CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[AGrey]

I'm interested in some vintage tech and I was wondering, what was the best equipment back in the mid 80s? For example, if I owned a theater or an excellent home theater setup back then (like with a crt projector), what would I couple with the display to make an image (like 480i tv, or a VHS output) look better?

Anyone remember that stuff?

Thanks!

[Nashou66]

This is going to be a fun thread I can tell! I bet Analogrocks will chime in here!

Athanasios

[AnalogRocks]

You know Nash, I had to think back. The only thing I had back then was the all important SHARPNESS control. For 480i scan lines so sharp you can cut your finger on them.

[AnalogRocks]

You know Nash, I had to think back. The only thing I had back then was the all important SHARPNESS control. For 480i scan lines so sharp you can cut your finger on them.

[CxTurbo]

Did line doublers or quadruplers exist then? If so that would have been a HUGE upgrade from VHS.

[AnalogRocks]

I seem to remember line doublers starting in 1988 or so. I'd have to rifle through my old Video mag's to know for sure. Let's look at it this way. What year did projectors come out that could do 31.5KHz?

[AnalogRocks]

I seem to remember line doublers starting in 1988 or so. I'd have to rifle through my old Video mag's to know for sure. Let's look at it this way. What year did projectors come out that could do 31.5KHz?

[Curt Palme]

I ran rock video dances in 1985 to 1988 when the company I worked for went under.

We used an ESP projector (predecessor to Ampro), the Aquaray and Aquastar units. The Aquastar did do 31K (line doubling) back in 1986 or so, but the only source available to do that 'super' high resolution was a computer running at 640 X 480. I remember getting in major crap because I rented out a CRT that did only 480i when the customer wanted 480p. Oops!

Line doublers did come out in 1988 or so, Faroudja was the first one on the block. I remember seeing a $4000 Inline unit in 1989, and I remember thinking that 'damn, it's gonna be hard to solder the SVGA connector.

All we used for the rock video shows were Beta Hifi decks, run into a 'Hybrid 8' (brand name) video switcher with some effects switching (that never worked right), and the unit had a peaking control on it that sharpened up the edges. That was really about it for me until 2000 or so when I bought a DVDO line doubler, and I never looked back.

I actually had a Hybrid 8 here late last year that sold for a whopping $22 on ebay. It still did it's thing...

[Curt Palme]

I ran rock video dances in 1985 to 1988 when the company I worked for went under.

We used an ESP projector (predecessor to Ampro), the Aquaray and Aquastar units. The Aquastar did do 31K (line doubling) back in 1986 or so, but the only source available to do that 'super' high resolution was a computer running at 640 X 480. I remember getting in major crap because I rented out a CRT that did only 480i when the customer wanted 480p. Oops!

Line doublers did come out in 1988 or so, Faroudja was the first one on the block. I remember seeing a $4000 Inline unit in 1989, and I remember thinking that 'damn, it's gonna be hard to solder the SVGA connector.

All we used for the rock video shows were Beta Hifi decks, run into a 'Hybrid 8' (brand name) video switcher with some effects switching (that never worked right), and the unit had a peaking control on it that sharpened up the edges. That was really about it for me until 2000 or so when I bought a DVDO line doubler, and I never looked back.

I actually had a Hybrid 8 here late last year that sold for a whopping $22 on ebay. It still did it's thing...

[CxTurbo]

He, He. Good Times!

I have an inline Mac/Vga to RGBS converter here. Might have to put that one on eBay someday too.. Thanks for the reminder.

[Tom.W]

The darkroom ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN3Zbs1dueE&feature=related

Not sure about this though...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tyodMcPcE4&feature=related

[AGrey]

Wow, seriously?? We've had tv for over 100 years, and the first user-end image improvements only came around in the last 20 years?

I'm shocked.

[kschmit2]

Sony launched their HD line in 1984.
A Sony HD Reel player

Some time later Sony even launched an analog HD optical disc player - the Sony HDL-2000 (HDVS uncompressed wideband HD). One disc would hold 15 minutes of contents. An in 1988 (iirc) they launched an HD optical disc playback system capable of playing feature-length titles without interruptions. It employed 8 linked player each holding a 15 minute disc. Unfortuantely I can't find the brochure for that system right now.


Some links with brochures can be found on this site:
some links with brochures on this page: http://www.mmt.de/rental/hd03.html (don't forget to click on "next" on the subpages)

The 1984/5 SONY HDD/HDDP-1000 combo retailed for around $410k iirc (they actually intended to sell them to affluent end users)

And the early HD CRT-PJs: http://www.mmt.de/rental/hd05.html


Hehe, just noticed that Tony posted my previous posts about this subject here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=980435&page=13

ohh, and here is my original post about it: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=878809


Kai

[AGrey]

Wow, that's pretty cool stuff. I had no idea that this stuff existed.
Was there anything around that operated on a standard tv signal?

[virusc]

The early line doublers except for maybe the Faroudja were in general very bad. Most of the early none megabuck ones only stored the frame and repeated to make progressive frames which caused all kinds of bad artifacts. I rather liked using a laserdisc player with the 5.5" and 7" CRT projectors at the time directly at 480i than through the early line doublers in general. This changed however in my opinion in the mid 90's with the introduction of better processors. A good composite to RGBS converter with good comb filter was the better value in this era.