Author Topic: EGGCRATE READOUTS (Read 36178 times)

chris319 · « **Reply #30 on:** February 08, 2004, 09:29:37 PM »

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On your 20th anniversary of having been employed in commercial radio and/or TV you qualify for membership. ;-)

So Randy, you've got, what, another five years to go? :-P

SPELLING CORRECTION:
Ferranti-Packard. Your Google searches aren't going to get very far with incorrect spelling.

EGG CRATE TRIVIA:
The readouts used in the Showcase podiums originally used incandescent type 1820 lamps. They run at the oddball voltage of 28 volts DC, draw a lot of current and generate a lot of heat. They are bright enough to shine through smoke Plexiglas or painted scrim (fabric) and then some. They are driven with a simple diode matrix. The apertures for the lamps are 5/8" in diameter. There is now a rather expensive LED which is a direct replacement for the 1820 lamp. Whether CBS has retrofitted their readouts with this type of LED I do not know. The numeric-only readouts can be controlled with something as simple as a 12-position rotary switch. Displaying more than one alphabetic character is a vastly more complicated undertaking. Over the years various consoles have been designed and built to control these things, to do arithmetic, make them flash, etc. The latest technology uses light pens. Constructing units to approximate those used on TV is a non-trivial endeavor requiring a lot of custom fabrication.

Chief-O · « **Reply #31 on:** February 08, 2004, 10:15:29 PM »

>> They are bright enough to shine through smoke Plexiglas or painted scrim (fabric) and then some.
It comes as a surprise to me that they'd use fabric on the front. It just seems that something else, say, stage lighting gel, would work better.

Also, I've pulled up another strange picture, this time from WTMJ in Milwaukee. It's from a telethon from way back....so far, the only time I've seen an eggcrate display outside a game show/GS parody:
http://www.touchtmj4.com/50www/communit/maccath3.jpg

chris319 · « **Reply #32 on:** February 08, 2004, 10:20:58 PM »

Lighting gels are too flimsy. Colored Plexiglas is sometimes used. The idea behind using scrim is that it can be painted, a la the red and green displays on the front of the MG '7x contestant desks.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #33 on:** February 08, 2004, 10:21:30 PM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 8 2004, 08:29 PM\'] SPELLING CORRECTION:
Ferranti-Packard. Your Google searches aren't going to get very far with incorrect spelling.
[/quote]
Not to be confused with Ferrenti and Teicher (sorry for causing the mass "exodus" to this message <ducking>).

Thanks for the correction and clarification.

Doug

dale_grass · « **Reply #34 on:** February 08, 2004, 11:38:15 PM »

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Debt and IIRC, Win Ben Stein's Money used the square eggcrates.

I was a religious watcher of Win Ben Stein's Money, and I'm pretty sure the round eggcrates were used.

Jay Temple · « **Reply #35 on:** February 08, 2004, 11:44:16 PM »

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Feb 8 2004, 09:21 PM\'] [quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 8 2004, 08:29 PM\'] SPELLING CORRECTION:
Ferranti-Packard. Your Google searches aren't going to get very far with incorrect spelling.
[/quote]
Not to be confused with Ferrenti and Teicher (sorry for causing the mass "exodus" to this message <ducking>).

Thanks for the correction and clarification.

Doug [/quote]
Don't be surprised if I'm the only one who understands that one.

AZAndrewG · « **Reply #36 on:** February 09, 2004, 06:27:16 AM »

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Feb 7 2004, 10:09 PM\'] You're looking at a small sample of those former CBS items mentioned earlier in this thread. The big bell in the center of the picture is still marked as having been used on the show "Whew". Both the item with the large chain at the top left and the device with gears nearer the top right were among the items used on that recurring Jack Benny vault bit. And yes, a couple of electric chimes and/or buzzers are visible as well. [/quote]
Randy, correct me if I'm wrong, but nowadays, aren't the SFX on "Price" triggered by a programmable music keyboard?

chris319 · « **Reply #37 on:** February 09, 2004, 06:38:22 AM »

I'm not Randy but the SFX are now triggered by a MIDI keyboard connected to a Yamaha sampler. This system was devised in the late '80s. Nowadays they could just as well play .wav files from standard PC hardware with a touch-screen or light pen interface.

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #38 on:** February 09, 2004, 09:25:29 AM »

Quote

Also, I've pulled up another strange picture, this time from WTMJ in Milwaukee. It's from a telethon from way back....so far, the only time I've seen an eggcrate display outside a game show/GS parody:
http://www.touchtmj4.com/50www/communit/maccath3.jpg

I remember seeing one used on an episode of "Alice" once - it was for a time of day display that was in the background of a scene.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #39 on:** February 09, 2004, 09:59:28 AM »

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Feb 8 2004, 10:44 PM\'] Don't be surprised if I'm the only one who understands that one. [/quote]
Oh, there might be a few others who got it, too. At least for now I can hold the title of "Worst joke ever told on the Invision Board 2004" (cue the Charles Nelson Reilly card).

Doug

SRIV94 · « **Reply #40 on:** February 09, 2004, 10:01:14 AM »

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Feb 9 2004, 08:25 AM\']

Quote

Also, I've pulled up another strange picture, this time from WTMJ in Milwaukee. It's from a telethon from way back....so far, the only time I've seen an eggcrate display outside a game show/GS parody:
http://www.touchtmj4.com/50www/communit/maccath3.jpg

I remember seeing one used on an episode of "Alice" once - it was for a time of day display that was in the background of a scene. [/quote]
Wasn't that the "Vera tries to break a tap-dancing record" episode?

Doug

clemon79 · « **Reply #41 on:** February 09, 2004, 11:45:23 AM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 9 2004, 04:38 AM\'] I'm not Randy but the SFX are now triggered by a MIDI keyboard connected to a Yamaha sampler. This system was devised in the late '80s. Nowadays they could just as well play .wav files from standard PC hardware with a touch-screen or light pen interface. [/quote]
Or a *gasp* KEYBOARD!

(Like a QWERTY keyboard, folks...

uncamark · « **Reply #42 on:** February 09, 2004, 12:38:56 PM »

[quote name=\'Chief-O\' date=\'Feb 7 2004, 09:24 PM\']>> Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters has the best collection of practical sound effects devices I'm aware of, dating back to the "golden era". For fans of old radio, PPB has the assemblage of practical devices that created the sounds for accessing and opening Jack Benny's vault on his CBS show. It was a classic comedy bit used many times to big laughs. And yes, some of the goodies from the CBS game shows rest there as well.

I found a cool picture of what is represented as CBS SFX equipment here:
http://www.earthsignals.com/Collins/0038/0016_1.jpg

The big black bell looks like it may have been the source of the famous clangs when someone has a perfect bid. [/quote]
It seems to me that the perfect bid bell was always canned, because it has always seemed to stop abruptly with the sound not dying out naturally when the bell stops ringing. (And the "whoop woop WOOP" horn was also canned--MacKenzies can play more than one tape at once.)

clemon79 · « **Reply #43 on:** February 09, 2004, 01:08:17 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Feb 9 2004, 10:38 AM\'] It seems to me that the perfect bid bell was always canned, because it has always seemed to stop abruptly with the sound not dying out naturally when the bell stops ringing. [/quote]
Yes, but the point is, it had to be canned from SOMETHING. Perhaps that could still have been the source of the original sound.

tvrandywest · « **Reply #44 on:** February 09, 2004, 02:21:33 PM »

I missed my earlier cues, but I'm back just in time to bring these latest posts full circle: The TPIR sfx are triggered from a MUSIC keyboard as opposed to a light pen, touch-screen or qwerty keyboard so that Ferrante and Teicher can play them!

(Life is a giant warm-up)

Quote

Yes, but the point is, it had to be canned from SOMETHING. Perhaps that could still have been the source of the original sound.

Now we're on to the point. "Price" has had such a long run that many (but not all) of the sfx were created and later recorded from practical effects.

It wasn't all that long ago that the show's ubiquitous "ping" was created live in the stage right wings from the kind of chime that used to be heard pinging in department stores. There was a hot mic positioned near that eloctromechanical chime device that now rests at PPB (yes, Chris touched it!). It was triggered by a CBS staffer holding a button that resembled the handheld nurse's call button you might have at a hospital bed. Use your thumb to press the button once, and get a single ping. The easiest way to get the rapidly repeating pings heard when the winner of a one-bid is announced was NOT to try to get your thumb to quiver like an epileptic seizure, but to hold the button upside-down in your fist with the button protruding past your pinky finger and rapidly bang your fist on the countertop!

Now THAT was show business!

Randy
tvrandywest.com