IBA Engineering Announcements - 18 December 1984 'A Nostalgic Look at the 405 Line TV System'

[@smadaf]

This is amazing. I knew about the monochrome, 405-line system-but I had no idea that until 1985 the British PAL transmissions also were converted to 405 and broadcast. In the United States, NTSC became the norm in the 1940s, compatible color became part of the system in the early 1950s, and it stayed that way until, in 2009, the last NTSC broadcasts were cut off, supplanted by ATSC: before digital, there was no significant period of simultaneously maintaining two incompatible systems.

[@2001JamesTV]

I like that ITN clip- notice how Huw Thomas has a plummy RP accent when on air, but when he's chatting to his colleagues during one of the reports he has a Welsh twang. Obviously back then they didn't want people speaking like that on TV! Imagine Huw Edwards now trying to put on a posh voice!

[@speakertreatz]

I love this channel, thanks for uploading

[@christopherhulse8385]

It would have been interesting to know just how many people were left on 405 when it closed down, I suspect more than they realised, especially elderly people.

[@whatamalike]

My great grandad said they had an old 405 line set from the very early 60s (think is was inherited from a dead relative) which they put in their bedroom and had a colour/625 line set in the living room. They kept using the 405 line set on the odd occasion right up until the early 80s

[@pipcopur]

Went on a visit to Pontop Pike and Burnhope about a year before closure of 405. Pontop was unmanned but there were still people at Burnhope. To check they still had viewers on channel 8 they used to occasionally turn off the audio and wait for the phone to ring, it always did and apparently it was always an old chap who managed to get the number from Tyne Tees studios in Newcastle. I remember the pictures going out weren’t great either, certainly the CRT on the monitor in the transmitter hall was as flat as a pancake.

[@richiehoyt8487]

It's my guess that a significant number of 405 line viewers, maybe even a majority, didn't _have_ phones. As well as people living in 625 line reception shadow areas, I should think a lot of the 405 line audience were people still operating older sets, incapable of displaying the new signal... or to put it another way, too _poor_ to upgrade their sets; and as such, probably too poor to afford to get the phone in. Also, certainly it was still the case that fairly well into the '80's, you might be on the waiting list for a phone for several months, although whether that situation had become resolved by this point, I'm afraid I can no longer remember...

[@antster1983]

4:42 In case anyone was wondering why some of the old transmitter equipment was going to hospitals, the IBA 1985 Yearbook has more information... _"As the 405-line transmitters are taken out of service the IBA has been pleased to donate some of this equipment to hospitals for the 'hyperthermia' treatment of malignant tumours - a still experimental but promising way of treating tumours fairly close to the skin of a patient."_

[@1L6E6VHF]

2:40 "Television spectrum never used before" About a hundred Band III stations across the pond disagree😊

[@philipgreaves5425]

We could receive the 405 line signal from Lichfield in South Yorkshire on channel 8

[@christopherhulse8385]

VHF TV had a better range than UHF.

[@barbaraannecortina7899]

Okay, what's the real TX date of this video because, near the end, it says that 405-line television closed on 3 January 1985, so this can't be from 18 December 1984. Think about it, I am right?

[@steeviebops]

At 10:33 it says ITV 405-line "closes" on 3 January 1985. The next edition did say "closed" as they repeated the film.

[@jayrogers8255]

Yes, if you watch the January 1985 episode, that was the one that said it closed down.

[@THEACTUALLDL123]

And idk what the name of the test card song is so...

[@luisreyes1963]

Fascinating. 🤓

[@imransyah]

Is that southern TV theme after test card?

[@Blubatt]

Unlikely. This is Channel 4, and its 1984

[@nowster]

Probably a Gilbert and Sullivan overture: either Mikado or The Yeoman of The Guard.

[@itjuenyin]

I only hear on left ear

[@movesky6696]

iba enggineerin announcement over beatdown big brother