In message
Paul Terry wrote:

In message , Graeme Wall
writes

It certainly went out live in the very early years, most BBC programmes did.

According to ...
http://www.relativedimensions.co.uk/newman.html

it was recorded on videotape (which was indeed unusual in the UK back
then). Almost certainly they would have used Ampex Quad machines, which
the beeb were just starting to employ, following the failure of their
own "VERA" video-taping system.

IIRC VERA was a wire-recording system with the reels rotating at a ferocious
speed. One day a spool came off the hub and went right through the wall of
the recording booth.


I can't be certain if that URL is right, but it seems very likely - the
quality of the early episodes matches the very poor reproduction of
early Quads (nowhere near as good as film),

Even the later ones were never really that good. Recently watched a DVD of
Yes Minister and was appalled at how soft the pictures were.

and they would already have been committed to using recording for the
title sequence and for the trailers (it was one of the very few programmes
to have had trailers back in them days).


--
Graeme Wall
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