brother wanted to stay in hospital after a minor operation just because a room close by had colour TV & he could watch cartoons in colour. ~1983 we got a larger 2nd hand colour TV from a great grandfather. No arms were ripped off & no child was harmed by Auntie Jack.

[@qwerty21345]

Great doco. Could you do one on the transition to widescreen? US UK and Australia?

[@sutherlandA1]

Tv in Australia was proposed for a 1952 introduction but religious groups protested the negative influence they might have on society but 1956 was aimed for so they could broadcast the Melbourne Olympics

[@markblahwoof789]

ah,good ol religion, it knows a lot about negative influences

[@GianniBarberi]

In Italy 56 too, with winter Olympics in Cortina with a huge outside broadcast coverage

[@TheGadgetPanda]

Not everyone got colour TV in 18 months. I have distinct memories of going with my father to buy our first colour TV. In 1980!

[@joseph7988]

Wow, can't believe it took Australia almost 2 decades longer than the US to do color TV. Crazy.

[@phoneticau]

PAL-D CCIR system B only got ratified in 1968, and ABCB mandated it in 1972 so not that long for a better colour system

[@simonkevnorris]

Yes, way better than NTSC which is dubded Never Twice The Same Colour!

[@MuhammadIlhamuodd254512]

looking at the aunty jack episode where he introduced the color tv reminds me of Wandavision where at the end of Episode 2 the color comes alive just like aunty jack does

[@bobsoldrecords1503]

Many people outside of Oz puzzled over Bon Scott making such a big deal about a "Colour TV screen" in the lyrics of "TNT". Of course, the song was written when it was a new thing down under.

[@j0hnf_uk]

All totally new to me. My earliest recollections of Aussie TV most probably would have been Skippy the bush kangaroo or The Sullivans. I hadn't a clue about Aunty Jack until now. Which is kind of surprising, despite the amount of Australian pop culture references that came out in the 1980's, when Australian TV, (particularly soaps), were at their height. Maybe there were, but I didn't get them. Who knows? Fascinating stuff, all the same. It was certainly more fun than what the BBC or ITV did.

[@rogerdarthwell5393]

Well this is a topic I never expected, excellent doc Adam! Are you planning to do documentaries on TV histories of other countries as well? Because you did an excellent job!

[@AdamMartyn]

Thanks Roger! I'd love to cover some other countries history with TV! Just depends on the available info out there!

[@rogerdarthwell5393]

@@AdamMartyn This is great, BTW about that, there is a really good book that I found, it's called Transnational Television In Europe: Reconfiguring Global Television Network By Jean K. Chalaby, and it's a book about the history of international satellite channels since the 1980s until 2010 (that is the year the book was published) But it's a very compelling read, it's available on Amazon Kindle for just £2, so it's full of ideas for future videos, I can't recommend it enough Adam!

[@paulfromperth5713]

I remember the change to colour living in Perth when I was 12.

[@pablobratcat]

I wonder if Absolutely the Scottish Sketch show drew any inspiration from the Aunty Jack Show?

[@GianniBarberi]

I was born in 61, and in early 70s I started opening newspapers only to follow the color saga, with mostly daily updates

[@Zoltanlouis2009]

Really interesting video 📹 I guess in Australia like here in the UK was aided by the huge TV rental sector at that time. Seems a bizarre notion now to rent a telly (and video) but that's what millions did in those days. Brill video Adam 👍

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you! 😁

[@CM73878]

Australia was also very slow in shifting broadcast tv from 720p to 1080i depriving viewers of better quality pictures.

[@Loganfletcher1]

You should do more on Australian tv

[@MarkAJAgi]

It's nice to see that they used a modifided version of the BBC's colour test card F.

[@johnd8892]

I was amazed to see it. As an Australian teen in the seventies I had never seen the centre photo used in Australia. Seems the higher numbers of UK expats in Western Australia, where the card is from, may have influenced the use. The Australian test patterns, as they were called here, on KZbin do not show the girl and clown you. Watched the Aunty Jack transition show. But just on a black and white TV. Anything from those performers back then was a must see for me.

[@aidanwoodhead3532]

Brilliant documentary i really enjoyed it.👍

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you Aidan! Glad you liked it 😊

[@malekmo64]

That same year 2JJ (Sydney NSW) was launched in January 1975 and the same characters were on Nude Radio 😅 very funny shows. My Dad didn't rush out to buy colour TV until we were at my Uncle and Aunty's house (irony her name wasn't Jack 😅) and Dad saw the cricket and because he could actually see the ball bought a colour set that week possibly later in March, my memory evades me 🤣

[@chucklefun487]

Another great documentary.

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you!

[@davidau8455]

It's interesting that NZ, with only one channel at the time, beat Australia to start colour broadcasting in 1974, the driver being the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games.

[@parasatc8183]

It is beyond the Anglophone or the across the North Sea approach that is usually the case on your channel, but it would be interesting to see you review break bumpers from RAI in Italy. Of all the broadcasters in Europe that existed before commercial television, they were some of the few who used a (large) set of clips between programs and advertising blocks, similar to the diversity that BBC Two would get for their idents starting in 1991:D

[@missbilbybadinage1199]

3:17 Could this be a contributing factor in why dvds have numbered regions for compatibility? We got our colour big telly with wireless remote for xmas 1974 in qld. I have a multi region dvd player.

[@frankshailes3205]

I think South Africa didn't even HAVE television until what, 1976? So in the early 70s, shows like The Avengers were adapted as radio series...

[@fordprefect80]

I still remember mum complaining after we went colour that the blues were too bright for her.

[@giacomovalenti8619]

Italy had a somewhat problematic color adoption that lasted 10-15 years (involving political turmoil and promises to the French that we would have adopted Secam and then changing our minds) in the end color arrived in 1976-1977, quite puzzling considering 625-lines TV arrived in 1954. It would be sooooo nice to see a video about it!

[@VictorLaMonde]

Aunty Jack resurfaced as the MC for the infamous end of the 70's concert at the Sydney Opera house forecourt. I was there for most of it and have distinct memories of things getting ugly. It finished with lead singer Doc Neeson of the Angels getting knocked out by a thrown bottle and Graham Bond (Aunty Jack) calling the crowd idiots.

[@JPKLive]

Good onya mate

[@alanbrookes275]

As a Brit you would not understand the influence of the Country Party under Black Jack (John McEwen) as the tail wagging the Liberal Party dog when you had Billy McMahon talking about colour TV. Colour in Australia was delayed because country dwellers would not be able to get it so it was delayed until all country channels were able to update their equipment.

[@timchambers5242]

The transition is more about the technology maturity & costs at time of it. In starting late, Australia began when the other major countries already had the market conditions for majority being colour which gave Australia almost the same conditions when we started colour transmissions.

[@thomasstevens2746]

Great video as always

[@sominboy2757]

If the United States had to pinpoint a singular date it went strictly color it would have been September 11 1966. It was the start date of the fall lineup that year. There wasnt a strict switchover date TV networks and the corporate forces that be gradually soft forced it over time

[@phoneticau]

PMG/Telecom had the infrastructure setup for colour as early as 1974, infact studio and transmission was already in colour a year before public switch on in march 1975

[@martywild6359]

Flange Desire means something totally different where I'm from.

[@marksc111]

Yes, I almost spat my tea out when I heard the name

[@Wenlocktvdx]

Hilarious way to introduce colour. Incidentally, ATV 0 transmitted the races from Flemington in colour in 1968 and HSV 7 in Melbourne held a colour demonstration at the Royal Melbourne Show that year, it was hosted by children’s TV presenter Happy Hammond

[@MrBillmcminn]

Now I want to know what transmission system did Australia use for black and white? Did they use the Marconi 405 line system the UK used or did they have something different?

[@stuartirwin3779]

We used CCIR B. That is, 625 line, negative video modulation, FM sound. Basically the same as British 625 line but VHF and 5.5 MHz sound I.F. rather than UHF and 6.0 MHz. UHF services did come later though.

[@paulkennedy8701]

405 lines was basically just the British Isles. The rest of the world was on either 625 or 525.

[@stuartirwin3779]

@@paulkennedy8701 Interestingly, New Zealand did have a 405 line service briefly in the late 1950s. I think very few sets for it were sold though, NZ adopting 625 line soon afterwards.

[@ivaneurope]

The reason why no one agreed to a common standard for Color TV also lies in the ideological differences. PAL in particular (developed by Telefunken in West Germany) was used in Western Europe (sans France), while the French SECAM was used by the Eastern Bloc countries (i.e. the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies). There are some oddities though - Yugoslavia, a communist country during the Cold War (though not aligned with the other Eastern Bloc countries) used the PAL standart, while NATO member Greece used SECAM. Greece, as well as most countries from Eastern Europe (as well as other countries from Africa and Asia) began to migrate to a PAL systems. In Europe France, Russia and Belarus were the only countries in Europe to use SECAM before all color standarts were phased out once digital television became a thing

[@OfficialTomMason]

Hi Adam so excited for your documentary. Also I am currently working on 3 documentaries and would love your advice

[@richardsharpe2966]

One you should do Adam South Africa. TV started in 75-76 why did they waited so long

[@darylcheshire1618]

At the time I could imagine a committee of dour government officials consisting of old men reluctantly deciding that Australia can have colour TV. A difficult decision - under sufference and be grateful. Probably my imagination. I remember a school friend who went back to the UK saying in a letter that he has seen colour TV.

[@johnd8892]

In ,1968 Colour TV test demonstrations were a big attraction for the big crowds then at the Royal Melbourne Agricultural Show, like a state Fair. A very popular ten day event at the time. Often just called the Melbourne Show. Some surviving footage remains that looks very high quality to me. Interesting the host Happy Hammond is talking about a ,1972 launch. As you pointed out a different view on costs delayed that : kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJvMcqOojpZ9q7c

[@williamjones7163]

Well, that was terrifying.

[@aem2984]

Australia lives in the land down under

[@markpusko2480]

Would've been good to show footage of the other 3 broadcasters as well.......

[@F2SOnYouTube]

13:57 do not cut the explanation.

[@CrazyTobster]

Although politics did play a role in the chosen color standards around the world, there was another issue with studio lighting, or rather the voltage and current; lights pulsate, and the TV's refresh rate needs to be at a speed where this isn't picked up. NTSC was designed so that people didn't need to buy new sets; they could wait until their old sets died, but this came with many drawbacks. NTSC is arguably a poor standard, and they were stuck with that standard. If you used PAL cameras in an American studio, the picture quality would be awful, unwatchable because the pulsation of the lighting would be picked up on screen. Many professionals love NTSC, which is why it is controversial to say it's a bad standard. Actors tend to look younger, and shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation used the lower resolution to hide many things, like the elastic band that holds Georgi's visor in place. - Man, it stands out so much when you watch the show in HD. I think you will find that the only reason a global standard could not be created was because voltage and current do vary around the world. SECAM, which is what the French use, is much better than PAL. The digital version of it probably still leads. PAL is a German standard, and the French wanted nothing to do with it; World War 2 was still in living memory, which is why they came up with their own standard. The bruised feelings, or rather politics, following the war had a huge impact, and the desire the US government had not to force people into buying new TVs. However, the various electricity standards around the world were a huge problem in creating a global TV standard; it is probably what made it impossible. You have done a great job. it just the issue with different electricity standards across the world is worth mentioning because it was such a major problem.

[@phoneticau]

PAL was a solution to a real problem existing video links and transmission chains had gain & phase inequalities with PAL using alternative 0/180 phases the inequalities were balanced out

[@bostonblackie9503]

Just because they started to broadcast in colour didn't mean people ran out and bought colour TV sets. That was a big expensive family decision. In the States 1969 was the year they started advertising the new season of shows as all being IN COLOR. All shows were filmed and broadcast in colour. By that time the majority of families had at least one colour TV set. Although it was into the early 1970s before all had colour sets. All of this was more or less the same in Canada.

[@johnd8892]

Still expensive in 1975 Australia but real prices and quality had improved by then. Much more affordable than black and white sets when launched in 1956. It was common the for people to watch by looking through shop windows at night or lots of visiting, usually invited, of friends with TV. People did cave in the expense rapidly though.

[@robertbanner5561]

The US went all-color in primetime with the beginning of the 1966-1967 season in September '66. Daytime... took longer.

[@NickSamon]

I wonder if Aunty Jack did well in the UK?

[@AdamMartyn]

I don't think it ever got screened over here!

[@NickSamon]

@@AdamMartyn Aunty Jack was a great aussie show, I could share this show to my friends.

[@kamandi1362]

Never shown, unfortunately. Being in black and white would’ve counted against it as by then most British TV was in colour (bar repeats, old films, and regional news). I think it would’ve definitely been a cult hit with young people, though, being in the Python and Goodies vein of humour.

[@Game_Hero]

@@NickSamon you better do, unless you want to lose your arms...

[@indigohammer5732]

"Flange Desire" !!!!

[@민한솔-y1e]

g'day!

[@pandaeyes42]

STRAYA!

[@ikarikid]

Corrections: “Menzies” can be pronounced /ˈmɪŋɪs/ but “Hulme” usually ignores the “l”

[@paulkennedy8701]

Correction: I can't tell you how Alan Hulme pronounced his name, but Robert Menzies was definitely pronounced as in this video. He did not use the Scottish pronunciation.

[@johnd8892]

@@paulkennedy8701 one ABC News reader did famously transition from Menzies to the Scottish way. Prime Minister Menzies was also disparigingly referred to as Ming the Merciless. From the Flash Gordon serials.

[@paulkennedy8701]

@@johnd8892 An _ABC_ newsreader did that? I thought the corporation had a department whose job was to ascertain and ensure the correct pronunciations of proper names. Yes, his nickname displayed a knowledge of the traditional pronunciation, even though his name didn't use it.

[@johnd8892]

@@paulkennedy8701 newsreader Bruce Menzies for many years then one day we heard him on ABC Radio saying Bruce Mingus from the on. Recall being the newsreader on the then flagship 7pm radio long news bulletin. Less often on TV. Quite a stir for a while.

[@paulkennedy8701]

@@johnd8892 Oh. I see. I thought you were saying he took to deliberately mispronouncing the PM's name in news reports about that gentleman. That would be completely unprofessional. But changing how he pronounces his _own_ name. That's fine. No argument against it if it's a standard realisation of the name. Unusual but not unheard of. Can be done pretentiously or to make a break with the past or due to a new-found awareness or to wind up your family. There's an Australian composer called Philip Bračanin, originally /bɹə'kænən/, later /'bratʃənin/. (He may have added the kvačica to his "c" at the same time.)

[@spacemissing]

Far from making me want colour, the Aunty Jack show would make me avoid or get rid of TV altogether. I've known for a long time that Australian entertainment was unusual, but until I saw this video I had no idea HOW unusual it was.

[@norahjaneeast5450]

Trying to find when CBS News went to color CBS television network here in America went to color in the mid-60s except for their news programming which stayed in black and white until about probably 75 because it was pioneered by there Broadcasting nemesis National Broadcasting Corporation of America or NBC which is the system that we all use now or we did until about a decade ago when we went digital

[@CrazyTobster]

Digital television is simply a digital version of the old standards. It is significantly better, but the old standards still apply. The new standards have their own names, but in very basic terms, they are a digital version of their predecessors

[@freeculture]

@@CrazyTobster Aside from using the same bandwidth (aka channels) not very. For transitioning most ATSC tuners could also do NTSC, i guess maybe they still do but you don't have NTSC broadcasts anymore... Unlike my country where it still going. There is a "test" digital ISDB-T broadcast which is now a decade old, but despite what they said in the past, they never did an analog shutdown and to this day NTSC exists with a few channels of the UHF used for ISDB-T. But i only watch internet and lost interest in TV. By now even the countries that went digital are preparing for the next upgrade, which is 4k and h265 codec, maybe 8k; but i can obtain such content now now online instead of waiting politicians forever. Europe went with DVB and most PAL/SECAM countries went with DVB. China did their own and only Cuba adopted it for political reasons. ISDB-T is Japan and most of south America and some few Asian countries. Plenty of info in wikipedia and tests here in youtube; notably Peru testing the main 3 digital formats from a moving car or inducing interference with common household items next to a receiver to see how they each fare; will quickly explain to you why they went with ISDB-T. Oh and Japan dropping all licensing fees. ISDB-T was designed to acomodate all the world, it can use the other bandwidths (6/7/8mhz) but for the same historical reasons, a world standard didn't happen, we just got a different split. In perfect conditions (stationary, pointing to the broadcast) all look the same, the difference is when you start moving or interfering the signal, clearly Japan did the best one, and its the only one that still allows indoor antennas and of course moving at any speed in cars or trains which the others just can't do, maybe the Chinese for being such a late comer probably copied what they wanted from the others, but never seen tests of it. That test signal, I'm literally using a 1m wire shaped like an 8 to receive it just fine indoors.

[@markboulton954]

Aunty Jack seems like a mixture of Dick Emery/Benny Hill and The Goodies.