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

ms660 27th Mar 2017 9:20 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Whitehall 1212!!

Lawrence.

SiriusHardware 27th Mar 2017 9:58 pm

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

Originally Posted by Ilikevalvesme (Post 931857)
555-01xx is reserved for fictional use (TV, films, etc).

Mark, thanks for that clarification.

Station X 27th Mar 2017 10:56 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
In the UK it used to be 01-246-8071, which I think was Dial a Recipe. You'd see it on estate agent's boards and on the side of vans in TV programmes.

cheerfulcharlie 27th Mar 2017 11:31 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Not sure if I am seeing things or what..but in the Virgin TV advert for showing how fast their Broadband is - due to fibre optic cable - is that a coax cable they actually show on screen?

Karen O 28th Mar 2017 1:46 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Nah. You're all wrong. They didn't have anachronisms back then.

detrain 28th Mar 2017 1:18 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
The fake UK telephone numbers that can safely be used in TV programmes etc. are documented on an OFCOM page:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-tele...bers-for-drama

I've used this when creating fictitious examples in computer software documentation.

Guest 28th Mar 2017 1:30 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Phone numbers for UK drama... https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-tele...bers-for-drama I don't say this much but well done Ofcom, many proper area codes unlike the USA 555 one.

And there is the morse code sent at less than 5WPM and the words coming out at 50. At least in most (old) films the letters were right for the start of the message. Saved a lot of boredom for the film watcher if they could read morse and for those that can't merrily adding to the scene seting.

Peter.N. 29th Mar 2017 8:22 am

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

Originally Posted by cheerfulcharlie (Post 931910)
Not sure if I am seeing things or what..but in the Virgin TV advert for showing how fast their Broadband is - due to fibre optic cable - is that a coax cable they actually show on screen?

Yes I saw that, coax obviously looks more 'technical' than fibre.

Peter

Brigham 29th Mar 2017 8:55 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
I see that 'fibre' has now become the 'product', rather than the delivery medium!

Arqiva BOC 29th Mar 2017 10:13 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Whilst in the works gym yesterday I watched the 1968 film 'The Battle for Anzio', great all star cast, but in the scene where the lead characters drive a jeep up to a location looking over the city of Rome, the buildings in the distance are festooned with TV antennas!

AC/HL 29th Mar 2017 3:09 pm

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

Originally Posted by cheerfulcharlie (Post 931910)
in the Virgin TV advert for showing how fast their Broadband is - due to fibre optic cable - is that a coax cable they actually show on screen?

Virgin is fibre to the cabinet, the link into the building is co-ax. It's then split to feed the set top box and router. The phone is a separate pair of wires. Advertisements are not typically big on technical accuracy.

JohnBHanson 21st Apr 2017 8:52 pm

Air Crash Confidential
 
Having watched a couple of episodes I have noticed that often the investigators can be seen studying circuit diagrams trying to find problems.

I wish them luck as the circuits are of old valve radios.

Does this often happen?

high_vacuum_house 21st Apr 2017 9:30 pm

Re: Air Crash Confidential
 
I have seen several of these and the scenes are staged by rather non technical personnel for an audience of generally non technical people.
If you look at some you can spot oscilloscopes on shelves or the background that are free running with no probes connected or connected to the cal output and have nothing to do with any sort of fault investigation but just to make a investigation lab look interesting.

I would expect real crash investigation labs to be rather dull looking and not have flight critical components rolling around desks!!

There was one programme where a critical hydraulic actuator froze causing a crash in which it was tested by supposedly cooling it down on a test rig by someone stood next to it blasting it with a CO2 fire extinguisher to make it very cold! not very scientific and was waiting for the chap to keel over after breathing in all that CO2!!!

Christopher Capener

julie_m 22nd Apr 2017 1:52 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Carbon dioxide is heavier than air; so if you are standing up and aiming the extinguisher down, you won't be breathing much of it in. Even if you did, you'd be fine as soon as you brothe some "ordinary" (i.e., with 20% oxygen in it) air. Carbon monoxide is about the same density as air and also binds to haemoglobin, so your blood's oxygen-carrying capacity is reduced even after you get into fresh air -- urgent medical treatment is required in cases of heavy exposure to CO.

Carbon monoxide is also inflammable (the blue part of a carbon-based fuel flame is where the carbon atoms are acquiring their second oxygen, after picking up the first one in the redder part of the flame; soot is unreacted carbon, and serves to indicate that there is not enough oxygen even to partially oxidise all the carbon), so definitely would not be used in a fire extinguisher!

emeritus 22nd Apr 2017 5:26 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
My understanding from when I was a First Aider is that the small proportion of Carbon Dioxide that is present in atmospheric air is a factor in the breathing reflex. Ambulances carry a bottle of CO2 as part of their kit that can be added to Oxygen where a patient has difficulty in breathing. I well recall from the numerous brewery trips that we had at college that if you leaned over a fermentation vat and sniffed ( as we were sometimes encouraged to do - carefully), the high CO2 concentration would make you breathe in sharply.

ColinTheAmpMan1 22nd Apr 2017 5:42 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
I recall seeing a TV programme a while back, where the brave (foolhardy?) presenter exercised on a stationary bicycle while breathing his own exhaled air. The carbon dioxide had been scrubbed from this re-cycled air using a canister of soda-lime if I recall correctly. The unfortunate presenter, because of the lack of carbon dioxide in the gas he was breathing, didn't start gasping, he simply fell off the bike. A salutary tale, I think.
Colin.

Brigham 24th Apr 2017 8:54 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
This is correct. It's the CO2 that causes the awareness of lack of oxygen. It's a drawback of the Davis Submarine Escape Apparatus, which is a chemical re-breather.
I often wonder why the technique isn't used for gassing unwanted dogs, etc.. It would cause far less distress.

Station X 24th Apr 2017 9:02 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
No more discussion about carbon dioxide please. It has nothing to do with the title of this thread or vintage technology.

McMurdo 16th Aug 2017 11:37 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
I've just watched a bit of 'The Heart of the Matter'; A 1953 film starring Trevor Howard, and set in WW2.

In one of the offices is an Ultra Coronation Twin radio...not released until 7 years after the war.

60 oldjohn 29th Oct 2017 11:48 am

Youth & Vinyl
 
Just seen on the Quest TV channel a pre-owned watch advert featuring a record deck. The tone arm is lifted from rest position straight to towards the centre, film is cut just before the deck switches off! Never did see the record played, I wonder if they thought they had a faulty player.

John.

Station X 29th Oct 2017 1:14 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
They should have employed Edward Huggins as a technical consultant.

RojDW48 12th Jan 2018 3:58 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
There was a quite respectable horror film on TV recently called 'Stoker'. Featured Nicole Kidman, wondering where she had left the script, Matthew Goode pretending to be the American psychotic Uncle Charlie and a Quad 22 FM tuner - in several shots, on top of a cupboard, not apparently connected to anything which would respond to bit of FM. What an odd prop!

newlite4 21st Jan 2018 9:09 pm

Roberts Revival - call the midwife
 
Just switched over to Call the Midwife on BBC1 and in the first scene in the kitchen of Nonatus House the news is coming from a cream Roberts Revival with the top push buttons. It would not have been too difficult to have sourced an original example given that there are normally a few at most car boots each Sunday.
Neil

michamoo 21st Jan 2018 9:14 pm

Re: Roberts Revival - call the midwife
 
It's like they just can't be bothered at times! Modern Yale type locks on doors when it's supposed to be the 1920's are another..

gary_crutchley 21st Jan 2018 9:20 pm

Re: Roberts Revival - call the midwife
 
Yes, I also spotted the radio too. Trixie Franklin actually pretended to tune it as well!

Brigham 13th Mar 2018 12:45 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
I spotted one of those difficult to explain 'other way round' anachronisms in an episode of Gideon's Way the other night.
Jack Hedley appeared to be wearing a quartz wristwatch, with characteristic 'dead-beat' seconds hand, in February 1965!

rontech 16th Jun 2018 7:52 pm

Re: Antiques Roadshow playing 78 wrong way round
 
Maybe off topic a bit, but I recall an episode of a detective story set ca 1936 ( probably a Poirot one ) where a 78 rpm dance band record was played. The record was clearly an HMV bright blue label one, almost certainly of the POPnnnn series of the 1950's ( they featured Elvis and contemporary artists )

P.S. In all other respects,the period detail was excellent!

Brigham 19th Jun 2018 12:28 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
A local arts student made a delightful compilation film of my home town '...in the Swinging Sixties', using borrowed 8mm home movie footage.
Unfortunately, she made the soundtrack 'swing' with Jimmy Dorsey, Artie Shaw...

rontech 21st Jun 2018 9:15 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
I would close my eyes and enjoy the soundtrack!

Grubhead 16th Jul 2018 12:42 am

Re: Antiques Roadshow playing 78 wrong way round
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by rontech (Post 1052311)
Maybe off topic a bit, but I recall an episode of a detective story set ca 1936 ( probably a Poirot one ) where a 78 rpm dance band record was played. The record was clearly an HMV bright blue label one, almost certainly of the POPnnnn series of the 1950's ( they featured Elvis and contemporary artists )

P.S. In all other respects,the period detail was excellent!

That sort of thing is common in films and TV shows.
I spotted once in a 60's based Heartbeat TV show that used late 1970's style PYE single record sleeves.

A 1960's electric doorbell in the Battle of Britain film was I think the earliest mistake I ever spotted.

arjoll 16th Jul 2018 3:53 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
1 Attachment(s)
I hardly ever contribute to these, but spot odd things.

This isn't quite the same as other examples, and has been shared elsewhere - including be me on Facebook a while ago when it aired here on Three - but according to NCIS: Los Angeles, it appears that the US nuclear missile launch sites use Commodore 64s....

Now I know they do use some pretty old tech, but somehow I don't think this is accurate.

terrybull 16th Jul 2018 6:13 am

Re: Roberts Revival - call the midwife
 
1 Attachment(s)
Quote:

Originally Posted by michamoo (Post 1010078)
It's like they just can't be bothered at times! Modern Yale type locks on doors when it's supposed to be the 1920's are another..

They doubtless are modern Yale locks but I beleive they go back a long way.

broadgage 16th Jul 2018 7:43 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
A recent episode of Foyles War featured a large country house being used for the training of spies etc.
Several modern looking self contained emergency lights may be seen over internal doorways. They have been covered up or painted to match the light green walls, but still look out of place.
One can also see the dust marks on the wall above the lights, caused by the modest but continual heat output.

Some premises did have emergency lighting then, but this consisted of standard "mains type" incandescent fittings supplied from a central battery.
And not fittings containing a battery and a miniature fluorescent tube.

Herald1360 16th Jul 2018 11:36 am

Re: Roberts Revival - call the midwife
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by terrybull (Post 1059084)
They doubtless are modern Yale locks but I beleive they go back a long way.

The picture looks suspiciously like a Vaughan, not Yale, lock.

Though having found it online, it would seem that they were the originators of the design which only later became owned by Yale.

http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/Muse...tteer/gazv.htm

Station X 16th Jul 2018 11:59 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
I think Yale bought the company, not the design, so they had a UK manufacturing facility.

Richard_FM 16th Jul 2018 1:58 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
I remember spotting that doorbell in The Battle of Britain, the same house has a lifting garage door which I don't think was common for another decade or so.

Graham G3ZVT 17th Jul 2018 2:10 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
1 Attachment(s)
Apologies if someone has already mentioned this one
It's an episode of heartbeat called "Judgment Day"
This character is taping up the dial of a VTR103 so she doesn't lose the spot where she gets the police messages
Would that it were, as Robert Robinson used to say, it's a humble TR82.

https://www.itv.com/hub/heartbeat/Ya0757a0289

Peter.N. 18th Jul 2018 9:40 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
On the VHF version you could get the police band at one time.

Peter

Herald1360 23rd Jul 2018 12:46 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Interesting. Not actually an anachronism but rather a lack of attention to detail nonetheless.

broadgage 24th Jul 2018 12:38 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
In last nights episode of Foyles war, Foyle gives some fishing flies to an American soldier.
They are in a moulded polythene multi compartment box, as widely used today for storing small items.
Although polythene HAD been invented then, it was still expensive and in very short supply and would not have been used for low priority civilian purposes like storage boxes.

McMurdo 11th Sep 2018 10:57 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
1 Attachment(s)
A BRC1400 (poss HMV) TV used by the family in 'Back in time for the factory' . Unfortunately it showed the Dagenham Sewing Machinist's Strike. In colour.

vidjoman 12th Sep 2018 9:04 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
From about the mid 60's all BBC news gathering on film would have been colour. I worked for a firm that put a magnetic stripe on the film before it went into the camera so they could record the sound at the same time.
I guess they either added the colour picture to the TV by computer or somebody had fitted a colour chassis to a set they borrowed. I haven't seen the program yet.
The first Colour TV I owned was in 1968 - the year of the strike.

dseymo1 12th Sep 2018 10:31 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Another example, though, where it would be so easy to do it correctly.
I know that even Shakespeare has anachronisms, but there's really no excuse.

Richard_FM 12th Sep 2018 1:12 pm

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

Originally Posted by McMurdo (Post 1074427)
A BRC1400 (poss HMV) TV used by the family in 'Back in time for the factory' . Unfortunately it showed the Dagenham Sewing Machinist's Strike. In colour.

Yes I spotted it too, the picture did look like it was superimposed though.

They were watching some B&W programming at other times.

Some of the stock footage of shops were post 1971, I could see some decimal prices on display.

toshiba tony 16th Nov 2018 10:19 pm

Re: TV set on BBC1 Make Me a Dealer programme.
 
The BBC programme (TV Memories) use a Philips mono set and superimpose colour pictures on it, call it minor, but I find it distracting. I appreciate they are trying to create nostalgia but colour was well established by this time.

paulsherwin 27th Nov 2018 10:33 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Another WW2 DAC90A in Mrs Wilson this evening. A pity, as most of the period detail is very good, and a lot of money has obviously been spent.

PaulR 11th Dec 2018 8:45 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Yes, I noticed that in Mrs Wilson when I got round to watching it last night.

A very good series for accuracy are the early Heartbeat ones. Real fires in the grates, correct rings and dialling tones on the phones and timely technology and cars. I suppose the 60s were more recent when it was filmed and more people remembered what was around

Nickthedentist 11th Dec 2018 9:09 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Loads of good, period stuff on Mrs Wilson but apart from the Bush mentioned above, their home slide projector seems to be a very posh, professional, 1970s, Kodak Carosel which would be more at home in a lecture theatre.

OK, it makes a wonderfully evocative noise as the slides are changed, but surely an old Aldis with the lovely crinkly paint finish and its "primitive" look would have been more photogenic and more realistic for a middle class family living in a fairly modest thirties semi.

And the street lights and the odd house with UPVC double glazing stick out if to my eyes, but I suppose that's unavoidable really these days.

Nick.

Richard_FM 12th Dec 2018 2:57 pm

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

Originally Posted by PaulR (Post 1100569)
Yes, I noticed that in Mrs Wilson when I got round to watching it last night.

A very good series for accuracy are the early Heartbeat ones. Real fires in the grates, correct rings and dialling tones on the phones and timely technology and cars. I suppose the 60s were more recent when it was filmed and more people remembered what was around

My Dad used to comment when a song wasn't right for the period, some early 1970s ones managed to slip through.

He was good at noticing some transport errors, like a lorry with a Long Vehicle sign on the rear & some trains not being right for the area if correct timewise.

Graham G3ZVT 22nd Dec 2018 2:31 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Not an anachronism, but "wrong" nonetheless.
The Channel 4 "Let the Bells Ring Out" Christmas promo shows various "bell" imagery, including a Friedland "Pushlite" illuminated bell-push, which lit up when pressed.

Dramatic licence I guess.

Happy Christmas everyone.


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