Why did 405 look so good?

[Doodlebug]

405 looked even better when SP was on.

[`FRANK.C]

The 405 lines RTE transmissions were for people living near the NI border & the east coast who had bought 405 lines or dual standard TV's to pick up overspill  transmissions of BBC1 & ITV  from Northern Ireland & Wales...

Yes but I would think they covered a fair chunk of the rest of the country as well. I live near Roscommon Co Roscommon and around here Truskmore (Sligo) was our transmitter. I don't know how far more south it could be received but the signal was strong around here.  

Jeffrey
Looking forward seeing ye on Monday and to seeing you too Trevor whenever you get a chance to come across.

Don't worry about the local driving antics, it don't take long to get with the rhythm and blend in

Frank

[Murphyv310]

Ha Ha.
That made me laugh Frank. Blend in...... so funny.

[Crackle]

From what I can remember 405 lines TV always looked good; bright, sharp & with good contrast.

Did they? Maybe when the tube was new, but the 405 TV's I remember were hopeless in daylight and if the contrast and brightness was turned up they normally went out of focus and were always picking up interference when a car went by.. As already mentioned they were OK at night in a dimly lit room.
But having said they they were adequate for their time and one got used to the picture.

Mike

[Refugee]

405 sets gave good pictures when they were new you could see all the lines if you sat close to the set however the set we had at the time got very intermittent and needed lots of call outs to the rental shop.
When it was new the 625 did not look any better than 405 apart from there not being any visible lines when you sat close.

[Murphyv310]

I don't know about that. British Relay had Murphy V310's and V410's still out on rental in 1970 and they were pin sharp focus. Customers liked the sets and had no interest in BBC2. Most were pensioners admittedly and were comfortable with the simplicity of Murphy TV sets.

[Refugee]

The trouble with BBC2 was having to put up another aerial and get used to a different set.
BBC2 did not really catch on until colour came along in a big way.

[Richard_FM]

The trouble with BBC2 was having to put up another aerial and get used to a different set.
BBC2 did not really catch on until colour came along in a big way.

I've heard the Forsythe Saga caused a spike in the amount to people either getting their sets converts or getting a dual standard one.

Thanks to the dual standard sets being compromised when in UHF 625 line mode it seems that it took until single standard sets were common before BBC2 viewing figures took off.

I've heard some rental companies were quick to replace dual standard sets from their stock due to them being troublesome to repair.

[Refugee]

The set we rented back in the day got unreliable because there was an intermittent HK short that cleared if you cranked the standard switch.
The rental shop engineer used to just pump loads of switch cleaner into the switching.
By the time they resigned themselves to changing the we had almost saved up for a single standard set.
6 months after the new tube we bought a thorn 1500.

[pwdrive]

We would have fitted a transformer back in the day, CRT replacement was an absolute last resort in the rental trade I was in.

Lawrence.