COW - Computer Originated World

[Mike Watterson]

We've got so many cameras so that would be less interesting.

I doubt it exists now anyway, and would be a problem to transport. It was a monster.

Well, seems I need to correct a statement I made earlier about the 1991 successor to the COW.
The Lambie Nairn “swirly” globe was fundamentally a plastic, pulleys and string creation more akin to the Abram Games Bat Wings first ident. See this link

https://rewind.thetvroom.com/43113/featu...he-scenes/

That's mad!

[Richard_FM]

If it's ever threatened with the bin we would love to have it at Broadcast Engineering Museum.

Sadly I don't know anyone there now, or I'd say so.

I'd guess you'd like the big pedestal mono camera used in 1970s too. Maybe an EMI? Huge thing.

I heard the colours were added electronically, with a 3rd colour made possible in the mid 1970s blue & yellow update.

[ppppenguin]

"I heard the colours were added electronically, with a 3rd colour made possible in the mid 1970s blue & yellow update."

That was a common method. Michael Cox left ABC TV when it became Thames TV in 1967. His first product was the CoxBox or caption colouriser that could assign separate colours to each of black, mid grey and white areas. In the UK at least the term CoxBox became used as a generic term for a caption colouriser. I think it was still in production (as the CoxBox IV) when I joined Michael Cox Electronics in 1980.

[BVH2000]

An interesting article on the COWs replacement and the GNAT clock

https://transdiffusion.org/2025/02/16/th...dentities/

[BVH2000]

April 27th 1985 was another significant date for the BBC1 COW. It was when the CEEFAX Subtitle page number changed from 170 to 888.
   

The last appearance of the 170 COW was at 20:10 on Friday 26th before an episode of “Cover Up”
   

The First appearance of the new 888 COW Was before “The New Adventures of Wonder Woman” at 17:25 on Saturday 27th
   

The change was carried out by swapping out 16 EPROMs, 8 on the Background Luma store card and 8 on the Background Chroma store card.