Museum of Broadcast Technology - Big Cameras

Episode 5 of the "What labguy did on his spring break" series. We take a behind the curtain look at a museum that is not yet open to the public. See the camera gallery from a bird's eye point of view. Then labguy focuses on his two favorite huge cameras. The RCA TK41 and TK42. This is the television equivalent of a steam locomotive. I believe the TK41 was coal powered and the TK42 was diesel. Enjoy!

[@xtraceex]

The old-school headsets are a nice touch... The pedestals - then and now - are marvels when they're properly set up.

[@Camop-iz9kt]

I have pictures of the WKY TK-40A, that I took back in 2008 at the prop room of the old studio. I'm so glad I took those when I had the chance. I think you became aware of the camera's existence due to my pics.

[@eltessy]

Thank you very much for sharing! Those cameras RCA tk-41, TK-42...are amazing part of history no matter how big/heavy they look for today's standards!

[@TK42CCU]

Great video ! I can remember adjusting these cameras in Montreal Canada in the 70s. Doing a full line up was a long job requiring lots of patience -especially for one operator . With two operators it was much faster, one guiding the other with scopes and monitors . Thanks again fro the memories !

[@henryj.8528]

The TV station gave me a working TK41 when they upgraded in the late 70s. I took it home and put it in the garage. IIRC, it took three full racks of electronics to make a picture (even to send back to the B&W monitor on the camera). And IIRC, there was only one transistor in the thing (a voltage regulator I think). But it had incredible optics and (when new) it made a great picture when properly set up. Warm up/set up could take several hours. The sides folded down to form a workbench and there was even a plug inside the camera so you plug your scope or VTVM in (or coffee pot). But I don't miss the weight.

[@sbcinema]

A Nery Niche Collection !

[@itsstillfriday]

WoW!! 350lb's!! I knew the 42-was HEAVY..but I didn't know the exact weight!! For the station's 40th anniversary (1992)...at WSLS-TV-10 (Rke, Va) I got to help carry one of those old monsters up several flights of stairs, from the basement..to be displayed in the lobby... GOD it seemed so heavy!! and none of us could really get a grip under it to lift it... Very cool collection of cameras.. I love my nostalgia!! :-)

[@evergriven7402]

sure doesn't look that heavy

[@evergriven7402]

FANTASTIC Video! Thanks for posting..

[@TheSalteiro]

Você americanos são de mais, tenho fé que antes morre eu visito o seu extraordinário país e vejo essas lindas câmeras.

[@videolabguy]

Obrigado! Espero que seu desejo se torne realidade e que você tenha a chance de visitar todos os lugares interessantes ao redor do mundo. Tenha um ótimo dia!

[@johnedwards8896]

You had to keep those old cameras cool it was,very cold in studios especially in the winter the vidicons could burn up.

[@MAESTRAN]

🤣🤣🤣EL pedestal de la NBC es mejor que la que uso yo en canal sur tv, QUÉ maravilla qué fluidez

[@TheVideoguy67]

Cool video! I'm really into old broadcast cameras from the 80's. I have a Sony DXC-M3, DXC-3000, and a JVC KY-310U in my collection!

[@rty1955]

Ahh DXC I called those LAGATRONS!

[@zhaohaigaogu7821]

Studio cameras are heavy. There seems to be a Japanese camera too! There were Sachikon, Pran Bicon, Iconoscope,Trinicom and so on. Image A type of vacuum tube.👍

[@videolabguy]

Thanks for the info!

[@rty1955]

I much preferred the Norelco line using plumbicons

[@videolabguy]

True enough. But, plumbicon tubes are of much a later generation. Every system had its own unique "look" too. But, without the other systems, we'd have no comparison. I adore the dinosaurs of tech because of the fact that they could even work boggles the mind. Engineer: "Hey boss! I have an idea for a TV camera with a hundred fifty complex adjustments and it will cost a half a million bucks!" Boss: "Yeah. Alright."

[@rty1955]

@@videolabguy haha true. I worked at Dumont and when the first VR-1000 came into the shop I was just amazed at the technology and now we can record 4K video on a phone. People today have ZERO idea how stuff used to operate back then. I live near the MBT and told Paul he should create an entire TV station in the building with a small studio, complete with a control room, telecine, video tape room & master control. I would love to see the look in thier eyes on what it took to get a show on the air. I worked in tape most my life and was the youngest ever to be nominated for tape editing. I still remember the process of physical editing!

[@jimdingo]

I started my career as a video op on 42's They were a lot of work! A big problem with the image orthicon was that it was very susceptible to burn-in. So when you weren't using the camera you turned on a thing called an orbiter. It was a bevelled piece of glass in the optical path that slowly rotated, moving the image around on the face of the tube. Many's the time I forgot to turn off the orbiter and the camera man would have to try and move the camera to keep the newscaster from floating around the screen.

[@wmbrown6]

I know NBC didn't like the 42's, to the point where in 1967 they ordered a bunch of Norelco PC-70's for field use, prior to RCA's introduction of the TK-44A's.

[@kingbee1500]

Noticed there's an image orthicon ("immy," where the name "Emmy" came from) in the TK-42 along with the three color tubes. Is this how the camera generated its monochrome signal, instead of deriving it from the green channel? BTW, the best RCA tube studio camera was the last one-the trouble free, rock-solid TK-46. Loved those cameras! Everything after that was CCD-based, starting with the TK-47 (1980), visible in this video too.

[@catholicpriest1]

I thought the TK-47 still had pick up tubes. It had a computer controlled set up system however.

[@Nosix88]

King Bee I found RCA technical material that confirm that in the RCA-TK 42 the luminance signal is derived from the image orthicon tube and the chrominance signals were derived from the RGB vidicon tubes. I worked with RCA TK-27 film cameras that used 4 vidicon tubes and the CCU was similar to the TK-42s

[@wmbrown6]

@@Nosix88 - So, I.I.N.M., were General Electric's PE-24, PE-240 and PE-245 film chain cameras. (Which CBS bought for their New York and Hollywood studios because, as with Norelco's PC-60's and PC-70's, they weren't RCA.)

[@S955US84]

The dinosaurs of TV cameras. I appreciate the ingenuity and technology but we have come a very long way from these behemoths in a relatively short time. Today a 2 pound handheld HD camcorder costing a few hundred dollars makes a far better picture than these monsters could ever hope to do.

[@evergriven7402]

Today's Technology has it's roots in this older equipment.

[@gregrejr]

donde queda el museo.gracias

[@videolabguy]

Gracias por preguntar. Las exhibiciones del museo se encuentran en un edificio de 15,000 pies cuadrados en el corazón del centro de Woonsocket, Rhode Island. www.wmbt.org/

[@gregrejr]

@@videolabguy muchas gracias,exelente museo,saludos desde argentina