Matrix H Articles

[par4ken]

IMHO, another missed opportunity, L-R decoding becoming widely used might have influenced the QS/SQ/H mixes so that they sounded good with the correct decoder and also sounded good with a simple L-R decoder.

Anyone have any matrix H test signals - I'm interested in where the sounds end up w/DPL2 music and L-R decoding.

The Neal device User Manual claims that a single setting is fine for both QS and SQ, seems too good to be true.


Kirk Bayne

I seem to remember seeing a passive SQ decoder made for jukeboxes I think it was Seaburg or maybe Wurlitzer. I can't imagine it doing a very effective decoding job. SQ is not very effective via the “Hafler” circuit.

This whole thing about passive decoding was a cheap way to get into Quad (sort of), it wet my appetite for the real thing. I do feel that the benefits of using even a basic quad decoder with four channels of amplification far eclipses the passive method though.

 

[kfbkfb]

In fact it was deliberately all very low key.

That's the first I've heard about this aspect of the BBC/H tests (I would think a few [late night/early morning] test tones sent to the farthest transmitters to verify the phase accuracy of the FM audio distribution system would tell the BBC all they want to know about Matrix H content surviving the FM broadcasting infrastructure).

The rest of the mono-stereo-quad compatibility issues could be tested in listening rooms.

IIRC, NBC did an unannounced transcontinental NTSC color broadcast in October 1953, a few months before NTSC color was approved, but that was an anomaly.


Kirk Bayne

 

[Soundfield]

My reply : You leave the impression that six months was the test time period when of course it was not.
There were broadcasts in 1978 which ran from January to August .first week of. .The last official was Genesis at Knebworth ,the July Concert broadcast in August is the last I know of.
Also of note the BBC still had their Matrix H system up for acceptance by the FCC awaiting acceptance I might add. They could have pulled it anytime if they totally caved in with quad , but did not. After all it was a BBC Investment that they claimed the rights to.

-Fizzy

edit

Then I'm afraid you got the wrong impression. Yes ,we all know that the that the test ran for a just over a year (indeed I said so again above). But what I also said was that six months into that test the public response had been very small. I do not have the figures for the end of the year but have no reason to believe they were proportionately different. The BBC did not "totally cave in with quad". They ran an extended assessment (the largest in the world) for slightly longer than its allotted time. After due consideration it was judged to be insufficiently robust and beneficial to introduce into public service. This was an entirely rational decision that very few disagreed with. There was little or no public demand - what very little wider interest there had been in quad was already waning by 1978. End of story. The assessment by the FCC will have had little or no impact on BBC decision making one way or another.

 

[Owen Smith]

IIRC, NBC did an unannounced transcontinental NTSC color broadcast in October 1953, a few months before NTSC color was approved, but that was an anomaly.

The BBC secretly broadcast the Queen's coronation in NTSC colour on 405 line VHF from Crystal Palace only, partly to see if anyone noticed and partly so colour could be checked on a very small number of TVs that were made. 405 line NTSC colour went no further.

 

[Sal1950]

one of the most common alternatives was the Napolex QA-10 Quadraphonic Adapter-

What a kool little box!
You got it polished up real good too.

 

[Soundfield]

The BBC secretly broadcast the Queen's coronation in NTSC colour on 405 line VHF from Crystal Palace only, partly to see if anyone noticed and partly so colour could be checked on a very small number of TVs that were made. 405 line NTSC colour went no further.

In 1953? One hell of a secret. Even the BBC didn't know!
This is an extract from “Twenty-five Years of BBC Television”, BBC Engineering Division Monograph No 39: October 1961
By Sir Harold Bishop, C.B.E., F.C.G.I., M.I.E.E., M.I.Mech.E. Director of Engineering, British Broadcasting Corporation-
"On 7 October 1954, the first 'compatible' type of colour television picture was radiated from the medium-power transmitter at Alexandra Palace. The pictures included slides and 16-mm motion pictures, and the details of the standards employed on this occasion differed little from those employed regularly from 1955 until the present time. On this historic occasion only one colour television receiver, so far as is known, displayed the pictures, but there was a fair-sized audience viewing the compatible black-and-white pictures in their homes on normal domestic television receivers. "

 

[Soundfield]

What a kool little box!
You got it polished up real good too.

Sadly that is a stock photo - mine was retired decades ago!

 

[Owen Smith]

In 1953? One hell of a secret. Even the BBC didn't know!
This is an extract from “Twenty-five Years of BBC Television”, BBC Engineering Division Monograph No 39: October 1961
By Sir Harold Bishop, C.B.E., F.C.G.I., M.I.E.E., M.I.Mech.E. Director of Engineering, British Broadcasting Corporation-
"On 7 October 1954, the first 'compatible' type of colour television picture was radiated from the medium-power transmitter at Alexandra Palace. The pictures included slides and 16-mm motion pictures, and the details of the standards employed on this occasion differed little from those employed regularly from 1955 until the present time. On this historic occasion only one colour television receiver, so far as is known, displayed the pictures, but there was a fair-sized audience viewing the compatible black-and-white pictures in their homes on normal domestic television receivers. "

I'd always understood it was done for the coronation, but I could be wrong.

 

[Soundfield]

And talking of audio pioneer Michael Gerzon, who died in March 1996…

if you haven’t already seen it, I’d recommend you have a look at this very short documentary about his development of Ambisonics made by the Music Department of Oxford University in 2018-

 

[fizzywiggs41]

The BBC secretly broadcast the Queen's coronation in NTSC colour on 405 line VHF from Crystal Palace only, partly to see if anyone noticed and partly so colour could be checked on a very small number of TVs that were made. 405 line NTSC colour went no further.

No way, the BBC doesn't broadcast anything secretly?

 

[fizzywiggs41]

BTW Utube has one more BBC Matrix H quad that can be downloaded, but it's seriously incomplete.

It contains only the first song from Alan Freeman 's broadcast on XMAS EVE DEC 24TH 1977.

Most likely everyone or almost everyone in this thread has seen it, though.

 

[kfbkfb]

Thinking about the secrecy of the BBC Matrix H (test) broadcasts - if the goal was to justify recording content in discrete quad (for current broadcasts in matrix H and future broadcasts in some form of discrete surround sound), it seems to me that promoting the use of nearly any (except SQ) matrix decoder would be beneficial (Hafler/Stereo-4/QS).

Appearing to require using only a matrix H decoder seems similar to implying that stereo FM radio broadcasts should only be listened to using 2 identical full range speakers properly placed for good stereo imaging, rather than using a "boombox" type FM stereo radio, for example.

Were the early BBC stereo FM (test?) broadcasts kept secret?


Kirk Bayne

 

[Soundfield]

Thinking about the secrecy of the BBC Matrix H (test) broadcasts

What secrecy? They were scheduled public tests.

if the goal was to justify recording content in discrete quad (for current broadcasts in matrix H and future broadcasts in some form of discrete surround sound)

That was never a goal of the tests.

Appearing to require using only a matrix H decoder

The BBC didn't require anybody to do anything.

Were the early BBC stereo FM (test?) broadcasts kept secret?

No.

 

[kfbkfb]

I don't get it, the YouTube BBC 1 matrix H audio earlier in this thread decodes fairly well w/Hafler speaker matrix.

It seems like a one or two sentence advisory just before each matrix H broadcast that stated that although using a matrix H decoder is best , some surround sound can obtained by using a passive speaker matrix decoding system (maybe an ad in the radio guides periodically that shows how to connect a passive decoding system).

I thought the goal was to make quad/surround sound the norm and the various matrix systems were stepping stones to that goal (with the eventual result to be discrete quad/surround broadcasts [radio & TV] and physical media [discs & tapes]).


Kirk Bayne

 

[MidiMagic]

What secrecy? They were scheduled public tests.

[/QUOTE]

That was never a goal of the tests.

[/QUOTE]

The BBC didn't require anybody to do anything.

[/QUOTE]

No.
[/QUOTE]

The testing of any new technologies used in any kind of broadcasting is needed to make sure such a broadcast does not interfere with any other radio service and that it is compatible with existing listening equipment. This is required in the US too. This was my father's work for many years.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

And talking of audio pioneer Michael Gerzon, who died in March 1996…

if you haven’t already seen it, I’d recommend you have a look at this very short documentary about his development of Ambisonics made by the Music Department of Oxford University in 2018-

Very good to watch! Short but sweet. It was fun looking at uni pics from the past & see an update to 2018 at the end.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Thinking about the secrecy of the BBC Matrix H (test) broadcasts - if the goal was to justify recording content in discrete quad (for current broadcasts in matrix H and future broadcasts in some form of discrete surround sound), it seems to me that promoting the use of nearly any (except SQ) matrix decoder would be beneficial (Hafler/Stereo-4/QS).

Appearing to require using only a matrix H decoder seems similar to implying that stereo FM radio broadcasts should only be listened to using 2 identical full range speakers properly placed for good stereo imaging, rather than using a "boombox" type FM stereo radio, for example.

Were the early BBC stereo FM (test?) broadcasts kept secret?


Kirk Bayne

There were only 2* Matrix H secret recordings broadcast that I know of and were documented. Both were of a 1976 Promenades Concerts in August of that year.

They carried out both secretly to gage opinion of the stereo and mono broadcast . 1976 is prior to the Commencement of official broadcasts (April 30th 1977).

BTW This is not an unusual means of a subjective test , eliminating any bias on the listener . Additionally this type of test was not solely subject to The BBC as I believe this was carried out Stateside as well.




*See post #48

 

[kfbkfb]

IMHO, new ideas/products (in the case of quad matrix systems - compatible upgrades) need extensive, long term promotion to be successful.

Although color TV was/is a dramatic improvement over B&W TV, NBC relentlessly promoted color TV for over 10 years before the breakthrough of all the prime time shows on all 3 networks being in color (1966-09).

I realize that funding issues at the BBC (a hit TV show or radio show won't bring in any more revenue, which could be used to fund new things) limit the implementation and promotion of new things (radio & TV related).

IMHO, the BBC should have continued matrix H broadcasts (maybe only a few most listened to programs/year) because, as Dolby Labs was able to show starting in 1982, people really are interested in surround sound at home.


Kirk Bayne

 

[MidiMagic]

IMHO, new ideas/products (in the case of quad matrix systems - compatible upgrades) need extensive, long term promotion to be successful.

Although color TV was/is a dramatic improvement over B&W TV, NBC relentlessly promoted color TV for over 10 years before the breakthrough of all the prime time shows on all 3 networks being in color (1966-09).

Kirk Bayne

My father was a television engineer and worked on the FCC testing for the RCA color system. I have an original FCC submission book from 1953.

There were mainly the problems of equipment cost (especially to the individual stations), availability of color programming, and the number of viewers with color sets.

- The NTSC RCA compatible color standard was approved by the FCC in 1953.
- RCA started immediately making color TV sets, but they cost several times the cost of a black and white set.
- NBC was ahead of the other networks in equipping network equipment and stations.
- Usually a station put in the network, control, and transmitter equipment first.
- Next they got color film to TV converters.
- Then they got cameras and studio equipment.
- Last they got color remote news equipment.
- Local stations usually were way behind the network stations.
- We got a color set in 1961, and most of the programming was in black and white.
- NBC had most of the prime time filled by 1961. CBS was second, and ABC was the last to really get color going.
- I actually remember that announcement in 1966. I was 15.

 

[kfbkfb]

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=273079
http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=271414
Some parallels with the intro of matrix quad systems and logic decoders (slow gain riding to improved multiband variable matrix after a few years).


https://www.tvtechnology.com/miscellaneous/recording-the-proms-in-51
Looks like it took ~26 years to try broadcast surround sound again after the matrix H broadcasts (too bad the BBC didn't use one of their old matrix H encoders to encode the 5.1 audio to quad for stereo FM ).


Kirk Bayne