Start of German color tv in 1967 on SABA color tv set

[sk83502]

how could you make this video in color, when the color only started at the time the guy pressed the button? :D so no way you could have filmed this in color. my life is destroyed now...

[Postbus22]

You can see the color was before he pressed the button xD

[Habboelfe]

@Postbus22 this was the first mistake in german color tv :D

[TheCaleyman]

The UK had PAL COLOUR right from 1967 when one channel went into colour. (BBC2) The other 2 had to wait until almost the end of 1969 before they had it. Once the the 3 channels were in colour, there was such a demand in the UK, that we imported colour TVs from Japan and Europe. The company for whom I was a TV engineer, brought in SABAs during the early 1970,s. I remember repairing both hybrid and solid state versions, and having to quickly learn enough German to read the service manuals!

[eatingcatshit]

What a waste of a perfectly good color tv.

[AidanLunn]

@eatingcatshit How is it a waste?

And being made in 1967, it will not be perfect. It will break down often and will require many hours of work to get it up and running again.

And it'll throw up many faults that no service manual will explain!

[DerBlueDiamond]

Das war bestimmt ein sehr großer Augenblick als dann alles in Farbe war.

Schöner SABA Fernseher

[suuf1]

First public color broadcast in Germany, nationwide distributed, live from West-Berlin via the old 170 km air link over the DDR! Both ends had transmitting towers high 350m.

During the 1967 Berlin radio and tv exhibition and fair. Great picture still now from the old magnetic registration tapes, ampex PAL color

[Sheri451]

Did you get to see The Lawrence Welk Show there? I went on YT and saw an old Australian commercial from 1972 it was in B&W they didn't even get color TV until 1975 there.

[123demaio]

American sets where far better

[AidanLunn]

@123demaio Using such an awful system as NTSC and going from valves to transistors much later than Europe and Japan, I'm not so sure . . .

[andreescumihai]

2 seconds to late..."precision" made in Germany....

[MrRafasegundo]

@andreescumihai I think this images are very strange. If you look for this video in other adress, you will see that when Willy Brandt pushes the button, the image changes into the "In Farbe" (in color) opening which appears later in a Telefunken TV set, beginning the TV special offered later. So this is maybe one test tape or somewhat.

[souldeep91]

@MrRafasegundo

it was not a test :D when Kanzler Willy Brandt pushed the button, our tv was allready couloured. He pushed the button too late, the technicals behind the scene were too fast. All peolpe in whole Germany saw that tv got coloured before Brandt pushed the button. And sometimes we still lough about this faux pas today ;)

What you saw in Telefunk was a cut version and (of course) they cutted it in that way, that it seemed that Brandt pushed the button and tv bacame coloured after

[irjajit]

I don't think the button was required at all.

[Ti96zz]

Now we have 3D TV.

[Trekie92]

2 seconds to late ^^

[MegaTallicaFTW97]

he failed.he pushed the button to late hahaha

nice tv tho

[markesajanus]

@TeslaMaster-is not exact, germany had b/w television in 1937. then color tv in 1967, the USA had first color tv sets in 1954, but the first ntsc color system was mediocre vs german pal color system, that actually still the best color tv system in the world.

[CommodoreCaravan1981]

an die alten röhrenfernseher kann ich mich noch erinnern. als ich so 8-10 jahre alt war hatten meine eltern sogar 2 stück: einen universum SW von 1962 in weißem (damals schon deformiertem) kunststoffgehäuse und einen Nordmende (i-was mit Color) der öfter defekt war als er lief xDD. zum glück war mein onkel HF-Techniker und konnte uns sehr oft besuchen mit seinem röhrenkoffer.

[CommodoreCaravan1981]

wenn man die technische leistung von damals und heute vergleicht liegen da welten dazwischen: ein Schauinsland T2000 Color von 1967 wog fast satte 60kg, hatte 28 röhren (was für ein kraftwerk) und brauchte 350 Watt!!!. allerdings hatte ich das vergnügen vor einiger zeit mal einen alten Graetz Fähnrich zu sehen (von IIRC 1973). i-wie waren die farben damals natürlicher, kräfiger und brillanter als mit LCD oder Plasma TV.

[CommodoreCaravan1981]

btw dem deutschen PAL-System liegt afair zu 98% das NTSC zu grunde, nur weist das NTSC mängel bei farbstabilität und reflexionsverhalten auf (ferbverfälschung und konvergenzprobleme), was PAL (Phase Alternation Line ;-) ) mit der Verzögerungsleitung wegzaubert(e).....

[Psyblader501]

@CommodoreCaravan1981 Dann kauf einen LED LCD TV, da sind sie wieder schön kräftig :D

[MerleOberon]

NTSC rules, we had color (or colour) long before you Euros did, get over it

[kmfw72]

@MerleOberon Sure, but only a few countries outside the Americas use NTSC - Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, South Korea and Burma/Myanmar. Go figure.

[AndreR241]

@MerleOberon Exactly! But unfortunately with Never The Same Color...

[filmnet]

@MerleOberon How does the fact that the USA had colour before Europe mean that NTSC "rules". It's the worst system for colour, it's basically a kludge in order to piggyback colour signals on a black and white image. That's why the colours always look green and orangey, something never resolved. Whilst us "Euros" waited a few years and got PAL and SECAM, two completely new systems, with hugely superior picture quality & colour.

[AidanLunn]

@filmnet Actually, PAL is just NTSC with the constant reversal of the R-Y carrier's phase. It was heavily based on NTSC, as, I think, was SECAM.

[MerleOberon]

@filmnet well haha, you were sitting there watching your B&W boring Euro TV whilst we were enjoying Green Acres and Gilligans Island in full color (colour)

[filmnet]

@MerleOberon I wasn't even alive back then. The USA had colour a few years before the UK, true. You forgot the negatives: constant immoral advertisements. Then cigarettes advertised in childrens programmes. Now prescription drugs like Viagra are sponsors... of the news(!) Talk about low. And adverts right after the titles and before the end credits, no thanks. Our domestic programmes were huge ratings winners vs. Gilligan's Island!

[Psyblader501]

@MerleOberon lol NTSC is shit compared to PAL you can read it everywhere

[MerleOberon]

@Psyblader501 I don't need to read it, I watched it, It was fine, I don't remember any real problems with it, The Wizard of Oz etc. were displayed just fine, full rich, natural color (colour)

[Psyblader501]

@MerleOberon But I don't care for NTSC or PAL etc, Digital TV is the future :D

[kaizerzydeco]

Canada should have gone with PAL but all our TVs were American-made back then so we didn't have much of a choice.

[anorak2]

@kaizerzydeco Canada has 60 Hz mains frequency, thus 525/30 (standard M) was a natural choice, which was made long before colour was introduced. Of course they could have chosen PAL colour with 525/30 later on, but that way they'd have ended up with PAL-M, a "hybrid" standard which only one other nation on earth uses (Brasil). That would not have been a good choice.

[niklasforscher]

Ich werde dieses Zeitdokument nochmal veröffentlichen, doch da ist alles in Farbe

[markesajanus]

PAL system, the unique, the best, the mythology of television.

best television technology is german.

[tanergode]

NTSC = Never The Same Color

NTSC = Never Twice the Same Color

NTSC = Never Tested Since Christ

[Danie90]

PAL = Perfection At Last

[AidanLunn]

@Danie90 People Are Lilac ;)

[anonUK]

The BBC originally wanted to launch a 405-line NTSC colour service, (yeurch!) but after looking at the results, they decided to wait for the European PAL system to get going. In readiness for that, they started BBC2 in 625-line B/W in 1964. Once BBC2 colour got going in the London area (then other areas), from July 1967, they started broadcasting BBC1 in 625-line UHF from October 1969. However, much of this remained in B/W until colour got going over the next few months.

[anorak2]

There was a European agreement to broadcast colour in 625 only, even before the choice of colour system was settled (which it never was as we know). 625 with NTSC or SECAM were options, and the BBC tested those.

[bronskiwantsyou]

schönes zeitdokument, danke :-)

[UKSazzy67]

Das ist gud. Ich bin ein Englander nein sprekensie Deutsch well. Das ist Wunderbar! En Farbe 1967 en Deutchsland. England not until 1969.

[anorak2]

UK also started in 1967. There is some disagreement about who can claim the first "official" colour broadcast in Europe, but the contest is between Germany and UK anyway.

[tanergode]

@UKSazzy67

Ha ha ha! You are luck! Turkey not until 1982 (partially) and 1984 (wholly)! Above all, it should be remembered that all obsolete B/W televison equipment was sent to Turkey as a "gift" by Germany because Turkey had no TV at all until 01.02.1968

[xylfox]

Hahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!

[musicfreak1967]

Welch ein mega-peinlicher Fehler ist denn da wohl dem Bildtechniker unterlaufen, dass das Bild bereits farbig war, bevor Willy Brandt überhaupt den Knopf drückte???

[anorak2]

Der steht in allen Büchern über das Thema. :) Der rote Knopf war natürlich ein Dummy. Der zuständige Techniker, der wirklich die Farbe zuschaltete, hatte keinen Blick auf den Monitor, sondern musste raten wann Brandt den Knopf drückte. Er hat falsch geraten ...

[xylfox]

HAhahah!!!!!!Willy 1sek. zu langsam!!wohl die cdu im Spiel!!!!

[AndreR241]

@xylfox Nope, der Knopf war einfach nur eine Attrappe. Tatsächlich hat ein Techniker (beim NDR, wenn ich mich recht erinnere) einen Widerstand zu früh rausgezogen.

[FelixTheHouseFreak]

How come germany didnt start color broadcasting until 67?

[TeslaMaster]

There was a long delay of television in Germany due to WW2. Public television with private tv sets at home started in 1952, while the U.S. had television since 1939.

[anorak2]

Nah, has nothing to do with WW2. Germany had television before the war just as well, and the "relaunch" after the war was at the same pace as the rest of Europe. You folks probably aren't aware that the US was an early adopter of colour television. The rest of the world didn't pick it up until the mid-1960s.

[munnsie100]

@TeslaMaster u r right aussies didnt have it undil the 70s because of ww2 as well

[gramule]

@TeslaMaster and the bbc was the first television service in the world. hope this helps.

[gramule]

@TeslaMaster and the bbc was the first television service in the world, 193 onwards. hope this helps.

[mellowdean]

@TeslaMaster Public television started in 1935 in Berlin

[anorak2]

The US was an early adopter of colour television (1953), only Japan and Canada had it in the 1950s. The rest of the world waited until the 1960s or later. West Germany was the first country in Europe to go colour.

[qu4n7um5p33d]

@anorak2 you're right on the money, as color television broadcasts in PR started as late as 1967-68 -as some of our local channels got hooked up in color earlier than others-

[AidanLunn]

@anorak2 It wasn't, Britain was the first.

July 1st 1967 :)

[TheGoldenSphinx]

@FelixTheHouseFreak Most countries didn't start broadcasting in colour until the late 60's and early 70's. Australia for example, started broadcasting in colour full-time 1975. In Sweden (where I'm from), colour broadcasts started in 1970.

[DANWOODHOUSE1]

it changed to colour about 1-2 seconds BEFORE he pressed the switch

[mastouris69]

Was mir noch einfällt über meine Lehrjahre...

Grunding,das UNDING

Lass die Hände von Nordmende

Was hat denn da gestunken,

es war ein Telefunken!

Gleich-riecht-er....

hahaha

[ColonelHogan9162]

Sag mal nix gegen Grundig, das waren noch die besten.Die hat man immer sehr einfach wieder zum laufen gebracht.Ich hab mal in den 80ern aufm Sperrmüll nen kompletten Grundig aus einzelteilen zusammengesammelt. Gehäuse,Chassis,Röhre,Module und Rückwand alles von verschiedenen Trümmerhaufen, zuhause zusammengebaut und---Lief wie ne eins.Sogar mit Secam. Nur noch bisschen Feinjustierung und das Ding lief noch 10 jahre ohne Probleme.

(Bin selber nur Bastler, habs also nicht gelernt)

[xylfox]

Dann bist du ein Genie!!! Und sehr mutig(Röhre= Hochspannung)

[ColonelHogan9162]

@xylfox Na ja,man muss nur wissen,wie man mit Hochspannung umgehen muss.Und wenn man den nötigen Respekt,aber keine Angst davor hat,ist's auch nicht so gefährlich. Und daß die BR sich wie ein Kondensator verhält und die Spannung auch ausgeschaltet hält und vorher entladen werden muß,sollte man eben auch wissen,wenn man damit bastelt-Ein gewisses Wissen muß man sich eben vorher aneignen,sonst wirds nix

[mastouris69]

AHHHHH Saba....

und Telefunken...

und Nordmende...

Alle Aufgekauft von Thomson

und nacheinader zu Grabe getragen.

Und als letzten hat es Thomson erwischt

[ColonelHogan9162]

Man sieht gut, dass die Farbe schon eine Sekunde vor drücken des Knopfes einsetzt,denn der Knopf war nur ne Attrappe.Über diesen Fehler wird oft in Geschichtssendungen berichtet.

[mastouris69]

der Colorkiller wurde wohl zu schnell ausser Betrieb gesetzt ;-)))

[TeslaMaster]

A R.F. modulator was modulated by the vision and sound signal of the video recording. The VHF output was connected with the antenna input of the tv set. That's all.

[UKSazzy67]

How did they manage to play a video recording of the start of colour TV in Germany through an old TV set? Does the TV have video output? I thought old TVS didn't have a video output socket, so you had to point a camera at the TV?

[amadeusyaoi]

Was that the button Brandt used to summon Guillaume? ;)

[RomkeVideo]

5*****

[TeslaMaster]

Auf Band aufgenommen und dann mit HF-Modulator auf die Antennenbuchse des Apparates gegeben.

[DerWacheck]

wie wurde das aufgenommen? damit meine ich das was auf dem fernseher läuft.

[123demaio]

our color looked much better as well

[UHF43]

Well, it's exactly the opposite, because NTSC suffers from HUE changes depending on the reception conditions, and that is very dissapointing. PAL color is always accurate.

[Klottelitsch]

So ein Röhrengrab will ich habem---PLASMA und LCD TVs sind langweilig und taugen nix :))

[TeslaMaster]

Röhrengrab? - Da musst Du erstmal die amerikanischen Farbfernseher aus der Anfangszeit erleben. RCA CT-100 mit über 40 Röhren, den Ausmaßen eines Gefrierschranks und einem halben Kilowatt Leistungsaufnahme und sagenhaft großem 15-Zoll-Bildschirm.

[ItaniX23]

20 jahre vor der Glotze und du leuchtest im Dunkeln

[123demaio]

American sets looked far better

[mediamadman747]

As do "Americans."

[Basseck]

Most German TV-Sets of the 60s looked ugly but they built far better looking ones in the 70s, especially WEGA.

[superpowerplay]

Den Saba T2000 Heizofen habe ich in meiner Lehrzeit hassen gelernt. Ein Röhrengrab und schrecklich fehleranfälliges Gerät.

[TeslaMaster]

Aber trotzdem: klar aufgebautes Chassis, keine versteckten Ecken und - für mich - leicht zu reparieren, im Gegensatz zu anderen Geräten dieser Zeit.

[Gerrit22041992]

Da hat die Regie wol zu früh gestartet.

[anonUK]

Some shows in the UK were made in colour but transmitted in B&W- the first 4 episodes of Monty Python being the best-known examples (in late 1969- Python was on BBC1!).

First 'official' UK colour TV was in July 1967- hours and hours of tennis! One camera, stable position, minimum cost. No govt. ministers needed either. First series specifically designed for colour- Civilisation in 1967/68, by the late Alan Clark's father.

[bigaspidistra]

Actually all episodes of Monty Python were transmitted in colour.

From The Times of 1 October 1969:

Doctor in the House and Frost on Friday on I.T.V. will be in colour, and on Saturday Saturday Crowd and Please, Sir. On B.B.C. 1 Star Trek will be in colour on Saturday and on Sunday Flying Circus (sic).

[AidanLunn]

But they didn't "officially" start broadcasting them in colour until 15/11 that year. ITV's ad breaks were filled with testcard on colour until the colour service officially launched.

[bigaspidistra]

Depends what is meant by 'official' I suppose - these colour broadcasts were advertised in advance in listing magazines for example. It was a decision of the BBC to promote their colour programmes in October and the independent companies felt this was going against what had been previously agreed.

[ma55aracin9]

....and Puerto Rico's TV stations switching to color in that same period,with the dual-mode(analog and digital SD/HD)broadcast running until June 12,2009

[mellotrongirl]

I thought maybe Saba would name their TV sets after German cities like they did with their radios. Imagine Saarbrucken (covered in soot), or Zweibrucken (covered in spilled Parkbrau).

[rupertopesto]

You're welcome Sygo7g, Argentina was close to have NTSC in 1969, but was rejected untill a comitee ould decide which system was better, in 1972 had to deliver the conclusions, but the long internal crisis delayed the decision. then in 1975 was planned to start color transmissions, but that was the worst year of the crisis, and finally came in 1978 for the FIFA World Cup.

[rupertopesto]

No, we didnt have Color TV up untill 1978-1979

[ntcrwler]

Now that's an awsome way to welcome in the new era! Too bad they couldn't do something similar with HDTV. Have the announcer press a big reg ceremonial button and instantly the video doubles in resolution and switches to 16:9. that would be really cool.

[torgman]

I rememebr a Lete Night w/Letterman ep where they had a ceremony to introduce stereo--hilarious :D

[256byteram]

Heh, the colour comes in a good second before he pushes the button.

[256byteram]

Which is mentioned in the description... *slaps forehead*

[TeslaMaster]

Of course, this was the great misfortune happened with the introduction of color tv in Germany. But only very few people could see it since most of the people watched it in black and white.

[mubd]

Did you notice that the colour switched just before the guy pressed the button?

[s4ndwichMakeR]

Yes, the technicians made a mistake. :D The button is a mock-up.

[torgman]

Yes, it was already mentioned in the description. I guess the button was symbolic.

Nice set! You krauts know how to build sh*t that lasts! :)

[ikarus366]

Wow dude, now this is a rare jewel, where did you get this?

[TeslaMaster]

I got the tv set two years ago. The line output transformer was bad, I replaced it with another one from the local waste disposal site. The video was composed out of multiple video sequences.

[reticulan5]

The U.S. got color TV in 1953.Japan 1961,Europe in 67

In Australia we did,nt get color till 1975.Back then we were always 20 years behind the rest of the world.Now we get things only a few months after.

[stgxf04]

Don't put your Aussie mates down! Australia had HD TV (High Definition) long before the UK. It is available in some areas of your Continent on 405 lines too - That's progress,,

[ftipo]

..Australia got color before Italy! ..Italy is part of Europe.. and we got color tv only from summer 1976 (XXI Olympic Games from Montreal)