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-   -   Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc. (https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=96824)

camtechman 26th Dec 2016 1:39 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Quote:

I guess at around latitude 33S any dish would need to be reasonably tilted for geostationary satellites, which might limit mounting locations.
But should it have been there as the episode was set in 1962?

ms660 26th Dec 2016 2:07 pm

Re: Call The Midwife BBC1 8.00pm. Satellite Dish ?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by camtechman (Post 904716)
Between 21:05 & 21:10 on tonight's (BBC1) Christmas Special of "Call The Widwife" (Set In 1962) I'm sure I saw a satellite dish on the chimney stack of a farmhouse !!

I was watching it on Channel 101 (BBC 1) in HD and it seemed clear enough to me. Unfortunately my screen capture (as a Jpeg) doesn't show it that well.

Did anyone else spot it or was technology that advanced in 1962 ??

I assume that's Call The Midwife, checked 21:05 to 21:10 on Iplayer but couldn't find the shot, am I looking in the wrong place?

Lawrence.

Restoration73 26th Dec 2016 3:12 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
In "The Lady in the van" a scene outside a TV shop window, where a BRC 960 portable
proudly displays a colour picture.

crackle 15th Jan 2017 4:24 pm

Re: Vintage Radios on TV
 
1 Attachment(s)
Watching 633 Squadron last night and what looked like this radio featured in it. http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/general_el_5445.html
Hear it is at 52:05 on this Youtube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTLHHXcnf5A

Mike

MurphyNut 15th Jan 2017 4:43 pm

Re: Vintage Radios on TV
 
Isn't 633 Squadron set in World War II? That radio came out in 1954!

crackle 15th Jan 2017 8:09 pm

Re: Vintage Radios on TV
 
quite right

Orakle42 19th Jan 2017 10:26 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Followers of 'Allo 'Allo... may recall seeing Herr Flick using a 19 set as a telephone...

Nickthedentist 19th Jan 2017 11:22 am

Re: Vintage Radios on TV
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by MurphyNut (Post 910121)
Isn't 633 Squadron set in World War II? That radio came out in 1954!

Ah, but the surprisingly similar BC5639 came out just pre-war, apparently: http://www.pasttimesradio.co.uk/proj...c-bc5639-1.jpg

So maybe not too bad an error.

The Philpott 19th Jan 2017 12:19 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Mosquito squadron and 633 squadron are riddled with inconsistencies, David McCallum looked embarrassed to be involved in the former, frankly. There is a famous colour slide of a Mosquito being bombed up, that is often reversed. I was intrigued to see left hand tractor Merlins before i realised what was going on. 633 is a re-hash of what was planned for 618 sqn. in real life, where the highball was due to go up against targets like Tirpitz. By then the cat was out of the bag though.

One thing they did pay attention to in the making of these 2 films was many attempts to position a mike at exactly the spot where the rubber kissed the tarmac on landing- which took considerable pilot skill! All this to get a 'squeal'.

Nicklyons2 20th Jan 2017 10:36 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
I enjoy it immensely, and have seen it many times but, surely, there can be no war film more replete with howling anachronisms than Where Eagles Dare. Where do I start?

"Broadsword calling Danny Boy"

Brigham 23rd Jan 2017 4:01 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
You might need a new thread!

Neil Purling 23rd Jan 2017 4:51 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Are we only considering electronic equipment mistakes or the really silly OT mistakes like the post-war American Bell H13 with a Swastika on the tail. Sort of like the Series 1 Land Rover in the closing scenes of Ice Cold in Alex.

There are vast amounts of continuity errors, but for us the radio in the Schoss Adler is a British low-power VHF.
Not the 'most powerful radio transmitter in Central Europe' the book of the film has Smith say to Col Kramer.

ex seismic 23rd Jan 2017 5:14 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
WS31 sets and their US equivalent are quite common in films and nearly always have far, far greater range than mine!

Gordon

wireless_john 26th Jan 2017 8:40 am

Halcyon Hotel
 
1 Attachment(s)
Has anyone been watching the Halcyon Hotel on ITV?

In the last episode there was a scene in which two people are dancing to music coming from a gramophone.

A close up of the gramophone was shown and I took the attached photo - the record was going clockwise - I checked! Don't know where the tone arm was going though!

John

G4XWDJim 26th Jan 2017 9:28 am

Re: Halcyon Hotel
 
There are a few clips on U Tube where the steel needle is positioned to be a lathe tool. I tried it once on an old record and it certainly seems a barbarous thing to do.

How can people not understand?

Jim

Peter.N. 26th Jan 2017 11:22 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
They probably weren't alive when we were.

Peter

regentone001 26th Jan 2017 1:09 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
they do the same thing on anigue shows too I tend to shout at the tv when they do

Andrew2 26th Jan 2017 1:15 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Likewise. I've seen this done so many times in a lot of dramas. Surely even someone who has never seen a record player in action would guess that having the needle 'ploughing up' the groove was wrong? Maybe ordinary folk don't think in the same way we engineers do!

Junk Box Nick 26th Jan 2017 2:12 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter.N. (Post 913073)
They probably weren't alive when we were.

The media and associated arts is very much a young person's industry. It's also highly pressured with constrained budgets which can often result in a 'knock-it-out' attitude.

G4XWDJim 26th Jan 2017 2:42 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Most wind up gramophones rest the soundbox in a space at the back of the cabinet. From there the shortest distance to play is to the wrong side of the record.

Jim

Guest 26th Jan 2017 3:35 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Sheer common sense would indicate it's wrong. Isn't that taught at school anymore?

emeritus 26th Jan 2017 7:31 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
1 Attachment(s)
re my earlier post #21, I just found a copy of "The King's Speech" on YouTube, and the record being played into headphones so that the King can't hear his own words while speaking, does indeed look very much like an acoustic gramophone having a tubular tone arm. I haven't ever come across an electrical pickup arm of tubular construction, but perhaps they do exist. The headphones actually seem to be part of the recording deck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAmXUIyw0sc

Guest 26th Jan 2017 9:44 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Were not electrical pickups for wind up gramophones made to fit on the end of the tubular arm?

paulsherwin 26th Jan 2017 11:04 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
You will find lots of these 'operational' bloopers in TV productions and even in cinema films. The production designer and art director will put a lot of effort into sourcing historically correct props, but he/she probably won't be on set during the actual take so some clueless production assistant will be left to supervise things on the day. That's why you see backwards running record players, instantly warming up valves etc.

emeritus 27th Jan 2017 2:20 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
1 Attachment(s)
An unobstructed shot of the gramophone and a reasonably unobstructed view of the "Silvertone" recorder. I can't see any obvious wires leading from the pickup, but I suppose they could have been threaded down the tube.

wireless_john 27th Jan 2017 9:11 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by paulsherwin (Post 913273)
You will find lots of these 'operational' bloopers in TV productions and even in cinema films. The production designer and art director will put a lot of effort into sourcing historically correct props, but he/she probably won't be on set during the actual take so some clueless production assistant will be left to supervise things on the day. That's why you see backwards running record players, instantly warming up valves etc.

Actually, that happened in Call The Midwife on the same evening - they turned on a TV (in about 1962) and it came on instantly!!

John

mole42uk 27th Jan 2017 9:41 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
My most annoying mis-use of props was actually a radio play on the Home, er, Radio 4.

It was a well-known detective drama set in England in the early half of the 20th Century. A lot of the plot was constructed around 'phone calls that were received by the characters in the play. Every time, they used an American telephone bell tone with its characteristic single ring. I was trying to contact the Producer to express my disquiet, but I couldn't even find a name for the person!

Nickthedentist 27th Jan 2017 10:23 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
The American phone ring (tone, timbre and cadence) is a constant annoyance for me too, and seems to be almost ubiquitous in period dramas now.

Peter.N. 27th Jan 2017 10:34 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by wireless_john (Post 913319)
Actually, that happened in Call The Midwife on the same evening - they turned on a TV (in about 1962) and it came on instantly!!

Well they never turn them off do they, they don't even know which knob is the on/off switch and if they do they turn it the wrong way. ;)

Peter

AC/HL 27th Jan 2017 12:34 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
I do occasionally notice an anomaly in an entertainment program (as distinct from a documentary) but it doesn't spoil the overall effect for me. What does irritate me is the afore mentioned telephone ring. Even British ringing often sounds wrong, haven't they heard of tape recorders?

Herald1360 30th Jan 2017 9:43 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
The Nonnatus House telephone also seems to be an example.

Wrong ring AND Ask the Midwife!

dave walsh 30th Jan 2017 10:15 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Yesterday's Endeavour [ITV] covered the period 1962-7 [the present day] . Morse's Record Player seemed very much "in period" [62?] but a short scene, in a public house, included a "pub quiz". I don't recall those in the sixties so perhaps there was a non-technical anomaly for a change? Overall it was Morse meets The Wicker Man but non the worse for it.

Dave W

Station X 30th Jan 2017 11:43 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Just watched "Lucan" he calls a London telephone number by dialling only three digits. He'd need to dial at least seven digits.

Peter.N. 31st Jan 2017 11:11 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
The firm I worked for in Cheapside in 1954 had the number 'City 1124' so unless STD had been brought in by then the numbers could be considerably longer (or at least the letters could). When we moved down here in 1970 our number was 'Charmouth 556' but on an automatic exchange which we didn't have in Kent.

Peter

Station X 31st Jan 2017 11:17 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
In a director area such as London you had to dial the director code even for own exchange calls, so numbers always had seven digits.

julie_m 31st Jan 2017 3:25 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
You have to dial eight digits in London now -- not that you'd guess, by the way most people space out the numbers.

G6Tanuki 31st Jan 2017 4:42 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by julie_m (Post 914534)
You have to dial eight digits in London now -- not that you'd guess, by the way most people space out the numbers.

You can only skip the "020" if you're calling landline-to-landline. If you're calling from a mobile or from any sort of VoIP-gateway (such as Skype) you need to use the full ii-digit number. To avoid confusion I *always* tell people to use the full number wherever they're calling from, and have done so for the last 15 years or so, even for 'local' calls.

Must admit, I was always intrigued by the 3-letter "named" exchanges [WHItehall, CROydon, MUSeum etc] in London - it added a nice 'period' touch to publications and radio/TV productions in the post-WWII epoch.

Speaking of phone-related anachronisms, until quite recently in many radio programs where someone was supposedly phoning within the UK, the producers continued to include the very short-duration "pip" when the called-party picked up the phone. I forget what this was called but it ceased being used quite a while ago - a fact which TV producers seemed oblivious to.

Station X 31st Jan 2017 4:47 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
That was a blip of 2280Hz from the AC9 signalling system which was only used on long distance circuits with no DC signalling path.

You still hear it today on some modern radio drama productions along with follow on dial tone at the called party when the calling party hangs up. That hasn't been used for years either. You still hear old fashioned 50Hz square wave dial tone too.

Junk Box Nick 31st Jan 2017 8:47 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
They tend (or tended) to go to great lengths to get the correct sound effects on "The Archers". I haven't listened for years but visited the studio in The Mailbox in Brum some years ago. They had a genuine Aga cooker amongst a line of other cookers and numerous household appliances to get the correct sound effect when a pan is placed or a kettle is boiled. Of course there was the inevitable panel with different door knockers, latches and bells, etc.

There was a story line where one of the characters restored a vintage Ferguson tractor - I don't know how genuine any sound effects might have been for that.

Spoiler alert for any listeners:

Any creaking clanging gate effects are actually provided by an old metal folding ironing board. ;)

AC/HL 31st Jan 2017 11:39 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
That's radio though, not TV or film, sound is naturally more important without visual input.

Andrew2 31st Jan 2017 11:46 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
And once again on Back in time for Dinner we get the gramophone with the pickup over the wrong side of the turntable!

Herald1360 5th Feb 2017 10:57 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
One of my pet peeves is when the called party in a phone call hangs up on the calling party who then hears dial tone......

It is calling party cleardown!

Try it when someone calls- ask them to hold on, put your phone back on hook, wait a second or two and pick up again- they'll still be there.....

McMurdo 24th Mar 2017 12:19 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Available on iplayer at the moment is an 'Arena' about Desert Island Discs, made in the 80's. It re-enacts Roy Plombley getting the idea for the programme while at home in 1941 listening to his wireless. Except the wireless is a Wartime Utility Set not introduced until 1944.

David G4EBT 26th Mar 2017 6:48 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
2 Attachment(s)
Just seen the newly released film 'Another Mother's Son' about the war years when he Channel Isles were under German occupation from 1940 - '45. It's a true story about a Jersey woman (Louisa Gould) who sheltered a Russian escaped prisoner (being used as slave labour on the Island), and was betrayed in an anonymous letter by a fellow Jersey Island resident.

She was also reported for possessing a hidden radio, which was confiscated. The radio in question appeared to me to be a Portadyne Princess or a 'Noble' which is virtually identical. I have one of each and as they have the Third Programme on the dial, they're clearly post 1948. Whether there was a pre-war version, I've no idea, so I can't unequivocally say that the radio is an anachronism.

I've attached a pic of my Portadyne 'Princess' alongside my 'Noble' and as will be seen from the scan of the dial, the Third programme is clearly marked. Many will remember similar sets being sold in kit form in the late 50s in PW magazine. Minimalist TRF circuit in which the volume control doubles as the reaction control. They perform remarkably well, but should the volume control need replacement, that poses a problem as its an anti-log track.

Incidentally, sadly, though sentenced to two year's imprisonment, Louisa Gould did not survive the war - she was transported to Ravensbruck POW Camp where tragically, she went to the gas chamber in 1945, just weeks before Germany surrendered. Her Brother, who had also been taken prisoner at the same time, was sent to Bergen Belsen, but survived the war - one of only two Brit POWs in that camp to do so. (The Russian managed to evade capture until the war ended).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_Gould

The film takes it's name from the fact that her own son was a soldier who was a prisoner of the German's and she felt she had to look after 'another mother's son'. It held a special interest for me because along with my wife, we visited Jersey in 2015 and spoke to an elderly Jersey historian who knew Louisa Gould personally.

Peter.N. 27th Mar 2017 8:30 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
A few evenings ago there was an aircraft crash investigation programme which was very interesting. On take off a warning lamp had appeared and take off was aborted, on investigation the engineers cleared it to go as it was just a faulty wing surface temperature sensor. On the next take off the plane crashed as it couldn't get enough lift because the flaps weren't down although they were set to be.

The reason was found to be a relay failure, the one that fed the temperature sensor also fed the flap circuit.

The real point of the post though is that while they were fault finding, every now and again they flashed a circuit diagram on the screen and it had valves in it, unless I am mistaken they don't do that any more.

Peter

mark_in_manc 27th Mar 2017 10:24 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by David G4EBT (Post 931514)
(The Russian managed to evade capture until the war ended).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_Gould

That's an amazing story. The Russian was very lucky, and may have also escaped being sent back to Russia; many were executed for desertion by the soviets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victims_of_Yalta

ms660 27th Mar 2017 4:09 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
They pushed a lot of them over the cliffs if they were working below par, stayed with a woman on one of the islands that remembered it, probably more islander collaboration than we know, anyways enough of that.

Nasty business is war.

Lawrence.

Station X 27th Mar 2017 4:34 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by ms660 (Post 931715)
...anyways enough of that.

Nasty business is war.

Lawrence.

Indeed can we return to discussing anachronisms please.

SiriusHardware 27th Mar 2017 8:38 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Station X (Post 914391)
Just watched "Lucan" he calls a London telephone number by dialling only three digits. He'd need to dial at least seven digits.

When it comes to phone numbers there's more than just realism to consider - if someone is seen or heard to be dialling a specific valid telephone number there is always a possibility that some lonely or disturbed person will dial it.

There is good cause never to state or show anyone dialling a number which might work from anywhere to somewhere else in the world.

I seem to remember a legend that at one time all telephone numbers seen or quoted in Hollywood films would start with the digits '555...' because no real phone numbers commenced with those digits.

The General 27th Mar 2017 9:13 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
In the USA & Canada, area code 555 is reserved for directory assistance & is not assigned to actual subscribers. 555-01xx is reserved for fictional use (TV, films, etc).
Mark


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