A quick look at the internal workings of a 1964 Scopitone ST-36 Jukebox - manufactured by Cameca of France and distributed in the US by Tel-A-Sign Inc.
Wikipedia says music videos go as far back as the 1920s, but I first knew about them when I had HBO and their Video Jukebox show and segments had them in the late 70s and early 80s. Then MTV was brought forth.
Thanks for sharing this. It's the first time I've seen the inside mechanism of one of these movie clip jukeboxes. For me it appears to be more interesting than what the customers watched on the screen outside. To be fair however, the visual content wasn’t all that bad for the time with much of the musical standard being quite high. While, to the best of my knowledge, none of these machines reached Australian shores, I do have, somewhere among my disorganised hoard of vintage a/v artefacts, a couple of samples of Scopitone films. These are of standard 16mm film format but with a magnetic, as opposed to the more conventional optical soundtrack. (This brownish ‘stripe’ can be seen running down the edge of films in the above video). There would be no harm in screening Scopitone film on any 16mm projector but, in order to hear the sound, it must be equipped for magnetic soundtrack playback. However, what would soon become apparent is that the image is laterally reversed (mirror image). This was necessary in order for it to appear normal on the viewing side of the translucent ‘back-projection’ screen. DVDs containing a multitude of these shorts are available from specialist eBay dealers.
The projector does not have a conventional rotating shutter. It has a vibrating mirror which performs the same function as a shutter, but with less mechanical parts.
Okay discarding any talk of dousers, I get that a shutter is used with the gate to eliminate flicker, but does it make sense for it to be vibrating? Aren't shutter and mirror vibration and flap considered a problems that must be addressed?
I guess in the case of vibrating, it's more moving the mirror far enough off the projection line to act as a shutter. Interesting idea, have to hand it to french engineers. Like the Italians, they excel at thinking things through creatively. Granted, I've never seen a scopitone machine, just the films. This is the first time I've even seen a film of one operating.
Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy to be corrected about projectors having shutters. I'm better for it. The fact that this scopitone device did not exist in the sixties is the point tho. Not in the US, France, or anywhere else in this universe.
This footage is great of the juke box working but to whoever shot this.As a professional TV cameraman 40 years,never have someone talking while shooting footage like this.We want to hear the machines,not a person talking that we can't even tell what he is saying.🇨🇦
As a professional tv cameraman, you should know better than most, when shooting in a crowded public setting as this was - you do not have control over ancillary noise.
That happens & sometimes can't be avoided.Especially if it is used as stand alone full audio.I usually very politely asked for quiet just for a minute & always had 100% compliance & I would thank them when finished.
It's almost like people are making up crap as they go along 😆. Just to make any explanation of this machines existence seem logical, and that it's always been here under everybody's noses or something. Like: "ohh yeaa... the scopitone. That thing. Right... I alwaays knew they had mtv beat." Well if there was ever a Mandela effect to be confirmed. This would be it. Full stop. Who are you people kidding??
That's because it's a scam I guarantee you if you look that would be one of these machines on sale somewhere on eBay It has been that way since 2017 these things didn't exist in 1964 They didn't exist in 1975 They didn't exist in 1985 or 1995 I doubt they existed in 2005 but by 2015 they existed and were being sold for a lot of money and still are and I've seen two of them after they showed up 45 minutes from my house in a duncanville Texas museum, But only after I was going to go to the Smithsonian to see theirs which they can't find
@@caiuspostumiusturrinus1024 I ain't saying they're not demonic I'm not saying they're not manipulating history They are in some way because I had a magazine in 1984 that didn't have that ad in it I know it didn't I had the magazine It wasn't there now I would have that same magazine from 1984 with David Lee Roth on the cover The one I had and it's there It's there in every damn magazine that you want to buy It's going to be there You ain't going to find one that it's not there in anymore and do I think that some some dudes in a garage workshop in Temecula California can pull that off No I don't but it don't mean the reason for it have being happened is it's a scam It doesn't mean that they even did the scam maybe they're just taking advantage of the scam who knows All I know is that they didn't exist and they do now but there are certain aspects of the device that could not have existed in 1963 And there's a group of people who are putting out videos and trying to sell these things that didn't exist in 1963 and I have been combating him all by myself for at least 7 years I think
@@caiuspostumiusturrinus1024 look at any scopotone video on RUclips that is trying to tout the device and you will see me calling people shill talking about the device in the functionality of it and and just generally not letting this happen as much as possible
@@caiuspostumiusturrinus1024 as far as I know as far as I can figure I've been going head-to-head with forces then at least know somebody that can change history, disapproved me a long time ago that reality is not real there was something akin to fish swimming in an aquarium we're being watched we're being lived vicariously through and some of them are evil It's a frontline battle right here over the scopotone How ridiculous is that?
djpaulywood - just happened to be a couple on eBay right now just go ahead and pop down your money it's only about 5 grand plus shipping. But hey at least they're in brand new built-last-week condition
I restored an ST-36 I had in my shop for 10 years. It's working great now. It came with 80 films-mostly American which include some by Colorsonic and Kelmar. There are a few German, French, and British and 10 stag films. They aren't well done and by todays standards they are tame. The women in them are not very attractive either. One topless film I do like is Don Rondo singing White Silver Sands where these young gals with pasties jump out the some reeds on the beach. The video has nothing to do with the song. I may record and post it on youtube.
I don't really considerate ME, as I understand it to be remembering something differently than what is being presented in this time/space continuum. This thing never existed, no way, Not in this world! Are they shilling for an antique scam?
@@jimvid1 Just seems incredible I don't remember even seeing 1080p until after 2000 1080 I which I is for interlace and p is for projection scan .How could this be ?
wow! I have one like this!! But it doesn't work correctly. I need service manual, but I couldn't find it. I wasted a lot of time on internet, but no found it. Could is possible have a copy , PDF or pics of this manual? Thanks a lot!
+Gnomx.Mod - If you can find a copy of Gerold Koehler's book, that is the bible for Scopitone restoration and maintenance - I found a copy on Amazon but it is pricey but it does come up on Ebay too: www.amazon.com/Scopitone-Illustrated-Manual-Gerold-Koehler/dp/B005MEHX6I - original manuals often come for auction on Ebay as well. - Good Luck!
Victory Glass Company sells the reproduction service manual which covers both French and American models. Victory Glass # 71-1278 (a.k.a. # R-144X) Scopitone Complete Service Manual $35 (it's 160 pages long).
Those are not "videos," they're FILMS. And yes, film is natively high definition. Wow, you are just batting 000 on motion picture technology, aren't you?
@@liveoak144 I had looked far and wide to find one of these so-called Scopitones. I found that one had been donated to the Smithsonian along with some films from an estate. So I contacted the Smithsonian to set up an appointment to view it. The person who accepted the donation and signed the forms no longer worked at the Smithsonian so I got her replacement and he said the film's were in a different archive, but he could of an appointment to inspect the jukebox, I asked if I could be allowed to open it up and document the hardware, he said yes he could set up an afternoon for it. A day or two later I received back an email he could not locate the Scopitone and was going to figure out where it was. After spending a week trying to locate the video jukebox he said it's whereabouts are unknown. The Smithsonian has misplaced their donated coppertone hardware apparently.
And before some other "smart guy" spouts off, I'm not interested in seeing the scopatone that's supposedly in Jack White's museum, some douchebag's garage in BFE Virginia,or anyone else's that might have been built in the garage last weekend. Is it indeed existed, the device should be a part of American history. There would be some with some proper provenance somewhere.
Techmoan would approve:)
And to think, everybody today thinks frickin MTV started music video!
Wikipedia says music videos go as far back as the 1920s, but I first knew about them when I had HBO and their Video Jukebox show and segments had them in the late 70s and early 80s. Then MTV was brought forth.
Thanks for posting this!!! Really cool
Optical surfaces looked dirty, but picture at the end of the video looked nice.
Thanks for sharing this. It's the first time I've seen the inside mechanism of one of these movie clip jukeboxes. For me it appears to be more interesting than what the customers watched on the screen outside. To be fair however, the visual content wasn’t all that bad for the time with much of the musical standard being quite high. While, to the best of my knowledge, none of these machines reached Australian shores, I do have, somewhere among my disorganised hoard of vintage a/v artefacts, a couple of samples of Scopitone films. These are of standard 16mm film format but with a magnetic, as opposed to the more conventional optical soundtrack. (This brownish ‘stripe’ can be seen running down the edge of films in the above video). There would be no harm in screening Scopitone film on any 16mm projector but, in order to hear the sound, it must be equipped for magnetic soundtrack playback. However, what would soon become apparent is that the image is laterally reversed (mirror image). This was necessary in order for it to appear normal on the viewing side of the translucent ‘back-projection’ screen. DVDs containing a multitude of these shorts are available from specialist eBay dealers.
I have heard that several collectors have put glass panels on one side so that you can see while it plays
Gab es auch in Deutschland. Für 1DM ca.3min Musikvideo.
The projector does not have a conventional rotating shutter. It has a vibrating mirror which performs the same function as a shutter, but with less mechanical parts.
Ken Layton - Cameras have shutters never heard of a player or projector having one.
Projectors normally do have them, typically a rotating disc type.
Okay discarding any talk of dousers, I get that a shutter is used with the gate to eliminate flicker, but does it make sense for it to be vibrating? Aren't shutter and mirror vibration and flap considered a problems that must be addressed?
I guess in the case of vibrating, it's more moving the mirror far enough off the projection line to act as a shutter. Interesting idea, have to hand it to french engineers. Like the Italians, they excel at thinking things through creatively. Granted, I've never seen a scopitone machine, just the films. This is the first time I've even seen a film of one operating.
Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy to be corrected about projectors having shutters. I'm better for it. The fact that this scopitone device did not exist in the sixties is the point tho. Not in the US, France, or anywhere else in this universe.
This footage is great of the juke box working but to whoever shot this.As a professional TV cameraman 40 years,never have someone talking while shooting footage like this.We want to hear the machines,not a person talking that we can't even tell what he is saying.🇨🇦
As a professional tv cameraman, you should know better than most, when shooting in a crowded public setting as this was - you do not have control over ancillary noise.
That happens & sometimes can't be avoided.Especially if it is used as stand alone full audio.I usually very politely asked for quiet just for a minute & always had 100% compliance & I would thank them when finished.
Is there something specific you'd like to know about the operation of the non-antique scam device?
It's a modern Panoram. I never knew these existed.
They didn't, you knew right.
Scopitone Thr first MV?
Wow, who knew! Thanks for sharing.
this is gtrat
complicated monster, but its very cool!
It's almost like people are making up crap as they go along 😆. Just to make any explanation of this machines existence seem logical, and that it's always been here under everybody's noses or something. Like: "ohh yeaa... the scopitone. That thing. Right... I alwaays knew they had mtv beat." Well if there was ever a Mandela effect to be confirmed. This would be it. Full stop. Who are you people kidding??
That's because it's a scam I guarantee you if you look that would be one of these machines on sale somewhere on eBay It has been that way since 2017 these things didn't exist in 1964 They didn't exist in 1975 They didn't exist in 1985 or 1995 I doubt they existed in 2005 but by 2015 they existed and were being sold for a lot of money and still are and I've seen two of them after they showed up 45 minutes from my house in a duncanville Texas museum, But only after I was going to go to the Smithsonian to see theirs which they can't find
@@mpirron1 wow 😳 I never thought about it that way. Totally plausible ... I agree with you 💯💯
@@caiuspostumiusturrinus1024 I ain't saying they're not demonic I'm not saying they're not manipulating history They are in some way because I had a magazine in 1984 that didn't have that ad in it I know it didn't I had the magazine It wasn't there now I would have that same magazine from 1984 with David Lee Roth on the cover The one I had and it's there It's there in every damn magazine that you want to buy It's going to be there You ain't going to find one that it's not there in anymore and do I think that some some dudes in a garage workshop in Temecula California can pull that off No I don't but it don't mean the reason for it have being happened is it's a scam It doesn't mean that they even did the scam maybe they're just taking advantage of the scam who knows All I know is that they didn't exist and they do now but there are certain aspects of the device that could not have existed in 1963 And there's a group of people who are putting out videos and trying to sell these things that didn't exist in 1963 and I have been combating him all by myself for at least 7 years I think
@@caiuspostumiusturrinus1024 look at any scopotone video on RUclips that is trying to tout the device and you will see me calling people shill talking about the device in the functionality of it and and just generally not letting this happen as much as possible
@@caiuspostumiusturrinus1024 as far as I know as far as I can figure I've been going head-to-head with forces then at least know somebody that can change history, disapproved me a long time ago that reality is not real there was something akin to fish swimming in an aquarium we're being watched we're being lived vicariously through and some of them are evil It's a frontline battle right here over the scopotone How ridiculous is that?
just when i thought i had all the jukeboxes i wanted now im going to have to find one of these someday
djpaulywood - just happened to be a couple on eBay right now just go ahead and pop down your money it's only about 5 grand plus shipping. But hey at least they're in brand new built-last-week condition
What a interesting Jukebox very very cool
I wonder if any bars inserted stag films in place of the music films?
I restored an ST-36 I had in my shop for 10 years. It's working great now. It came with 80 films-mostly American which include some by Colorsonic and Kelmar. There are a few German, French, and British and 10 stag films. They aren't well done and by todays standards they are tame. The women in them are not very attractive either. One topless film I do like is Don Rondo singing White Silver Sands where these young gals with pasties jump out the some reeds on the beach. The video has nothing to do with the song. I may record and post it on youtube.
@@ranchovistadenada How quaint, for sale is it?
Saw one of these in the Walter Bellm collection in Sarasota, Florida.
I don't remember these as a kid. Must not have been a European thing.
It so happens it was INVENTED in FRANCE.
In exactly what parallel universe, shill?
Mandela?
I don't really considerate ME, as I understand it to be remembering something differently than what is being presented in this time/space continuum. This thing never existed, no way, Not in this world! Are they shilling for an antique scam?
scopitonearchive.com/
Wonder how man pixels the screen had looks like modern def.
This is 16mm film so there are no pixels. But video equivalency would be about 2K
@@jimvid1 Just seems incredible I don't remember even seeing 1080p until after 2000 1080 I which I is for interlace and p is for projection scan .How could this be ?
@@jimvid1 If it was 2k that old screen would have 2k pixels ? I'm guessing 2000 I ,interlace at that point ,but actually have no clue .
so goddamn cool
sweet bruh
This is like porn to me!!!
Hail, Scopitone!
wow! I have one like this!! But it doesn't work correctly. I need service manual, but I couldn't find it. I wasted a lot of time on internet, but no found it. Could is possible have a copy , PDF or pics of this manual? Thanks a lot!
+Gnomx.Mod - If you can find a copy of Gerold Koehler's book, that is the bible for Scopitone restoration and maintenance - I found a copy on Amazon but it is pricey but it does come up on Ebay too: www.amazon.com/Scopitone-Illustrated-Manual-Gerold-Koehler/dp/B005MEHX6I - original manuals often come for auction on Ebay as well. - Good Luck!
Uh thanks a lot!
+jimvid1 does it contain Electrical schemas and manual about scopitone St-36?
can you confirm it? thanks.
Victory Glass Company sells the reproduction service manual which covers both French and American models. Victory Glass # 71-1278 (a.k.a. # R-144X) Scopitone Complete Service Manual $35 (it's 160 pages long).
May I ask, how you came to own your scopitone?
You are honestly trying to tell us this miniaturized reel projector device and those explicit Hi Def videos existed in the 1960s?
Those are not "videos," they're FILMS. And yes, film is natively high definition.
Wow, you are just batting 000 on motion picture technology, aren't you?
@@pegbars have you seen one smart guy?
Film is high def, but I don't remember these machines, and I always loved jukeboxes. I am 67 in the U.S. maybe it is a Mandela Effect.
@@liveoak144 I had looked far and wide to find one of these so-called Scopitones. I found that one had been donated to the Smithsonian along with some films from an estate. So I contacted the Smithsonian to set up an appointment to view it. The person who accepted the donation and signed the forms no longer worked at the Smithsonian so I got her replacement and he said the film's were in a different archive, but he could of an appointment to inspect the jukebox, I asked if I could be allowed to open it up and document the hardware, he said yes he could set up an afternoon for it. A day or two later I received back an email he could not locate the Scopitone and was going to figure out where it was. After spending a week trying to locate the video jukebox he said it's whereabouts are unknown. The Smithsonian has misplaced their donated coppertone hardware apparently.
And before some other "smart guy" spouts off, I'm not interested in seeing the scopatone that's supposedly in Jack White's museum, some douchebag's garage in BFE Virginia,or anyone else's that might have been built in the garage last weekend. Is it indeed existed, the device should be a part of American history. There would be some with some proper provenance somewhere.
guess they have the mag sound strip on the side... Thanks for posting! love it.
correct - the competing Cinebox/Colorama jukebox used an optical audio track but Scopitone used mag track film.
Ty Jim.... : )