Film Chain - Products

Products

• RCA was by far the largest maker of film chains for broadcast with the color TK-26, TK-27, TK-28 and TK-29 film pickup cameras.

Its broadcast division also designed and built 16mm projectors for television use, including the TP-6, that was often used with a TP-15 Multiplexer.

A different RCA division developed 35mm projectors for television use, culminating in the 35mm FR-35 and a not so well regarded 16mm FR-16 projectors.

RCA's TP-66 debuted in the early 1960s was widely used in stations and networks for 16mm silent, optical and magnetic sound film playback, both live on air and to videotape for editing or delayed broadcast. It is still used by a number of home movie transfer outfits due to its generally low cost of acquisition, and that it was designed to run 24/7 playing back without problems the film content that made up much television programming in television's first 30 years.

RCA's final film pickup camera, the TK-29, came in three models, A, B and C. The "A" was a basic model, "B" added more control and options. The TK-29C was RCA's "teleproduction" version, and could be equipped with "ChromaComp," an early form of color correction hardware.

For transfer of high-end television commercials to videotape, TK-29C's were equipped by some post-production houses with various forms of triggering the color correction settings in sync with film movement. Punched paper tape was one of the methods used to record the settings, much like film color timing systems of that era.

As television program suppliers moved to videotape and then satellite distribution, prints of theatrical films and programs were transferred to videotape, often from separate 35mm picture and sound elements. Sacramento independent television station KRBK (31) kept its film islands and 1" recorders busy transferring Hollywood-created material for syndication. One of the two islands that had a TK-29C, FR-35, and an electronic pitch shifter to restore the natural pitch of the sound when films and shows were speeded up to gain more commercial time. Episodes of "Little House on the Prairie" were transferred at KRBK, and are still being fed to stations for airing.

• General Electric also made film chains, both in B&W and color; among its color film cameras were the PE-24 and PE-240, both of which used four vidicon tubes (designated as "4-V"). GE film chains were also prevalent in many television stations; one of its largest clients was ABC. CBS also used GE film pickup cameras.
• Eastman Kodak made several well regarded 16mm projectors for television use.
• TeleMation Inc. made B&W and color film chains like the TMM-203 Multiplexer and TMU-100 Uniplexers. TeleMation cameras and later film chain camera rack were used for the pick up. These often used Bell & Howell projectors, like the B&H 379. Bell & Howell later purchased Telemation. Fotomat used a fleet of TeleMation units for 16mm, 8mm and S8mm transfers to VHS.
• Bosch Fernseh made a number of color and B&W film chains for many years. Like the: OMY Color Film Chain; Color film chain with a KCU-40 camera, B&W film chain in 1968.
• A number of manufacturers made small home film transfer system.

The introduction of the Rank Cintel Mark III flying spot scanner and Bosch Fernseh FDL60, called a telecines, paved the way to shift from projector based transfer to a more gentle system, continuous transport motion, that allowed the easy transfer of negative film and print film and thus the decline of film chains.